Signs of Rapprochement

Khaled Amayreh, West Bank

Leaders within Fatah are waking up to the dangers of the
present course charted by Abbas.

With the US and Israel telling Palestinian Authority
(PA) President Mahmoud Abbas that keeping away
from Hamas is a sine qua non for the continuation of
the "peace process," many in Fatah are now realising
that Israel and its US guardian-ally are only utilising
Palestinian national disunity to further weaken the
Palestinian negotiating position.

Observers in the occupied Palestinian territories cite a
number of recent signs indicating that a certain thaw in
the Hamas-Fatah showdown is taking place.

Last week, a debate took place between Fakhri Hammad,
head of the Hamas-affiliated Gaza-based Al-Aqsa satellite
television, and Basem Abu Sumayya, head of the
Fatah-dominated Palestinian Radio and Television
Corporation. The encounter, the first since Hamas
ousted Fatah forces from Gaza last year, occurred
during a three-day conference on the role of
Palestinian media in bolstering tension between
Fatah and Hamas.

Scores of journalists and media operatives meeting in the
West Bank town of Jericho linked up via video- conference
with their colleagues in Gaza to discuss the "dismal state
of affairs facing the Palestinian media". Abu Sumayya and
Hammad were questioned on the role of their respective
TV stations, especially with regard to vilification and
incitement by each side against the other.

Hammad vowed to put an end to all forms of incitement
against Fatah and the PA, provided reciprocity from the
Fatah side. For his part, Abu Sumayya said he was
"willing and ready to open the doors of our radio and
television to the representatives of Hamas". He added,
"we are cutting back on some of the vilifying epithets
we use in reference to Hamas."

Many participants hoped the encounter, which was more
polite than cordial, would help bring some sanity into the
generally convulsive discourse championed by both
Hamas and Fatah with regard to each other. The
Jericho-Gaza conference, sponsored by the Ramallah-
based independent AMIN Media Network, urged both
the Fatah government in the West Bank and the Hamas
government in Gaza to refrain from incitement and allow
"all Palestinian media" to operate freely.

The conference also called for the formation of two
committees made up of professional journalists, one in
the West Bank and the other in Gaza, which would meet
with political leaders at the highest level to urge them to
guarantee press freedoms, release detained journalists
and refrain from detaining media operatives for voicing
non-conformist views.

Other recommendations included an immediate cessation
of epithets such as calling the Gaza government "coup- mongers"
or "Hamas's gangs", and calling the PA regime in Ramallah "
American stooges".

A few days earlier, Hamas authorities in Gaza allowed one of
the leading Palestinian newspapers, Al-Ayyam, to resume
publication and distribution in the Strip. The paper was banned
several months ago following the publication of articles and
reports that Hamas officials deemed far beyond the pale of
what is acceptable.

Hamas officials in Gaza told Al-Ahram Weekly that they hoped
that Ramallah would reciprocate by allowing Al- Aqsa TV
correspondents to operate unhindered, as well as allowing
the redistribution of the Hamas-affiliated daily newspaper,
Falastin, and the weekly Al-Risala in the West Bank.

Efforts to encourage good will and foster a positive
atmosphere are likely to continue as both Hamas and
Fatah realise that the party that appears to be hindering
national unity will lose respect in the eyes of the Palestinian
masses. A recent opinion poll showed that a growing number
of Palestinians are shunning both Fatah and Hamas due to
their enduring schism. Khalil Shekaki, who conducted the
poll, says the trend is likely to endure if meaningful steps
are not taken to end the crisis.

Apart from the public mood, there are certain political
calculations prompting both sides to reconsider their
entrenched positions. Many influential people within
Fatah are becoming convinced that any prospective peace
deal with Israel would be far below Palestinian expectations
-- let alone aspirations -- absent rapprochement between
Fatah and Hamas.

Firas Yaghi is the former executive director of the Palestinian
Elections Committee. He argues that a genuine peace process
with Israel hinges on internal Palestinian harmony. "Without
national unity, we can't reach peace with Israel, and our
people will not be able to attain their goals, and we will
eventually be overwhelmed by national melancholy," he said.

However, it is unlikely that US President Bush and Israeli
Prime Minister Olmert -- the latter eager to display
toughness in talks with the Palestinians in order to divert
attention from his latest corruption scandal that may
signal an early end to his political career -- will tolerate the
restoration of Palestinian national unity. The reason is clear.
Solid rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas would
strengthen the Palestinian negotiation position and make it
harder for Israel and the US to blackmail and bully Abbas,
a man of weaker calibre compared to late Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat.

With Hamas sitting next to the Fatah driver, or even in the back
seat, many Palestinians believe that Palestinian negotiators
would be in a better position to wrest from Israel most if not
all of their demanded rights covered by UN resolutions 242 and
338. This includes the total Israeli withdrawal from the
territories occupied in 1967, including all of East Jerusalem,
as well as a just settlement for Palestinian refugees pursuant
UN Resolution 194.

Abbas, at least ostensibly, doesn't object to these "constants".
However, his commitment to them appears significantly less
than that of Hamas and even the vast bulk of Fatah leaders,
especially at the grassroots and intermediate levels. Hence,
US-Israeli insistence on keeping the Hamas- Fatah rift intact,
at least as long as it takes to get Abbas to accept a final peace
settlement in line with Israeli-US preferences, namely a
deformed and truncated entity, without East Jerusalem,
without territorial contiguity, and certainly without honouring
the right of return of refugees.

Israel and the US, rightly or wrongly, believe that the
Hamas factor, despite all efforts to neutralise it, is preventing
Abbas from accepting such a settlement. This is likely what
Israeli President Shimon Peres meant when he claimed this
week that, "had it not been for Hamas, the Palestinians would
have had an independent state a long time ago."

Most Palestinians scoff at such remarks given the fact that
Israeli settlement expansion, which is continuing unabated
despite peace talks and constant European protest, has been
and continues to be the central factor impeding the creation
of a viable Palestinian state.

Now, with peace talks going nowhere despite dubious leaks
suggesting progress, some Fatah leaders who follow the so-
called "Arafat line" are warning that Fatah stands to lose both
the battle of peace with Israel and its standing with the
Palestinian public. Hence, the willingness of many Fatah
leaders to seek rapprochement with Hamas before it is
too late.

One of the main expressions of current anxieties among Fatah
leaders is their shunning of Abbas in favour of Marwan
Barghouti, the imprisoned Fatah leader who reportedly
favours speedy reconciliation with Hamas. This trend, reliable
Fatah sources argue, is likely to grow, especially if current
talks with Israel prove fruitless as expected.

May 9, 2008 By Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank reserved. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/index.htm