The Palestinian leadership met on Wednesday to reiterate their unacceptance of what they call a "shameful" deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel announced last Thursday and discuss measures the Palestinian Authority (PA) could take to minimise the damage caused by the move.
Earlier in the week, all Palestinian factions, including representatives of the rival groups Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, participated in yet another meeting to vent their anger at the peace deal as well as Israel's plans to extend its sovereignty over parts of the West Bank.
Ideological Gaps
Although it now seems that unity between all the Palestinian factions, and specifically between Fatah and Hamas, is on the horizon, Elias Zananiri, a Vice Chairman of the PLO Committee for Interaction with Israeli society, says it is too early to celebrate, and the reason for this, he believes, is the deep ideological differences between the two groups.
Historically speaking, unlike Fatah, Hamas has always taken a more aggressive approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and insisted on the use of armed resistance to put an end to Israel's "occupation of Palestinian lands".
"Since the moment of its creation [in the 80s - ed.] Hamas has always striven to become an alternative to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. During the first Intifada, they refused to be part of the joint command and instead of opting for unity, they wanted to run things their own way".
Time hasn't improved the situation and over the years relations have only gotten worse hitting a low in 2006 following legislative elections in which Hamas received the majority of seats.
A year later, an uplifted Hamas, seized control over the Gaza Strip, ousting Fatah officials from there and opening a rift that continues to this day, even though there have been multiple attempts to bridge the gaps between the two factions.
The most recent example was a joint conference held by Hamas and Fatah where the two vowed to hold a mass rally together in Gaza, enabling people to vent their anger against Israel's planned "annexation". Soon enough, however, that attempt too wound up hitting a brick wall.
"The only thing they did agree about was the need to hold such a rally but when it boiled down to taking other decisions like the format, the attendees, and the speakers - they came to a dead end, putting the reconciliation dossier on the shelf, or even into the deep freeze", Zananiri explained.
And the chief reason for this, believes the official, is divisions within Hamas' own inner circles.
While the leadership that sits abroad eyes reconciliation as a possibility, domestic leaders, including those at the helm of the Izz Addin Al Qassam brigades, the Islamic group’s military wing, do not want to see a truce taking place between Hamas and Fatah.
Similar differences also exist among those who inject cash into the Islamic group, primarily Qatar and Iran, who very often don't see eye to eye on the reconciliation efforts or whether these attempts are actually needed.
"These powers often tear Hamas in different directions. Those affiliated with Iran are hardliners, who support militarisation. Those backed by Qatar will not mind a reconciliation but they would want to make sure that they will be the ones to get the bigger slice of the cake once that agreement is reached", Zananiri stated, adding that the main benefactor from the current situation is Israel and its prme minister.
Split Serves Israel
"For years, Netanyahu has been using the split to justify Israel's occupation. He has been saying that Tel Aviv could not reach any peace with the Palestinians because President Mahmoud Abbas didn't control Gaza and hence inking an agreement with him didn't make any sense", Zananiri suggested.
To sow even a deeper divide, Zananiri says Netanyahu then came up with a "brilliant" plan that was endorsed by US President Donald Trump.
According to that agreement, Israel would chop off some 30 percent of the West Bank, while Palestinians would see the establishment of their independent state and the injection of billions of dollars into their economy in exchange for dismantling their military groups such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
"Netanyahu’s idea was to kill the two-state solution. But when the Americans realised that Israel had no intention of letting the Palestinians have their own state, they changed their attitude towards the initiative", explained Zananiri, referring to recent reports, according to which the White House had decided to take the "deal of the century" off the table.
"Israel is worried about a unified Palestinian front on all possible levels and that's why it acts this way. It would rather see the Palestinians divided because the bigger the rift is, the better it rules. But they are not alone. Hamas is interested in that division too because if that doesn't exist, they will lose their legitimacy and will eventually have to hand over their power to the PA, something they would like to avoid at all costs", concluded Zananiri.
