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11th hour to end Palestinian rift
Gulf News
18 October 2008
The Palestinian rift runs deep and goes back to many years.
The Palestinians just can’t get their act together. The latest Egyptian initiative—there have been many in the past—to bring all Palestinian factions to Cairo early next month for a comprehensive reconciliation meeting now seems threatened because the two largest groups, Fatah and Hamas, have failed to agree on a compromise. In contrast to positive comments made last week by Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashal, the two main groups are again taking swipes at each other.
The mediation, led by head of Egypt’s Intelligence Director Amr Sulieman, has hit a snag because Abbas has turned down an Egyptian request, made on behalf of Hamas, that the two main groups hold a bilateral meeting prior to the all Palestinian conference in Cairo. Fatah wants the comprehensive summit to take place before it can sit with representatives of the Islamist movement. Hamas, on its part, does not want Fatah to use the all party conference as a podium to denounce Hamas’ takeover of Gaza in June of last year. So far the prognosis for an end to inter-Palestinian rift does not look good.
If the conference does take place in Cairo next month, the agenda will tackle at least five main issues, which all parties have agreed to discuss in principle. Five committees will deal with the following: The formation of a reconciliation government, reforming an archaic PLO, preparing for new legislative and presidential elections, rebuilding the security apparatus and finally restoring conditions in Gaza to the way they were prior to 14 June 2007.
The agenda is the outcome of months of frustrating negotiations carried out mainly by the Egyptians. But there are other topics that are equally important. The Egyptians would like to see a peaceful resolution to the Shalit affair, the Israeli corporal who is being held by Hamas in Gaza since June 2006. Naturally they would like to take credit for his release.
Hamas, on the other hand, has laid out conditions, which Israel has so far rejected. Just as Hizbollah was able to seal a historic deal last July forcing Israel to release five Lebanese prisoners and return the remains of 200 Palestinian and Lebanese fighters in exchange for two dead Israeli soldiers, Hamas is hoping to score a political victory by securing the release of hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Such a deal would embarrass the PNA and further discredit Abbas whose efforts to get the departing Israeli premier Ehud Olmert to free thousands of Palestinian prisoners have achieved modest gains.
Another topic that Hamas would want to include on the agenda is ending the Gaza siege and opening the Rafah crossing point with Egypt. So far the Egyptians have turned a deaf ear to Hamas’ requests and only opened the border point when humanitarian conditions in Gaza reached a critical point.
The Palestinian rift runs deep and goes back to many years. Hamas accuses Abbas and his Fatah subordinates of conspiring with Israel and the United States to destroy the popular Islamist movement. More than two years ago Hamas decided to contest the legislative elections and shocked the world by terminating Fatah’s traditional grip hold over the legislature and many municipalities. Abbas was forced to ask the movement’s Gaza leader Ismail Hanyeh to form a government.
But Hanyeh accused the president of obstructing his government’s plans. Soon Israel, backed by Washington, began rounding up elected Hamas deputies and appointed ministers. The government was incapacitated and soon it became clear that Fatah and Hamas were heading towards a major clash in Gaza. That’s when Hamas chased away Fatah forces out of the strip to preempt what it claimed was an American conspiracy, to be carried out by Mohammad Dahlan, to trounce them in Gaza.
The Hamas coup had a devastating effect on Palestinians everywhere. It ended PNA’s rule in the strip and created two Palestinian entities in the occupied territories that were vying for power and influence. The PNA retaliated by arresting Hamas activists in the West Bank and closing the movements’ offices and organizations that were perceived to be sympathetic with the Islamists or financed by them. Israel, on its part, declared Gaza an “enemy entity” and launched brutal attacks against it before opting to seal it off.
In this bitter and hostile environment both Palestinian sides attempted to discredit each other, mostly at the expense of their own people. Israel continued to choke Gaza economically while boosting its control over the West Bank. Even when Olmert said he will continue to deal with Abbas as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians, he never responded to the latter’s pleas to remove hundreds of road blocks in the West Bank, release Palestinian prisoners or make progress on peace negotiations, revived by the American in Annapolis last year.
Hamas on its side has failed to end the siege, although it finally acquiesced to a deal to end the firing of Katyushas against southern Israeli towns in return for an easing of the Israeli blockade. But under its watch, Gaza’s misfortunes as one of the poorest and highly populated areas on the planet just got worse.
Throughout this inter-Palestinian calamity a number of attempts to bring about reconciliation were launched. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah thought he had a deal when both parties kissed and made up in Makkah in February 2007. But no sooner the two sides returned to their bases than the war of words was resumed. The President of Yemen had a go in Sanaa earlier this year, but again the discontent continued.
With the power change in Israel and the diminishing American influence of the Bush administration, the current Egyptian initiative may fare better. In recent weeks Syria and Jordan expressed support for Cairo’s efforts to end the rift. Abbas is feeling the pressure because the peace process is dormant and his term as president will come to an end in January. Hamas is also under pressure as humanitarian conditions in Gaza worsen and its popularity in the territories dips fast. Reconciliation has become more urgent than ever.
Fatah hardliners will have to accept the harsh reality that was made public by Palestinian voters more than two years ago when people voted many of their candidates out. They will have to swallow their pride and accept to share power with Hamas. The Islamist movement will have to realize that being supreme in Gaza will not help the Palestinian cause and that they too will have to tone down their rhetoric and give the PNA some much needed space to pursue negotiations with Israel in a fast changing world.
If the Cairo meeting fails the Palestinians will live another day to regret it and ponder what their next move will be.
Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist based in Jordan.
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