In the wake of the recent Israeli military operation in Gaza coded “Pillar of Defense” which killed 168 Palestinians, including 37 children and 14 women, as well as six Israelis, Hamas’ popularity has remarkably increased amongst Palestinians. Israel did not win in Gaza, and Hamas was not defeated. As Adam Shaltz exhaustively explains, Hamas “won an implicit recognition as a legitimate actor from the United States (which helped to broker the talks in Cairo) and achieved concrete gains, above all an end to targeted assassinations and the easing of restrictions on the movement of people and the transfer of goods at the crossings.”

While Hamas’ rockets fell in Israeli cities around the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority found itself in a predicament as Palestinians became unprecedentedly fed up and disillusioned with the PA’s negotiation-based policy. The PA had long before realized the U.S. had failed to make good on its promises to grant the Palestinians a state on 1967 borders. The PA has been left completely isolated in the face of its rival’s growing popularity.

This, many argue, has significantly impacted the Palestinians’ prospect for reconciliation. According to Gaza-based Palestinian political analyst and writer at Al-Ayyam newspaper, Talal Aukal, this time the efforts at achieving the Palestinian national reconciliation are more “serious” and are essentially different from previous efforts. Before there was even talk about Palestinian reconciliation, this unity was effectively translated on the ground during Israel’s latest aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza. In addition to this, the PA also scored a diplomatic victory, having won recognition of Palestine at the UN General Assembly as a non-member observer state. According to Aukal, the Hamas government in Gaza voiced its support for the PA’s move at the General Assembly, therefore sending positive signals that the Palestinian reconciliation could be closer than any time before.

“There was a broad solidarity Palestinian movement, a unified Palestinian position, a de facto Palestinian unity against the policies of the Israeli government which heralded an imminent Palestinian unity deal at the official level,” Aukal told Al-Monitor.