A senior Hamas leader in Gaza said this week that the movement wants to hold talks with the rival Fatah faction to heal the widening divisions between the Palestinian territories.
”We think that negotiations with Fatah are the only way out,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesperson and prominent figure in the Hamas movement. But he dismissed an emergency government established in the West Bank by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as illegitimate and suggested Hamas would not be willing to take part in fresh elections. ”There is no law allowing the president to call early elections. There was an election a short time ago. Hamas won. He has to respect that.”
A week after seizing control of the streets of Gaza, the Islamist movement has strengthened its grip on security, but has lost its political authority. The West and Israel have rushed to recognise the emergency government set up by Abbas after he dissolved the Hamas-led coalition. Fatah has so far rejected a fresh agreement with its rival and appears to be preparing for new elections.
Hamas leaders are quick to extol the calm they have brought to the Gaza Strip, where life has returned to a degree of normality not seen during six months of bitter fighting between Hamas and Fatah gunmen. But Gaza’s economy is still in crisis. Conflict with Israel continues: four militants were killed in fighting when Israeli tanks crossed into southern Gaza this week.
Ali Badwan, a Palestinian economist in Gaza, said that Hamas had originally fought to win a greater share of control in the security services. ”But Hamas fell into a trap. They have isolated themselves. The international community and Israel have seized this as a golden opportunity to squeeze Hamas.”
The return of security to Gaza would not be enough to guarantee the Islamist movement’s future as a big political player, he said. ”The only way for Hamas to rescue itself in the end will be to agree to take part in new elections. You can’t isolate Gaza for ever.”
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was dismissed as prime minister last week, called on public servants to return to work and some were back at their desks. Most of the 400 staff at the finance ministry were working, but the foreign ministry next door was almost empty.
The foreign ministry’s bank accounts in Gaza have been frozen and there is debate about which government the ministry works for. ”As a matter of fact, it’s really very ambiguous. Everybody is claiming they are the legitimate government,” said Marwan Hamad, director of the ministry’s administration department.
It is hard to find anyone on the streets of Gaza who does not want to see reconciliation. ”If this problem is not resolved we are facing another nakba, a catastrophe, but this time made by our own hands,” said Raji Sourani, a prominent lawyer and head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. ”What we need simply is for these factions to get together and enjoy the mentality of compromise and dialogue.” — Â