If only the Palestinians could fashion their internal disputes on the same approach with which they follow the World Cup. It is amazing to see how scores of men, women and children sit in front of their television sets day in and day out, watching every swift move, the fancy footwork and the zealous crowds in a kind of unity so terribly lacking in their real lives.

True, in the end the World Cup boils down to a few good games of soccer, but let us emulate the spirit in which it is watched. Although each individual or group may be rooting for this or that team, it is the skill, the talent of the players and the overall atmosphere of the games that is embraced by all of its fans.

Can we as Palestinians, not also embrace our disagreements with dignity while focusing on what is really important? We have become so mired in secondary disputes – which by the way have been so blown out of proportion, lives have been lost in their name – we no longer see how grave our situation has really become.

Let us take the matter of the referendum. As the tug of war between the presidency and the government gets fiercer and fiercer, the proverbial rope between the two sides has been pulled to a dangerous tautness and it seems the only issue on the table has become whether the Palestinians should be offered a referendum on a document that no one can agree on.

Hamas, which initially signed the prisoners’ document has retracted, saying it is now “a Fateh document” while President Abbas insists that putting the document to a referendum is a constitutional right in any democracy. On June 11, he issued a presidential decree stipulating that the referendum would be carried out on June 26.

Meanwhile, the bloody confrontations between Fateh and Hamas loyalists continue, claiming more lives. Just yesterday, two people were killed in clashes in Rafah when Hamas-affiliated security personnel opened fire outside the Preventive Security headquarters in the city. Dozens more were injured.

Most appalling, however, is that one would think the murder of an entire family out for a day at the beach at the hands of the Israeli military would have given us the reality check we need. What are we thinking, our leaders bickering at one another and our young men using each other as target practice, while a 12-year-old girl bemoans the death of six of her loved ones?

It is mind-boggling, really. You would think the sight of a child clawing at the sand in agony calling for her dead father would shock us all into seeing who the real enemy is. Just a few days ago, on June 9, Israeli helicopters assassinated Jamal Abu Samhadaneh, head of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza, also killing three of his companions. Israel also assassinated two members of the Izzedin Qassam Brigades in Khan Younis on June 12.

We are making a grave, grave mistake. In this era when the world has been split down the middle with so-called “terrorists and terrorist supporters” on one side and “freedom and peace lovers” on the other, Palestinian leaders, without exception, must wake up and realize that this is no time for petty power struggles. The Hamas-led government must complete its transformation from an opposition power into a responsible governing body and the presidency must give space for this transformation to occur.

Meanwhile, let us focus on what is really threatening our lives as individuals and as a nation. Israel continues to assassinate our leaders, build walls around our communities, confiscate our lands and demoralize us in the international arena. An innocent family out for a picnic on a sandy Gaza beach is brutally cut down, leaving blood stains and a devastated young girl as witness to the heinous crime.

So, instead of turning our anger and our guns inwards and cutting off our noses to spite our faces, let us confront these fatal dangers with one voice. And even if, like spectators of the World Cup, we may have our opinions of which team is superior, let us appreciate the true strengths and potentials out there on the field. Isn’t that what is really important?

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Programme at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She could be contacted at mip@miftah.org