Contradictory messages

Insiders say that the upcoming final dialogue session between Fatah and Hamas is promising, though division persists and thorny issues remain unresolved, writes Saleh Al-Naami

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West of Gaza City, in an apartment whose balcony overlooks the seacoast, representatives from Fatah and Hamas are holding secret, almost daily meetings far removed from television cameras and the attention of journalists. They arrive in taxis to remain inconspicuous, and are holding lengthy discussions that last until dawn, seeking to reach an understanding on their movements' issues of dispute before the fifth dialogue session is held on 16 and 17 May in Cairo. According to a source involved in this endeavour, the secret discussions are focussing on three primary issues: elections, the future of the security agencies, and the formulation and programme of the national accord government that is meant to administer affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until elections are held. Palestinian factions all agree that these are the thorniest issues of dispute. Reaching an agreement on them would lead to a comprehensive national accord.

Informed sources have told Al-Ahram Weekly that the discussions have not yet led to an understanding on any of the issues of dispute. However, they say, making a breakthrough shouldn't be difficult, for the parties are constantly exchanging reformulated proposals in an attempt to bridge the gap between their positions. Fatah insists that it's still not prepared to discuss restructuring the security agencies in the West Bank, saying only Gaza's security agencies need restructuring on a new and different basis. Hamas rejects this, saying that since West Bank security agencies fall under a "non-national" authority -- American envoy Keith Dayton -- they are the ones that need to be restructured. With regards to the accord government programme, Fatah insists that it include a sentence affirming the government's commitment to agreements reached between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel, whereas Hamas insists on replacing the term "commitment" with "respect". And on elections, Fatah wants a proportional representation electoral system to be used, whereas Hamas wants to maintain the current scheme that combines proportional and district-based systems.

Prominent Hamas figure Salah Al-Burdweil considers the success of the fifth dialogue session in Cairo hinged on ending the negative American role in the process. He says that the Americans have succeeded in obliging President Mahmoud Abbas to adopt the International Quartet's conditions, and are trying to make the Palestinian factions also commit to them. In a statement to the Weekly, Al-Burdweil said that Hamas wouldn't sign on to any agreement that grants legitimacy to the occupation. The next dialogue round, he said, would aim to break the current impasse and to re-establish Palestinian unity with the minimum losses possible.

On another front, a lobby of independent figures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been formed to place pressure on relevant parties to end the domestic rift. This new entity includes academics, businessmen, religious figures, prominent personalities, and representatives of civil society. Yasser Al-Wadiyeh, one of these independent figures, says that efforts must be united to place pressure on Fatah and Hamas to reach a national reconciliation agreement, and that the Palestinian public has placed its hopes on the outcomes of the national dialogue. Al-Wadiyeh holds that the challenges facing the Palestinian people -- in particular reconstructing what the occupation destroyed in the recent war on Gaza, and settlement expansion in Jerusalem -- oblige Fatah and Hamas to expedite a national accord that meets the public's wishes. President of the Palestinian Businessmen's Association Mohamed Al-Masruji says that these independent figures seek an end to the domestic rift that has harmed Palestinian life on the economic, political and social levels, as well as impaired the ability of Palestinians to confront the occupation.

The secret meetings and the mobilisation of independent figures have put an end to the media war between Fatah and Hamas. Spokesperson for the Ramallah government's police, Adnan Al-Damiri, had incited Hamas when he said that he anticipated the imminent end of "the era of militias and the suppression of freedoms in Gaza" and accused Hamas of storing explosives in West Bank mosques. Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum responded to these statements by saying that they justified the Israeli occupation shelling these mosques, and described the statements as "a string of lies and media fabrications to justify the oppressive police mission undertaken by the West Bank security agencies to protect the Zionist enemy and to eliminate the resistance and mar its reputation. "The aim was to distort public opinion on the political massacre taking place against Hamas and the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank," he added.

Barhoum considered Al-Damiri's statements proof of media reports on the signing of an agreement between the PA in the West Bank and the occupation -- penned at the American Consulate in Jerusalem -- that requires leading an offensive against Hamas.

Among indicators of the increased likelihood of the dialogue's success is Abbas's decision to step back from forming a new government in the West Bank and suffice instead with a minor cabinet reshuffle. Informed sources told the Weekly that Abbas retreated from forming a new government when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and a number of other Arab leaders informed him of their opposition to the measure because of its negative ramifications for the future of the Palestinian dialogue. Another reason was that Abbas knew that Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) factions would not take part in it.

Researcher Hani Habib holds that Abbas decided not to form a new government and to retain Salam Fayyad as premier because of pressures placed on him by a number of Arab states and particularly Egypt, which expressed its fear that this measure would lead to the collapse of national dialogue efforts. Habib doesn't consider the cabinet reshuffle to have any relation to attempts of Abbas and Fayyad to contain Fatah leaders inimical to the Fayyad government because it doesn't include key representatives of Fatah. Fayyad is intent on bringing in Fatah figures that have not previously held ministerial posts, and to avoid appointing prominent Fatah figures that attacked him in recent months. This approach, Habib told the Weekly, will not lighten the tension between Fayyad and a number of prominent Fatah leaders.

Habib says that Fatah leaders will continue to attack the Fayyad government. He also expects that a number of Fatah figures will refrain from participating in the Fayyad government for fear of the reaction of Fatah leaders ahead of its upcoming Sixth Congress. Fatah has still not determined who will take part in the conference or where it will be held since the Egyptian government has declined to host it.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) politburo member and Palestinian Legislative Council Representative Khalida Jarrar says that the PFLP refuses to participate in any government that is formed outside the framework of a national accord, but that its participation in a government formed as part of comprehensive national understanding is guaranteed. Jarrar considers the actions of Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is deepening the domestic rift.

The Weekly has learned that the ministerial reshuffle will almost definitely include Hatem Abdel-Qader, Fayyad's advisor for Jerusalem affairs and a prominent Jerusalem Fatah figure expected to fill the post of Jerusalem affairs minister. Another is Nasser Al-Lahham, editor-in-chief for the Maan News Agency, who is expected to fill the post of media minister. These sources have also said that a number of non-Fatah-affiliated government members are expected to leave, including Minister of Prisoner Affairs Ashraf Al-Ajrami and Minister of Religious Endowments Jamal Bawateneh. The reshuffle will also rotate ministers among existing posts, with current Minister of Social Affairs and Agriculture Mahmoud Al-Habash becoming the minister of religious endowments. Al-Habash has been the Fayyad government member most aggressive towards Hamas.

With the ever-complicating domestic situation and the abundance of regional and international influences on the Palestinian arena, it's difficult to guess how the next dialogue session in Cairo will turn out. It appears certain, however, that with Fatah and Hamas sending contradictory signals to each other the Palestinian people will continue to live under the shadow of division for a long time to come.