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It is painful watching events unfold in Gaza and the West Bank, what with Fatah and Hamas factions battling it out like a bunch of armed neighbourhood gangs. The mood among Palestinians around the world is one of despair and gloom, tinged with embarrassment and occasional shame.

Arab and others supporters of the Palestinian cause are throwing their hands up in the air in bewilderment. It will be no surprise to see some friends of Palestine quietly walk away, mumbling that if the Palestinians wish to kill each other and destroy their own society, they are free to do so. The world will easily forget about them.

These are grim days for the Palestinians, but not unusual ones for the Arab world as a whole. The sight of clan-based political groups in Gaza killing each other is sadly familiar in many parts of the region. That being said, it is absolutely incomprehensible that at a time when economic pressures and sanctions have reduced Gaza not just to a prison-like encampment, but a ward of paupers, Palestinians would allow the situation to deteriorate further into political violence.

It should be noted, however, that this is not the first time Palestinians have quarrelled with or fought each other. They did so in the 1940s; and in the 1980s in Lebanon's refugee camps; and now once again in their squeezed little strip of land in Gaza - this latest being the most troubling example of how a once grand and noble Palestinian national liberation movement has degenerated into ineptitude.

The consequences of the fighting are unlikely to increase the chance of liberating Palestine, or forcing Israel to negotiate an honourable and fair peace, or providing Palestinians with opportunities to live more secure, stable and prosperous lives.

All that will emerge from this is the functional equivalent of a little child taking over a tree house, and claiming that as a great victory.

Fatah and Hamas are both slowly relinquishing their once respectable standing among fellow Palestinians. As they fight it out in village streets and refugee camp alleyways, they make it ever more difficult to wage a principled and credible struggle against Israeli expansionism.

At an international level, the Palestinian cause is the longest running anti-colonial movement of its kind, which is one reason it generates so much support around the world. Ordinary people understand that Palestinians fight against a Zionist foe whose predatory territorial aims are anchored in the ugly soil of 19th-century European imperialism and colonialism.

The Palestinians have continued to struggle for the integrity of their community and their national rights for over a century, but they have lost at every decisive moment. The poor quality of Palestinian leadership has always been one reason. Political immaturity, reflected in fighting within the community, is another constant. Israeli oppression has also helped fracture Palestinian society and turn some of its groups into desperados who fight one another to maintain a modicum of control over their increasingly restricted and empty lives. Disarray and weakness among Arab supporters has also been a problem at times. The international community's virtual indifference to the consequences of Israel's harsh policies makes the entire regional context more conducive to such irrational and self-destructive Arab behaviour.

Yes, this is a dark day for the Palestinians. But they will eventually find better leadership to help them regain their cohesion and credibility - and their self-respect. From the rubble of their own criminal attacks against their own people, the Palestinians will recognize that living in a tree house is exciting for a nine-year-old child, but is very unbecoming a national political movement.

Rami Khouri is director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.