New Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal arrives shrouded in doubt

What the Arabic press is saying about the Fatah- Hamas reconciliation agreement. Compiled by Racha Makarem

It was with a hint of reservation that Palestinians welcomed the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal announced last Wednesday, noted Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of the online news website Rai Al Youm.

They have doubts about its chances for success and subsequent implementation, especially when the two similar agreements signed in the recent years in Cairo then in Doha, failed to bring about national unity or a consensus government. On the contrary, the only thing that transpired was an increase in differences, arrests and mutual accusations.

The agreement came about as a result of the worsening situations on both sides and as a way out of the impasse. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s wager on the peaceful process and the negotiations in hope for an independent Palestinian state has completely collapsed.

On the other side, Hamas’s financial and administrative burdens have deteriorated to the point of crippling their government, which has failed to pay staff salaries, the writer observed.

“But the key to the accord’s success or failure lies only in the hands of president Abbas now that Hamas has, as a goodwill gesture, forsaken all of its previous conditions, mainly stopping talks and severing security coordination ties with Israel,” Atwan observed.

President Abbas’ biggest challenge comes from the US, which deems that a Palestinian entente doesn’t help the peace process, and from Israel, which immediately froze negotiations and threatened punitive measures.

“We don’t know how capable the Palestinian president would be in the face of US and Israeli pressures, or how serious he is about implementing the new deal. Based on past experiences, he often buckles under pressure, and that is precisely why similar agreements have faltered in the past,” Atwan added.

In the same vein, in a recent editorial, the Dubai-based daily Al Bayan expressed concerns over the viability of the long-awaited reconciliation between the two prominent Palestinian factions.

“We fear the newly signed reunion would be nothing more than spilt ink mainly due to the political quota principle that was adopted to make the agreement possible, but which also entailed the marginalisation of significant other national factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that weren’t included in discussions,” the paper argued.

Even more importantly, the announced five-week deadline for the conception of the national consensus government leaves the window open for internal and external sabotage attempts. Washington and Israel did threaten a harsh response and the latter would do anything to prevent the agreement from seeing the light of day. To complicate matters further, radical wings from within Fatah and Hamas that found ways to benefit from the division would strongly reject any rapprochement between the two parties.

For its part, the Sharjah-based daily Al Khaleej suggested in its editorial in Tuesday that Arab countries must resort to a different modus operandi in dealing with Israel as it continues to occupy Arab territories and to disrupt all endeavours to realise sustainable peace with Palestinians and Arabs in general.

“If Arab countries hold their national security as a priority and have decided once and for all against military confrontation with the enemy, there are other ways that don’t require armies and generals,” the paper noted.

“The economic weapon can be used in this case. It is a legitimate and efficient option. Economic boycott would at the very least make the enemy feel that it is made to pay the price for its hostile and discriminatory policies and for its denial of the Palestinian people’s rights, not the least of which is its right for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Al Khaleej added.

rmakarem@thenational.ae