A West Bank boy attends a demonstration condemning the innocent lives that have been lost in street clashes between factions. (Fadi Arouri, Maan Images)

It is distressing but not surprising to witness the deterioration in Palestine as Hamas and Fatah fight it out politically and with guns on the streets of Gaza. As in Lebanon, Iraq, Somalia and other troubled Middle Eastern lands, regional and international powers line up with the feuding parties, offering weapons, cash and political support. Palestine is especially troubling because the world has known for decades what a negotiated Palestinian-Israeli peace would look like - if only the principal players had the political courage to move in that direction.

It is also worrying because a breakdown of law and order and normal life for the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza threatens to move that society in the direction of Somalia. The absence of a legitimate government that controls the means of violence would only heighten the trend that we have witnessed for decades: The unresolved Palestine issue and the continued assertion of Israeli-American policies would continue to prod anger and radicalism throughout the entire Middle East. We have already seen the Palestine issue's lingering injustices - anchored in Israeli unilateral militarism and colonialism, American bias and Arab incompetence - spawn such movements as Hamas, Hizbullah and, most recently, fiery rhetoric from the Iranian president. Troubles and injustice in Palestine have a way of spreading to infect other lands, as they will again if the current clashes persist.

To read the full article, please visit The Daily Star's website.