The latest incident of violence between Hamas gunmen and Palestinian security services in Qalqilya is a sore reminder of just how much there is to repair before any final settlement can take hold. On May 31, three members of the PA security service and two Hamas affiliated armed men were killed in an armed standoff in a building in the city in addition to the owner of the building. Of course, both sides tell different versions of the story – the preventive security services saying the Hamas operatives opened fire first while the latter claims that the PA men are the ones who started the armed battle.

In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter who started it first. What matters is that we allowed ourselves, once again, to slip into the dangerous abyss of brother killing brother.

Now, the already tense Cairo talks are even tenser given this new and disturbing development. Hamas announced it may pull out of the conciliation talks, which are scheduled to resume on July 5 because of the incident. The fighting is considered one of the worst in the last two years and may have far reaching repercussions on the overall internal Palestinian situation.

It strikes me as almost unbelievable how much we Palestinians have dropped the ball in focusing on the larger battle at hand. We are in the midst of one of the most decisive battles in modern history, one that has dragged on for over half a century and is, unfortunately far from resolution. Still, we think of short term goals, of false senses of power and we act as though we were not on the same side of the fence, literally.

If only these leaders, so bent on holding on to their positions would stand back just for a moment and take in the panoramic scene of our country. It is not a pretty sight, in spite of the ultimate beauty of its landscape. Jewish settlers continue to grow in number in the West Bank without any of us being able to stop them. Not even US President Barack Obama can reign in the beast of settlement construction in the West Bank, especially when their fate is under the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu, who does not hide his fondness of those West Bank colonies that practically everyone else in the world deems illegal. Just today, six Palestinians between Nablus and Qalqilya were injured by settlers who attacked them on the crossroads between the highway and the Qadumim settlement. According to the six, who were on their way to work, the settlers attacked them with rocks when they got out of their cars to remove stone blockades the settlers had set up.

While the settler/settlements issue is one the most contentious between Palestinians and Israelis, it is certainly not the only one. Today, June 1, the UN fact-finding investigating team arrived in Gaza to probe alleged human rights violations during Israel’s 22-day operation in the Strip. Israel has already said it would not cooperate with the mission, calling it biased and saying its own investigations are sufficient enough. While we all know this is not true and are hoping that perhaps this UN commission will finally come out with definitive findings into Israel’s war crimes, our stance would be doubly as efficient if we were putting up a united stand. This fact finding mission could prove to be very useful to our case, especially if we take advantage of it by pooling all of our energies together to help it uncover what happened during those awful days when almost 1,500 Palestinians were killed. The mission is led by Jewish South African jurist Richard Goldstone, who undoubtedly has come under fire from zealous Jewish and Israeli figures who feel he is being unfaithful to his own. We on the other hand, must take his team in with open arms, even if this means he also finds that we as well have violated human rights or have crossed the lines of morality on the battlefield.

What is important here is that we do stand together, for better or for worse. We have all heard the unbearable accusations between Fateh and Hamas, even regarding the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. What good has that gotten us, or even worse, what good have these accusations been to those who have lost loved ones, homes and jobs and whose best consolation would be a strong and efficient leadership to navigate us out of this mess.

It is simply not fair, not to the building owner who lost his life in Qalqilya, nor is it fair to the people of Gaza who deserve to have a responsible leadership representing them. Frankly speaking, it is not fair to all Palestinians, who have sacrificed so much and for so long, the last thing they need is to see their own people treating each other like enemies.

I have said it before and I do not hesitate to say it again. Now is the time to stop this madness and unite. Israel is escalating its expansionist policies in the West Bank and in Jerusalem without heed to anyone. If enough pressure is exerted on the Netanyahu government and it is backed into a corner, it will not go quietly and it will make sure enough land is stolen and enough damage is done to the Palestinians’ internal condition that Israel will be secure for a countless number of years to come. We all understand this completely, including those leaders who refuse to come together. We also understand that we are making Israel’s goal so much easier to achieve by being so short sighted.

The question then is if we know all of these things, why do we continue to go down this disastrous path? I’m afraid the answer is right before us and we simply refuse to see it.

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