by Khaled Abu Toameh • November
12, 2018 at 5:00 am
- To date, Hamas and
Fatah have not been able to agree on the interpretation of the
"reconciliation" agreements already signed. Fatah
claims that the agreements are supposed to allow its
Ramallah-based government to assume full responsibility over
the Gaza Strip. Hamas, for its part, remains vehemently
opposed to relinquishing security control over the Gaza Strip.
- Abbas's official
news agency, Wafa, issued a strongly worded statement accusing
Hamas of being part of a "Zionist-American
conspiracy" to detach the West Bank from the Gaza Strip.
According to the statement, Hamas is now cooperating with the
US and Israel to establish a separate Palestinian state in the
Gaza Strip. "There will be no Palestinian state without
the Gaza Strip, and there will be no [separate Palestinian]
state in the Gaza Strip," the statement quoted Abbas as
saying.
- Abbas can continue
to present himself to the world as the "President of the
State of Palestine" as much as he wants. He is only
living in an illusion: it is obvious by now that he does not
represent the two million Palestinians who are living in a
separate Hamas-controlled entity in the Gaza Strip. Abbas has
not been able to set foot in the Gaza Strip for the past 11
years, and his chances of ever returning there now seem to be
zero.
For the
past 11 years, a number of Arab countries have tried to end the
power struggle between Hamas and Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, to no avail. Several
"reconciliation" agreements previously signed between
Fatah and Hamas have never been implemented. Pictured: Abbas
(right) and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal meet on November 24, 2011
in Cairo, Egypt, in one "reconciliation" attempt. (Photo
by Mohammed al-Hams/Khaled Mashaal's Office via Getty Images)
Last week, Hamas began paying salaries to thousands
of its employees after Qatar sent a $15 million grant in cash to
the Gaza Strip. The money was brought to the Gaza Strip by senior
Qatari envoy Mohammed El-Amadi through the Erez border crossing
with Israel.
The Qatari grant is in the context of efforts by
Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations to reach a long-term truce
between Israel and Hamas.
The payment was the first of a total of $90 million
that the emirate has pledged to send to the Gaza Strip in the next
six months, according to Palestinian sources.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and its president,
Mahmoud Abbas, however, remain opposed to an agreement; reports say
that one of the reasons they are opposed to a truce accord between
Israel and Hamas is because such a deal will pave the way for the
establishment of a separate Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment