World View: Hamas Announces It Will Reconcile with the Fatah and Palestinian Authority

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
John J. Xenakis

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • Hamas announces it will reconcile with the Fatah and Palestinian Authority
  • Egypt forces Hamas to capitulate to Fatah and reconcile

Hamas announces it will reconcile with the Fatah and Palestinian Authority

Mahmoud Abbas (R) and Hamas members (L) (Reuters)
Mahmoud Abbas (R) and Hamas members (L) (Reuters)

We have heard this several times before: Hamas and and Fatah (Palestinian Authority), the two Palestinian groups, have agreed to reconcile and form a “unity government.” The new government will contain ministers and MPs from both Hamas and Fatah and will govern both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Palestinians took control of the Gaza Strip in 2005, after Israel voluntarily withdrew in a move to promote a new step in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. However, the terror group Hamas took control of Gaza and used it as a launchpad for attacks on Israel. In 2007, Fatah attempted to use force to take control of Gaza, with the plan to form a “unity government” between Hamas and Fatah. But the entire Mideast was shocked when Hamas overpowered and defeated the much more powerful Fatah forces. This brief war was punctuated by many atrocities and a great deal of vitriol, resulting in what seems a permanent split between Hamas and Fatah.

Israel and Hamas had brief wars early in 2009, and again in 2014, and these wars triggered renewed calls for a unity government between Hamas and Fatah. A particularly forceful attempt in 2014 raised hopes but ended quickly.

So Hamas’s statement on Sunday morning saying that it was ready to reconcile with Fatah, form a unity government, and hold general elections came as a surprise.

However, there is little reason to believe that reconciliation will last any longer this time than it has in the past, since neither Hamas nor Fatah have kept their promises in the past. Times of Israel and Palestinian News Network and Arab News (Saudi Arabia) and Al-Jazeera (Qatar)

Egypt forces Hamas to capitulate to Fatah and reconcile

The reconciliation announcement was brought about through the determination of Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who called Fatah and Hamas delegations to meet in Cairo last week for reconciliation talks. According to reports, the Hamas delegation refused to be in the same room as the Fatah delegation.

Hamas had refused to reconcile with Fatah in the past but was forced to do so now for several reasons:

  • Gaza is blockaded on three sides by Israel, and on a fourth side by Egypt. Egypt used the blockade as leverage to force Hamas to agree to reconciliation.
  • Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah’s Palestinian Authority (PA), has been squeezing Hamas for several months by cutting payments to Israel for the electricity that Israel supplies to Gaza. This lead to sharp reductions in power in Gaza, less than four hours on some days and never more than six hours. This was creating a desperate situation in Gaza, and reconciliation was the only way for Hamas to get the electricity restored.
  • Hamas has been increasingly isolated internationally since June, when Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on Qatar. Qatar used to fund a large chunk of Hamas’s operating budget but has been under increasing financial pressure because of the blockade and has cut its aid to Hamas.

All of this has lead to a financial crisis for Hamas. So with a financial gun to its head, Hamas was forced by Egypt to announce a capitulation and an agreement to reconcile with Hamas.

How long this magnanimous feeling of reconciliation will last is anyone’s guess, but even if it succeeds, there may be unintended consequences. Since the U.S., Europe, and Israel list Hamas as a terror organization, the West may be restricted from negotiating with or providing aid to a unity government. Going further, if there are elections, it is quite possible that Hamas would win the elections giving it governing control of both Gaza and the West Bank. Asharq Al-Awsat (London) and Al-Ahram (Cairo) and The National (UAE)

Related Articles:

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
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