The devil is in the detail. This saying sums up the current talks aimed to reconcile Fatah and Hamas, the two rival Palestinian factions now in control of the West Bank and Gaza respectively. It has been seven years since Hamas staged what Fatah officials brand as a “coup”, seizing control of the Gaza Strip. The schism that followed between the two parts of what the Palestinians hope to turn one day into a unified state, free from Israel's occupation, has riled the nation and undermined efforts for a peace deal with Israel. But there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who wish to see the Palestinians regrouping under cohesive government — or at least a hopeful flicker. Officials of both Fatah and Hamas have been in touch, talking about unity and trying to address their long history of grievances. But the road is far from smooth, for not only material interests are involved, but also a divergent attitude towards Israel and the peace process that is likely to add complications. A delegation from Fatah's Central Committee, led by Nabil Shaath and Jamal Moheisen, visited Gaza in the second week of February to explore possibilities of forming a mutually acceptable government of technocrats to pave the way for nationwide elections. The move followed a reconciliatory gesture by Hamas, which recently released several Fatah detainees and allowed Fatah officials who left Gaza in summer 2007 to come back for visits. But now the talks seem to get mired in mutual accusations, with Fatah saying that Hamas is dragging its feet, and Hamas saying that Fatah is not addressing a “package” of administrative and political matters that need to be settled before elections. For the past few years, Hamas has taken the stand that resistance is the only possible manner of confronting Israel. Fatah is not listening, for it believes that negotiations have more of a chance of giving the Palestinians their long-awaited state. Last July, after a three-year hiatus in peace talks, the Ramallah-based government resumed direct talks with Israel. But hopes for a breakthrough evaporated when the “framework” deal brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry was shunned by the Palestinians, saying that it failed to offer satisfactory answers to the status of Jerusalem and the refugees. Both Fatah and Hamas have a good reason to reconcile. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas needs to convince his international interlocutors that he speaks for the whole nation, not a segment thereof. Hamas, for its part, is on the brink of bankruptcy, unable to pay salaries to government employees or to provide adequate sustenance for its population. Living conditions in the Strip have deteriorated since the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the subsequent closure of the tunnels that used to bring in food and fuel to the two million people living in Gaza. To make matters worse, Hamas can no longer rely on the support of Iran and Hizbullah, both embroiled in the stalemate of the Syrian civil war. Disputes between Fatah and Hamas emerged after the latter won a majority of Palestinian Legislative Council seats in January 2006. In June 2007, following a bout of bloody fighting, Hamas declared a self-styled government in Gaza. The first reconciliation deal between the Fatah and Hamas was brokered by Egypt in May 2011, but failed to produce tangible results. A second was brokered by Qatar in February 2012, and so far had no better luck. Both deals focus on procedural arrangements prior to elections, with a government of technocrats trusted by both sides installed for a transitional period. Azzam Al-Ahmed, the Fatah official in charge of reconciliation, said that Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas asked for more time to formulate details of the reconciliation process. The ponderous pace of Hamas has infuriated Fatah, which wanted to move on with the formation of a national unity government leading to early elections. A statement issued by the Fatah Media and Culture Commission slammed Hamas, saying that the Islamist movement keeps bringing new conditions to the negotiating table. “In the past, Hamas used to sound like a broken record, with much talk about conditions and restrictions... Now it is doing it all over again,” the statement said. According to Fatah officials, Hamas is playing a game, seeking to guarantee that its control over Gaza is going to survive any future arrangements. Hamas is adamant that reconciliation is more than elections. Having won elections in the past, but failed to accede to power, Hamas is demanding guarantees about the future political course of the country and measures to ensure that its appointed employees will remain in their posts in any future arrangement. Hamas says that any true reconciliation must be based on resistance rather than discredited negotiations with Israel, a position Fatah has a hard time swallowing. “To focus on elections alone to the exclusion of other reconciliation dossiers... undermines resistance and Palestinian rights,” said Hamas spokesman Salah Al-Bardawil. “There is an implicit attempt to liquidate the resistance by focusing on elections and neglecting the rest of the elements in the reconciliation dossier. They keep calling for elections, and yet if they fail they will not recognise its outcome,” he added. When Fatah officials visited Gaza, they offered no acceptable answer to matters of primary urgency, such as the future of Gaza employees, the release of detainees in the West Bank, and the restructuring of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation), Al-Bardawil stated. The future of the Gaza government employees is essential. Unless it is resolved, the livelihood of 55,000 families will be affected, the spokesman explained. “Everyone wants to talk about legislative and presidential elections. But what will happen after the elections? Are these employees going to be punished because they were appointed in the middle of disputes?” he asked. When Hamas took control of Gaza, it appointed thousands of employees in various sectors. These employees receive no salaries from Fatah, which keeps paying the salaries of former Gaza employees, nearly 70,000 of them, who no longer do any work. Hamas is also complaining of Fatah's treatment of its sympathisers in the West Bank. During his meeting with the Fatah delegation, Ismail Haniyeh said that recent arrests of Hamas supporters in the West Bank pose a real obstacle to talks. Hamas politburo member Moussa Abu Marzouk told the newspaper Al-Quds that reconciliation efforts must address the administrative details of future arrangements. “Employees of the security services in Gaza and the West Bank and other employees must not be affected... their positions need to be legally normalised,” he added.
