Palestinian Authority and Hamas form ‘reconciliation committee’

The obsession of both of these political groups — the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas — is the destruction of Israel from the River to the Sea. PA President Mahmoud Abbas — who has called the PLO “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” — aims to unite the PA and Hamas in the common goal of obliterating Israel.

The meeting between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas was hosted in Cairo. “One of the goals of the Cairo meeting was to discuss the formation of a unity government that would adhere to the policies of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).” Senior official Azzam al-Ahmed, of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, now hopes that “if the Egyptians put enough pressure on Hamas, it’s possible we could see a new unity government.”

The PLO was founded in 1967 with the primary goal of obliterating the State of Israel. Its Charter was revised a year later to become the Palestinian National Charter.

Article 19 of the Palestinian National Charter states:

The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time.

Article 22:

Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world.

Palestinian political scientist Moukhaimer Abu Saada had little the hope for reunion, saying: “The best way to kill something is to form a committee for it.” Also, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) did not attend the meeting due to divisions between PIJ and the PA.

“Palestinian rivals form ‘reconciliation committee,’” Agence France-Presse, July 30, 2023:

President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met for rare face-to-face talks in the coastal city of El Alamein along with representatives of most Palestinian political factions.

The latest attempt at reconciliation aims to bridge the gap between the parallel governments of Hamas in the blockaded Gaza Strip and of the Palestinian Authority — controlled by Abbas’s secularist Fatah movement — which administers Palestinian-run areas of the occupied West Bank.

Abbas and Haniyeh were joined by the heads of other factions, except for the powerful Islamic Jihad and two other minor groups.

Islamic Jihad had made the release of prisoners held by PA security forces a condition for sending representatives to El Alamein.

Haniyeh earlier Sunday called on Abbas to end “security collaboration” with Israel and “political arrests”, according to participants at the meeting.

The Hamas leader also said “a new, inclusive parliament must be formed on the basis of free democratic elections”.

Hamas, which won the Palestinians’ last legislative polls held in 2006….

Abbas said Sunday “the coup d’etat and the division that befell us after… must end,” referring to clashes between Hamas and Fatah that followed the 2006 vote.

“We must return to a single state, a single system, a single law and a single legitimate army,” Abbas added.

To work towards this, the 87-year-old president announced “the formation of a committee to continue the dialogue… end divisions and achieve Palestinian national unity”.

A later statement from Abbas said he “hopes for an upcoming meeting soon in Egypt to announce to our people the end” of the 17-year split “and the return to Palestinian national unity”.

Palestinian political scientist Moukhaimer Abu Saada told AFP that the formation of the committee was no cause for celebration.

“The best way to kill something is to form a committee for it,” he said, speaking from Gaza.

He said he doubted the move would produce any progress towards “ending the division or setting a date for Palestinian elections”….