On 24th April 2014 a landmark deal between Hamas and Fatah took place to form a unity government within weeks, which has intensified the diplomatic drama of the Middle East. The US led negotiations by John Kerry which were set to expire on April 29th have come to a halt with the Zionist state refusing to negotiate with Hamas. Immediately after the announcement Netanyahu told the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Brown that Mr Abbas could “have peace with Israel or a pact with Hamas – he can’t have both.”[1] In light of this unity deal there are number of observations that can be made.
The conflict between Hamas and the Fatah has been on-going for some time. The situation imploded in 2006 when Hamas won majority seats in parliament which led to violent clashes. Ever since two factions ran Palestinian territories as two separate entities with Fatah ruling the West Bank and Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip. Whilst both purport to hold different views towards Israel and the two state solution the reality is both have the same view in that the 1967 borders should be the basis of a Palestinian state. Ever since the 1993 Oslo agreement in which the PLO leader Yasser Arafat recognised Israel and started to seek a negotiated settlement, there has been little progress towards a two state solution. Israel has always blamed Hamas’s insurrection of this failure.[2]
In 2011 however, Fatah and Hamas signed the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement in Cairo to end their divisions. Although previous attempts to implement the agreements relapsed, the latest announcement of reconciliation comes at a time when there are mutual benefits for both parties. For Hamas the deal means avoiding political isolation as the US negotiations with Fatah and Israel continue without them, but more importantly the recent suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood means that Hamas will become marginalised further. For Fatah it means the PLO will resolve the territorial dispute of the Gaza Strip which has undermined it as the international community constantly asks who really represents the Palestinian people overwhelming support for Hamas.
The unity deal however, complicates plans for Israel as the regional balance of power remains in a state of flux. Israel has been playing Hamas and Fatah of each other for over decade in order to delay negotiations with Palestine whilst pursuing its expansionist policy. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a statement that “whoever chooses Hamas does not want peace. I said this morning that Abu Mazen (the Fatah-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) needs to choose between peace with Israel and an agreement with Hamas, a murderous terrorist organisation that calls for the destruction of Israel and which both the United States and the European Union define as a terrorist organisation.,”[3] Israel will use the deal to justify further inaction in order to expand its settlements.
The deal between Fatah and Hamas is a step closer towards fulfilling the aims of the US in exerting pressure on Israel to proceed with a settlement. This is why US Secretary of State, John Kerry, warned Israel that it will become “an apartheid state” if a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians was not pursued.[4] The US state department said “Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties. If a new Palestinian government is formed, we will assess it based on its adherence to the stipulations above, its policies and actions, and will determine any implications for our assistance based on US law.” The EU also welcomed the Palestinian unity agreement but said the priority remains peace talks with Israel.[5]
The drama of the so called peace process began ever since Yasser Arafat the former PLO leader recognised the illegal Israel state which launched the negotiations in Madrid in 1991. Ever since there has been negotiations year in year out that have exceeded deadlines and never resolved the conflict. There are clear reasons for this which is the root cause of the problem.
1. Israel is not a legitimate state and the legal cover provided by the international community is a falsified picture that no country takes seriously except those whose political interests rest in the Middle East such as the neighbouring rulers of the Arab World.
2. The charade of negotiations are closer to an agreement between a slave and a master with terms such as the prevention of an army for Palestine or the recognition of Israel’s current borders are an insult to any dignified human being observing the process. The US and Israel want to legitimize an illegal invasion through a one-sided agreement that will institutionalize the current boundries and allow for illegal Israeli settlements to remain.
3. The US policy in the Arab World requires Israel to remain as a proxy state that balances regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. For this reason the US will not use their legal tools such as the UN to criminalise the behaviour of Israel like they did with Russia over Crimea.
The latest deal between Hamas and Fatah has provided Israel with a legal excuse to delay negotiations and buy itself time to further occupy Palestine. The ‘reconciliation’ between Hamas and Fatah is a domestic issue which should not affect the negotiations between Palestine and Israel. The diplomatic cover provided to Israel by the international community was on contradiction to Kerry’s statement only a few hours after the breakdown of negotiations, where he admonished Russia for its presence in Crimea, “No nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation.” said Joe Biden.”[6]
This is not the first time the negotiations have failed and will continue to do so until the Ummah in the region take their destiny into their own hands. The Palestine conflict is no doubt one of the most complicated political conflicts in the world today, however the solution is very simple. It is only the reversal of the occupation that was illegally undertaken at the heart of the Middle East
Kasim Javed
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27142594
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7385301.stm
[3] http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/04/israel-suspends-peace-talks-with-palestinians-2014424144322967432.html
[4] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/24/middle-east-israel-halts-peace-talks-palestinians
[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27195254
[6] http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/22/remarks-press-vice-president-joe-biden-and-ukrainian-prime-minister-arse