RUTHFULLY YOURS

Palestinian Unity Effort Nears Collapse By Joshua Mitnick and Nicholas Casey

Posted By Ruth King on June 18th, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/palestinian-political-crisis-threatens-to-undo-unity-government-1434536692

Rival governing groups of Fatah and Hamas disagree over how to rebuild war-battered Gaza

The fragile Palestinian unity government teetered on the verge of collapse on Wednesday amid an escalating conflict between the secular Fatah party and its Islamist rival Hamas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s office said the unity government formed last year to reunite the two Palestinian factions had resigned on Wednesday after he held an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on the government’s fate. But shortly after, Abbas aides said a final decision wasn’t yet made.

The joint government is the sole achievement of a year-old effort to end a feud that has stymied Palestinian politics and undermined a statehood drive. That push appears to be coming to an end, as both sides blame the other for political gridlock.

Hamas and Fatah have failed to cooperate on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after a 50-day war with Israel last summer, overhaul Palestinian political institutions or set up elections pledged by the end of this year.

The confusion and lack of progress on reconciliation reflect the state of disarray in Palestinian politics, analysts say, with the unity government remaining confined to its base in the West Bank city of Ramallah and Hamas refusing to cede control over Gaza.

“This is becoming the umbrella for our failure,’’ said Munther Dajani, a political-science professor at Al Quds University. “We had a golden opportunity to set a paradigm as a state and we failed. This never materialized. We are our worst enemy.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Abbas had told leaders of his Fatah party that he would dissolve the government within hours because Hamas “had not cooperated” in unity efforts.

Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil said the party had been blindsided by the announcement, and that dissolving the cabinet would end the Palestinian reconciliation process.

Fatah-Hamas tensions have recently been exacerbated by reports in the Palestinian press of indirect cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas. Hafez Barghouti, a senior Fatah official, accused Hamas of trying to cut a separate deal with Israel. Hamas officials denied the allegation.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment, but a former Israeli ambassador said the two sides are communicating through mediators.

The unity government has its roots in a bloody battle between the two Palestinian factions in 2007 in which Hamas wrested control of Gaza. It has been governed independently since, waging three wars with Israel.

In an act of reconciliation, the two sides negotiated an accord last spring for a unity government between the two Palestinian sides. A cabinet of technocrats—jointly chosen by Fatah and Hamas—was seated in the weeks after, with elections planned by the end of 2015.

At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticized the deal, accusing Mr. Abbas of preferring an alliance with Hamas over peace negotiations with Israel.

The two factions came to loggerheads when war broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a conflict waged without Fatah. Nearly 2,100 Palestinians died in the fighting, in addition to about 72 Israelis, and many parts of Gaza were destroyed. Late last year, Mr. Abbas accused Hamas of carrying out a terrorist attack in the West Bank that began an escalation of tensions before the war.

The war also brought new popularity to Hamas, which it began to leverage to continue ruling independently. Security officials from Ramallah meant to take control of border crossings in Gaza were blocked from doing so by Hamas, despite the group’s agreement to hand over control.

In one incident, members of the new government cut a visit to Gaza short, saying they feared for their safety. The rivals also disagreed on who should pay tens of thousands civil servants hired by Hamas to run Gaza.

In a report on the Palestinian economy published last month, the International Monetary Fund warned that the unity government was in the process of unraveling and cited the lack of progress as one of the factors hampering the reconstruction of Gaza. “Reconciliation is necessary for a recovery to take place,’’ the report said.

Mr. Dajani said the unity government never took hold in Gaza. “It is actually non existent. There is a bureaucratic government set up by the West Bank authority and the people in Gaza don’t care. It doesn’t have a mandate.”

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