Palestine Think Tank

The speculation upon the destiny of the Palestinian factions and the hope of a unified geographical Palestine (West Bank and the Gaza Strip), in this period, may seem spontaneous and easy, according to the facts of life in the Palestinian territories. But this is the challenging situation – Hamas governs the Gaza Strip and Fatah has the sovereignty on the West Bank and this has caused ‘Big Problems’ to which their political future will now be in question.  The problems are severe because the two parties did not choose to reconcile, despite all their differences – in favor of the Palestinian people. 

Historically, unlike most liberation movements over the globe, Hamas and Fatah have failed to achieve a common ground regarding the outstanding issues since 1988. That stance started when Hamas rejected a proposal by Fatah-dominated Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to get 5 seats out of 450 in the 19th Palestinian National Council.

The stance continued. In August 1991, Fatah held a meeting with Hamas in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, they wanted to join Hamas and then engage in the "Madrid conference”. This reconciliation did not happen. Then in 1995, the Palestinian Authority (PA) urged Hamas to participate in the Palestinian Legislative Elections or to have guarantees that Hamas would not spoil the electoral march. To this request Hamas responded that any election under the umbrella of Oslo Accords are taboo and should be boycotted by the Palestinian people; accordingly, they had not interfered in the elections.

Over the 10th-13th November and January 4th -7th of 2003, many meetings were held between the Palestinian factions. It was on 15th-17th March 2005 that the Palestinian factions reached a covenant which "gives the right to fight the occupation and announcing Tahdeha”, calming down; holding legislative elections and activating the PLO on a "partnership basis" between all of the Palestinian political spectra.

Unfortunately, after Hamas’s assuming full control of the Gaza Strip on 14th August 2006, reconciliation between the factions was again set back.

Three summits of dialogue were held between Fatah and Hamas; the first, they held a meeting in Mecca on February 2007, under the patronage of Saudi Arabia, which later failed, owing to the multiplicity of the details inherited in the Mecca Agreement; the second, on March 2008 the “Sana’a announcement” was reached to build bridges of reconciliation between the two rivals, in conformity with the Mecca Agreement. And lastly, the Cairo dialogue held under the patronage of the Egyptian Government on 10 March 2009. The irony here is that three summits in different Arab countries – held in very near proximity, each one only after a year after the previous – have brought no tangible solutions on the ground. The optimism and hope for peace and prosperity – hopefully with reconciliation is still absent. So what must the factions choose to do?

Table here:

Pessimistically speaking, every party knows the serious negative impacts caused by their different interests and attitudes – that will hinder the Palestinian cause and deals with the status quo as a de facto reality; and in my opinion, their desire to put an end to the division is fake and has no value, as the current data (information) from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, conclusively, reflects the deep discord between them: where the most general reasons for this ailing dialogue are: lack of a united Palestinian representation for a long time ; lack of a unified joint thoughtful leadership; lack of confidence between them, impact of the international intervention on the dialogue. (Saleh, 2008). In addition to these general parts of the problem, there are integral parts of the problem such as: the random administrative appointments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip based on the political affiliation and the political detentions of the activists from Hamas and Fatah (Amer,2008).

Each has enough meal to their belly, but the belly of the issue is still so hungry for reconciliation and unity — the people of Gaza need restoration, unity of the soul between the spectra of the community and need to change the bad status quo on the ground to their minimum positive expectations.

They acknowledge the burning desire to be united – but the administration of this thought-provoking issue is so difficult because they have oppressed their factions at every anniversary or event. For example: the anniversary of Arafat's death in Gaza was unseen due to Hamas’s rejection of Fatah supporters to do festivals for the late leader of the PA, Yasser Arafat. There was fear that the event would be exploited and it might cause trouble on the streets of Gaza. This resulted in Fatah of the West Bank prevented the people from taking part in demonstration, marches, symposia that may relate to Hamas.

The Palestinian NGO's and the factions unrelated to struggle call upon reaching reconciliation as quickly as possible because of the deteriorating situation on the ground – this conclusion is based on rates and numbers and data. The people need change on the ground and reconciliation because we need a united nation and military to combat against the occupying force, but when can this happen? What is the core reason of the problem – between the disputed factions?

They were/are, for a long time, at loggerheads with each other due to the difference in the ideological and political background, as well as the main policy, that became the ruling rule in the details of the political life. They can achieve reconciliation but how; I believe, God created the man to flourish, able to brainstorm, look up the optimal means to solve issues from several secondary and seemingly unimportant means – to achieve something. The Palestinian factions seem unable to reconcile so any sane man may ask whether there were secret reasons behind achieving the reconciliation in South Africa.

The divide in South Africa was racial between the blacks and the whites; the divide between the two Palestinian rivals has two deep-seated differences, and that may be the core reason of the dilemma: Hamas views Fatah as a secular party which may contradict or obstruct the implementation of the Islamic Law (Sharia); thus, they look at the solution from a theoretical perspective, not a political one, while Fatah looks at Hamas's moves and Gaza's takeover as political dominance (political perspective).

Apart from these hidden factors that are behind the standstill in their problems – (for a long time), the dialectics with the external allies also gave each party the claim of responsibility over the Palestinian people, according to their own factional interests (with the regional allies). These relations which should have been an incentive to achieving reconciliation between the two parties – transformed to a block “to achieve an accord.” And this did not help the reconciliation process.

These obstacles are not new but there is a dire need of the Palestinian economy to revive – after the Israeli adventures on the Palestinian blood, shed while destroying the buildings. Every single dollar given to the Palestinian people is a pre-price (blood price) of the Israeli consecutive hostile adventures toward the Palestinians.

The world understands well the need of the Palestinians to be independent— but do they try to misunderstand the Goldstone Report? Do they understand the tons of international agreements that grant the Right of Return, and self-determination to the occupied countries; but are they also influenced by Israelis lobbies and are failing to see the unfairness and injustices committed by Israel during the war and the cruelty of the siege – because of some hidden agenda?

What best should be done for the Palestinian people to reach reconciliation and   to bridge the gap between the factions? In my opinion, the Palestinian rivals need the clarity of the positions from the USA and the world nations – the need to solve by tangible (practical) actions on the ground: not by words in the air as Obama, unfortunately, betrayed the Muslim world.

I fear, lack of a Palestinian national unity will increase the rate of hardliners and warmonger against each other which may exacerbate the situation internally and externally – and because of this, the USA should help the Egyptian government to forge a plan on all the agreed points in the dialogue and set a course of action to the Palestinians to do according to the agreed points. Last but not least, it must advise Israel very strongly, the hostile entity in the world, that it should commit to the peace process in the region and not do anything that will divide the Palestinian people and really achieve a Palestinian state and show goodwill gestures to the Palestinians to help create prosperity and achieve the peace process.

      Ayman Nijim is an interpreter and strategic researcher working in Pal Think for Strategic Studies, you can contact him via: ayman_trans@hotmail.com