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Hamas and Fatah Sign Unity Deal, Allowing Joint Control of Gaza Palestinian Factions, Hamas and Fatah, Sign Unity Deal
(about 5 hours later)
CAIRO — Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Thursday that aims to end their decade-old rivalry by providing for a joint administration with control of Gaza’s borders, including a key crossing point with Egypt, but that leaves thornier issues unresolved. CAIRO — The main Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation agreement on Thursday that aims to mend their decade-old rift and places Gaza and the West Bank under one government for the first time since 2007.
Under the agreement, which was brokered by Egyptian intelligence, Fatah will lift a series of punitive sanctions that it imposed on Hamas-controlled Gaza earlier this year. Under the agreement, the Palestinian Authority, which now controls the West Bank, would in the coming weeks take administrative control of Gaza and police its borders, merging its security forces and ministries with those of Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the coastal strip.
In return, Hamas officials said they would allow the Palestinian Authority to resume control in Gaza. Egypt said a “government of national accord” would come into effect by Dec. 1. Palestinian officials said that, if all went well, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, could visit Gaza within the coming month — his first visit to the embattled coastal strip in a decade. While both sides hailed the agreement as a significant step toward uniting the Palestinian territories — and potential relief for Gazans suffering dire shortages of electricity and medical supplies — it left many thornier issues unresolved, including the fate of the main Hamas militia and the network of tunnels under Gaza used by fighters and smugglers.
The deal was seen as a significant step toward ending the civil war that has split Palestinians since violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah in 2007, even if serious hurdles remain unresolved, including the status of the Hamas militant wing and its estimated 25,000 fighters. Officials from both sides stressed that the agreement, brokered by Egypt, was a first step, and that much depends on how events unfurl on the ground in the coming weeks.
A previous agreement between Hamas and Fatah — also signed in Cairo, in 2011 — came to nothing. Palestinian officials said the deal reached on Thursday enjoys a greater chances of success because it is backed by Saudi Arabia, the United States and, they believe, Israel. The two sides agreed to begin talks next month to form a unity government that would oversee both territories. Those talks would have to wrestle with the issues that derailed previous peace initiatives.
Although he was not in Cairo, Mr. Abbas gave his blessing to the deal, which he hailed as a “final agreement.” Palestinian officials said the deal reached in Cairo on Thursday enjoyed a greater chance of success because it is backed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and, they believe, the United States and Israel.
“I welcome the agreement reached between the Fatah and Hamas movements in Cairo,” he told Agence France-Presse, adding that he had given orders to sign it immediately. But the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, threw cold water on it, saying that Israel “objects to any reconciliation that does not include” accepting international agreements, recognizing Israel and disarming Hamas.
Mr. Abbas has not visited Gaza, a tiny territory that is home to 2 million people, since Hamas ejected Fatah following a series of armed clashes. In the short term, the agreement promises to ease conditions in Gaza that aid organizations have warned constitute an emerging humanitarian crisis.
Details of the deal reached in Cairo were initially unclear. Several western news organizations were excluded from a brief signing ceremony at the headquarters of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, which brokered talks on Tuesday and Wednesday that led to the agreement. The Palestinian Authority has promised to lift sanctions that it imposed on Gaza earlier this year as part of its effort to pressure Hamas into talks. The government, led by the Fatah faction, cut electricity supplies to a few hours a day and stopped paying government salaries in Gaza.
A video supplied by a Palestinian official showed the deputy leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, embracing Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of the Fatah delegation, after the signing. Egypt, which brokered the agreement, has promised to open the Rafah border crossing once it comes under Palestinian Authority control. Egypt and Israel had closed Gaza’s border crossings out of security concerns, tightly regulating the flow of goods and people in what critics called an economic blockade of the territory.
Egypt’s State Information Service issued an unsigned statement saying the two rivals had “agreed on procedures” for a reconciliation government that would take effect on Dec. 1. But the statement also acknowledged continuing “divisions,” and said that Egypt would host another meeting on Nov. 21. “The people need to feel there is something from this agreement — electricity, medical supplies, the ability to travel for surgery,” said Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas official.
Ahmed Yousef, an adviser to the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, said the two sides had agreed to joint control over the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a key lifeline for Gaza’s residents. Palestinian officials said that if all went well, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, could visit Gaza in the coming month, his first visit to the embattled coastal strip in a decade. Although he was not in Cairo, Mr. Abbas gave his blessing to the deal, which he hailed as a “final agreement,” according to Agence France-Presse.
Reacting to news reports, citing Fatah officials, that Fatah would take control of the crossing, he said, “We will discuss the possibility of allowing the presidential guard from the West Bank to control it.” Yet the agreement left others underwhelmed, including skeptical Israeli officials who questioned its viability. Among the many unresolved differences between the two sides is the gulf between the Palestinian Authority’s goal of achieving statehood through diplomacy and Hamas’s mission of armed resistance and liberation.
Mr. Yousef said the two sides would convene committees to integrate their ministries into a reconciliation government. One major challenge, he said, would be to reduce the bloated, 200,000-strong Palestinian civil service, which he estimated needs to be cut by as much as 20 per cent. Hamas has fought three wars with Israel, and has insisted on its right to maintain control of its “weapons of resistance,” including thousands of rockets, missiles and drones, as well as a network of fortified tunnels.
But, he added, the two sides had not discussed a number of critical questions, including a joint strategy for dealing with Israel, the conduct of any future elections and, crucially, the state of the Hamas military wing. Israel has warned that it could not accept a unity government that included Hamas.
A statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office said that Israel would “follow developments on the ground and will act accordingly.”
But later on Facebook, Mr. Netanyahu warned that a Fatah-Hamas rapprochement would make “peace much harder to achieve,” and issued a lengthy denunciation of Hamas. “Reconciling with mass-murderers is part of the problem, not part of the solution,” he said.
Palestinians cautiously celebrated the deal, their enthusiasm tempered by memories of many failed previous initiatives.
In Gaza City, vendors passed out sweets to children in Soldier’s Square, a park at the center of town. Mona Khfaja, 37, a pharmacist who said she had been unable to leave Gaza for a year to seek treatment for kidney disease, said popular dissatisfaction under the border restrictions — what she said had verged on a “hungry revolution” — had forced political leaders to the table.
“The consequences of division are worse than the repercussion of wars,” she said. “We do not want the flags of Fatah and Hamas, only the Palestinian flag.”
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abu Ahmad, 56, said he welcomed the news but was wary about getting his hopes up. “Many agreements have been signed in the past, but something has always caused these political parties to back away,” he said, “and I’m afraid there’s still a chance for that to happen again.”
The agreement followed two days of talks at the headquarters of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, which brokered the negotiations. At a brief signing ceremony there on Thursday, the deputy leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, embraced Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of the Fatah delegation.
Egypt’s State Information Service said that the rivals had agreed to hand full control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority by Dec. 1. But the statement also acknowledged continuing “divisions,” and said that all Palestinian factions were invited to the next meeting, to start talks for a possible unity government, on Nov. 21.
Ahmed Yousef, an adviser to the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, said the two sides would first work to integrate their rival ministries. One major challenge, he said, would be to reduce the bloated Palestinian civil service, which has 200,000 employees in the West Bank and Gaza. He estimated that it needed to be cut by as much as 20 percent.
But, he added, the two sides had not discussed a number of critical questions, including a joint strategy for dealing with Israel, the conduct of any future elections and, crucially, the state of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
Ayman Rigib, a Fatah negotiator in Cairo, said the two main obstacles to a broader deal were the Qassam Brigades and Hamas’s extensive tunnels beneath Gaza.
“We’re worried about the tunnels,” Mr. Rigib said. “We’ve seen Hamas use them in 2014. Will they give us the maps? Will they shut them down? It has not yet been discussed.”
Grant Rumley, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the issues still to be resolved would be the most difficult.
“Hamas may be willing to cede more administrative control of Gaza,” he said, “but the parties have so far avoided the issues likeliest to derail the talks: namely the relationship with Israel and what to do with Hamas’s military wing.”
When leaders from Hamas and Fatah signed a similar deal in 2011, Mr. Abbas said, “We have turned the black page of division forever.” But the deal quickly foundered amid opposition from Israel, which denounced it as a “victory for terrorism.”When leaders from Hamas and Fatah signed a similar deal in 2011, Mr. Abbas said, “We have turned the black page of division forever.” But the deal quickly foundered amid opposition from Israel, which denounced it as a “victory for terrorism.”
This time, a broad Arab coalition is backing the deal, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.This time, a broad Arab coalition is backing the deal, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“This merger is going to cost a lot of money, and they will help us financially,” said Mr. Yousef, referring to Emirati and Saudi support for the deal. “The Egyptians also clearly got a green light from America. They are obviously trying to cook up something to help end this conflict.” “This merger is going to cost a lot of money, and they will help us financially,” Mr. Yousef said, referring to Emirati and Saudi support for the deal. “The Egyptians also clearly got a green light from America. They are obviously trying to cook up something to help end this conflict.”