CAIRO — The Islamist group Hamas and the mainstream Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced Wednesday that they have agreed to reconcile, in a surprise Egyptian-brokered accord that angered Israel and left U.S. officials struggling to maintain their influence over Middle East peace negotiations.
The power-sharing deal, hammered out in a series of secret meetings in Cairo, includes the formation of a national unity government and a timetable for a general election next year, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said.
Top leaders from both parties, which fought a bloody battle for control of Gaza four years ago, are expected in Cairo soon for the formal signing of the agreement, which, if successful, would end their rift and present a more cohesive Palestinian front in negotiations on ending the decades-old conflict with Israel.
“At this stage, we have the best weapon to face the occupation. This weapon is our national unity,” Fatah negotiator Azzam al Ahmad told a news conference in Cairo, echoing remarks Mr. Abbas made from Moscow.
News of the rapprochement was met with U.S. wariness and Israeli hostility. Both countries consider Hamas a terrorist organization. The White House issued a statement saying any new Palestinian leadership must “renounce violence, abide by past agreements and recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put the concern more bluntly, demanding that Fatah make a choice: peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas. “There cannot be peace with both, because Hamas strives to destroy the state of Israel and says so openly,” he said.
The announcement also was another sign that the string of revolts that toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and threatens the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad is likely to have a profound effect beyond the countries where the revolts have taken place.
The toppling of Mr. Mubarak, whose regime cooperated with Israel in isolating Hamas-governed Gaza, opened the door for more neutral mediation, Hamas officials told Arabic-language TV channels. Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the historic Islamist group that Mr. Mubarak relentlessly persecuted, and that many now expect to become a pervasive, if not dominant, force in Egyptian politics.
The Egyptian intelligence service announced the accord in a statement distributed via the state news agency MENA. Egyptian intelligence officials arranged the talks between senior representatives from Fatah and Hamas.
“The new government in Egypt is more objective, more willing to listen to both sides, more willing to keep some distance from both sides,” Al-Jazeera satellite channel senior analyst Marwan Bishara said in a broadcast Wednesday.
The unrest in Syria played a role in the agreement. Hamas’ exiled political bureau chief, Khaled Meshaal, and the Islamic Jihad militant group’s leader, Ramadan Shallah, live under the protection of Mr. Assad. Mr. Shallah, who reportedly will join the other groups at the Cairo ceremony, was added to the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists in 2006.
With Mr. Assad now facing a popular revolt that seeks to overthrow him, Hamas was forced back to the negotiating table for a Plan B, said an Egyptian Foreign Ministry senior official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly on the developments. “You see what’s happening in the region, specifically in Syria, which is very important for Hamas members,” the Egyptian official said. “This is one of the main motivations for Hamas to accept the treaty and act in accordance with it.”
Similar reconciliation deals have fallen through at the last minute, so Palestinians said their hopes for the Egyptian plan were tempered with skepticism. Even some officials involved in the talks acknowledged potential spoilers, such as disagreements over how to divvy up responsibility for security in the Palestinian territories.
Hamas has ruled as Gaza’s de facto government since 2007, when unity talks collapsed and Palestinians fought a brief civil war in which Hamas seized power. Fatah, which is considered a more moderate and Western-friendly movement, still controls the West Bank.
There were only muted celebrations of the announcement in the Palestinian territories, where many residents took a wait-and-see approach.
“At the last minute before signing an agreement, they always spoil it with some silly obstacle,” said Haider Moussa, 30, who lives in Gaza and has a security job in Ramallah. Mr. Moussa said he would believe in the agreement only “when I feel it, when I see it implemented on the ground, and I see results of the reconciliation.”
Related
- Netanyahu: PA Must Chose between Hamas and “Peace” | Apr 27, 2011
Israel is outraged. An agreement or unity between Palestinians is their biggest nightmare, for rule and divide serves their real intention: Ethnic cleansing and annexation of the whole of Palestine. That Israel, never had, nor will have any intention to reach a peace agreement with Palestine you can read here:
- Special Topic | Settler Violence and here
- Special Topic | ETHNIC CLEANSING
In this ongoing atrocities, funded by US Tax payers:
- How Many Weapons to Israel?
- Costs of arming Israel can no longer be ignored
- US weapons to Israel deter peace
- New database reveals weapons to Israel, impact on
- US weapons give-a-way to Israel used to kill 735 Palestinian children in past decade
- US Weapons to Israel Are Disincentives to Peace
- Consequences of Israeli Chemical Weapons
To learn about the truth behind occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the Nakba – watch these video’s
More Sources
- Map of “Greater Israel” Published by Radical Settler Movement
- All Israeli Massacres on Palestinians
- Map of already ethnically cleansed, destroyed and excisting Arab Villages
- Peace Now | Current West Bank and Jerusalem Map – 2011