Fractious factions
Amira Howeidy looks into the collapse of the Palestinian factions' Cairo ceasefire talks
Ahmed Qurei
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For the second time in a year, 12 Palestinian factions, meeting in Cairo to discuss a ceasefire with Israel, failed to reach an agreement. Trying to get a clear answer as to why the 4-7 December dialogue came to a dead-end is somewhat difficult. According to one of the delegates, the talks were conducted on three levels -- at the official negotiating table, under that same table, and via satellite on the many Arabic TV stations. And it was in this confusing environment that reporters and observers struggled to make sense of a dialogue being held in an undisclosed location, known only to Egypt's intelligence services.
Instead of issuing a communiqué, the participants ended their four-day meeting with a brief press release promising to continue pursuing the dialogue. A draft communiqué was produced but not released. According to participants who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly, that document featured an agreement between the factions leading the armed resistance -- prim5arily Hamas and Jihad -- on a conditional end to attacks targeting civilians. The draft also indicated that these two radical factions were ready to join the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation), as long as that group pursued vital reforms.
The factions were set to issue this communiqué on Sunday. Things changed, however, when Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei arrived in Cairo for the final few hours of negotiations.
Qure demanded that the communiqué include a total authorisation of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) right to pursue the peace process with Israel. The request was bluntly rejected by Hamas, Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), General Command and Al-Sa'qa.
The same five factions also rejected Qurei's call for a comprehensive, one-year truce. Hamas and Jihad, especially, categorically refused to commit to a truce without an Israeli commitment to do the same. They also demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners, and a halt to targeted assassinations and house demolitions carried out by the Israeli army.
A prior, unilateral, five-week truce on Hamas and Jihad's part collapsed when Israel assassinated Hamas politburo leader Ismail Abu Shanab on 21 August. "This time around, we offered what we felt was a fair initiative that would not target civilians on both sides, but unfortunately this was rejected, and we're very sorry about that," Hamas delegate Mohamed Nazal told the Weekly. Nazal attributed the collapse of the talks to Qurei's "insistence" on full authorisation. "This would mean that we authorise him to pursue steps in our name towards a peace process and a settlement that we were never a part of, or even approved. It's only natural that we would not accept this, and the PA knows that very well."
Maher El-Taher, head of the PFLP's delegation, said, "it was very difficult [for us] to authorise the PA, in the absence of a unified Palestinian leadership, and our exclusion from decision-making." El-Taher told the Weekly that because "we are seriously at odds with the PA," it would have been impossible "for us to give it our authorisation".
Jihad's representative Ziyad Nakhala, meanwhile, reportedly stunned the other delegates on Sunday with an especially bold critique of the PA and its chairman. The Jihad leader accused Qurei and Arafat of squandering the Palestinian people's rights throughout the peace process, arresting and torturing Palestinians, as well as endorsing the controversial Geneva Accord.
The talks ended with the delegates releasing a brief statement thanking Egypt and "saluting the Palestinian resistance, martyrs, and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails". The statement also affirmed the Palestinian right of return and the necessity of pursuing the dialogue.
This cozy sentiment, however, was almost immediately contradicted by a series of accusations and counter accusations that emerged while delegates attempted to explain to the press what had happened. Hamas delegation leader Moussa Abu Marzouk and Arafat's political advisor, Jebreel Rajoub, ended up bickering on Al-Jazeera. While the Hamas leader explained his movement's refusal to authorise the PA, a clearly angry Rajoub snapped that Hamas's authorisation "was not required in the first place".
Fahd Sulieman, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) delegation, blamed Hamas and Jihad's "stringent" position for the dialogue's failure. "We could have authorised the PA on certain issues only, and thus resolved the situation," he argued.
Palestinian affairs expert Abdel-Qader Yassin, who is close to the factions, told the Weekly that the problem was rooted in the delegates themselves. "They do not fulfil the needs of the Palestinian people, who want a unified leadership. The factions must first set their priorities, and then engage in a dialogue." According to the PFLP's El-Taher, the talks were somewhat akin to "putting the cart before the horse".
