An unprecedented meeting of the Palestinian leadership took place Sept. 3 in a sign of a possible reconciliation and agreement on a national strategy. The local heads of Palestinian factions met in the Ramallah presidential headquarters with leaders residing abroad joining in by video conference from Beirut. President Mahmoud Abbas, who called for the meeting, arrived more powerful than he has been in years due to his steadfast opposition to unilateral Israeli and US plans, as well as the US-brokered normalization agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

Fatah's Jibril Rajoub, who led the recent reconciliation efforts with Hamas, read out the final communique, which committed the assembled leaders to developing a unified national strategy for peaceful popular resistance and reconciliation. Committees focused on strategy, PLO rehabilitation and reconciliation were formed and given deadlines to present recommendations. Abbas — who vowed to be supportive of all recommendations — said that the results of this effort will be presented to the Palestine Central Committee within five weeks.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO’s executive committee who attended the meeting in Ramallah, told Al-Monitor that decisions made there are important but that their implementation requires political will. “We need elections as the mechanism to cause change and to build a unifying democratic process. Such a process can provide opportunities for young and female Palestinians to reach decision-making positions and to tackle the dangers and challenges while carrying out a badly needed corrective effort.”

Meanwhile, Oraib Rantawi, director of the Al Quds Center for Political Studies, told Al-Monitor that the chances of a quick breakthrough are slim. “There is a network of interests … that will delay reconciliation. As to the ability to create and lead a robust peaceful resistance movement, this will require a lot of change. Fatah is weak and has become an administrative party, while Hamas is only concerned with the lifting of the siege. In the long term, however, there is hope in the young people and their movements, which are forcing their way to the surface.”