Intra-Palestinian rift keeps widening with no end in sight
Amid reports that local and international mediators are shuttling between the Gaza Strip and Ramallah to end the dispute, it seems Fatah will not yield until Hamas meets all of its demands.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica; color: #4d4d4d; -webkit-text-stroke: #4d4d4d; background-color: #02fdff} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #042eee; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #042eee} President Mahmoud Abbas has been sending local and international mediators to Gaza to discuss a range of issues that would achieve reconciliation, Hamas leader Yahya Moussa revealed to Al-Monitor. Abbas’ efforts come following the rapprochement that began taking shape between Hamas and Egypt, and seem to be aimed at undermining the understandings the movement reached with dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, according to Moussa.
The internal crisis between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah on the one hand and Hamas on the other has worsened since Hamas formed the administrative committee to manage the Gaza Strip instead of the national consensus government, amid bleak reconciliation prospects. Consequently, the PA took a series of measures against Gaza, including cutting off the Gaza employees’ salaries and forcing them to retire early. The PA also stopped covering the bills for electricity supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip. This pushed Hamas in June to conclude deals with Dahlan, under Egyptian sponsorship, to alleviate Gaza’s crises.
Moussa said that international parties, including United Nations Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who visited Gaza at the end of June and early July, and Fatah leaders in Gaza offered their mediation and transferred messages between Hamas and Abbas to settle their differences and revive the Palestinian reconciliation. The Fatah delegation discussed during its June visit to Gaza ways to end the growing rift between Hamas and the PA, but their efforts have failed so far because each party is insisting on its demands.
He noted, “The mediators communicated Abbas’ conditions for reconciliation,” which include Hamas disbanding the administrative committee, empowering the consensus government to work in Gaza without any restrictions and holding presidential and legislative elections within six months. Moussa clarified that Hamas told the mediators it would not discuss any conditions or details before the PA lifts all its measures against the Gaza Strip.
