In a rare step towards unity, Fatah and Hamas agreed last week to create a joint committee to oversee the civil administration of the post-war Gaza Strip. Following weeks of talks in Cairo, a preliminary agreement was reached on a draft document to form the working group.
Based on the two-page document, the proposed Community Support Committee (CSC), comprising 10 to 15 politically independent technocrats, most of them from Gaza, will administer the Strip, reporting to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank and coordinating with local and international partners to manage reconstruction and humanitarian aid.
Under the plan, the CSC will be responsible for all sectors including the economy, education, health, relief work, and reconstruction. It will also run the Palestinian side of the Rafah checkpoint on the border with Egypt, a key entry point for aid into Gaza which has been closed since Israel captured it in May.
The new body would not assume any political or security responsibilities and would effectively bring an end to Hamas’s governance of the besieged territory. It is supposed to take on its duties after a ceasefire agreement with Israel and continue to function until general elections are held in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The accord is a positive development amid 17 years of political division between the two rival Palestinian groups. Multiple reconciliation attempts have failed since 2007 when Hamas seized power in Gaza, formerly ruled by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA). The move comes amid ongoing deadlock in efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“This agreement is the result of extensive talks, it has Arab backing. It shows great promise in principle,” Al-Shabaka policy analyst Hanna Alshaikh told The New Arab, noting that both Palestinian parties find the technocratic composition of the CSC an “agreeable” point.
As Israel’s war on Gaza persists unabated, the initiative could hypothetically encourage the US to press Israel to consent to a ceasefire. Officials and mediators say talks are advancing to end the war, including discussions over the exchange of Palestinian political prisoners and Israeli hostages.
Egypt has held talks with Hamas leaders, while Qatar could decide this week whether to invite Israeli, US, and Egyptian figures to Doha to negotiate a final deal.
Yet there are still hurdles to overcome.
|
|
The role of Hamas-affiliated security forces in the war’s aftermath is a major sticking point, as Palestinian political analyst Khalil Sayegh pointed out to TNA.
“We know Hamas is unwilling to give up its military wing. Its security role and how its apparatus will operate after the conflict ends remain unclear” which, he added, could lead Fatah to question the purpose of joint governance. Amid internal divisions within Fatah, some members are against negotiating with Hamas.
Furthermore, the draft establishing the council needs the final approval of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Since his party was chased out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, the PA leader has often undermined reconciliation with the group, showing little genuine political will to unify Palestinian leadership. The PA has blamed Hamas for the collapse of previous unity deals, citing its refusal to adhere to the Oslo Accords, including recognising Israel and renouncing violence.
The last unity agreement for an interim national reconciliation government to rule post-war Gaza, signed in July in Beijing, fell short of delivering a breakthrough.
Nonetheless, regardless of their long-standing rivalry, the two Palestinian factions now acknowledge the urgency created by the war in Gaza and see the need for the new accord to succeed.
“There’s a desperate need for Palestinians in Gaza to feel some hope in this absolutely dire situation. If this doesn’t work, what are the Palestinian leaders doing?” Professor Kamel Hawwash, a British Palestinian academic and political analyst, told The New Arab.
News of the Palestinian accord came amid renewed diplomatic efforts to end the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, which has killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, decimated much of the coastal enclave, displaced the majority of its 2.3 million residents, and led to charges of genocide from rights groups and UN bodies.
Speaking to the likelihood of progress in the latest Fatah-Hamas initiative, Sayegh argued that the deal offers Fatah an alternative to Israel’s agenda for post-conflict Gaza of a civil administration run by non-politically aligned Palestinians, under occupation. It also presents a chance for the continued existence of Hamas, even though the militant faction would be weakened within the committee’s scope.
“It’s an attempt to help Gaza survive the Israeli plan of destroying the survival of the Palestinian national project,” the analyst said.
Besides Abbas’s validation, the deal on Gaza’s future leadership would need to be acceptable to Israel and the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which is firmly opposed to Palestinian statehood, has repeatedly ruled out any role for Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s involvement in Gaza after the war.
|
|
“Israel won’t allow a Palestinian government to operate in both the West Bank and Gaza,” Professor Hawwash remarked.
Similarly, Alshaikh said that the idea of a unified Palestinian polity would be never tolerated by the Israelis. “They’re not willing to let Palestinians rule or even manage the most basic day-to-day affairs in Gaza,” the Al-Shabaka specialist said, stressing that only pressure from the current or incoming US administration could cause Tel Aviv to allow a “day after” under the discussed committee.
Moreover, Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant for war crimes from the International Criminal Court (ICC), has pledged to continue the war until Hamas is crushed and Israeli hostages are freed.
While the Fatah-Hamas arrangement does not address or include the issue of Israel’s presence in Gaza in a post-war scenario, there are clear indications that Tel Aviv seeks to entrench its foothold once the fighting stops.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu presented a formal post-war plan indicating that his government seeks open-ended security control in the Gaza Strip, with civilian affairs administered by local Palestinians unaffiliated with the PA or Hamas. Israel’s vision for the future of the Palestinian enclave includes a long-term military presence in a buffer zone along the border with Egypt, the Philadelphi Corridor, and in an area that cuts off northern Gaza from the south, the Netzarim Corridor.
Additionally, Israeli settlers have called for the re-establishment of settlements in the coastal strip, raising fears of a permanent occupation of the Palestinian territory.
In late October, an Israeli settlement conference was held at the Gaza border and attended by hundreds of far-right settlers, including Knesset members. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but retained control of access to the territory.
“Israel does want to control the whole Gaza Strip and remain there for a long time, if not permanently. This would mean Palestinians being pushed into one area in the south,” Hawwash said, anticipating that Netanyahu’s government could potentially apply the West Bank model to Gaza.
The United States, for its part, which has historically supported the PA, wants to see a reformed authority govern both the West Bank and Gaza. The Biden administration has called for a revitalised PA as a step toward eventual Palestinian statehood, which the Israeli premier and his right-wing coalition vehemently oppose.
With Trump’s White House transition underway, the US is exerting intense pressure on Palestinians to ensure that Hamas will play no role in Gaza once the war ends.
“If there is a guarantee that there won’t be a place for Hamas in the security apparatus, the Community Support Committee will have American acceptance, making it difficult for Israel to reject it,” Sayegh said.
In his view, the Palestinian president would object to the Fatah-Hamas plan if the PA does not have oversight over security, which would enable it “to control” armed resistance in Gaza as it does in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority, which cooperates with Israel on security matters, remains deeply unpopular among many Palestinians who view it as an agent of the occupation.
Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis.
Follow her on Twitter: @AlessandraBajec
