Ramallah - The Palestinian autonomous areas are hopelessly
divided between the radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza and the
secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, based
in the West Bank.
Three months after the rival Hamas and Fatah movements first began
an Egyptian-mediated bid to end a now almost two-year-old split
between Gaza and the West Bank, the negotiations remain stalemated.
A fifth round of reconciliation talks between the two sides ended
Monday.
Only one day later, Abbas swore in a new caretaker government,
once again headed by the independent Salam Fayyad.
Fayyad had resigned in March, hoping to add some pressure to
efforts to form a Fatah-Hamas unity government which would pave the
way for presidential and parliamentary elections in January 2010.
Abbas did not want to arrive at his May 28 meeting with US
President Barack Obama, 10 days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's White House welcome, without a functioning government.
He also felt he could not hold out without a government until the
next, and very possibly last, round of Fatah-Hamas talks, set for
July 5.
That did not stop Hamas from slamming the formation of the new
West Bank-based cabinet as 'premeditated sabotage' of the unity
talks.
It also did not prevent new turmoil within Abbas' own Fatah, whose
parliamentary bloc have called for a boycott of the new government.
They are furious over the appointment of Fayyad, rather than of
one of their own.
Abbas had little choice beyond Fayyad, although he could have used
Fatah support especially ahead of a party conference on July 1.
Donor countries prefer to entrust their massive financial aid with
Fayyad, an internationally respected economist see as reliable and
transparent, rather than with the corruption-plagued Fatah.
Abbas had hoped that the new, broader, transitional government
would enjoy greater legitimacy, strengthening him in the West Bank,
and thus also in his negotiations opposite Hamas.
With 20 ministers, he wanted it to include the main factions of
the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
The president has tried to revive this umbrella group as 'the
sole representative of the Palestinian people,' amid his power
struggle with Hamas, which is not represented in the PLO.
Of course, the Hamas-dominated parliament, dysfunctional because
many Hamas lawmakers are jailed by Israel, had never voted its
confidence in that transitional government.
But some analysts believe Fatah's internal row sparked by the
cabinet formation was not strengthening Abbas, but was weakening his
party and perhaps even reducing its chances of winning future
elections.
Widening the row further, two other major PLO factions have also
announced they would boycott the new government.
'Its formation only inflamed an already existing split within
Fatah,' Hafiz Barghouti, the editor-in-chief of the Ramallah-based
al- Hayat al-Jadida newspaper, told the German Press Agency dpa.
Calling Fayyad's cabinet a 'one-man government,' he said its
intention had been 'to bring in as many nationalist forces as
possible,' but with the boycott, 'this did not happen.'
'Fayyad and Abu Mazen (Abbas) wanted to strengthen their
government, but instead they weakened it,' Palestinian analyst and
newspaper columnist Hani Masri said.
'They wanted an expanded government to face Israel, Hamas, and to
present it to the Obama administration,' he noted, but added: 'This
step has only led to a division within Fatah and this is going to
weaken the movement.'
Abbas 'should have waited until the reconciliation talks have
ended,' Masri opined.
If elections are to be held in January, when the term of the
current Hamas-dominated parliament ends, preparations for the polls
would take at least six months. The July round of Fatah-Hamas talks
is therefore expected to be the last one - culminating either in an
agreement or in total collapse.
So far, the obstacle toward a unity government that would prepare
for the elections remains firmly in place: Hamas rejects Fatah's
demand that it recognize previous PLO accords - and thereby Israel.
The two sides also continue to bicker over the election system.
In the meantime, without Palestinian unity, the Gaza Strip cannot
be rebuilt. Its absence is also the very reason cited by Israel that
no progress on the peace process is possible.
Without unification, Palestinian elections cannot be held and the
stalemate of the past years could continue indefinitely.
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