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Long-awaited unity should embolden Palestinians

The reconciliation between the Gaza and West Bank leaderships should embolden Palestinians to assert their legitimate rights and demand negotiations as a state under occupation.
A masked Palestinian protester walks next to burning tyres during a weekly Friday protest against the Jewish settlement of Qadomem, near the West Bank City of Nablus April 25, 2014.  REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3MMQK

It seems that US Secretary of State John Kerry has gained some insight into Israel’s “negotiating” methods and its demanding approach to the “peace process.” He has now apparently glimpsed that the consequences of Israel's attitude toward the Palestinians carries the seeds of an apartheid-like outcome.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to elicit acknowledgment from the Palestinians that Israel is a Jewish state stifles any feasibility of an acceptable outcome, not only for the Palestinians and the Arabs, but for the international community as well. Netanyahu’s attitude toward the Palestinians concerning the agreement between the Gaza and West Bank leaderships to form a joint government is also intended to undermine any expectation of an outcome stemming from the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, which obviously strengthens the unity of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

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