Brussels, 27/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - Dialogue among the various Palestinian factions, which the international community and the EU have long been calling for, finally opened in Cairo on Thursday 26 February 2009 under the auspices of Egypt. All Palestinian groups, including the smallest factions, attended the inaugural meeting chaired by the head of the Egyptian intelligence service, General Omar Souleimane. They started by agreeing to pursue talks within five committees, each dealing with a different issue. The relaxed attitude in relations between the two main groups, Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, was striking.
Opening the dialogue among the Palestinians, Egypt called for forward thinking and good will to achieve unity. It also called for the participants to be mindful of their historic responsibilities and common duty of coming up with a detailed political vision for how a future unity government would operate and the criteria for dialogue with Israel (talks with Israel are ongoing in parallel with the Cairo meeting). Israel sent a special envoy to Cairo on Thursday for indirect talks on consolidating the ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners.
At the start of the inter-Palestinian dialogue, General Souleimane said that practical operational details of the talks had to be organised and the interlocutors must get down to work. The two sides agreed on a 10 March 2009 deadline for formally launching the talks. The five committees will cover the forming of a government of national unity; inter-Palestinian dialogue and structures; restructuring the security forces ; organising elections ; and reform of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), the central body whose current structure is challenged by Hamas.
The key question is the formation of a government of national unity, hopefully before the upcoming Arab League Summit in Doha at the end of March 2009, to which the President of the Council of the EU may be invited. Azzam al Ahmed of the Fatah delegation said it was possible for a government of national unity to be announced before the summit. He explained that people were in a hurry and it was possible to reach agreement, adding that the first stage was the question of the government, to which all else is related. A member of the Hamas delegation, however, hinted at a press conference that nothing would be decided in isolation. This intransigent starting point may be toned down during talks, however, because another Hamas leader, living in exile in Damascus, Syria, Moussa Abou Marzouk, later announced that the creation of a unity government could immediately follow the end of the work of the committee to study setting up the government. This suggests that Fatah and Hamas will pursue their own bilateral reconciliation process as majority groups. Even before the dialogue started, both sides agreed a type of non-aggression pact and pledged to release arrested activists being held by either side and to put an end to media campaigns spreading messages of hatred.
All issues are now on the negotiating table, particularly relations with Israel. Hamas is not planning to give up the right to armed resistance but is talking about the organisation of elections and the potential for general elections and presidential elections in January 2010. Local media reports suggest that the negotiations within the committees, due to start up on 10 March 2009, will be lengthy, possibly lasting four or six months, according to the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Front (FLP), Samir Ghouche. He commented that the cordiality observed at the start did not mean anything because they had avoided issues over which they were likely to disagree. “The devil's in the detail,” explained Abdel-Rahim Mallouh, second-in-command of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (FPLP).
As far as Palestinians and all their international partners are concerned, the vital question is establishing a new government and whether it will be made up of technocrats or politicians. If the latter, the question of Hamas gaining control of ministries will raise the question of Hamas' international status. It is currently on lists of terrorists in both Europe and the United States. Israel recently warned against taking up contact with Hamas (see EUROPE 9847). As far as the EU is concerned, Javier Solana's circles point out that any solution will require Hamas to agree to the idea of two states living peacefully side-by-side, which will involve recognizing the state of Israel and the Arab Peace Plan. It is possible that the EU has already made indirect contact with Hamas through Syria and key figures in civil society organisations in Gaza. It would appear that contact has focussed on humanitarian issues. (F.B./trans.fl)