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Interview
Senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub calls for 'Marshall-like plan' to rebuild Gaza
Potential unity with Hamas represents a key dilemma for the Ramallah-based government, which would lose legitimacy with the Western world but gain legitimacy with the Palestinian people.
Secretary-General of Fatah’s Central Committee Jibril Rajoub looks on during an interview in Paris on July 27, 2024. — THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP via Getty Images
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In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Jibril Rajoub, secretary-general of Fatah’s Central Committee, laid out the parameters for reconciliation with Hamas, insisting that any agreement with the Islamist movement requires acceptance of international obligations including rejection of violence against civilians, freedom of expression and women's rights. Fatah is also pushing for the transfer of all weapons in Hamas' possession to a single security force and continued resistance using only nonviolent means.
Rajoub, who is also the head of the Palestinian Football Association, said that the road to Palestinian independence requires Palestinian unity, agreement on the form of resistance and a democratic process that includes elections.
Speaking by phone from the Qatari capital, Doha, Rajoub denied a report in The Wall Street Journal that claimed Fatah and Hamas had reached a consensus on an apolitical technocratic committee that will run Gaza after the war. “Right now the number one goal is ending the assault on the Palestinian people," he said, adding that Fatah seeks "a Marshall-like plan to rebuild, a political horizon for the Palestinian people, and acceptance of the unity of the Palestinian lands within a single unified entity.”
No political committee agreement
The Journal reported that officials from both Fatah and Hamas “have reached a consensus to create an apolitical committee of Palestinian technocrats not affiliated with either of them to manage the sensitive and massive jobs of aid distribution and rebuilding, Palestinian and other Arab officials said.”
He added that the idea of a separate committee to govern Gaza would exacerbate intra-Palestinian divisions and create parallel legal entities that would only sow further discord.
Rajoub laid out the three essential factors that need to be preserved in order for negotiations to persevere. “First: the existence of our people on our land and the need to support their sumud (steadfastness). Second: the importance of national unity on the basis of international law, which is needed to convince the world that the Palestinian state is a positive element for peace. And third: the need to deepen the dialogue with Hamas to reach consensus aimed at a new phase of cooperation between Fatah and Hamas within a clear road map.”
Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Olympic Committee, Palestinian Olympic athletes and members of the delegation arrive at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Roissy-en-France, north of Paris, on July 25, 2024.
Rajoub said that crucial national unity among Palestinians requires concrete steps. The two sides have made numerous attempts at reconciliation since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Some of the sticking points between the two sides include the composition of any unity government and armed forces, elections and forms of resistance (Hamas has insisted on maintaining armed resistance, whereas Fatah’s doctrine stipulates nonviolence).
“We need to meet in Cairo, the sooner the better, and set up a national unity government in which we agree on the criteria of the cabinet members, the unity government’s responsibility, and the length of the time limit of the government that will be replaced with freely held elections,” he said.
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