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At a time when our efforts need to be directed toward reinforcing the victory we achieved as Palestinians at the International Court of Justice at The Hague - by building an international boycott movement to isolate Israel, rebuff its plan to turn the Gaza Strip into one big prison and oppose Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon's plan to continue to build the racist separation wall, which confiscates 58 percent of the West Bank's territory and destroys the prospects of an independent Palestinian state - unfortunate events in Gaza have come into the picture to expose the extent of the damage resulting from the security breakdown, the absence of a unified national leadership, the spread of corruption, property confiscation and mismanagement, and an absence of law enforcement or an effective judiciary.

This comes along with political traps set in order to paint the Palestinians as being against international law and the United Nations, and to ease Israel's isolation in the wake of the ICJ verdict, including such traps as the kidnapping of two French nationals whose only fault was coming to show their solidarity with the just struggle of the Palestinian people.

The current security breakdown does not serve anyone except the enemies of the Palestinian people and those whose only concern is to compete for personal and sectarian gains. What happened in Gaza only expresses the narrow-mindedness of those who are busy fighting over positions of power while power itself is in the hands of the Israelis.

The power struggle in Gaza during the current conditions is nothing but a fight for a policeman's role in a prison administered by the Israeli occupation, and this fight in Gaza is being used to distract the Palestinians from their core battle against the separation wall, criminal incursions into Beit Hanoun and the razing of houses in Rafah, Khan Younis and other parts of the Gaza Strip.

It is a mistake for some to base their calculations on Israel's alleged intentions to withdraw from Gaza, because in reality what is taking place in Gaza is not a withdrawal, not even a preliminary one. It is a gradual reoccupation, similar to what Israel has done in the West Bank, a methodical destruction of Palestinian institutions and an Israeli attempt to turn the Gaza Strip into a large "prison" surrounded by Israeli presence on all sides, and where a collaborationist government will rule in a similar manner to what took place in South Africa in the past.

What is immediately needed is to emphasize higher national interests over personal and sectarian interests, and to form a unified national leadership that will lead a national struggle with one comprehensive strategy. It will carry out broad domestic reform, which guards against corruption, mismanagement, favoritism and infringing on people's rights. It should be a leadership that will hold everyone accountable who dares encroach on public interests and property. It should establish the rule of law and hold democratic and free elections.

A unified national leadership is the only guarantee for a successful popular struggle against the Israeli separation wall and occupation, a wide international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people and domestic unity.

Continuing to dismiss what the popular intifada has created insofar as qualitative changes does not benefit the Palestinian people. Moreover, the Palestinian Authority should not rise above the national Palestinian movement, but must remain a part of it, work in its service and be subjected to higher national interests and effective national leadership.

In addition, reforming the security apparatus means non-interference on behalf of its leaders in political issues or economic investment issues, its complete subjugation to the rule of law and its commitment to protect the personal safety of ordinary Palestinians and their property.

The failure to form a national unified leadership, revive the Palestine Liberation Organization and adopt democracy as the basis of organization has lead to the proliferation of conflicts in the PA, favoring personal interests and narrow sectarian ones, and opening the door for foreign enemies like Israel to exploit the situation to its benefit and to the detriment of Palestinians.

We urgently call - before it is too late - for the formation of a national unity leadership which includes the executive committee of the PLO and all other forces and institutions of civil society to lead the national struggle, to promise free and democratic elections and treat in an effective way all the manifestations of corruption, favoritism, etc., without loosing our focus on the primary enemy and challenge: the Israeli occupation.