Israel should give Palestinian reconciliation a chance
The Fatah-Hamas reconciliation took Israel and others by surprise, and while intelligence sources are skeptical about the move, it should be given a chance because Hamas might be ready to enter the negotiating tent.
Let’s start with the good news. The reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Ismail Haniyeh’s government, between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — which rattled Israel, the United States and the international community — will help all parties to easily skip past the April 29 deadline of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations while teetering onward toward the next stage.
On that date, the initial nine-month period allotted for the negotiations will have come to an end. As was to be expected, this pregnancy did not produce a healthy, smiling baby, but a probable continuation of the “blame game” between the two intractable parties. The greatest fear was that if they were unable to reach a deal to extend the negotiations, the whole affair would come to an end, at which time the Palestinians would campaign at the United Nations in a manner that would irreversibly kill the process. For now, at least, this concern has been dispelled.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a desperate attempt to atone for his serious tactical mistake, immediately declared after the reconciliation announcement that April 29 was not written in stone and that talks to extend the negotiations could take place thereafter. The cautious assessment in Jerusalem is that this is exactly what will happen, but in this region, cautious assessments kick the bucket with the same ease as they are born. You have been duly cautioned.
The Palestinian move took Israel, as well as its intelligence services, by surprise. At the April 24 security cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman asked, with demonstrative anger, how it was possible that the intelligence services had failed to provide an early warning that a deal between Hamas and Fatah was brewing. His question was seconded by Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief negotiator.
