Fatah and Hamas are coming under increasing pressure to reach an agreement, reports Saleh Al-Naami Despite contradictory statements by Fatah and Hamas and some issues on the dialogue agenda remaining unresolved or yet to be discussed, participants in the dialogue are facing growing pressure from Arab states to reach an agreement. Fatah and Hamas leaders have both stated that an agreement is in reach now that a number of their differences have been overcome. Sources say that should a final agreement be reached within the next two weeks, it is likely that President Hosni Mubarak will personally sponsor the signing ceremony attended by the heads of several Arab states. Al-Ahram Weekly has also learned that Egyptian officials have promised faction representatives that Cairo will work towards guaranteeing international support for any agreement produced by the dialogue. The committee charged with discussing the future of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) made progress when it agreed to form a committee consisting of the secretary-generals of all Palestinian factions who will be charged with determining the mechanism for electing members of the Palestinian National Council (PNC). PNC members will then be mandated to set the political programme of the PLO. The only point of difference remaining is the demand by many of the factions, including Hamas, that a temporary national leadership be formed to make decisions until PNC elections can be held. Doing so would allow Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other forces to join national decision-making circles in Palestine. Fatah opposes any measures that would affect the current PLO executive committee and its powers. Yet the factions that have demanded the temporary national leadership include the Popular Front and the Democratic Front, both of which are represented on the PLO's current executive committee. Palestinian sources say that the Egyptians will offer a "creative formula" for overcoming this point of difference. The dialogue sessions have also seen an important breakthrough concerning elections. An agreement has been reached that elections for the PLC, the presidency, and the PNC be concurrent. The formation of a central elections committee was also agreed, allowing President Mahmoud Abbas to issue a presidential decree ordering its formation though the selection of members will proceed through consultation and coordination among political forces, including Ismail Haniyeh's dismissed government. It was further agreed that an elections court would be formed comprising a chairman and eight judges. The latter are to be selected from the Supreme Council of Judges. Two points of difference remain outstanding: cut-off percentages in the elections and the electoral model to be used. Hamas has asked for the cut-off percentage to be seven per cent. Factions who secure a lower percentage of votes will have no representation on the PLC. Other factions want a lower cut-off point, allowing the widest possible base of representation on the next PLC. Fatah, together with a majority of factions, is also pressing for proportional representation while Hamas insists on a mixed model combining proportional and electoral district systems. The primary obstacle still blocking agreement on a new government concerns its programme. Fatah representatives are demanding that the new government recognise and implement the Quartet's conditions, including recognition of Israel, commitment to agreements already signed between the PLO and Israel, and the resistance renouncing violence. Hamas, and some of the other factions, insist that the new government's programme must follow that of the national unity government declared following the Mecca agreement of February 2007. Hamas is prepared for the new government's programme to include an article stating that it "respects" earlier agreements while Fatah insists that the wording be "is committed". Fatah's argument is that the stronger wording will encourage the international community to recognise the new government and lift its siege of Gaza. Hamas and some other factions counter that the rise of the extreme right to power in Israel renders Palestinian disputes on agreements with Israel irrelevant. Palestinian sources say a "reconciliatory formulation" that overcomes differences between the two sides on the new government's programme is now possible, and that the superficial dispute between Fatah and Hamas over who will form the next government is not an overwhelming obstacle. Hamas has announced more than once that it is prepared to concede the post of prime minister in order to guarantee that the dialogue is a success. Agreements have also been reached on restructuring security agencies. They will be split into intelligence and national security branches, each of which will answer to the president of the PA, while the police will answer directly to the government. The dialogue, though, has yet to address the thornier issue of these agencies' composition and powers. All the factions, with the exception of Fatah, reject the security plan implemented under Salam Fayyad's government and supervised by American security coordinator Keith Dayton. This plan prescribed the pursuit and imprisonment of Palestinian resistance movement members, and Hamas activists in particular. With the exception of Fatah, all the factions have demanded security coordination between Israel and the PA end. Political scientist Nehad Al-Sheikh Khalil is optimistic about the possibility of reaching a final agreement, particularly after the "relaxed" Arab-Arab relations on show at the Riyadh summit that brought together the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Kuwait. Al-Sheikh Khalil told the Weekly that Riyadh, Cairo, and Damascus are placing pressure on all parties in the Palestinian arena to quickly reach an agreement capable of producing an accord. He considers the current dialogue in Cairo the only option Fatah and Hamas have, arguing that Hamas is keen for it to succeed for reconstruction to begin, while Fatah increasingly recognises that success is the only way to keep a continuing political process following the election of Benyamin Netanyahu. International parties have, however, made interventions likely to hamper any agreement. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Western diplomatic sources as saying that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned President Mahmoud Abbas during her recent visit to Ramallah that Washington would withdraw the $900 million of financial support it has promised the PA should the new government not recognise Israel's right to exist or commit to the conditions of the Quartet. In response, the deputy head of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, Yehia Moussa, demanded Palestine do without US financial aid, accusing Washington of trying to cement domestic rifts and pardon the Israeli occupation from its responsibilities. In a statement to the Weekly Moussa said that relinquishing American aid would help the dialogue in Cairo to succeed, and that the Palestinian people can take care of their needs without US help when it has become clear that help is being used to perpetuate differences within Palestinian society which would then allow Washington to continue to intervene in Palestinian affairs in a way that serves Israeli interests. "If there were justice in the world, the United States would be tried for all of Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people, for Washington is responsible for all of its aggression," he said.
