Following peace talks in Turkey last week, opposing factions in Palestine have agreed to hold elections within six months. This development is the latest of many attempts to end more than a decade of infighting between President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement and his Islamist rival, Hamas.
This decision comes after Israel reached a diplomatic agreement with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, prompting leaders in Palestine to present a more unified front, ending the bitter political division that has existed since the 2006 parliamentary elections – leaving Fatah in charge of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank and Hamas ruling in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Although the two movements had previously made positive press statements about moving towards reconciliation, these efforts quickly faltered.
“This time we reached a real consensus,” says Saleh al-Arouri, who spoke to the AFP news agency from Istanbul. “Divisions have damaged our national cause and we are working to end that.”
Earlier, Hussein al-Sheikh (a member of Fatah’s Central Committee) had spoken about the potential impact of the then ongoing dialogue, saying: “The dialogue is an important step towards reconciliation and partnership, and unifying the Palestinian stance in the light of the consensus on rejecting all the liquidation projects against the Palestinian cause.”
“We have agreed to first hold legislative elections, then-presidential elections of the Palestinian Authority, and finally the central council of the Palestine Liberation Organization,” said Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official, while shedding more light on the order the upcoming polls would follow. The last parliamentary elections in Palestine were held in 2006 when Hamas won by an unexpected landslide.
The Palestinians have opposed Israel’s deals with the UAE and Bahrain, fearing a weakening of a longstanding pan-Arab position that calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries.
