European Forum

Fatah and Hamas reach agreement on reconciliation

On 27 April the Palestinian political organisation Fatah has reached an agreement on reconciliation with its rival Hamas during talks in Cairo. Fatah and Hamas both agreed on reuniting their governments in the West Bank and Gaza and forming an interim government to prepare for general elections.

Fatah holds power in the occupied West Bank while Hamas, which won the last parliamentary election in 2006, holds control of the Gaza Strip. In February of 2011, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and a member of Fatah, called for presidential and legislative elections before September, in a move which was rejected by Hamas at the time. Therefore, this deal came as a surprise to many people and can be seen as a step in the effort to end the political split between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank ruled by the Fatah-led PA.

One of the reasons behind this agreement can be found in the upheavals of the last months in the Arab world, which brought the Palestinians more together. “We have agreed to form a government composed of independent figures that would start preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections,” said Azzam al-Ahmed, the chief Fatah negotiator in the reconciliation talks, adding that elections will be held within one year. According to member of the Hamas leadership, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, the interim government will be responsible for the internal issues while the interim committee for Palestinian fractions will deal with foreign affairs.

International reactions
The U.S. supports Palestinian reconciliation on terms that promote peace, while cautioning that “Hamas … is a terrorist organization which targets civilians,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said. According to the US, the Palestinian government must recognize Israel and renounce violence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in reaction to the agreement that the Palestinian Authority must choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. “Peace with both is impossible because of the Hamas goal of destroying the state of Israel, which it expresses openly,” he said, pointing to the ongoing rocket attacks. In a press release on 29 April the Party of European Socialists (PES) and the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament called the Palestinian reconciliation agreement a brave step towards peace and EU recognition.

Egyptian intelligence concluded in a statement that “the consultations resulted in full understandings over all points of discussions.”

Despite the calls from Israel to scrap the reconciliation agreement, both parties signed the agreement in Cairo on 4 May.

Sources: NYtimes; Aljazeera; VK; PES Photo: Jaume d’Urgell