Palestinian unity is top objective for leaders

Diplomatic efforts to bring Hamas and Fatah, the feuding Palestinian factions, closer appears to have intensified yet again.

RAMALLAH, West Bank // Diplomatic efforts to bring Hamas and Fatah, the feuding Palestinian factions, closer would appear to have intensified yet again. Cairo hopes to host a conference in early November for all Palestinian factions, and Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, as well as prominent Hamas leaders, have called national reconciliation a "top priority". Few hold out much hope, however, that any result will come of these renewed efforts, even with a new suggestion by Mr Fayyad on the table that would see a technocratic unity government guide Palestinians through to the next elections. A Hamas delegation left for Cairo on Tuesday to meet Egyptian mediators trying to bridge the gaps between the Palestinian factions. Whether Cairo has anything new to offer Hamas, lately somewhat disparaging of Egyptian efforts, remains to be seen. But officials from the Islamist movement are keen to be seen as being keen. Speaking in Gaza before leaving, Mahmoud Zahar, considered one of the more hardline Hamas leaders, said his movement would "do everything to ensure the success of the dialogue". In this, Mr Zahar and Mr Fayyad appeared to agree. Mr Fayyad, a former World Bank economist, is an independent who was appointed prime minister by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah, in June 2007 after Hamas ousted Fatah-affiliated security forces in Gaza, presaging the division of the occupied Palestinian territories into the Fatah-led West Bank and Hamas-led Gaza Strip. Mr Fayyad told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday: "There must be agreement to reunite the country ? that's our top priority." To this end Mr Fayyad proposed that until elections could be held, Palestinians should agree to a "non-factional" unity government that would not be shunned by donors and that could begin to merge the fractured Palestinian polity. Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official, said the proposal was difficult for Hamas to accept, though there was room for negotiation. "Until now, Hamas rejects this idea. It is seen as an attempt to push the movement out of power," Mr Hamad said. "But there are options, for example a national unity government with Fatah and Hamas, or a national government composed of all Palestinian factions as well as technocrats." Mr Hamad struck a conciliatory note, conceding that without co-operation between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinians would be stuck. But Hamas has struck a defiant pose vis-à-vis Fatah demands that it relinquish its control over Gaza. On Monday, before Mr Zahar's comments, Hamas parliamentarians announced they would withdraw their recognition of Mr Abbas as president should presidential elections not be held as scheduled in January. It is not clear what this would mean in practice and how significant the threatened loss of legitimacy would be for the president, or whether the movement is even serious and is not just using the threat to pressure Fatah, but any such move will at least further complicate unity talks. Fatah officials, not surprisingly, reject such talk and have stuck to their demands that Hamas relinquish security control over Gaza and agree to early parliamentary elections along with presidential elections. "The solution [to the Palestinian rift] will have three steps," said Hatem Abdul Qader, a Fatah legislator. "There must be an end to the situation in Gaza; there should be a government of all political factions whose main mission is to arrange elections; and those elections, both presidential and parliamentary are the third step." The insistence by both factions on holding elections, even if at different times, would seem to indicate confidence on behalf of both that they will fare well should Palestinians again be asked to vote. Yet neither faction would seem to have much to boast to the public about. Fatah remains internally divided with no clear political programme. Mr Fayyad's technocrat government largely secured the unprecedented pledge of US$7.7 billion (Dh28bn) by the donor community. Mr Abbas, meanwhile, remained bogged down in stalled political negotiations with Israel that have shown little sign of progress even as Israeli settlements have continued to expand. Hamas, meanwhile, has presided over a calamitous time in Gaza that has seen the tiny strip of land, home to 1.5 million, sink ever deeper into poverty and industry there devastated. While Gazans largely blame this on Israel and the international community, even, in some quarters, on the West Bank Palestinian Authority, it does not give Hamas much to boast about to the electorate. Thus some analysts contest that for all their talk, neither Fatah nor Hamas are much interested in resolution to the division, preferring to maintain the status quo until such a time as one or the other gains some crucial advantage; Fatah by a breakthrough in negotiations with Israel, or Hamas by the continued absence of same. Both Mr Hamad and Mr Abdel Qader rejected this suggestion, though both also professed their pessimism regarding unity attempts. "Both Hamas and Fatah are in deep crisis. Our national project is in great danger," Mr Hamad said. Mr Abdel Qader said he had to remain hopeful. "We are two states now, two leaderships in Gaza and the West Bank. This is a very big problem, it has destroyed all our national hopes." [e-mail]