Ghazi Hamad, undersecretary for foreign affairs in the Gaza government and a leading Hamas member, could not believe his ears when he heard Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had started consultations to form a national consensus government without coordinating with Hamas. Hamad was quite embarrassed because he was a key link between the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, and always urged his fellow Hamas leaders to give reconciliation a chance and believe in Abbas's good intentions. He told Al-Ahram Weekly that Hamas had no prior knowledge of Abbas's plan and that he personally and his group's leaders found out via the media. “While we welcome forming a national consensus government, the step must be part of several others, as stated in the Cairo Agreement and Doha Declaration. Most notably: holding elections, including the National Council, address the issue of general freedoms, rebuilding the security apparatus and restructuring the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on democratic foundations.” Hamad cautioned that the only step that could save the situation is holding an urgent meeting in Cairo between the two groups to consult and agree on the names of cabinet members, as well as implementing all the understandings of the Cairo Agreement and Doha Declaration. “If the issue is not addressed, then reconciliation efforts could return to zero point,” he warned. “How can they announce the start of consultations without reaching an agreement on how to hold elections? How can there be elections without elections to choose the new National Council?” Fatah leaders quickly realised the repercussions of announcing forming a new cabinet without coordinating with Hamas. Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah's Central Committee and in charge of inter-Palestinian dialogue, said his group will consult with Hamas on forming a Palestinian national consensus government in Cairo. Al-Ahmed added meetings will also be held with the rest of the Palestinian factions: “These consultations will be sponsored by President Abbas himself and will discuss a date for general elections, forming a cabinet and removing obstacles to endorsing it.” He added, however, that if an agreement is not reached with Hamas on the next government Abbas would seek other options, implying a cabinet could be formed without Hamas. Informed Palestinian sources told the Weekly an Egyptian delegation, including intelligence officers, would visit the West Bank and Gaza Strip soon to discuss the implementation of reconciliation agreements. The delegation will try to convince Fatah and Hamas to indefinitely postpone parliamentary, presidential and National Council elections, and make do with forming a national consensus government led by Abbas. Palestinian sources said Egyptian officials became convinced after meeting several Hamas and Fatah leaders, as well as independent Palestinian figures, that insisting on holding elections would make Palestinian reconciliation difficult. The source added both groups recently objected to a new reconciliation formula proposed by the Egyptians that requires Hamas to abandon its demand of holding National Council elections but that legislative and presidential elections would be held. In return, Fatah would agree to have the new government stay in power for an entire year, not just three months, as Abbas suggested, to be followed by presidential and legislative elections. The source said Egyptians are convinced the chances of holding elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are non-existent, because the new Israeli government will not provide the necessary conditions and requirements to allow balloting in the West Bank. There are also disputes between Hamas and Fatah about the conditions and requirements for elections. The source said Egyptians are proposing the coming national consensus government should be in charge of merging institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, implementing social reconciliation while postponing the merging of security agencies. Thus, security operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank would continue under their respective separate leaderships. The source noted there is a realisation that focussing on merging security agencies would permanently stymie achieving reconciliation because of gaping differences in the positions of each side. This would also allow foreign powers to intervene and undermine any progress. Sources said Hamas preconditioned any elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on providing the necessary criteria and conditions to allow it to contest the elections freely in the West Bank. This would require a halt of security measures against it by Israel and Palestinian Authority (PA) security agencies. The source added that although ending the crackdown by the PA is possible, there is no guarantee Israel would halt its clampdown against Hamas. In fact, most of the group's leaders in the West Bank have been arrested by occupation forces. It is clear Israel will never agree to holding elections in occupied Jerusalem, which is a pretext for Hamas not to participate in elections. The source explained that although it is unlikely the Egyptians will be able to convince both sides of the idea, because it contradicts what was agreed on in Cairo and Doha, the Egyptians would clarify their ability to continue mediating between the two sides has become very limited. The source said Egyptians will attempt to eliminate distrust between the two sides; Abbas suspects Hamas of wanting to grab the role of representative of the Palestinian people from the PLO by demanding elections for the National Council. Hamas, on the other hand, suspects Abbas wants to push it off the political stage by insisting on holding legislative and presidential elections. Ziyad Al-Zaza, deputy prime minister in the Gaza government, mocked the notion that Hamas and the Gaza government are seeking to replace the PLO and Abbas as representatives of the Palestinian people. “There is an elected parliament,” Al-Zaza explained to the Weekly. “Abbas is the one who carried out a military coup against [election results] in 2007. After the coup failed, parliament is the only legitimate institution of representation. According to Palestinian Basic Law, parliament continues with a full mandate until a new parliament is elected. At the same time, (Hamas) Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is the only one who has the confidence of parliament, while Abbas has no legitimacy as president because his mandate ended in 2009.” Al-Zaza is pessimistic about the probability of reconciliation. “The reconciliation agreement only needs to be implemented, and the stage should have been set and freedom provided in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to enable people to contest any election under maximum freedom,” Al-Zaza said. “Instead, arrests in the West Bank continued. How can someone who is arrested or is worried about being arrested nominate himself or participate in elections or lead an electoral campaign? Social reconciliation is necessary to heal the wounds of the past. This should be preceded by consensus on a unified Palestinian security doctrine to maintain the safety of the Palestinian people, not the occupation — which is what Abbas's security agencies are doing in the West Bank.” Despite the fierce debate and war of words between Fatah and Hamas, one cannot ignore the role of foreign factors that negatively impacting the chances of reaching and implementing a conciliation agreement. In fact, Israeli Minister Yuval Steinitz has already threatened the PA that Israel will once again withhold taxes it collects on behalf of the PA if conciliation is achieved. The aim of forming a “national consensus” government was to prepare for conciliation, but if this government is formed without consensus it will become yet another stumbling block for conciliation rather than a solution.
