Is there anything that brings Palestinian leaders together other than destroying their cause by disagreeing about everything, and anything? Egypt had set 25 July as the date for a Palestinian national reconciliation, and the date is now 25 August. However, success does not require a mediator, but rather a miracle of Biblical proportions. With regard to the national unity government, Hamas wants a Cabinet based on the Mecca Agreement and the document of accord. Fatah wants a government committed to all agreements concluded by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the recognition of Israel. As for the joint security forces, Egypt has proposed beginning with 3,000 members, gradually increasing to 15,000. Hamas suggested building up these forces gradually, with 300 personnel at each stage, until reaching a total of only 3,000. Fatah proposed beginning with 3,000 and ending up with security forces based on 40,000 people. Egypt proposed a committee made up of the factions, with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as its political reference-point, which would coordinate between the governments on the West Bank and in Gaza. Fatah rejected seeing the committee deal with the ousted government in Gaza (of Hamas) and wants the committee to oversee a transitional period, and the holding of elections in January. Now, there is the upcoming Fatah conference in Bethlehem. The original agreement was about seeing 1,550 members take part, which was later raised to 1,700, of whom at least 400 were in the Gaza Strip. Fatah rejects any negotiations with Hamas over the exit of these individuals. However, Hamas has linked their exit with the release of its supporters, being held by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The PA released 200 Hamas members, but Hamas sources that took part in the Cairo negotiations say that there are about 1,000 detainees and prisoners, among them academics and civil society leaders. The sources insist upon seeing all of them released, in return for letting Fatah supporters leave Gaza and attend the conference. If the Fatah men do not leave, the conference will fail, or lose its legitimacy. However, President Abbas told me that the exit of Fatah supporters will not be negotiated, ever, and that if they do not leave, Hamas will face “what it has never seen before.” Abbas says that he enjoys international legitimacy, and that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and other Arab countries support his position, and that he held talks with President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, and found them responsive and supportive. Hamas sources in Cairo said that the PA does not really want the Fatah members to leave the Gaza Strip for the West Bank to take part in the conference, because most of them are opposition and constitute a front against the PA leadership. However, if this is the case, then why doesn't Hamas allow them to go, if only to annoy Abbas? The only true thing in the entire matter is that there is no agreement on any point between the two sides, and no intention to reach an agreement. Hamas is satisfied with its Islamic emirate in Gaza up to now, and Fatah sees itself, via the PA, as the only Palestinian side recognized internationally and acceptable for negotiation. It does not matter who is right or wrong in the internal Palestinian struggle; all of them are wrong. If the mistake of one side is greater than the other, this is also a matter of dispute. Palestinians are with one side against the other, whether right or wrong, and without considering the huge damage that the cause has suffered at the hands of its own people. Meanwhile, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has brought the entire issue down to the level of continuing or halting settlements; it has avoided the dead-end in its negotiations with the White House over expanding settlements, accepting natural growth or completing already-begun construction of housing units. It has begun to prepare for settlement in east Jerusalem and the Obama administration has been forced to focus on Jerusalem at the expense of the known settlements in the West Bank. I will go beyond the entire Palestinian issue and ask about what the Arabs are doing to themselves, besides the cause-related “bravery”? I hope the reader can forgive me if I say that they are “peeing in their pants”. There is the news that the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, one of the most important international economic organizations, with members still from western countries, has put out a list of candidates for membership, which include Israel, Chile, Estonia, Russia and Slovenia. Another list is of other states that can be negotiated with afterward, such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. Israel is a candidate for the world organization in which there is not a single Arab country, and I have no comment that it is printable.
