Hamas Announces Political Reconciliation Agreement with Fatah Movement

A delegation from the Palestinian movement Hamas, which traveled to Egypt to finalize a political reconciliation agreement with its rival movement, Fatah, announced that it has achieved this goal. Egyptian and Palestinian media reported early on Thursday, October 12, a statement issued in the name of Ismail Haniyeh, the newly elected head of Hamas's political bureau, emphasizing that the details of the national reconciliation agreement will be disclosed during a press conference in Cairo later that day. The statement added that Ismail Haniyeh praised Egypt's 'sincere' and 'generous' efforts in achieving Palestinian national unity. The latest round of political reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas has been ongoing since Tuesday, October 10, hosted by senior officials of the Egyptian intelligence and security services. Other national reconciliation agreements mediated by Arab leaders, including the then-King of Saudi Arabia, have failed to end a decade-long crisis between Fatah and Hamas; however, both movements now emphasize that different conditions exist that increase the likelihood of reconciliation. Fatah, the oldest Palestinian movement and a significant part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has been in deep conflict with Hamas, which has only a 29-year history in the Palestinian political scene, since 2006. In 2007, a year after winning the general elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Hamas ousted Fatah from power in Gaza after heavy battles that resulted in significant casualties among members of both movements and the people of Gaza, establishing its government and security institutions. However, after ten years of Hamas's uncontested control over Gaza, which led to three devastating wars with the Israeli army, Hamas dissolved the Gaza administrative committee last month and finally invited the Palestinian Authority to take over Gaza's affairs. Dr. Rami Hamdallah, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, and his government members visited the strip last week to take over Gaza's powers and met with Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas officials. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestine Liberation Organization and leader of Fatah, emphasized last week that Hamas must disarm and transfer all security, political, and administrative powers in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas, in response, has stated that the movement's weapons are for 'resistance' against the 'occupying forces' (Israel). Mahmoud Abbas told Egypt's CBC television network that he cannot tolerate Hamas repeating the Hezbollah model in Gaza, but Hamas leaders argued that Lebanon is not under occupation while Gaza remains under Israeli siege. Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas official, recently stated that even Egypt understands Hamas's reasons for maintaining the movement's weapons. Concurrently, as Fatah and Hamas delegations were in Cairo, Israeli media reported that Israel had also sent a delegation to Cairo; however, the Israeli government remained silent about sending such a delegation. According to Israeli media reports, this delegation did not negotiate with representatives of Fatah and Hamas in Egypt but monitored the reconciliation talks through Egyptian security officials. Egypt has maintained full political relations with Israel for about forty years, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks during a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu in New York last month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated last week that a Palestinian internal reconciliation agreement that does not recognize Israel's existence is unacceptable. Netanyahu demanded that the reconciling parties recognize Israel as a state for the Jews and disarm before anything else. While reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, particularly regarding the administration of Gaza, has been reported, this strip, which is the most densely populated area in the world, containing about two million people, remains besieged. However, Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, has recently established more facilities for the movement of Palestinians in this strip. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, recently emphasized during his visit to Gaza that the extremely difficult living conditions of the people of Gaza must change.