Unity at last

Palestinians celebrate speaking with one voice while Israel remains deaf -- and brutal -- as ever, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank

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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya (left) and President Mahmoud Abbas during the first meeting of the new Palestinian unity cabinet in Gaza

After hard and prolonged labour, the two main Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah, finally succeeded in delivering a national unity government. The new government, based on the guidelines of the Saudi-mediated 8 February Mecca Accord, was approved by an overwhelming majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council and welcomed by the Palestinian public.

According to Mustafa Barghouti, the new minister of information, the government represents more than 96 per cent of the Palestinian people and as such can be described as the most representative government in the history of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The government, in which all Palestinian political factions -- save the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- are represented, is already fostering an atmosphere of optimism among Palestinians.

The newly-formed government has also drawn generally positive reactions throughout the Arab-Muslim world as well as the international community. Norway, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden have indicated a certain willingness or propensity to deal with the government. Norway was the first country in Europe to terminate its boycott of the PA, while France has invited Ziad Abu Amr, the new Palestinian foreign minister, to visit Paris. The entire Arab world, whose leaders will meet in Riyadh later this month, is expected to formally endorse the government.

Predictably, Israel and its guardian-ally, the United States, are unhappy with the newborn government. Israel said it would maintain the blockade and other punitive measures against the Palestinians and their government, claiming that it failed to meet conditions imposed by the Quartet (the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia). These conditions include renouncing armed resistance, accepting outstanding agreements between the PA and Israel, and recognising Israel as a Jewish state. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet voted to uphold the boycott of the Palestinian government, with the Israeli premier, Ehud Olmert, saying he expected the international community to keep up the pressure on the Palestinians.

On Monday, Israeli media quoted "reliable sources" in West Jerusalem as saying that while cracks were beginning to appear in the anti- Palestinian front, the financial blockade would continue. "The story is the money, and they (the Palestinians) won't get it," Haaretz quoted an unidentified official as saying. "Since the Americans and Europeans are maintaining the freeze on aid, and Israel isn't releasing the withheld Palestinian taxes, Hamas hasn't gained anything."

Such gleeful talk from Israel seems in part an act of desperate self-assurance. While it is true that Israel is still refusing to release an estimated $800 million of accumulating Palestinian tax revenue, seized in violation of international law and pushing the Palestinians to the brink of bankruptcy if not starvation, Israel is conscious that it doesn't hold all of the cards. The US and Europe have said they will deal with new Finance Minister Salam Fayyadh. And Abu Amr and Barghouthi seem perfectly acceptable to the bulk of the international community, especially the Arab states and Russia.

It is most likely that Israel will resort to its tried and tested tactics of harassing, or even scuttling, the new government. Indeed, Israel sent its army on a rampage in Nablus, the northern West Bank's largest city, on the very day the government was sworn-in. Israel may also begin rounding up Palestinian cabinet ministers, especially those affiliated with Hamas. Israel continues to hold as many as 40 Palestinian lawmakers and ministers arbitrarily detained in the last year.

Refusing to be cowed, Palestinians hope the new government will be in a better position to enlist international support and end the crippling economic siege to which they have been subject for a year. Indeed, the lifting of the siege seems to be the very raison d'etre of the new government. If left intact for many months more, the siege could very well lead to a third violent Intifada.

Indeed, this is exactly what Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh alluded to in his inaugural speech Saturday. In a separate interview Haniyeh reiterated: "If you don't respect this government, which represents the free will of the Palestinian people, you are effectively telling us that we have no other choice but violence."

On the American side, officials and spokespersons seem at a loss on how exactly to deal with the new government. On the one hand, the US wants to keep channels open with the non- Hamas ministers, especially Finance Minister Fayyadh, but on the other hand it insists that the government is yet to meet the Quartet's demands.

It is expected that Washington's position on the new government will be spelt out more clearly next week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in the Middle East for flurry of visits to key capitals.

Meanwhile, Israel's claim that it can't talk with the new Palestinian government unless it meets the Quartet's demands seems no more than a tactical diversion aimed at keeping the ball in the Palestinian court. Indeed, Israel itself has never accepted to implement outstanding agreements with the Palestinians. During the Sharon government, Israel said it would "respect" rather than accept the Oslo Accords. Clearly Israel is no position to lecture the Palestinians with regard to honouring outstanding agreements.

The truth of the matter is that for Israel the Quartet's demands are a convenient red herring concealing its own intransigence. Israel doesn't want the Palestinians as "equal partners" in peace, but rather vanquished supplicants begging Israel for everything -- from a permit to travel to the next town to a permit to take an ill child to hospital in East Jerusalem.

Israeli posturing with regard to the new Palestinian government is also duplicitous and reveals, in part, its weakness. With the international community warming up to the Palestinian cause once again, Israel fears that it will be held to the same standards as other states, standards that entail respect for international law and human rights. This would also imply ending the illegal occupation and foregoing Israeli designs on Palestinian land. This is where the red line lies for Israel. Having done it for so long, it seems that piracy and bullying and the subjection of the Palestinians to the steel fist of Zionism is easier for Tel Aviv to sustain than give up.