Palestinian unity?
At a press conference in Cairo Wednesday the Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas announced that, after secret talks under the auspices of the interim Egyptian Government, they have arrived at a unity deal. There are three aspects of the deal, first they agree to establish an interim unity Government that would consist of agreed "professional" figures that would rule both Gaza and the West Bank, second they agreed to have unified elections in the near future for both President and the currently inactive Palestine Legislative Council and third they agreed that they would release each other's prisoners from their respective jails. Hamas also stated that there will not be any negotiations with Israel pending the application for recognition of a Palestinian State at the UN in the new session in September.
This deal was predicted as a necessary preliminary measure for any application for Palestinian Statehood before the UN. After all, how could a State be recognized if it was in fact divided into two separate pieces, Hamas in Gaza and the PA on the West Bank. Whether this agreement will stand the test of time, and whether or not Hamas will take over the whole of the PA territory after an election as it did in Gaza, is not known. PM Netanyahu cautioned the PA President Abbas that he had a choice, either he could choose to negotiate peace with Israel or he could choose to make a unity deal with the terrorists of Hamas, but he could not have both. Since Hamas calls openly for the destruction of Israel and refuses any recognition of Israel, such a deal makes any Palestinian unity Government not a viable partner for peace with Israel.
The US Government spokesman was cautious about the deal, calling on the Palestinian factions to establish a unity government that does want to negotiate peace with Israel. But, as indicated above this has already been ruled out. Such a move may convince some countries at the UN to vote for a Palestinian State, but others will see thru the ruse and will oppose any State that is deliberately negating any future deal with Israel. The US will vote against such a State based on the current unity agreement. The problem is that if Hamas is included in any Palestinain Government, they will not define their borders since their intention is to destroy Israel and occupy "all" of Palestine. They will probably make the pre-June 1967 ceasefire lines their temporary borders. Israel cannot accept this, since the whole point of the negotiations is to arrive at mutually agreed borders, not imposed ones. However, if that is made impossible, then Israel will have no alternative but to impose its own version of its borders. This will mean first a move to incorporate all densely populated Jewish areas of the West Banjk into Israel, and then possibly extending the occupation of the IDF over most of the West Bank. The Land of Israel cannot be allowed to be permanently and unilaterally grabbed by a putative Palestinian state that declares itself an enemy of Israel.
This deal was predicted as a necessary preliminary measure for any application for Palestinian Statehood before the UN. After all, how could a State be recognized if it was in fact divided into two separate pieces, Hamas in Gaza and the PA on the West Bank. Whether this agreement will stand the test of time, and whether or not Hamas will take over the whole of the PA territory after an election as it did in Gaza, is not known. PM Netanyahu cautioned the PA President Abbas that he had a choice, either he could choose to negotiate peace with Israel or he could choose to make a unity deal with the terrorists of Hamas, but he could not have both. Since Hamas calls openly for the destruction of Israel and refuses any recognition of Israel, such a deal makes any Palestinian unity Government not a viable partner for peace with Israel.
The US Government spokesman was cautious about the deal, calling on the Palestinian factions to establish a unity government that does want to negotiate peace with Israel. But, as indicated above this has already been ruled out. Such a move may convince some countries at the UN to vote for a Palestinian State, but others will see thru the ruse and will oppose any State that is deliberately negating any future deal with Israel. The US will vote against such a State based on the current unity agreement. The problem is that if Hamas is included in any Palestinain Government, they will not define their borders since their intention is to destroy Israel and occupy "all" of Palestine. They will probably make the pre-June 1967 ceasefire lines their temporary borders. Israel cannot accept this, since the whole point of the negotiations is to arrive at mutually agreed borders, not imposed ones. However, if that is made impossible, then Israel will have no alternative but to impose its own version of its borders. This will mean first a move to incorporate all densely populated Jewish areas of the West Banjk into Israel, and then possibly extending the occupation of the IDF over most of the West Bank. The Land of Israel cannot be allowed to be permanently and unilaterally grabbed by a putative Palestinian state that declares itself an enemy of Israel.
posted by Jack Cohen at 3:02 PM
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