Whether the current Palestinian unity push between the ruling Palestinian Authority/Fatah and Hamas will continue to develop or become derailed – as similar previous efforts have – due to the deeply ingrained conflicts between the two factions, remains to be seen.
Of course, as far as Israel is concerned, there is unlikely any real difference between them in terms of serious peace prospects. Still, we were fascinated by the palpably different reactions from the Israeli government and the U.S. State Department to a preliminary reconciliation agreement announced last week, ostensibly leading to a unity government.
Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that “Reconciling with mass murderers is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Say yes to peace and not to joining hands with Hamas.”
In essence the Israeli position is, and has long been, that Hamas cannot be accepted at the table unless it has renounced violence, recognized the state of Israel, accepted previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, and is now committed to peaceful negotiations to resolve the conflict.
On the other hand, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert’s reacted to the news of the reconciliation agreement by saying, “We would welcome the effort for the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume responsibilities in Gaza. We see that as potentially an important step for getting humanitarian aid in there.”
While the standards for acceptance of Hamas on the part of both the U.S. and Israel have typically been the same, the U.S. has been more focused on the need for Hamas to defer to the political control of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority rather than on the substantive issues Hamas must address.
The significance of the distinction is underscored by the statement of the Hamas deputy political leader who was one of the signatories to the reconciliation agreement. He openly declared that the purpose of the agreement was to enable Palestinian forces to “work together against [the] Zionist enterprise.”
The conventional wisdom is that Hamas has been driven to talk reconciliation because Gaza is in extraordinarily desperate straits. Once that eases, Hamas will revert to form and the Palestinian Authority will be forced to part ways since U.S. law prohibits any funding for the PA if Hamas becomes part of a power-sharing arrangement with Fatah. But while that is technically true, it behooves us to watch carefully what comes out from the State Department.