Expectations Low for Breakthrough in Palestinian Reconciliation

Although a reconciliation meeting between heads of Palestinian factions just concluded in Egypt, expectations are low that a tangible and real breakthrough would be achieved to end the years-long intra-Palestinian division.

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Analysts agreed that "there is a wide gap" in the political positions of the Palestinian factions, mainly between the two rivals, the Fatah Movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

They said the differences between the two Palestinian groups "make it difficult" to implement the agreement of the reconciliation meeting held in Egypt's New Alamein City on Sunday.

During the meeting sponsored by Egypt, heads of the Palestinian factions agreed for the first time in years to form a committee to resume the stalled dialogue and work to end the internal division for achieving national unity.

The committee would include representatives of all the factions participating in the meeting and follow up on the decisions made by it, a well-informed Palestinian source said, adding that a timetable is yet to be set for the committee's work.

"Hamas did not express approval regarding its accession to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), its commitment to the international resolutions and involvement in peaceful popular resistance only," said the source.

The analysts said that without outlining a political strategy based on common denominators nor forming a unified government that works to end division, the meeting did not "achieve a qualitative breakthrough."

Hani al-Masri, director of the Ramallah-based Masarat Center for Research and Studies, stressed the importance of "specifying a reference and a ground for the committee as Fatah and Hamas have disputes over most of the issues."

"The difference lies in the vision and strategy as one favors armed resistance while the other adopts the preservation of the authority and rejects armed resistance," al-Masri said, adding that "another major division between the two rivals is over the PLO and its program, as well as the recognition of the international resolutions, mainly the recognition of Israel."

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday's meeting called for "reconstructing and developing the PLO, forming a new national council based on democratic elections, and setting up Palestinian institutions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip based on presidential and legislative elections.

Hisham Abdallah, a Ramallah-based political analyst, said what resulted from the meeting, attended by 12 Palestinian factions, was merely an invitation from Abbas to the same people who had previously participated in similar meetings held in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

"The Palestinian factions and movements are negotiating for the sake of only dialogue just like before. Otherwise, we would not have been facing this situation for all these years, while the Palestinian reality has been in continuous deterioration and the Palestinian cause has greatly declined," the analyst added.

The meeting also met with apathy among the public, who suffered from accumulated disappointments, arising from multiple failures in reaching a Palestinian reconciliation agreement since the internal division began in 2007.

Talal Okal, a writer and political analyst based in Gaza, said the dialogues and meetings of Palestinian factions no longer attract the attention of the Palestinian public because they made nothing other than more accusations and arguments.

"The previous agreements left no room for any new idea as all angles and ideas have been exhausted," Okal added, fearing that this round of dialogues "would be like the previous ones featuring "lack of will, different factional calculations, and unwillingness to end the division, restore unity, pay the required price, and overcome the occupation goals."

The Palestinians have been suffering from internal division since the summer of 2007 after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, home to over 2 million Palestinians. Despite several understandings between Hamas and Fatah, the two rivals failed to achieve reconciliation.