The leadership of Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority (PA) government in the West Bank, suggested creating a fusion government with the terrorists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad (IJ) to take control of Gaza, a report on Sunday claimed.
The “unity” government would reportedly take shape after Israel’s military operation against Hamas – a response to the terrorist atrocities of October 7 – was completed. Israel is not quite certain what Gaza will look like after the war is over, but its leaders have made clear they do not envision Hamas playing any role in its governance.
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Israel Defense ForcesJibril Rajoub, secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, reportedly said in December that a “great turning point” has been reached and the “time has come” for Fatah to reach a “compromise” with Hamas.
“We view political Islam, and foremost among it the Hamas Movement, as part of the fabric of our struggle and our political and social fabric. We must preserve our achievements, we are a liberation project, and we are all potential Martyrs,” Rajoub said, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
Hamas certainly seems to see PA members as “potential martyrs,” having martyred a few themselves. After Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2005, Hamas won a landslide election victory over the ostensibly more moderate and secular Fatah, an event that caused PA President Mahmoud Abbas to permanently lose his taste for holding elections. Hamas then violently expelled Fatah from Gaza in a vicious battle that concluded in 2007.
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IDFAbbas is still in power at the age of 88, 18 years after the last time he bothered to stand for election, and the PA is still the more “moderate” of the Palestinian gangs and governments, although Rajoub and other Fatah officials have attempted to justify the hideous Hamas rape and murder spree of October 7 as a “defensive” action.
“We believe Hamas is taking action for the freedom of the land. Therefore we, Hamas, and all the Palestinian factions must think deeply and seriously about realizing the unity of the Palestinian arena under the flag of the PLO,” Fatah official Muhammad al-Hourani said, a comment cited by the Jerusalem Post as further evidence that Fatah wants to be seen as hip to terrorism and murder, even though it did not directly engage in Hamas’s gang-rape and mutilation.
Masked Palestinian gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah movement led by President Mahmoud Abbas. (Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The Jerusalem Post noted Israel has been firm on two main points about the aftermath of the war: it will not be running Gaza, and neither will Hamas, or any coalition including Hamas. Fatah might be able to play some role in an internationally administered government, but it will have to prove itself clean of links to Hamas and its patrons in Iran.
Hamas is nominally divided into a “military wing” and a “political wing,” and the latter seems to think it can avoid political (and perhaps literal) extermination by reinventing itself as a coalition player.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in December that Hamas political officers have been “secretly reaching out to the leaders of Fatah” to secure a seat at the postwar table – in part by convincing Fatah there is no way to govern Gaza without Hamas. In return, Hamas wants Fatah to provide a diplomatic bridge to American and European officials who cannot be seen making direct contact with Hamas members after the October 7 horror.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a conference to support Jerusalem at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on Feb. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
“For some, Hamas’s outreach is a sign of desperation as Israeli operations expand and Gaza slips away from the group’s military control,” the WSJ noted.
AFP reported in December that Fatah and the PA have been “weakened like never before,” as the Palestinians split into militant factions and seethe at moderates who want to make deals with Israel. Abbas is huddled in his West Bank citadel while Hamas supporters march in the streets and demand his ouster.
The possible leader-in-waiting of Fatah and the PA is Marwan Barghouti, a hardcore terrorist imprisoned by Israel since 2002 for plotting murderous attacks. Barghouti has been advocating for his own release, or at least secure more favorable treatment, by claiming the guards abused him.
Younger PA members who want a more violent approach to Israel hope Barghouti might be freed in a hostage deal, so he can eject Abbas and whip Fatah into fighting shape. Polls have shown Barghouti to be the most popular election candidate among all the Palestinians, including Hamas leadership, so he might just be the kind of boss who could pull an inter-factional unity ticket together.
