Palestine: Will Hamas Return to Cairo Talks Bring Agreement?

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Although Egypt said on Saturday that a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah had been postponed due to "inappropriate condition", it appears the U.S. reaction has prodded Hamas to return to the negotiation table. On Sunday, in an interview with Palestine Note, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal confirmed that the Islamist group will send a delegation to Cairo.



The parties were supposed to meet in Cairo last Thursday, but  only Fatah showed up to sign the reconciliation agreement without any reservations. If appears that, after Hamas asked for a few days to wait and see, Meshaal has changed his mind; however, Hamas has not given a guarantee that they will accept the dcoument. Hamas' deputy political leader, Abu Marzouk, has reiterated the reservations of Hamas over the US demand for recognition of the principles of the Quartet (US, European Union, UN, Russia). Marzouk also insisted on international recognition if Hamas wins Palestinian elections and on the re-opening of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing at Rafah.

Hamas delegates are going to Cairo and gives the message to Washington: "We are in," but will they arrive there with an "uncompromising" position towards the US as well as Fatah?

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Washington has told Cairo that it does not support a reconciliation agreement which does not include the principles of the Quartet (US, UN, European Union, Russia): recognition of the State of Israel, acknowledgement of earlier agreements, and renunciation of terrorism. The Obama Administration believe the current agreement, which is supposed to be signed by both parties by October 15 , could undermine negotiations with Israel.

The Fatah Party, which leads the Palestinian Authority's West Bank Government, has already agreed with the draft of the reconciliation agreement, while Hamas has not made its position clear because of the recent PA support for deferral of the United Nations Human Rights Council vote on the Goldstone Report on Gaza.

With the pressure on Egypt to pull back from the reconcilation agreement, Fatah can concentrate on repairing its position. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that on 16 October 16 the PA will ask the Human Rights Council to forward the Goldstone report either to the UN Security Council or to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Which only leaves a question: if the Obama Administration really that a peace settlement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel can come true without an agreement between Fatah and Hamas....How?

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Tension between Fatah and Hamas increases. After Hamas's decision to postpone the reconciliation talks in Cairo, the Fatah Party's Central Committee has urged Fatah and Palestianian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to issue a presidential decree on 25 October for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Fatah's counter-plan is more of a rescue operation for the party itself, rather than for Abbas himself. The problem is now far more than Hamas' declaration that they would not shake the hand of the "traitor". Within the last two weeks, the furour over Abbas' blocking of a UN vote on the Goldstone Report on Gaza has turned many in the West Bank against him. Faced  with renewed corruption allegations against Fatah and a weakening position, Fatah elites are looking for a way to re-take the initiative.

Meanwhile, Abbas tries to regain his position by resubmitting the proposal for a vote on the Goldstone Report. He said:

The council must reach a decision to judge anyone who committed crimes against the Palestinian nation... I respect the majority opinion, and in the wake of everything that has happened, I have decided that the matter should be turned over again to the Human Rights Council!" Then, he defended his previous decision at the Council: "The decision to postpone [the vote] was a result of a consensus among the different parties at the Human Rights Council ... and in order to secure the largest number of supporters for any resolution in the future.

Both sides continue to blame each other for political manipulation of the Gaza finding. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and adviser to Abbas, accused Hamas of exploiting the Goldstone Report to "damage national unity." In return, Hamas warned the Palestinian Authority not to declare new elections unilaterally. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that polls in the West Bank alone would further divisions between Palestinians.

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After U.S. President Barack Obama's winning Nobel Prize, leaders of Israel and Palestine expressed their feelings. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed the hope that his presidency would "usher in a new era of peace." In a message to Obama, he said:

Congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize for Peace... You have already inspired so many people around the world, and I know that this award also expresses the hope that your Presidency will usher in a new era of peace and reconciliation.

Another Npbel Prize holder, Israeli President Shimon Peres, also sent Obama a letter congratulating his Nobel Prize. In his letter, he wrote:

Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such profound impact. You provided the entire humanity with fresh hope, with intekllectual determination, and a feeling that there is a lord in heaven and believers on earth.

Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda. And from Jerusalem, I am sure all the bells of engagement and understanding will ring again.

You gave us a license to dream and act in a noble direction.

On the Palestinian front, Fatah welcomed the prize but Hamas was sceptical. The chief Palestinian peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat expressed hope that Obama "will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East". On the other hand, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said: "Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward... Obama only made promises and did not contribute any substance to world peace... And he has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes."

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The Goldstone Report on the Gaza War is no longer a set of findings on possible crimes by both sides during the fighting. So, an enquiry that was supposed to cast bring light on the bombed rubbleis now  a political tool to be wielded against the "enemy". And that is not only the "enemy" in the Israel-Palestine conflict but also within Palestinian politics.

Yesterday the Palestinian UN Mission issued a press release saying asserting full support for the Libyan request for a meeting of the UN Security Council. However, Libya's proposal was rejected. Although the Council decided to move its next meeting from 20 October to 14 October, Washington's position was clear. US Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that the Obama Administration would not approve any decision:

The report needs to be discussed by the Human Rights Council, and decisions on what next steps and what is the appropriate disposition of this report are decisions that will be taken in Geneva. So, for Washington, it is not the Report itself [but] the peace process [that] is more significant.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas tried to repair his political position, damaged by the PA's initial support for deferral of a UN vote on the Report. An Abbas associate said, "If Israel does not soften its positions on the peace process, the Palestinian Authority will resume pushing to get the Goldstone report moved to the Security Council, and thence to the International Criminal Court." Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the French media that the PA could reveal the names of all the countries who pressured Abbas to defer the UN vote and, instead, negotiate with Israel without preconditions.

Hamas is increasing its bargaining power with the claim that Abbas deferred the UN vote because Israel threatened to expose his support for its war on Gaza. Egypt had announced that Hamas and Fatah would sign an accord on October 25, but on Wednesday, some Hamas officials said on Wednesday hat this was not the appropriate time for a deal. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, reportedly told Egyptians to either postpone or call off the planned intra-Palestinian conference in the wake of Abbas's "high treason".