Why Abbas needs Hamas

From the very beginning, it was a marriage of convenience. The bridegroom had no desire for the bride and she also despised him. But long years of enmity between the two were forgiven and forgotten in one moment of mutual distress: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who gave up on the collapsed peace process with the Israelis and feared for his post, and Hamas' political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal, who fiercely grasped the lifeline sent by his rival in Ramallah to the beleaguered city of Gaza.

The Palestinian unity government of Hamas and Fatah hit the road on June 2, but this “road” emerged as a mine-filled obstacle course. Even before the first 100 days of grace had passed, it was clear that there would be no honeymoon here, even if at least one side believed that the gaps could be bridged, at least in outward appearance. The depth of the crisis between the two marital partners came to the fore earlier than anticipated due to three events: the abduction and murder of the youths in the Etzion settlement block on June 12 by Hamas; Operation Protective Edge in Gaza; and the disclosure by Israel’s Shin Bet that Hamas had planned a coup against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.

Yet despite all this, they cannot separate from each other. Will two people walk together unless they have agreed to do so? (Amos 3:3).

According to the cease-fire agreement signed under Egyptian brokerage between Hamas and Israel on Aug. 26, the border crossings between Gaza, Israel and Egypt will be manned and monitored by PA people. Without Abbas, any kind of border-crossing agreement, whatever would have existed, would have been very different. And without the Protective Edge campaign, Abbas’ people evidently would not be privileged to set foot on Gazan land despite the reconciliation agreement.