Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization is blaming the Jewish State for the lack of a unity government between the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and its own Gaza City-based Hamas authority.
Without unity between the two factions, it will also be impossible to create an independent “Palestinian State” since there will be no unified voice speaking for the population and governing its affairs — an obvious fact which has been pointed out to the leaders of both factions by US negotiators as well as those from Europe, Egypt, and elsewhere around the world.
However, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas politburo said Tuesday that the decision by the Palestinian Authority last week to resume security coordination with Israel has “foiled” efforts to achieve “national unity” and “reconciliation” between the two rival factions.
Negotiators for the two rivals have been meeting in Cairo to discuss ways to end their rift and to hold elections that were last conducted in 2006; Hamas violently seized control over Gaza from Fatah in 2007.
The founding charter of Hamas to this day continues to call for the destruction of the State of Israel and all its inhabitants. Hamas considers security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to be a form of “collaboration with the Zionist enemy.”
A spokesperson for Hamas said the Palestinian Authority’s willingness to coordinate with Israel is largely to blame for the failure to end the dispute between Ramallah and Gaza.
“At a time when Hamas was seeking political partnership and a unified national strategy with Fatah, others in the [Palestinian presidential compound] Mukata were searching for ways to resume security coordination at the expense of the interests of our people,” said Abdel Latif Qanou.
However, Hamas has repeatedly reneged on its agreements over the years whenever the two factions reached a deal on reconciliation, or even began to form a unity government, generally because those agreements always included a mandate for Hamas to hand over control of security in Gaza, and/or to relinquish its weapons.