Is what is going on a national reconciliation, or a political maneuver?!

A Palestinian popular proverb says “What is in the pot will be extracted by the scoop”, so what would the pot be hiding, and did the scoop take out something after the Palestinian people were rejoicing due to the soft intuitive climates being spread between the astounded parties in Fatah and Hamas’ crisis of disputes? This comes in light of the important developments that took place in the last Gaza war, as well as in light of the fact that Palestine gained a seat as a non-member State in the United Nations, and the festivals held in the West Bank by Hamas, and in Gaza by Fatah, and the rejoicing of the Palestinians who were celebrating the end of the crisis. However, reality is contrary to the positive mood experienced by the Palestinian popular masses that seek, incite, and are keen to find a way out of the cuts of the crisis and the controversies raging over the table, or underneath it, ever since the so-called the military settlement in Gaza by Hamas on 14 / July / 2007 and so far. 

The pleasant speeches and the expressiveness and rhetoric of the statements issued by both sides of the crisis do not hide the fact that the scoop (in the pot) has taken out a lot of gravels and pebbles. It seems that the ongoing political process at this level is nothing more than a process of managing the crisis of relations between Hamas and Fatah, and not solving the crisis of dispute over the Palestinian national political affair so that to reach to reunification, and to activate what was agreed upon and what was signed by everyone i.e. the prisoners’ document of national reconciliation. It also seems that the influential parties in the disputes are still wasting time in favor of their own accounts, or in favor of regional and international accounts interfering in the Palestinian affairs. Possibly, what brother Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of the Fatah delegation for reconciliation, has highlighted, during his press conference after the recent Cairo talks, about the dissimilarity and contrast between the statements of the Hamas “brethren” leaders regarding the existence of international pressure -though some confirm this and others totally deny- gives more evidence on the political turmoil and the lack of credibility. 

In his late press conference, Azzam believed that spreading that no progress is achieved in the talks is dishonest, that there is a specific calendar being regulated starting from the voter registration in Gaza and reaching to discussing the formation of a national unity government headed by the brother Abu Mazen, and that some Hamas leaders who proclaim that there are obstacles, or that progress is not achieved, are not saying the truth to the Palestinian people who are eager to achieve the national reconciliation to reach to agreeing on the political program of the government yet to come. The Palestinians are also keen to secure a unified Palestinian militant agenda capable of dealing with the changes and the rapid developments in the region as a whole. 

Hence, lifting the political blindness or sightlessness in a sensitive subject as that of the national reconciliation and the national unity should lack any hesitation or retreat. The subject is not related to divine issues, for God is seeing and watching, “O you the Palestinians, you made the Palestinian cause with your disputes become the last regional, and even International, priority, and there are numerous evidence on this”. Was settlement, for example (in spite of all our reservations), present in the recent Israeli elections, or the settlements, the Judaicization of the rest of Jerusalem, the confiscation of the land, and talking about the collapse of the authority were the honored guests at the table of the Israeli voter! What about the regional, and international, conferences, and what about the presence of the Palestinian issue in them?! 

On the other hand, is it plausible that a crisis, and even a disaster for the Palestinian presence, takes place in the neighboring country Syria, including the outcome of the conditions of thirteen Palestinian camps, especially the Yarmouk camp that acts as the title of the political and moral entity of the Palestinians, and the respectable leadership and factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the leadership of Hamas, and other factions are not able to find a solution or a way out for (650 thousand Palestinians in Syria)! Also, what was the result of the late visit of the delegation of the Executive Committee to Damascus? Did it achieve any progress in solving the disaster of the Palestinian presence in Syria, or is the situation going toward exacerbation and aggravation? In fact, the reason for the roots of all the aspects of disability, weaknesses, the cases of political failure in the Palestinian affairs, as well as the loss of confidence and the lack of credibility, is the division, differences, and the prejudices found when being loyal in favor of private accounts, or other regional and international ones. 

We should be loyal to Palestine first, second, third and last only, and this means that the Palestinian account should overwhelm any other accounts, for it is the essential one. There is no State without unity, there is no return without unity, and there is no liberation without unity. The national unity, the political and community reconciliation, and the unison of all means of the Palestinian struggle to have one aim and one direction of goals, should be the first and last feature to accomplish the supreme goals of the Palestinian people i.e. freedom, return, and an independent State. If some are imagining that they can achieve something away from the national reconciliation and the national unity are but drowning their selves and others in the maze, and in political and diplomatic maneuvers upon which they rely. We say to them, lets we put the policy of throwing dust in the eyes through illusions away; for Oslo’s promises and the ones in the subsequent agreements have gone astray, and their promises are as it is said as “latency” (a state of being dormant or concealed). No time to waste opportunities or to scatter illusions, the national reconciliation and the national unity are the only bond to jump forward.