One of the biggest and most ongoing battles in the Middle East is of course the formation and continuation of Israel. But complicating matters is the internal rift going on within the Palestinian ranks, especially one division that has been simmering since about 2005 when PLO leader Yassir Arafat died. At that point, tensions between Hamas and Fatah parties grew, and grew even more when Hamas won the elections in the Gaza Strip region. Hamas has a historically active terrorist wing of the party, one that has kept a lot of international aid money out of Gaza, unless Hamas chooses to recognize the “3 Demands” from the international community:

1.    Recognize Israel
2.    Accept agreements made by the Palestinian Authority under the previous Fatah-led Administration
3.    Denounce violence

So it’s messy.

That said, there is hope for progress between Hamas and Fatah, with a report coming through on Reuters that the two are close to reconciliation after meeting with Saudi officials.

"We made great strides toward achieving reconciliation. We are in the final stages now," said Khaled Meshaal, leader of Hamas.

If all continues to go as the peacemakers hope (in this case Egypt and Saudi Arabia), then there will be new elections during the coming June held in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. That is Egypt’s idea, though- we’ll have to see what the Hamas party, who is currently enjoying power in the Gaza Strip, has to say about that- Meshaal said there were some points that still needed to be resolved about the agreement that Egypt has put forward.  

For their part, the Fatah party is behind the proposal- so again, we all find ourselves sitting back and waiting for Hamas to accept or reject the proposal.

"We urge Hamas to sign it so that we begin implementing the agreement," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior Fatah official. Yeah, I bet you do. This is a pretty good deal for the Fatah party, as it gives them another chance in Gaza with a new election.

Other officials disagree.

"Khaled Meshaal did not come with anything new. The Palestinian people and Fatah are waiting for Hamas to sign on the Egyptian paper for reconciliation to take place," said Zeyad Abu Ein, another senior Fatah official. I tend to agree with him that it is hard to believe that Hamas is proactively going to meet with outside countries and somehow now wants to resume peaceful talks and diplomatic handshakes with Hamas.

Meshaal’s angle on all of this is to get Saudi Arabia and Egypt to help him and Hamas unify the Palestinian approach and rally all Arab nations to confront Israel. In that sense, it’s nothing new.
Hamas is the thorn in the side of anyone in the Middle East who wants to broker an enduring peace deal- Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and wants them out of there. While they have power in the Gaza government, Israel has instituted a blockade around them to cut off supplies, and Egypt has proposed doing the same, building a physical underground barrier along the Egypt-Gaza Strip border. If that happened Hamas would be stuck- trapped from both sides.

For now, though, hopes are pinned on reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah parties- let us hope whatever the result there is less violence in 2010.

Photo Credit: Vince Perritano (via Flickr under CCL)