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The two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, announced Wednesday that they were putting aside years of bitter rivalry to create an interim unity government and hold elections within a year, a surprise move that promised to reshape the diplomatic landscape of the Middle East.
"It is time for the Palestinian people to reject the corrupt and useless leaders who have used violence and strife to insure their positions. It is also time for Israel to reject the extreme factions of their government."
The announced reconciliation on Wednesday between Fatah and Hamas, the estranged Palestinian movements, puts the Obama administration in the uncomfortable position of having to reconsider its financial support for the Palestinian Authority, including millions of dollars the United States has spent to train and equip Palestinian security forces, officials and members of Congress said.
It’s not yet certain that a political deal announced Wednesday by the long-divided Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions will stick--similar pacts have been proclaimed and then discarded several times in the last four years.
But one thing is sure: If Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas moves forward with the reconciliation with the Islamic Hamas movement, it will mean he has written off the Obama administration and the peace process it has tried to broker, once and for all.
Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah reached an "understanding" in Cairo on Wednesday to set up a transitional unity government and hold elections, Hamas and Fatah sources said.
Hamas leader Izzat Ar-Rishiq confirmed the initial agreement. Ar-Rishiq said Cairo will call all factions to sign the final reconciliation within the week with the presence of Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Mash'al.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said Wednesday that an agreement between Fatah and Hamas “is an internal affair that has nothing to do with Israel, which is not a party to it.”
"The agreement strengthens Palestinian unity and its just struggle to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," he said in response to remarks by the Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem.
Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded that President Abbas "choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas," saying such an agreement paved the way for Hamas to take control of the West Bank too.
Israel signalled on Wednesday it would intercept a flotilla pro-Palestinian activists plan to send to Gaza for the anniversary of an Israeli raid on a Turkish ship that tried to breach its naval blockade.
The Free Gaza Movement has said 15 vessels with international passengers, including Europeans and Americans, were expected to set sail in late May for the territory, run by Hamas Islamists opposed to peace with Israel.
Israel's foreign minister warned on Thursday that Israel will not negotiate with a new Palestinian unity government that includes the Hamas militant group.
Avigdor Lieberman spoke a day after rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a unity deal in Cairo to end their five year long dispute.
For the Palestinians, the Egyptian-brokered deal revived hopes of ending their bitter infighting that weakened them politically and caused the deaths of hundreds in violent clashes and crackdowns.
With upheaval in Syria spreading and the crackdown by President Bashar Assad growing more violent, Israel has begun bracing for change in an authoritarian regime that has been a potent yet familiar enemy for four decades.
A shake-up in Syria would have implications beyond the border the two countries share. While Syria has not fought a direct war with Israel since 1973, it has cultivated relations with Israel's most bitter foes. A staunch Iranian ally, it backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas forces dispersed dozens of people who gathered in a Gaza City square to celebrate the progress made on the national reconciliation issue, witnesses and demonstrators said Wednesday.
The rally was organized late Wednesday following the news that Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and the Islamic Hamas movement reached an initial agreement on ending split and restoring unity in Cairo.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said he sticks to what he called the requirements of resuming peace talks with Israel.
"The resumption of negotiations requires full suspension of all settlement activities and defining a clear reference to the peace process," Abbas was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, as saying.
Abbas made his comments when he received the U.S. Consul General, Daniel Rubinstein, at his office in Ramallah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is gearing to hold a nationwide drill, scheduled to take place in two months, in a bid to prepare the populace for the possibility of war.
The exercise, called "Turning Point 5," will begin on June 19 and end four days later.
An IDF spokesman confirmed to Xinhua that preparations for the drill are underway, but would not provide further details.
National daily Yedioth Aharonot, however, claimed Wednesday that the drill will be the largest-ever to be held in Israel, encompassing 70 percent of civilians residing in more than 80 local councils.
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader who participated in the reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas, said on Wednesday that the interim Palestinian government would not be able to work on peace negotiations with Israel.
The rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas came to a historic agreement on Wednesday, when they announced a decision to reconcile and form an interim government ahead of elections, after a four-year feud. Both sides hailed the agreement as a chance to start a fresh page in their national history.
Fatah and Hamas announced in Cairo on Wednesday that they had agreed to a reconciliation agreement, ending four years of feuding between the Palestinian factions. The historic deal was greeted cooly in Jerusalem.
In an about-face, Hamas said that it would sign the agreement, which was drafted by the Egyptians and signed by Fatah in October 2009.
The agreement calls for a setting up a caretaker government of technocrats, and for holding presidential, parliamentary and National Palestinian Council elections within a year.
The Palestinian reconciliation deal, if realized, heralds the takeover of the Palestinian national movement by Hamas, providing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an escape from the rut he has fallen into because of the deadlock in the peace process. This is just what Netanyahu needed to unite the Israeli public behind him and thwart international pressure to withdraw from the West Bank.
The Palestinian factions' reconciliations has Israel concerned for many reasons, but one of the major ones is the now-questionable continuation of the collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.
"The work vis-à-vis Palestinian security forces is very effective, and serves both parties well," military sources told Ynet Thursday.
"Any change to this delicate relationship would lead to a significant change in the West Bank and will mandate the IDF change its deployment in the area."
Attempts to enter Joseph's Tomb continue despite the death of Ben-Yosef Livnat. Some 40 members of the Hilltop Youth entered the Balata refugee camp in Nablus via agricultural Palestinian land after bypassing police and army checkpoints.
Nightly Infiltrations
The IDF fired lighting bombs and launched a search with police assistance. Thus far, at least 13 settlers have been detained.
Lawmakers in the US responded overnight Wednesday to news that Hamas and Fatah have formed a unity government by threatening to withhold aid to Gaza.
US Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), the top Democrat serving on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, released a statement saying that the deal, which does not require Hamas to recognize Israel, "is a recipe for failure, mixed with violence, leading to disaster."
"It is a ghastly mistake that I fear will be paid for in the lives of innocent Israelis," Ackerman said.
Do you know that Israeli Arabs are getting on crowded buses every day, sitting among Jews, and no one is checking to see if they’re terrorists? Hundreds of thousands of Israeli Arabs are riding these mixed buses every day, many of them carrying bags and wearing coats, and nobody’s checking their ID, making them go through a metal detector or asking them a single question. If this isn’t an existential threat, I don’t know what is.
Reacting to news that rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas had agreed to a reconciliation deal, the Obama government said any Palestinian unity government must accept Israel's right to exist and renounce terrorism -- conditions that Hamas does not meet.
The surprise deal to form an interim government and hold general elections within a year was reached Wednesday in secret negotiations in Cairo between the two sides, according to reports. A formal announcement of the reconciliation reportedly will be made next week.
The chances for the birth of a Palestinian state this fall appear to be 50-50. The world community, including the US, seems to favour the idea, but there is clearly a lack of political will and muscle that would push Israel to seriously negotiate the emergence of Palestine. At the same time, major countries, especially the US, do not show enthusiasm for a unilateral declaration coupled with a UN birth certificate.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/18745
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/18745
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/18745
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?_r=2&ref=middleeast
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/world/middleeast/28policy.html?ref=middleeast
[8] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/palestinians-launch-their-revolution/2011/04/19/AFweOs0E_blog.html
[9] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=382794
[10] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=382804
[11] http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/israel-signals-will-block-planned-flotilla-to-gaza/
[12] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/israel-rejects-palestinian-government-with-hamas-1439389.html
[13] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/israel-anticipates-change-in-syria-1436405.html
[14] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/28/c_13849057.htm
[15] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/27/c_13848996.htm
[16] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/27/c_13848998.htm
[17] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/senior-hamas-leader-interim-palestinian-government-not-able-to-work-on-peace-with-israel-1.358535
[18] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinian-reconciliation-could-work-to-israel-s-advantage-1.358506
[19] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hamas-has-taken-over-the-palestinian-nationalist-movement-1.358494
[20] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4061591,00.html
[21] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4061568,00.html
[22] http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=218184
[23] http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=218135
[24] http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/04/27/3087056/the-rival-palestinian-factions-fatah-and-hamas-have-agreed-to-a-reconciliation-deal
[25] http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=36916
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