Israel's right-wing government will accelerate the process of uniting Palestinian factions, predicts Saleh Al-Naami Hamas leader Ghazi Al-Hamed and Fatah Central Committee member Ahmed Qurei were on the phone all through this week discussing how Hamas could accept the Egyptian invitation to dialogue. The major obstacle that was blocking Hamas's acceptance of the invitation was the presence of Hamas political detainees in Palestinian Authority (PA) prisons in the West Bank. After each of them consulted with their faction's leadership, an agreement was reached for the PA to release scores of Hamas detainees from prison before the dialogue resumes. Yet Hamas says that the PA is currently detaining 700 of its members in the West Bank, including leading figures. Despite the issue of Fatah holding Hamas activists as prisoners, high level representatives of both movements arrived in Cairo on Tuesday evening and started immediately preparing for a comprehensive inter-Palestinian diaolgue that started on Wednesday. The dialogue involves all the Palestinian factions, organisations and other powers, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported. Preparatory meetings were presided over by Qurei and Hamas exiled politburo deputy chief Moussa Abou Marzouk. However, Hamas leaders still doubt the seriousness of President Mahmoud Abbas's declared intentions, and are unconvinced that he is truly prepared to take confidence-building measures to improve relations between the two sides, particularly with regard to political detainees. Member of the Hamas political leadership Jamal Abu Hashim, who is part of the dialogue delegation, told the Weekly that Hamas no longer made release of all political detainees a condition for holding a dialogue with Fatah. Yet at the same time, he stressed, Hamas cannot accept that 700 of its members remain in PA prisons simply because they belong to Hamas. Abu Hashim says that Hamas will stipulate that a time limit be set for resolving the issue of political detention and that a large number of detainees must be released first in order to cement trust between the two sides. Abu Hashim points out that Hamas rejected the Egyptian invitation to dialogue prior to the recent war on Gaza because of the issue of political detainees, and that this position was supported by a number of the Palestinian factions. This, he says, makes it difficult for Hamas to agree to resuming the dialogue as long as this file remains open. Abu Hashim also says that high- ranking Fatah officials informed Hamas representatives during earlier meetings in Cairo that Fatah could not take a decision regarding the release of Hamas detainees because Prime Minister Salam Fayyad insisted on using an iron fist against Hamas in the West Bank as implementation of the roadmap. According to Abu Hashim, Hamas bases in the West Bank are placing pressure on the movement's leadership to not resume the dialogue until the issue of political detainment is resolved and arbitrary measures against Hamas members are halted. Yet there seems to be another problem in the way of meaningful dialogue, for Hamas further rejects the participation of Samir Al-Meshrawi, a Fatah leader who fled the Gaza Strip after Hamas took control of it. An informed source told the Weekly that Hamas had informed the Egyptian government that it opposed Al-Meshrawi's participation because he was one of the "pillars of the coup" that planned and oversaw the sowing of unrest prior to the confrontations between Hamas and Fatah that ended with a military take-over by Hamas. Al-Meshrawi was considered one of Mohamed Dahlan's assistants, and Dahlan was the Fatah leader described by Hamas as the leader of the "coup". Al-Meshrawi replied to Hamas's demand by saying that Cairo had not informed Abu Mazen of any objection to his participation in the dialogue as a Fatah representative. He further stressed that he was prepared to concede participation if taking part would jeopardise the dialogue's success. A Hamas source told the Weekly that despite Hamas's reservation over the issue of political detention remaining unresolved, as well as Al-Meshrawi participating in the Fatah delegation to the dialogue, the Hamas leadership has nonetheless decided to participate in the national dialogue. It reached this decision after receiving an Egyptian promise to make this issue a priority during the dialogue sessions, in addition to a focus on forming a national unity government. This source indicated that in the worst case scenario, at least the mere formation of a national unity government would automatically put an end to the issue of political detention since this government would have the jurisdiction to rule on it. Yet despite Hamas's reservations about the dialogue, Fatah and Hamas agree that the rise of the extreme right in Israel to power has obliged them to reach an understanding that could put an end once and for all to the state of division in Palestinian politics. Fatah Revolutionary Council member Ibrahim Abul-Naja, who is the media representative of the Fatah leadership committee in the Gaza Strip, says that Netanyahu being entrusted with the formation of a new government in Israel forces Palestinians to unify quickly in order to confront what he calls the "extremist thought of the Israeli political right that does not recognise Palestinian national rights". In a statement to the Weekly, Abul-Naja said that "the orientation of the right in Israel indicates that public opinion wants for what remains of the Gaza Strip to be destroyed. The failure of those who led this most recent destructive war in the Israeli elections is a sign that the Israeli electorate is displeased with their performance and wants more killing and destruction." "This serious situation shouldn't inspire regret and denial, but rather demands that the Palestinian ranks hastily unify through a comprehensive national dialogue that produces a national unity government that can confront the serious threats expected," he said. Abul-Naja calls on the Palestinian factions to step up to this responsibility and hasten to hold a serious national dialogue that would meet the goals and ambitions of the Palestinians and form a national unity government capable of dealing with all possibilities. Vice-President of the Hamas parliamentary bloc Yehia Moussa agrees with Abul-Naja. He told the Weekly that the Palestinians, of all intellectual and political shades, have come to realise that no bets can be placed when it comes to the Israelis now that the majority of them have cast their votes for the right and extreme right, which denies the simplest of national rights for the Palestinians. Moussa says that the formation of a right-wing government led by Netanyahu is a sign that all bets have been lost on the possibility of reaching a political settlement to the conflict with Israel. He adds that the Palestinian response to the victory of the Israeli right must be commencing a national dialogue that ends with consensus on rallying around the Palestinian resistance. Head of the negotiations affairs department in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Saeb Erekat says that the PLO is now working on preparing the international community for the formation of the national unity government that is expected following the conclusion of the national dialogue. This groundwork includes guaranteeing international recognition of the government. Erekat says that the international community must not apply double standards when dealing with the Palestinians and Israelis. When the Palestinian national unity government of 2006 was formed under the leadership of Ismail Haniyeh, he points out, the Quartet insisted that it recognise the agreements signed with Israel and the two-state principle, as well as disavow violence as conditions for dealing with it. Erekat poses, "Should the upcoming Israeli government [led by Netanyahu] reject the two- state principle and signed agreements, and insist on continuing warfare, the siege and settlement activity, could this government be the partner of the Quartet Committee? Or would the Quartet Committee declare that this government is not a partner?" Political science professor at Al-Azhar University Naji Sharab is convinced that Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) will make an effort to close the file of political detention because he knows that otherwise no serious national dialogue can begin. In an interview with the Weekly, Sharab said, "I assume that Abu Mazen is rational, that he realises that the dialogue has been frustrated every time due to the issue of the political detainees, and as such, we can't imagine the dialogue taking place as long as this file remains open as is." Sharab stresses that the new circumstances are forcing Hamas and Fatah to end the state of division between them since it harms the national interest as well as the interests of each movement. "It is clear that the rise of the right to power in Israel means striking a heavy blow to the political programme of Abu Mazen, for no one will believe that he can invest efforts in the negotiation process with Israel while knowing that Netanyahu has clearly stated his rejection of withdrawing even a metre from the Palestinian territories," he says. "Instead, he will propose an economic peace based on improving the living standards of the Palestinians in return for them conceding their national rights." Sharab says that Hamas and its government are now in need of dialogue due to the growing problem of reconstruction following the recent war on Gaza. "Reconstruction has become the top priority for the Haniyeh government, and it won't take place unless national reconciliation succeeds and leads to the formation of a national unity government that the world recognises, and to the lifting of the siege on the Palestinian people," he says. Sharab points out that international recognition of Hamas's role in the political process is growing, and that the world views it as taking place within the internationally recognised regime only. He doesn't expect for Hamas and Fatah to go back on their positions on the main topics for dialogue, such as the future of the PLO, the reformation of the security agencies, and the formation of the upcoming government. The main problem, he says, is the extent to which Hamas and Fatah understand the reality of the changed international circumstances, and the need to be in harmony with them. The impression in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is that Fatah and Hamas both realise that reconciliation is no longer an option, but rather a strategy that must be followed in order to safeguard their political survival.
