For more than a decade, the leaders of Fatah hoped to hear the kind of announcement that Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar made on Dec. 20. At a meeting with representatives of the various civil defense organizations in the Gaza Strip, Sinwar declared that his movement had made a strategic decision not to govern or administer the Gaza Strip anymore. Sinwar noted that the division among the Palestinian people "harmed all of us as a people and as a liberation movement," and he even admitted what no one before him dared to say. The split with the Palestinian Authority (PA) hurt Hamas as a resistance movement.
A Fatah source in Gaza told Al-Monitor that Sinwar's remarks came as a surprise to the PA. He pointed out that the general impression is that Sinwar did not make the statement only to push forward with the Palestinian reconciliation agreement. The remarks emerged also from a deep realization that the Hamas leadership cannot have it both ways.
