Shift in Palestine

With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the UN to plead the cause of the occupied territory, there are developments on the ground that could offer some hope for the cause of the Palestinian people. Israel and other global powers have been able to use the clash between Fatah and Hamas inside Palestine to fracture and delegitimise the Palestinian cause. After Hamas was elected in 2007, the group fought a short civil war with the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip before holding onto power in Gaza via a shadow government. The consequences for Hamas and the people of Gaza have been dire. Designated a terrorist organisation, Hamas has had trouble talking to most global powers. But its problems have not been limited to external ones. Fatah continues to hold onto central authority in Palestine and has punished Hamas through limiting food and electricity supply to the two million residents of the Gaza strip. Numerous attempts at rapprochement between the two groups have failed, including the 2014 agreement to form a national reconciliation government. Despite the agreements, there has been little show of faith for each other by either group.     This is why concerns remain that the Hamas offer for talks might not be substantive.

What is changing, however, is the geopolitical climate in the Middle East. Until 2013, Hamas could rely on a friendly government in Egypt for food aid and international backing. Now, with El-Sisi in control, Egypt has pressured Hamas to reconcile with Fatah and allow the return of exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan. Similarly, Hamas’ relationship with Turkey has deteriorated – leaving it with little international support to continue to govern Gaza. The trouble, however, is that if this is a shift led by geopolitics, what is to stop another major conflict erupting between the two groups in the future? There will have to be serious confidence-building measures before jumping to an agreement. The Palestinian prime minister is set to visit Gaza to chalk out concessions. Fatah is demanding that Hamas make the first compromises – including giving up control over key ministries in Gaza. Hamas knows it has no choice but to agree. But all of this internal politicking has come at a loss for the larger interests of the Palestinian people. The standoff between Fatah and Hamas has been a long-standing excuse for Israel not to move forward in the talks process, despite Hamas changing its position towards the existence of Israel in its reformed avatar. The need for Palestinian unity is an essential step towards getting rid of the occupation. There are encouraging signs that this will happen soon.