[[{"content_id":"123932","domain_id":"0","lang_id":"en","portal_id":"2","owner_id":"29","user_id":"1","view_accesslevel_id":"0","edit_accesslevel_id":"0","delete_accesslevel_id":"0","editor_id":"0","content_title":"Hamas and PLO both interested in pact","content_number":"0","content_date_event":"2014-04-27 00:59:10","content_summary":"\"Hamas and the Palestinian Authority had no option but to reconcile,\" says political analyst","content_summary_fill":"0","content_body":"Adel Zaanoun (nzherald.co.nz):\r\n\r\n\tThis week's Palestinian reconciliation deal faces a swift reality check, with PA Head Mahmoud Abbas the focus of both Israeli fury and United States concern and Hamas seeking to salvage relations with Egypt.\r\n\r\n\t"Hamas and the Palestinian Authority had no option but to reconcile," said Naji Sharab, a political science professor at Gaza's Al-Azhar University.\r\n\r\n\tAbbas "realised negotiations [with Israel] have failed, and wanted to strengthen his position as regards Israel by reconciling with Hamas," he said.\r\n\r\n\tOn Thursday, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip signed a reconciliation agreement. Under the Palestinian agreement, the two sides agreed to form a "national consensus" government under Abbas within weeks. However, this was not the first unity agreement between the rival factions.\r\n\r\n\tHamas and Abbas' Fatah, the central faction of the PLO, already signed reconciliation deals in Cairo (2011) and Doha (2012), aimed at ending the political division between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.\r\n\tNeither accord was implemented.\r\n\r\n\tAnd many Palestinians doubt that the latest reconciliation move will succeed because of "previous bad experiences", said Mkhaimer Abu Saada, a political science professor also at Al-Azhar University, adding that the deal will be "hard to implement".\r\n\r\n\tIn addition to a furious Israel mulling punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority, Washington was both "disappointed" and "troubled" by the fresh agreement, with a State Department spokeswoman warning that "there would be implications".\r\n\r\n\tAny Palestinian government must commit "unambiguously" to the principles of non-violence and to the existence of Israel, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to Hamas' refusal to recognise Israel and advocating an armed struggle against it.\r\n\r\n\tJibril Rajub, a Fatah leader, told AFP "the next national consensus government will proclaim loud and clear that it accepts the Quartet's conditions".\r\n\r\n\tThe Middle East Quartet - the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States - demands that Hamas recognise Israel and existing agreements between it and the PLO, and renounce armed struggle.\r\n\r\n\tAnalysts say the Islamist Hamas Government, besieged in Gaza and outlawed in Egypt, has an interest in reconciliation. Hamas' fortunes have slipped since last July, when the Egyptian army deposed the movement's ally, President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.\r\n\r\n\tAnd Egypt's military has since destroyed hundreds of the tunnels through which not only weapons and ammunition were smuggled, but also commodities and construction materials.\r\n\r\n\t"The [Palestinian] division became really harmful to Hamas after the Muslim Brotherhood loss in Egypt and its dire financial situation," Sharab said.\r\n\r\n\tThe destruction of the tunnels has generated losses estimated at US$230 million ($268.5 million) by the admission of the Hamas Government, which is struggling to pay its civil servants.\r\n\r\n\t"Hamas wants to escape Egyptian pressure. "Reconciliation is its window to improve its regional and Arab relations, particularly with Egypt," the political scientist said.\r\n\r\n\t(Note: the article above does not necessarily reflect Qudsna's views concerning the Hamas-Fatah agreement)","content_html":"

\r\n\tAdel Zaanoun (nzherald.co.nz):<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tThis week's Palestinian reconciliation deal faces a swift reality check, with PA Head Mahmoud Abbas the focus of both Israeli fury and United States concern and Hamas seeking to salvage relations with Egypt.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t"Hamas and the Palestinian Authority had no option but to reconcile," said Naji Sharab, a political science professor at Gaza's Al-Azhar University.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tAbbas "realised negotiations [with Israel] have failed, and wanted to strengthen his position as regards Israel by reconciling with Hamas," he said.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tOn Thursday, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip signed a reconciliation agreement. Under the Palestinian agreement, the two sides agreed to form a "national consensus" government under Abbas within weeks. However, this was not the first unity agreement between the rival factions.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tHamas and Abbas' Fatah, the central faction of the PLO, already signed reconciliation deals in Cairo (2011) and Doha (2012), aimed at ending the political division between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
\r\n\tNeither accord was implemented.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tAnd many Palestinians doubt that the latest reconciliation move will succeed because of "previous bad experiences", said Mkhaimer Abu Saada, a political science professor also at Al-Azhar University, adding that the deal will be "hard to implement".<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tIn addition to a furious Israel mulling punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority, Washington was both "disappointed" and "troubled" by the fresh agreement, with a State Department spokeswoman warning that "there would be implications".<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tAny Palestinian government must commit "unambiguously" to the principles of non-violence and to the existence of Israel, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to Hamas' refusal to recognise Israel and advocating an armed struggle against it.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tJibril Rajub, a Fatah leader, told AFP "the next national consensus government will proclaim loud and clear that it accepts the Quartet's conditions".<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tThe Middle East Quartet - the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States - demands that Hamas recognise Israel and existing agreements between it and the PLO, and renounce armed struggle.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tAnalysts say the Islamist Hamas Government, besieged in Gaza and outlawed in Egypt, has an interest in reconciliation. Hamas' fortunes have slipped since last July, when the Egyptian army deposed the movement's ally, President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tAnd Egypt's military has since destroyed hundreds of the tunnels through which not only weapons and ammunition were smuggled, but also commodities and construction materials.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t"The [Palestinian] division became really harmful to Hamas after the Muslim Brotherhood loss in Egypt and its dire financial situation," Sharab said.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tThe destruction of the tunnels has generated losses estimated at US$230 million ($268.5 million) by the admission of the Hamas Government, which is struggling to pay its civil servants.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t"Hamas wants to escape Egyptian pressure. "Reconciliation is its window to improve its regional and Arab relations, particularly with Egypt," the political scientist said.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t(Note: the article above does not necessarily reflect Qudsna's views concerning the Hamas-Fatah agreement)<\/p>","content_source":null,"content_url":null,"content_columns":"0","content_date_start":"2014-04-27 00:59:10","content_date_finish":"2014-04-27 00:59:10","content_date_register":"2014-04-27 00:59:10","content_date_last_edit":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","content_show_img":"1","content_show_details":"1","content_show_related_img":"1","content_show_slider":"1","content_show_title_slider":"1","content_comment":"0","content_score":"0","content_recorded":"0","content_confirmed":"1","content_status":"1","content_kind":"0","old_id":"122191","tag_id":null,"tag_word":null,"tag_service":null,"tag_total":null,"tag_soundex":null,"attach_token":"1991639660","attach_date_register":"2014-04-27 00:59:42","attach_id":"118819","attach_file_ext":"bmp","attach_file_header":"image\/x-ms-bmp","attach_img_type":"6","attach_img_width":"320","attach_img_height":"120","attach_file_media":"1","attach_show_watermark":"0","score_average":null,"score_count":null,"score_date_last":null,"visit_count":"153","visit_date_last":"2025-05-10 10:11:31","attach_title":"Hamas and PLO both interested in pact","node_title":"Commentaries","ot_node_left_right":"[{\"node_id\":134, \"left\":25, \"right\":26}]"}]]