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| As political upheavals spread over much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 regimes throughout the region were shaken and a few fell. But in both the West Bank and Gaza a soft authoritarianism that has provoked uprisings elsewhere has only been further entrenching itself. In the five years since it took sole control in Gaza Hamas has built a governing apparatus that is now in firm control of the small strip. Between January 2006 when Hamas won parliamentary elections and June 2007 when the Palestinian Authority was split between the West Bank and Gaza in a brief civil war Palestinian politics was marked by turmoil and uncertainty. But since that time both halves of the Palestinian political system have settled in. In Gaza Hamas has taken the shambles of Palestinian Authority institutions and worked to rebuild them sometimes obscuring the division between Hamas as a movement and the Gaza government in the process. Entrenching authoritarianism offers Palestinians few options. A spate of unity agreements between the West Bank and Gaza -- most recently a May 2012 accord -- cannot obscure the reality that real steps toward unity have not been taken. There is no easy route out of Palestine's plight but it is difficult to imagine much change without some pressure from below. And that is worrying since elections are very difficult to imagine at present. As long as Gazans -- and all Palestinians -- remain voiceless in their own affairs it is difficult to see any path forward |
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