The major Palestinian political parties agreed on Tuesday to form a unity government and hold elections after three days of reconciliation meetings in Russia.
“We have reached agreement under which, within 48 hours, we will call on [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas to launch consultations on the creation of a [national unity] government,” Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior official of the ruling Fatah party, told a press conference.
The talks were held in Moscow to restore “the unity of the Palestinian people,” which has been lacking ever since the terrorist group Hamas launched a coup against Fatah and seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Both Hamas and the Iran-backed terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which also attended the talks, have pledged to destroy Israel.
A Fatah-Hamas unity government would violate one of the principles for Middle East peace set out by the Mideast Quartet, (the United States, Russia, European Union, and United Nations). In 2006, the Quartet stated that “all members of a future Palestinian Government must be committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations.”
The two parties have made numerous attempts to reconcile over the past decade without lasting success. However, former Israeli peace negotiator Tzipi Livni cited a short-lived 2014 Fatah-Hamas unity agreement as one of the main contributors to the failure of American-led peace talks that year, because of Hamas’s refusal to recognize Israel or renounce terror. The schism between the two groups has continually delayed the reconstruction of Gaza after the 2014 war, despite Israeli efforts to move the rebuilding process along.
Ahmad, the Fatah spokesman, also claimed that “today the conditions for [a unity initiative] are better than ever.” But just in the past week, infighting led to extended power outages in Gaza, prompting unprecedented demonstrations against the terror group’s rule; Hamas arrested a Gaza-based Fatah spokesman; members of each party burned pictures of each other; and Abbas himself accused Hamas of stealing Gaza’s electricity.
Despite these differences, both parties praised a recent terror attack that left four Israeli soldiers dead.
[Photo: Ruptly TV / YouTube ]