AMMAN: Palestinian political leaders, pundits and opinion makers have expressed a high degree of skepticism about the recently announced Palestinian reconciliation agreement.
Rival factions signed an agreement Thursday in Algiers aimed at resolving 15 years of discord. He says elections will take place in a year after months of talks mediated by Algeria.
The deal aims to bridge the rift between President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah and Hamas, which has separated Palestinian governance in the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and hampered Palestinian statehood ambitions.
Hamadeh Faraneh, an influential columnist in Jordan and Palestine, told Arab News that the deal follows several previous deals that made no real difference.
“The Algerian declaration is not different in substance from previous agreements and declarations in Cairo, Turkey, Mecca and elsewhere. The difference (now), of course, is that Algeria is a strong supporter of the Palestinian people,” he said.
Faraneh said the key word that has been repeated in the Algerian agreement is “partnership”. “Abbas will participate in the October 23 Arab summit in Algiers. It would be a very nice gesture if he included a Hamas official in the Palestinian delegation to the summit,” Faraneh added.
Abbas was unable to attend the meeting in Algiers due to previous engagements in Kazakhstan, but sources close to the president told Arab News that the presidency highly appreciates the efforts of Algeria “and anyone who wants us help achieve the goal of reconciliation”.
A major hurdle facing Palestinian leaders, they say, is Hamas’ unwillingness to accept international law and Palestinian principles enshrined in the Palestinian charter and Palestinian National Council resolutions.
Ali Jarbawi, professor of political studies at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, told Arab News that reconciliation does not happen in meetings but must be done on the ground. “There is nothing (in this agreement compared to previous ones) that gives us reason to be optimistic about developments on the ground,” he said.
Roman Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna told Arab News that the reconciliation agreement signed in Algiers is a step in the right direction, “but it needs to be followed on the ground so that it doesn’t just stay on paper.”
Mohammad Rajoub, a popular radio presenter with the private Ajjyal radio station, told Arab News that Palestinians have long since lost faith in reconciliation efforts.
“People don’t care because they are convinced that what is happening is a charade of Fatah and Hamas, who don’t want to appear publicly opposed to reconciliation,” he said.
Rajoub added that the fear is that the Palestinians will lose the support of the Algerian people if this agreement does not lead to reconciliation is not achieved. He estimates his chances of success as “close to zero”.
Nora Kort, a community activist from Jerusalem’s Old City, told Arab News that such deals “are nothing more than a waste of time.”
She said, “We need serious efforts on behalf of Palestine. We have suffered because of the selfishness of all these factions.
Khalil Assali, a Jerusalem-based journalist, told Arab News that the vast majority of people he interviewed in the holy city expressed skepticism of the rulers in Ramallah and Gaza.
“They used the Arabic term ‘kalam fadi’ (empty rhetoric) to describe the deal. The truth is that factions can talk around the clock to end division. But unless they take urgent action on the ground, no one will believe them,” Assali said.
Palestinian activist and critic of the Abbas administration, Fadi Elsalameen, told Arab News that “as long as an Israeli strategy is built on separating Palestinians to advance illegal settlements and halt any political progress on the ground, reconciliation is in danger”.
“One has to ask who on the Palestinian side is carrying out this Israeli strategy and why are they standing in the way of reconciliation,” he added. “I will believe in reconciliation when I see Abbas in Gaza when we form a unity government and the election dates are not cancelled.”
