The sheer level of bitterness between the conflicting parties may forestall all attempts at Palestinian reconciliation dialogue, writes Saleh Al-Naami With only a candle providing dim light, he searched for the new mobile of an Egyptian official. He eventually found and dialled the number. The official's wife told him that her husband had gone to bed and to call back in the morning. This is how Ghazi Hamad, charged with maintaining contacts between the Haniyeh government in Gaza and the Egyptian government, has been spending nights in his office. He is trying to put together a formula that would enable Hamas and Fatah to agree to resume dialogue between them. In addition to contacting Egyptian officials, Hamad has also been calling top officials in Damascus, Sanaa, Doha and other Arab capitals. What gives him some heart is the assurances that he has received from several officials that the Arab League will not take sides in the internal Palestinian factional dispute and will refrain from apportioning blame in the event that dialogue collapses again -- contrary to the wish of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. "In spite of the Arab countries' failure to take serious action to help mend the rift between our people, it is extremely important that the Arabs do not become party to the conflict, because that would not only perpetuate the rift but also aggravate it to an unprecedented degree," Hamad told Al-Ahram Weekly. Hamad is the only official in the Haniyeh government to have maintained contact with people close to Abbas and, specifically, with the head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) negotiating bureau, Saeb Erikat, with whom he is in touch almost daily. But Hamad harbours no illusions. If the rift continues, he knows that he and Erikat will have to break off their relationship. The Gaza official also revealed that some independent Palestinian parties suggested to officials in Egypt and in the Arab League that the Arab League hold separate meetings with representatives of Fatah and Hamas during which the representatives would offer "creative formulas" for bridging the gap between the two sides. In his opinion, in spite of the fact that both sides have dug in their heels, it is still possible to resolve their outstanding differences, "provided that their intentions are good." That is an important codicil. As much as Hamad and independent Palestinian parties have tried, the situation remains essentially unchanged. Abbas believes that Arab foreign ministers should convene an emergency meeting in order to determine which Palestinian faction is responsible for the failure of national dialogue. From his perspective, that would be another step towards isolating Hamas. Indeed, it appears that there are persons in Abbas's circle who are keen to escalate the confrontation with Hamas and are, therefore, pressuring him to declare Gaza a "rebel area". Reliable sources have told the Weekly that Mohammed Dahlan, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, are among those pushing for this step that would lead to a suspension of the salaries of all government employees in Gaza. The idea is to intensify internal pressures against Hamas and incite popular rebellion in Gaza. Meanwhile, PA security forces in the West Bank are continuing to round up Hamas activists. Near all Hamas leaders insist that a halt to the detention of Hamas members and the release of those currently held is a precondition to agreeing to accept an Egyptian invitation to host inter-Palestinian dialogue talks. Ayman Taha, a prominent Hamas leader, states emphatically that Hamas will refuse dialogue so long as the campaign of detentions against Hamas continues. He charges that detentions are a ploy to force Hamas into making concessions, especially with regard to the extension of Abbas's term of office. Taha insists that Hamas will not bend to this type of pressure. He recalls that Abbas's security forces had once attempted a similar thing in Gaza that backfired. He further accuses the Ramallah-based Fayyad government and its security services of colluding with Israeli security forces against the Palestinian resistance. "When a Palestinian security agency arrests a political leader who has just been released from an Israeli prison where he had been detained on the grounds of threatening Israeli security, is this not a flagrant effort on behalf of Israel?" Even the most pessimistic Palestinians would not have imagined that acrimony between Fatah and Hamas could have reached its current pitch of vehemence. The war of words, recriminations and suspicions, and the insults and accusations hurtling back and forth seem to form an impenetrable wall between the Palestinian people and the national reconciliation they long for. On more than one occasion, Abbas has charged Hamas leaders with turning Gaza into "a foothold for Al-Qaeda". Meanwhile, Said Sayam, interior minister from the dismissed Haniyeh government, has accused Abbas of waging war against the Palestinian people by refusing to pay the salaries of civil servants in Gaza, refusing to grant passports to patients from Gaza who need to travel abroad for treatment, and being responsible for the continued closure of the Rafah border crossing. He further charges that it was Abbas who plunged Gaza into darkness because it was at his bidding that Israel cut off the fuel needed to generate electricity. Concurrently, it appears that the Egyptian government is still angry at Hamas for turning down its invitation to attend Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo. Grassroots actions, such as protest marches and sit-ins organised by independent parties have been no less successful in pushing the two sides to resume dialogue. Walid Al-Mudalil, political science professor in the Islamic University in Gaza, believes that mass detentions and the war of words indicate that if the matter is left to "good intentions" Fatah and Hamas will never start talking again. Only "strong, serious, fair and objective" Arab intervention stands a chance of persuading the two sides to resume dialogue, he said. "Unfortunately, the division of the Arab world into opposing camps has been detrimental to the Palestinian situation. Both the rival Palestinian factions feel that they are supported by one Arab camp or the other, regardless of the objectivity and integrity of their positions," Al-Mudalil told the Weekly. Hamas leaders, he said, believe that Egypt's mediation is ultimately intended to pave the way to the end of their movement's rule. Cairo, they argue, does not want Muslim Brotherhood rule to succeed in Gaza for fear that this would strengthen the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. They further suspect that even the draft reconciliation paper drawn up by Cairo was formulated in coordination with Abbas. According to Al-Mudalil, Abbas knows that Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia back him while Hamas believes that Syria, Qatar and Yemen understand its positions. "Until the two sides disengage from their reliance on the external factor, it will be difficult to end the current rift," he said. He agrees with Hamad that it is possible to come up with many "creative formulas" for bridging the gap between the two sides in a manner that will enable both to feel that their interests will be met by dialogue. Unfortunately, so much is contingent on the good intentions of the two sides at a time when this is precisely the ingredient that is missing.
