UN-Truth

Well, despite the reported fact that the U.S. is not in favor of Palestinian (Fatah+Hamas) reconcilation on the purported grounds that it is bad for Israeli-Palestinian (West Bank) negotiations, Fatah has signed the reconciliation document received in Ramallah on Sunday after having been negotiated over many months by Egypt.

It is suggested that Fatah signed because they believe that Hamas won’t — and in this way Fatah will get all the propaganda value, without actually annoying the U.S. or Israel

Fatah leaders believe that Hamas did not want to sign the document, and was looking for an excuse, even before the nearly-catastrophic fiasco caused by the Palestinian withdrawal of support (on 1-2 October) for a resolution in the Human Rights Council in Geneva in support of the Goldstone report on last winter’s Israeli military operation in Gaza. If that were not enough, the “final straw”, according to Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, was the confrontational speech delivered on Sunday night by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

(Abbas made another confrontational speech today in the northern West Bank town of Jenin).

Hamas has asked for a postponement of a ceremony scheduled in Cairo from 24-26 October — apparently until Fatah gets a better leadership, an interpretation formed after a close reading of remarks made by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus, and televised live just minutes after the Abbas speech on Sunday night.

However, now that Fatah has signed the document, according to reports by news agencies, Hamas has been put on the spot.

So, Hamas will have to look for a way to sign, as well. This will be interesting.

And, if Hamas does sign, they will then immediately be asked to accept the “Quartet’s” conditions which were basically laid down in stone by Israel and the U.S. That, too, will be interesting…

AP reported that “Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party on Tuesday signed Egypt’s plan for separate signings of a reconciliation deal with Hamas after the Islamist group balked at attending a unity ceremony. Hamas said it still had not decided whether to agree to the proposal put forward by Egyptian mediators, and another potential obstacle to a deal emerged when Hamas accused Egypt of torturing to death [on Monday, in an Egyptian jail] the brother of a spokesman for the group [Sami Abu Zuhri]. A Fatah source said the faction had signed the Egyptian paper — although he did not say who had actually put pen to paper”… This AP report can be read in full here.

Filed under: Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians