The easiest way to resolve tensions between Fatah and Hamas is to seek a new governmental mandate from the Palestinian people, writes Ibrahim Nafie Qatar's foreign minister failed to narrow the differences between Fatah and Hamas. He failed to persuade Hamas to accept proposals leading to the formation of a new government. His proposals involved a recycled formula of the conditions set by the Quartet. Since Qatar is known to have close relations with Hamas leaders, especially Khaled Meshal, many people had pinned great hopes on Qatari mediation. These hopes have proven to be unrealistic. The differences between Fatah and Hamas, let's admit, are impossible to bridge. Hamas leaders are holding on to their ideological agenda. Anything but the liberation of the whole of Palestine is suspicious to them. They don't accept the Arab initiative, declared in Beirut in 2002, which offers Israel full normalisation in return for its full withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories. Hamas is not listening to Arab mediators. It says it is willing to have a "truce" with Israel, but not a peace treaty. Arab countries want to act within the remit of UN resolutions, and with good reason. But with the Palestinians as divided as they are today, the Arabs have no way of helping out. President Mahmoud Abbas has endorsed the Arab initiative. But Hamas is refusing a two-state solution and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh keeps speaking of a "truce". One wonders what Hamas wants exactly. Is Hamas calling for new military campaigns to liberate the rest of the land? Seemingly Hamas is still acting as a resistance movement with undying ideals, not as a government that responds pragmatically to matters of policy. All efforts aiming to narrow the gap between Hamas and Fatah have failed. Efforts to form a national unity government have crumbled. And a proposal to form a government of technocrats for a year or two has been shot down. Meanwhile, the situation in the Palestinian territories is deteriorating due to the continuation of the siege and the lack of funds to pay government employees. The crisis has spawned ferocious protests, some of which have deteriorated into gunfights. Palestinian security forces participated in two demonstrations to demand overdue salaries. Several people were killed or wounded in ensuing clashes. Who benefits from that? The Israeli government, if you ask me, is the only beneficiary of continued Palestinian divisions. The Israeli government is using inter- Palestinian disputes to fortify its claim that no Palestinian partner exists and to push ahead with its unilateral separation plans. The current situation poses a great risk to the Palestinians and may even lead to civil war. Hamas is stuck in hardline ideology and is refusing to listen to ordinary Palestinians. Hamas leaders seem to view their parliamentary victory as a mandate to stay in power for four years, come what may. Any call for disbanding the government or holding early elections is promptly denounced by Hamas officials as a coup d'état and a call for civil war. The Palestinians have one of two options. Either they form a government of national unity based on the Prisoner's Document, or go back to the polls and let the people decide what comes next. Time is at a premium, for the present deadlock on the Palestinian scene is playing into Israel's hands. There is nothing wrong in going back to the polls. Elections are not a coup d'état. The Palestinian people must be given another chance. They must be given the chance to decide what kind of government they want to have.
