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Palestinian Factions, Hamas and Fatah, Sign Unity Deal Unity Deal Offers Hope for Palestinians and a Respite for Gaza
(about 2 hours later)
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. CAIRO — After a decade of hostility and recrimination, the two main Palestinian factions came together in Cairo on Thursday to sign a reconciliation deal that holds out the tantalizing prospect of a united Palestinian front.
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. Hopes for the agreement, signed under the watchful eye of Egyptian intelligence, were tempered by the knowledge that many previous Palestinian initiatives have failed. Yet there is optimism that this time may be different, partly because the stakes are so much higher.
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. For the two million Palestinians of Gaza, trapped in a tiny coastal strip that is frequently compared to an open-air prison, the Cairo deal offered a potential respite from their lives of dire shortages of electricity and lifesaving medicine, as well as a chance to travel to the outside world.
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. For the Palestinian leadership, it held out the prospect of negotiating with Israel with a single voice, even as it forced the divided territory’s most radical militants to make painful concessions that acknowledged their own failure to advance their cause.
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. Hamas, which controls Gaza and has fought Israel three times, said it was ready to cede control of Gaza’s borders and allow the rival Palestinian Authority to effectively take over the day-to-day running of the territory.
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. It was a sobering reality check for a group that, despite years of fiery defiance and arms supplies from Iran, cannot rule Gaza without help from Fatah, the rival faction that controls the Palestinian Authority and was driven out of Gaza in violent clashes 10 years ago.
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. And for Mahmoud Abbas, the 82-year-old president of the Palestinian Authority, it could amount to a legacy-saving moment in the twilight years of his rule, after years of abject failure to negotiate a peace settlement with Israel. 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.
In the short term, the agreement promises to ease conditions in Gaza that aid organizations have warned constitute an emerging humanitarian crisis. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Israel “objects to any reconciliation that does not include” accepting international agreements, recognizing Israel and disarming Hamas. A Fatah-Hamas rapprochement would make “peace much harder to achieve,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a post on Facebook. “Reconciling with mass-murderers is part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
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. At a brief ceremony on Thursday at the headquarters of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, which shepherded the negotiations, representatives from Hamas and Fatah kissed and embraced amid a smattering of applause from Egyptian and Palestinian officials gathered around them.
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. The Palestinians did not release the text of the agreement, and there was no mention of the thorny issues that remain unresolved, such as the fate of the main Hamas militia, or the network of tunnels under Gaza used by fighters and weapons smugglers.
“The people need to feel there is something from this agreement — electricity, medical supplies, the ability to travel for surgery,” said Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official. But officials from both sides described a series of agreed measures that are due to unfold in the coming weeks, and which they say will both sideline Hamas from the day-to-day running of Gaza and create a political groundswell for a broader deal to reunite the Palestinian territories.
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. Egypt’s State Information Service said that the rivals had agreed to hand full control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority by Dec. 1. Palestinian officials said that if the process goes well, Mr. Abbas could visit Gaza in the coming month, his first visit to the embattled coastal strip in a decade.
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. Egypt has set Nov. 21 for the next step of the process: a meeting in Cairo of all Palestinian factions that, it hopes, will be the start of talks toward a Palestinian unity government. Some Palestinian officials said they hoped such a government could be formed by January.
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 much depends on how things transpire in Gaza over the coming weeks.
Israel has warned that it could not accept a unity government that included Hamas. Under terms of the deal, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority will form a joint police force of at least 5,000 officers, and merge their ministries. One Hamas official said they would negotiate to slim down the bloated civil service, cutting up to 40,000 of the 200,000 jobs.
A statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office said that Israel would “follow developments on the ground and will act accordingly.” Two elements of the deal promise to quickly ease conditions in Gaza, which aid organizations have called an emerging humanitarian crisis.
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. The Palestinian Authority has agreed to lift sanctions that it imposed on Gaza this year as part of its effort to pressure Hamas into talks. The government cut electricity supplies to a few hours a day in Gaza and stopped paying government salaries, an important source of income in a besieged territory with a broken economy.
Palestinians cautiously celebrated the deal, their enthusiasm tempered by memories of many failed previous initiatives. And Hamas will cede control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s main lifeline to the outside world. That would allow Egypt to ease stringent cargo restrictions and enable Gazans to travel outside, perhaps the most significant change in the agreement.
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. But even if the two sides succeed in fully reuniting in the next round of talks, the new arrangement seems unlikely to improve relations with Israel, which has warned that it could not accept a unity government that included Hamas.
“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.” Hamas has insisted on its right to maintain control of its arsenal — including thousands of rockets, missiles and drones — as well as its militia and its network of fortified tunnels.
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.” Across divided Palestine there were cautious celebrations.
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. 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 was unable to leave Gaza to seek treatment for kidney disease, said dissatisfaction with the crushing border restrictions had forced warring Palestinian leaders to the negotiation table.
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. “We do not want the flags of Fatah and Hamas, only the Palestinian flag,” she said.
Mr. 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. In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abu Ahmad, 56, said he 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.”
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. The signing ceremony on Thursday followed two days of talks mediated by Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. The deal was signed by the deputy leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, and Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of the Fatah delegation.
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. Officials from both sides offered frank appraisals of the issues that divide them, and that could easily scupper this latest effort. Ayman Rigib, a Fatah negotiator in Cairo, pointed to the status of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, with an estimated 20,000 fighters, and Hamas’s extensive tunnels.
“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.”“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. Another Palestinian concern is that a unity government involving Hamas could cause the Trump administration to cut funding to the Palestinian territories under congressional rules against funding terrorist organizations. American lawmakers threatened to cut funding in reaction to a similar 2011 deal between Hamas, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization, and the Palestinian Authority. That agreement ultimately fell apart.
“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.” The United States gives the Palestinian Authority about $400 million in annual assistance. But for now, with Hamas ceding all administrative control of Gaza, there is little danger that aid would be cut off.
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.” Grant Rumley, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the issues yet 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 the 2011 deal, Mr. Abbas said, “We have turned the black page of division forever.” But the agreement 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,” 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.” “This merger is going to cost a lot of money, and they will help us financially,” said Ahmed Yousef, an adviser to the Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, referring to Emirati and Saudi support. “The Egyptians also clearly got a green light from America. They are obviously trying to cook up something to help end this conflict.”