Palestinian unity bid needs support
Dear Sir,
The latest attempt by Palestinian factions to end their differences and strengthen unity needs to be applauded. The discord among Palestinian factions has benefited Israel immensely. It is no wonder then that the initiative to close Palestinian ranks has drawn an angry reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who claims it has showed the Palestinians were not serious about 11th-hour efforts to salvage US-brokered peace negotiations!
The unity push envisions forming a unity government by the Gaza-based Hamas group and Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) within five weeks and holding national elections six months after a vote of confidence by the Palestinian parliament.
The latest announcement of the unity agreement has come as US-brokered peace talks teeter on the edge of collapse.
Palestinians have long hoped for a healing of the political rift between the PLO and Hamas, which won a Palestinian election in 2006 and seized control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Abbas in 2007.
But doubts about the success of the new agreement linger as Arab-brokered unity pacts reached between the two sides in the past are yet to be implemented.
But one hopes that better senses will prevail this time and the Palestinian groups will remain committed to the unity agreement. The Palestinian cause is the most important issue for the global Muslim community which has been looking on helplessly as Hamas and PLO have remained bitterly opposed each other.
The Muslim countries must now encourage Fatah and Hamas to follow through on the latest deal.
T P Rasheed, PO Box 766, Doha
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