Hamas boasted of a “window of opportunity” and threatened to exploit “unprecedented internal divisions” within Israel over contested judicial reforms, during reconciliation with Fatah.
Fatah and Hamas have conducted a meeting in Egypt on Sunday in their newest push for unity. Fatah called for the establishment of a ‘Reconciliation Committee’ to end the division among Palestinian factions, but Hamas did not join in the calls. The meeting comes against a backdrop of escalating Iran-backed Palestinian terrorism, a loss of Palestinian Authority control over restive West Bank cities and a major decline in the Palestinian Authority’s popularity. It also follows outbreaks of violence between Islamist groups and Fatah in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah – its largest party, chaired the talks.
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, declared that the militants are “facing an exceptional stage in the course of the conflict” requiring the groups to “think collectively and take exceptional decisions”.
The Palestinian Authority President labelled the Hamas-Fatah schism as the new “nakba”, meaning catastrophe – a phrase usually reserved for the displacement of Palestinians from Israel following the states independence. He used the opportunity to reinstate the legitimacy of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
The rival factions of Fatah and Hamas, which control disconnected territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have been divided politically since 2007, when Hamas won the Gaza elections but violently purged the Strip of opposition groups. The terror groups’ participation signposted that the Hamas terror group is trying to reconcile with the wider Palestinian population, although multiple previous efforts have failed.
Haniyeh conveyed that “free democratic elections, or consensus” should be the starting point for national unity. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) revealed in 2022 that should presidential elections occur, which have not been held in the Palestinian Authority since 2006, Hamas’ Haniyeh would win over Fatah’s Abbas by 15% points.
Elections were due in April 2021 for the first time in 17 years. Abbas cited the missing participation of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian population as the reason for calling them off, blaming Israel for impeding the elections. Analysts have suggested that declining Palestinian Authority popularity due to corruption, imprisoning political opponents and financial instability is the more likely motivation for cancelling. 80% of Palestinians polled said that they want Fatah and PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to resign as President of the Palestinian Authority, according to new PSR figures.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a rising player in the regional conflict, was absent from the reconciliation talks. Their terror activities have resulted in the detention of its militants by the Palestinian Authority, who refused to release the offenders prior to the convention. Ziyad al-Nakhala, the group’s leader, boycotted the meeting as a result. Hamas sided with the fellow terror organisation and claimed that “resistance to the occupation” should not be cause for detention.
