These various elements of the Palestinian entity have different modes of behaviour, different traditions of struggle, different environments to cope with. Efforts to build the state should not contribute to further deepening tensions between them, but should be directed at cementing their cohesion. It is only by consolidating Palestinian institutions, by deepening Palestinian democracy and ensuring the active participation in the political process of all component elements of the Palestinian spectrum that such an objective can be attained, and both sovereignty and unity realised. Actually, the threats of a new war need not emanate only from acts undertaken by the Israeli government. As I wrote in many previous articles, the growing scarcity of water in the region can be a main source of future conflict and even war in the Middle East.
Water wars are likely to bring about totally unexpected realignments in the region.
Such an environment of friction and tension also breeds terrorism. In a unipolar world order where conventional warfare is no longer tolerated, terrorism has become the most likely form of warfare, a terrifying prospect in an age where nuclear devices are readily available on the market. The Middle East could find itself caught in scenarios of this kind soon if nothing is done in time to pre-empt them.