Reconciliation Agreement Between Hamas and Fatah

On October 12^th, Egypt brokered a reconciliation agreement between the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and Hamas in an attempt to end the long rift between the two groups.

The Palestinians have seen multiple attempts at reconciliation in the past, but they have never been successful. This agreement only focused on civil and administrative matters, topics such as national elections and whether Hamas will disband its main military wing have not yet been decided.

Through the agreement, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will form a joint police force of at least 5,000 officers, and merge their ministries. The PA will lift sanctions that it imposed on Gaza this year as part of its effort to pressure Hamas into talks, which included cutting electricity to Gaza and refusing to pay government salaries. Hamas will cede control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to the PA.

This agreement comes a month after Hamas dissolved the Gaza administrative committee to allow a Palestinian unity government to work in its place in an attempt to begin reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

Conflict between Hamas and Fatah began in 2007 after Hamas won the election in 2006 but Fatah refused to accept the results, so Hamas forcefully took control of Gaza.

Hamas and Fatah attempted reconciliation in 2011 but no action was taken to enforce the agreement. The two groups signed another reconciliation agreement in 2014 and formed a government together, but within weeks the agreement fell apart because a new war between Hamas and Israel intervened.

In 2008, 2012, and 2014 rocket fire from Hamas on Israel and Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip led to wars between the two groups.

Israel objects to any reconciliation that does not include accepting international agreements, recognizing Israel as a state and disarming Hamas. Israelis believes that peace will be harder to achieve if Hamas and the PA reconcile because of Hamas’s position as a terrorist group which refuses to recognize the state of Israel. Mutual recognition was fundamental to the Oslo negotiations with the PLO which established the Palestinian Authority.

Egypt is attempting to stop an insurgency that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State in its Sinai Peninsula. It has accused Hamas of aiding the insurgents by allowing them to cross the border for medical treatment. Through the new agreement, Egypt can pressure Hamas to protect Egyptian security.

The U.S. has shown support for the reconciliation agreement and welcomes efforts to create conditions for the PA to assume full control of Gaza. Similar to Israel though, the U.S. says that any agreement needs create a government that commits to non-violence, recognizes Israel and accepts past agreements and obligations between the two parties.

President Trump wants to create an ultimate deal between the Palestinian authority and Israel and sees the unity government as a necessary step to bring about peace talks. Unless Hamas cedes full control of Gaza and disbands its forces, the U.S. won’t be able to bring up peace talks however, because it can’t publicly negotiate with a terrorist group.

This isn’t the first attempt at reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah so it is unclear whether this time might be different.

While Hamas dissolving its administrative committee shows that it is actually willing to change, the group is still unwilling to disband its armed forces. The Palestinian Authority is set to take full control of Gaza by December. If reconciliation fails, there is the possibility of renewed violence between Hamas and Israel, based on the pattern of attacks following failed recognition agreements in the past.