Since the biggest Palestinian rift in modern times took
place in 2007, when Hamas fighters expelled the Palestinian Authority (PA) from
Gaza and defeated Fatah loyalists in a bloody coup, there have been many
attempts at restoring national unity and what the mainstream now calls
“Palestinian reconciliation”.
اضافة اعلان
As illusive as
ending the Israeli occupation
But for generations of Palestinians born after that
catastrophic event, Palestinian reconciliation rings hollow. The bitter truth
is that after more than 16 years of political split between
Gaza and the West Bank, achieving national unity has become an issue almost as central, and as
illusive, as ending
Israeli occupation.
A clerical
fighter rather than a fighter in the trenches
Unlike his predecessor, Yasir Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas,
elected as president of the PA in 2005, in addition to the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO)—the latter being the political umbrella for the most active
and influential Palestinian factions—was never a popular or charismatic leader.
His career has been described as clerical rather than a fighter in the
trenches. He takes credit for negotiating the
Oslo Accords of 1993 and
ideologically, or so it seems, he has committed himself to their outcomes despite
the fundamental and acute shifts in the inclinations of the
Israeli body politic since the year 2000 and even before.
Fatah, the oldest and most popular Palestinian faction,
has never been able to recognize Hamas and other Islamist militant groups with
their jihadist agenda as an equal or even as a player on the evolving
Palestinian political tapestry. While a politically opportunist Arafat opted to
cajole the budding Gaza based movement of Hamas, especially after the
first Intifada of 1988, Abbas disagreed with its objectives and goals. He flatly
rejected their militant approach describing the then primitive missiles they
fired at
southern Israel as “absurd” or “futile.”
Abbas, at 87, and the financially troubled PA, are running out of options. The ruling Israeli government has turned its back to Oslo and is bulldozing its way into Palestinians lands. It could soon impose Israeli law on over 60 percent of West Bank territory—a de facto annexation.
Then came the split in Gaza after the collapse of the
elected government of Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in 2007. The loss of Gaza was an
especially painful blow to the PA, which presented itself as the legitimate
government of the Palestinians in the
Israeli occupied territories negotiating
a two-state solution and the creation of an independent Palestinian state as
per Oslo.
Hamas, and later Islamic Jihad, opted for a more radical
position than that taken by the PLO and its institutions; which was a
negotiated peaceful settlement. They adopted armed struggle as a way to
liberate Palestine. Their influence would have been limited if not for four
factors: One, the failure of all attempts at restoring Palestinian national
unity, second, the paralysis of peace talks between the
Israelis and the PA,
third, the rise of intransigent
Israeli Far Right that openly declared its
rejection of the
two-state solution and its intention to annex most of the West
Bank, and fourth, the changing regional geopolitical landscape allowing Iran to
infiltrate these jihadist movements under the guise of confronting Israel and
standing in solidarity with the Palestinians.
All this was happening while successive
Israeli governments carried out a number of military operations against the blockaded
Gaza Strip with the failed aim of crushing the Islamist resistance. While Abbas
and his PA stood still as Israel expanded illegal settlements in the occupied
West Bank and East Jerusalem and as the international community paid lip
service to condemn the Israeli actions, the popularity of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad soared.
Since the 2007 rift there have been a number of attempts
to restore national unity. From the Makkah agreement of 2007 all the way to the
most recent reconciliation attempt in Algeria, in October 2022, efforts to form
a national unity government, end Hamas’ control of Gaza and hold national
elections across the
Palestinian territories have been met with failure.
The latest initiative, launched by President Abbas, to
hold a meeting of the leaders of the Palestinian factions in Egypt, which took
place on Sunday, was equally unsuccessful. While Hamas attended, Islamic Jihad
boycotted the meeting, calling on Abbas to release “resistance fighters” who
have been rounded up by the PA
following Israel’s Jenin bloody incursion
earlier this month.
Failed to agree
on a joint statement
The meeting at Al-Alamein in Egypt had failed to agree on
a joint statement. The rift had become so wide, with Abbas calling for peaceful
resistance to Israeli occupation and a commitment to international law, while
Hamas, and others, urged him to call an end to the Oslo process and agree on
all forms of resistance available to the Palestinians to rid themselves of the
Israeli occupation. There was a
symbolic, but empty, gesture to the need to revive the PLO and to take a united
stand.
Abbas, at 87, and the financially troubled PA, are
running out of options. The ruling
Israeli government has turned its back to
Oslo and is bulldozing its way into Palestinians lands. It could soon impose
Israeli law on over 60 percent of West Bank territory—a de facto
annexation. The Biden administration
will not risk a confrontation with Israel over Abbas and the PA in an upcoming
election year.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad appear emboldened by the fact that Abbas
is weak and is looking for ways to evade the ultimate question: Who will
succeed him?
But for generations of Palestinians born after that catastrophic event, Palestinian reconciliation rings hollow. The bitter truth is that after more than 16 years of political split between Gaza and the West Bank, achieving national unity has become an issue almost as central, and as illusive, as ending Israeli occupation.
And while the heads of more than 10 Palestinian factions
were meeting in Egypt on Sunday fighting broke out between Fatah and “extremist
groups” in Ain Al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. It was the most
serious inter-Palestinian fighting in Lebanon in years. It was a bad omen for
what may come soon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati described the timing
of the fighting as “suspicious.”
An empty
rhetorical statement
Palestinian reconciliation has become an empty rhetorical
statement. Hamas, which is becoming unpopular in the beleaguered Gaza Strip,
will not give up control. Abbas is reluctant to allow the holding of elections
because the militants may win as younger, and desperate, generations of Palestinians
become more skeptical of a peaceful settlement that will liberate them. He has
become hostage to his obsolete ideological beliefs, all while the PA has become
an instrument of normalizing
Israeli occupation.
For now a
Far Right Israel is benefitting from
Palestinian divisions. But
Abbas will not last forever and Fatah, his political
base, is crumbling under his feet. A new generation of Palestinian leadership
is likely to emerge. And as Israel ups the ante the Palestinian response will
surely come.
Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator
based in Amman.
Read more Opinion and Analysis
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
