generalspeaking

Reuniting Fatah and Hamas

"We don't trust Hamas and they don't trust us, so we have to build trust. Everyone has gone the first step in the right direction, and I think trust will be built gradually because we want this reconciliation to be a gradual process."

"Without Yahia Sinwar [newly elected Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar] this could not have happened. He has two hats. He wears the Al Qassam (Hamas' military wing) hat, where he has credibility, and the politburo hat, where he [also] has credibility."

"The difference is Egypt. Cairo has a vested interest in this reconciliation and wants to recapture its prestige in the region."

Mohammad Shtayyeh, adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah central committee member

"They had to do it because the people are fed up with this division between Fatah and Hamas."

"We hope that this unification will add strength to the Palestinians at the negotiating table with Israel. Possibly, this is a step in preparing something for Trump's deal."

Hussein Al-Rimmawi, professor of political geography, Ramallah

"[The US welcomed] efforts to create the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in Gaza." 
"We will be watching these developments closely, while pressing forward ... to try to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza."

"Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the State of Israel, acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties, and peaceful negotiations."

White House Special Representative Jason Greenblatt

 

"[Israel must be aware of and guard against] bogus reconciliations [which take place] at the expense of our existence."

"Whoever wants to make such a reconciliation, our understanding is very clear: Recognize the State of Israel, disband the Hamas military arm [and] sever the connection with Iran, which calls for our destruction."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 

"The Egyptian role is overt, aggressive and we basically have the same instinct as the Egyptians do when it comes to Hamas."

"Of course, they have a way of influencing in Gaza that Israel no longer has."

Eran Lerman, former deputy director, National Security Council, Israel

Senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri (left) sits next to Fatah's Azzam al-Ahmad as they sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Thursday. Under the agreement, Hamas would cede control of the Gaza Strip to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority by Dec. 1.  Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Once again the rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas have pledged to work together. They do, after all, share one overwhelming aim; to destroy the State of Israel. Fatah, through their leadership in the Palestinian Authority in its ongoing mission to continue fostering hatred of the Palestinian Arabs toward Israeli Jews and their continuous incitement to violence, while posing as a legitimate partner with Israel toward successful peace negotiations, and Hamas, which states up front that its existence is mandated toward the destruction of Israel.

The PA under President Mahmoud Abbas portrays itself as innocent of any violent plots against Israel; Hamas unabashedly and with pride celebrates its own.

Each time they have committed to join the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in a common bond with a common purpose, extolling their ability to rule together in harmony, they have succumbed to the hostility each faction feels against the other; Hamas with its fundamentalist Islamist colouration and Fatah with its secular-type Islamic ideology, each deploring the other. They ruled together for a few short years in a unity government when elections resulted in Hamas obtaining a surprising percentage of the vote.

And then that unity government fell apart when Hamas decided it would take over a fractious Gaza, making it even more dangerous when they succeeded in ousting their Fatah rivals in a spasm of ultra violence. Now, as a result of Egypt having declared the Muslim Brotherhood (of which Hamas is an offshoot) a terrorist group after the coup that removed Mohammed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency and the Brotherhood from power, returning Egypt to military rule under President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Hamas's estrangement from its funder Iran, its control in Gaza de-funded, it  turned in desperation to offering to rejoin Fatah.

Negotiations taking place in Cairo facilitated the two rivals agreeing to unite, with Hamas eager and willing to render unto Fatah the governance of Gaza, which had proven too difficult for Hamas ever since their funding shortcoming had been complicated by the PA withholding payment to enable Gazan employees to be paid, and ordering Israel to stop supplying the Strip with electrical power by refusing to pay for it.

But reconciliation is in the works, not so much a 'win' for Fatah as it is for Hamas. Hamas no longer has to be concerned about administering the civil affairs of the Strip; that will now revert to Fatah and become their headache, leaving Hamas free to concentrate its effort entirely on its military. With, of course, its mandate intact, to destroy Israel. In Gaza, residents are understandably pleased: "I hope there will be implementation on the ground for the issues agreed upon, because we are truly tired from the division and poverty", sighed resident Waed Mesameh.

What seems like a surrender to Fatah by Hamas is anything but; it is a rescue of Hamas by Fatah. Fatah regains command of Gaza alongside that of the West Bank as autonomous regions under Israeli control, a condition required to ensure that no massive attacks by Palestinians eager to blow up Israelis are committed through lack of Israeli vigilance. What Fatah and the world call the 'occupation' would never be in place were it not for the threats to Israel and its citizens emanating from the West Bank and Gaza.

How likely is it, however, that the crossings between Israel and the Palestinians will now fall into Palestinian Authority hands, given the ongoing pledge of Hamas, now realigned with Fatah, to continue its war against Israel? Hamas remains on the terrorist list of most of the West. Opening Gaza's borders would have a number of purposes; on the one  and, it would help relieve the isolation of Gazans, and offer them a more 'normalized' existence; on the other offer greater opportunities for Hamas to rebuild its military infrastructure after the last conflict with the IDF, and expand its deadly arsenal of weapons.

After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 in a schism with Fatah, the terrorist group 'appointed' 40,000 Gaza residents as employees to work in the ministries they set up in Gaza. This is a measure to ensure that at least that number of Gazans will be loyal to Hamas, and dependent on it for their livelihoods. When the 40,000 were appointed, the tens of thousands that Fatah had previously employed were put out of work. Now that Fatah will resume authority in Gaza, it plans to recall its Fatah employees, and the Gaza appointees will be out of luck.

Already a divergence of opinion has arisen with Gaza arguing that if the Fatah employees are returned to work, the Gaza employees should also be retained on the job. With Fatah retorting that it cannot afford to absorb them all as paid employees and its priorities are the deployment of its own employees, so the Gaza appointees will be out.of.luck, oh my. Dissension, already, before the ink is even dry...!

Labels: Conflict, Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Security

posted by Pieface @ Friday, October 13, 2017