Is there still hope that the inter-Palestinian dialogue will produce positive results after recent events have revealed that leading members of Fatah residing in the Gaza Strip became hostages with Hamas, and that Hamas leaders in the West Bank have become hostages with the Palestinian Authority? When dialogue was launched among the Palestinian factions in Cairo, the rosy pronouncements masked the realities, which have become fixed on the ground, and cemented with the passing of time, despite the successive rounds of dialogue. Here, we have begun to see the rosy talk give way to incriminations by each side, blaming others for the stalling and sputtering out of dialogue. It is true that Egyptian officials are trying to convince the various sides to reduce their demands in order to arrive at common denominators, among the “brethren”. Cairo has also received the leaders of the factions, including those who it believes have overstepped their bounds in defending their positions, but the will of the decision-makers themselves has not reached the level that can bring success to the process. Thus, there is an expectation that Palestinian conditions will return to the pre-June 2006 period, which is pure fantasy. It seems that all sides connected to the Palestinian issue, including Arab states, the international community and the Palestinians themselves, are getting ready to continue the discussion of a solution to the issue, in light of current conditions. Their greatest ambition seems to be that it not deteriorate even more. However, the international community will not accept a solution to the issue with the current Palestinian political division, since it does not provide security for Israel, while Israel itself hopes that this division will continue, and grow. The rival Palestinian factions all appear ready to abandon any benefit that each faction sees as its right; thus, the current situation has become beneficial to all parties. The international community is not asking for a discussion of Palestinian interests, as long as they do not examine their own interests, as Israel continues its plan to expand settlements and complete its control over what remains of the Palestinian territories, and strangle the Palestinians themselves without facing more than blame from some Arab and international organizations. The PA realizes that it will remain in power, even if only in the West Bank, and for its leaders, this is better than nothing. As for Hamas, it is aware that the solution to the Palestinian crisis will mean its giving up control of the Gaza Strip, so why should it give this up? Arab states always find the Palestinian question at the top of the agenda of their periodic summits and will not trouble themselves with finding a topic that can be fought over and reconciled over. The Palestinian people is the victim of all of these parties, despite its responsibility for selecting its leaders and leading figures, whether in the government or the opposition. The other Arab peoples are like this; they have become non-influential in selecting leaders brought to power by ballot boxes in a process lacking transparency and fairness, or opposition figures created by microphones and cameras. Will the current Palestinian conditions produce reconciliation? Of course not. Have Arab states overcome their old and new disputes? Once again, of course not. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? For some, we are not in a tunnel in the first place. For others, the bright lights mean that the train can only enter and not leave… without there being any light at the end of the tunnel.
