In a broader sense, though, such a situation should have been predictable months ago. With much of the West refusing to recognise the electoral triumph of Hamas at the Palestinian elections (because Hamas was determined, on its part, not to jettison its policy of an obliteration of the state of Israel), conditions soon led to a point where it was the people of Palestine who were put into a state of siege. The economic aid that ought to have flowed to the Palestinian Authority from donors was briskly suspended because of the Hamas triumph. Despite the fact that Hamas gave out signs of a de facto recognition of the Israeli state, the doggedness with which the West went after it made it clear that the situation was not about to improve. The line-up against Hamas in a way boosted the morale of many in the defeated Fatah, who saw in the beleaguered state of the government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh a chance to reclaim their lost turf. Not even the fact that Hamas agreed to dissolve its administration and go into a government of national unity with Fatah as a partner satisfied the West and Israel. They insisted that they would not deal with the new government unless Hamas was thrown out.

Now that the crisis, precipitated by President Mahmoud Abbas' dismissal of the Haniyeh government, is upon them, Palestinians everywhere will be asking themselves if their long-standing dream of a sovereign state has receded even further. With Hamas in control of Gaza and Fatah trying to run the show in Ramallah, the dream is in a badly fractured state. It just shows how terrible the consequences of undermining a popularly elected government can be.