FATAH-HAMAS RECONCILIATION TALKS TO RESUME WEDNESDAY

Ramallah, 23 Rabiul Awwal 1434/05 February 2013 (MINA) – Reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas will resume on Wednesday in Cairo under Egyptian supervision, head of the Fatah team to the talks, Azzam Ahmad, said Monday.

He said the meeting will discuss what has been achieved so far in the reconciliation process since the last meeting and what remains to be implemented, according to Palestinian news agency, WAFA reports monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Tuesday.

He also said the two sides will prepare the ground for a meeting scheduled for Friday in Cairo for the committee looking into revitalizing and restructuring the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Ahmad said consultations regarding forming the new government of technocrats, which will be headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, will start next Monday when the elections commission is supposed to start actual registration of voters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in preparation for presidential and legislative elections.

Conflict of Brothers

The Fatah–Hamas conflict (Arabic: النزاع بين فتح وحماس‎ an-Nizāʿ bayna Fataḥ wa-Ḥamās), also referred to as the Palestinian Civil War (Arabic: الحرب الأهلية الفلسطينية al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhliyyah al-Filisṭīnīyyah), and the Conflict of Brothers (Arabic: صراع الإخوة Ṣirāʿ al-ʾIkhwah), i.e., fratricidal war (The conflict is called Wakseh among Palestinians, meaning humiliation, ruin, and collapse as a result of self-inflicted damage.), began in 2006, after Hamas’s legislative victories and has continued, politically and sometimes militarily up to this day.

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The conflict, which erupted between the two main Palestinian parties, Fatah and Hamas, resulted in the split of Palestinian Authority into two polities, both seeing themselves the true representatives of the Palestinian people – the Fatah ruled Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas Government in Gaza.

The Cairo reconciliation agreement between the parties was signed in May 2011, bringing hopes of reuniting the Fatah ruled Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas Government in Gaza. The implementation of the agreement however was not executed up until the withdrawal of the Hamas external office from Damascus, due to the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising.

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As a result, the Doha deal was signed by Mahmud Abbas and Haled Mashaal in 2012. On April 1, the Doha implementation however was described as “stalling” with no progress on the joint elections scheme.

In addition, the Fatah blamed Hamas that its security forces have set up roadblocks and arrested dozens of Fatah members and individuals in Gaza, they whom accused of “spreading rumors”.

Palestine needs Fatah-Hamas reconciliation

They do not need to agree on everything, but they do need to agree on being part of one Palestine, according to a Gulf News report.

If Palestine is to have a bright future, the two main Palestinian factions need to stop their feud. The more secular Fatah with its support of negotiations with the Israelis and the Islamist Hamas with its rejection of direct talks, need to come back to being two political parties in one Palestinian state. They do not need to agree on everything, but they do need to agree on both being part of one Palestine.

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The bitterness of their feud has wrecked Palestine. After Hamas beat Fatah decisively in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, it was denied office, but it seized power in Gaza in 2007, where it has stayed ever since.

Palestine has an urgent need of a government with a popular mandate which can stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Israelis and seek American President Barack Obama’s active support for the two-state solution.

Therefore, it was astonishing to see a vast rally in Gaza last weekend in support of Fatah, to mark the anniversary of its founding.

It was a notable moment of emotional support for Fatah in Hamas-dominated Gaza, which should be grabbed by both Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’ Esmail Haniya to build a better relationship, with the intention of reuniting the two halves of Palestine and holding new elections across the entire country so that Palestine has a better political future. (T/P015/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)