It has been a momentous week. Events that one may witness a few times in ones’ own lifetime appear to have converged and compressed into a mere seven days.
A royal wedding. The death of the most wanted man in the world at the hands of a highly trained American SEAL team, and now, reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
Just as it was unthinkable not so long ago that the Liberal Democrats could form a coalition Government with the Conservative party, so to it was inconceivable that Hamas and Fatah would find a platform through which they could both agree a way forward for the political aspirations of the people they claim to represent.
But come to an agreement they did. And in such startling secrecy. Perhaps it was for the best that the talks were held secretly and apparently without the direct intercession of the US or Israel. Without media coverage and the pressure it produces, Egypt acted honourably as perhaps the most honest broker of them all.
We can only hope the rapprochement between two parties that have appeared at all times to be the most bitter of enemies lasts and is a progressive step on the path to a true Palestinian State.
Egypt this week also announced its intention to open its border with Gaza on a permanent basis. Now that its people have stood up and demanded that their voice be heard it can clearly be discerned that the issue of Palestine is high on the agenda of the Egyptians.
Perhaps it was the insistence of the Egyptian people upon political change in their own country that gave Hamas and Fatah the urgency to put their own houses in order lest they suffer the same fate as Mubarak. As others have noted, this reconciliation may be the Palestinian contribution to the ‘Arab Spring’.
Let us not forget that Hamas participated in – and won – free and fair elections. It is only since Hamas won democratic elections that Israel put in place the ongoing illegal blockade around Gaza – with the complicity of the previous Egyptian Government – in what could be perceived as a move to increase the distance – both physically and politically – between what is recognised internationally as Palestinian land and the people that populate it.
The reaction of Israeli politicians to the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah stands in stark contrast to the positive and non-violent steps being demanded and taken notably by Palestinian youth and Israeli civil society.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Mahmood Abbas cannot “have peace with both Israel and Hamas” and that Abbas should “choose peace with Israel”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman – who himself lives on a settlement deemed illegal under international law – has urged that the EU is cautious in its approach to the reconciliation, claiming that Hamas may use the agreement to “takeover” the West Bank in a replay of the virtual civil war in Gaza in 2007.
Lieberman conveniently sidesteps the well documented facts that it was the refusal of Fatah to relinquish power that initiated the fighting in Gaza, with the tacit support of the then U.S. President, George W. Bush.
Israeli opposition leader, Tzipi Livni is remarkably frank when framing the context in which Hamas and Fatah have seen fit to overcome their differences. She says that “The Palestinians made their decision because they looked at Israel and saw the unwillingness to cooperate for the sake of peace…”
But Livni goes further still. Her claim that it was a “critical mistake” to “allow” Hamas to take part in the election of 2006 should be met with the contempt it deserves from the liberal community.
It is not possible to hold free and fair elections if one picks and chooses which parties can participate and which cannot. That Livni does not seem to understand this simple principle of democracy perhaps explains why she, in her turn, failed to achieve peace.
The Palestine Papers show that when Livni was in Government rather than achieving a fair , equitable and sustainable peace, she was fixated with asserting the Jewishness of Israel, even if this meant moving Arab Palestinians with Israeli citizenship out of Israel and into a future Palestinian state as part of “inhabitant swaps”.
Returning from a recent visit to Israel, Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies re-iterates the distinct credentials of the Liberal Democrats when he states that “the EU must respond to the reform movement across the Middle East by pledging to respect the wishes of Palestinian voters expressed in free elections”.
Chris draws upon the experience of Britain negotiating with the IRA in Northern Ireland. You cannot make peace with your friends, he tells us. Indeed, time with Lord Alderdice at our fringe event in Sheffield which was concerned with “talking to Hamas”, convinced us of the central truth of this fact.
Hamas and Fatah have already recognised and responded to the tectonic shifts in the Middle East. They realise that the status quo will not change if they themselves refuse to change. It seems it still remains for Israeli politicians to reach a similar conclusion.
Creative Commons images by Olivier Pacteau and Trango
