The idea that Hamas would disarm and stop digging tunnels and hand the Gaza Strip on a silver platter to Abbas and Fatah is pure fantasy.
Westerners are either ignorant and naïve or they are willfully deluding themselves.
Hamas simply cannot accept a situation where it is being asked to accept the so-called two-state solution….As made clear by the Hamas leaders, their goal remains to seek the “liberation of all of Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river.” This is Hamas’s mantra.
For more than two months, the Hamas-Fatah “reconciliation” agreement that was reached in Cairo in October has been hailed by many Arabs and Westerners as a sign that the Palestinians were finally marching forward together.
It turns out, however, that the dramatic announcement of the agreement, which was reached with the sponsorship of the Egypt, was all a bluff.
Those in the know about the Palestinian world predicted that the latest “reconciliation” deal would fail. At least five previous agreements between Hamas and Fatah, reached under the auspices of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen over the past ten years, likewise failed. Every one of these agreements was stillborn, not worth the time it took to uncap the pen.
The latest “reconciliation” agreement, then, has just joined this impressive list of defunct accords. Moreover, it is not too speculative to suggest that any truce struck in the foreseeable future between Hamas and Fatah would also swiftly join its predecessors in the graveyard of agreements.
So, why do these “reconciliation” agreements between the two rival Palestinian parties keep failing? Why has it become impossible for the Palestinians to reunite themselves and work together for the sake of a better life for their people? Who is responsible for the divisions and internal bickering among the Palestinians and who are the biggest losers and winners from the continued power struggle between Hamas and Fatah?
These questions prod at one as Palestinian leaders continue to call for “days of rage” and incite their people in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The small protests that have swept some parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (but were exaggerated by mainstream media in the West) served as a distraction from the failure of Hamas and Fatah to implement their “reconciliation” agreement.