Palestine: Hamas-Fatah split - full text
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Fatah leader and Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmood Abbas responded three days later by dissolving the government it shared with Hamas and declaring a state of emergency. Fatah forces stormed Hamas-controlled government offices in the West Bank. Abbas dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, then installed a new Fatah-led cabinet in the West Bank, headed by economist Salam Fayyad.
The two parties began setting up governments in, and rooting out remnants of the opposition from, their respective territories. Hamas established a rival emergency government in the Gaza Strip and began arresting and harassing Fatah members, according to a July 10 Reuters article. Likewise, Fatah forces arrested up to 300 Hamas supporters in the West Bank.
In the wake of these events, the USA and Israel lifted an embargo on international payments to the PNA that was originally put in place in January 2006 after Hamas won a majority in elections to the Palestine Legislative Council.
Immediate Context
Hamas gained a parliamentary majority in the PNA in historic elections held in January 2006, ousting the incumbent Fatah party, which was seen as corrupt and colluding with Israel. While foreign governments balked at recognising a Hamas government which they regarded as endorsing terrorism, forces loyal to Fatah attempted to establish a security presence in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip. By spring 2006, violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters on the streets of Gaza had become frequent and intense.In the summer of 2006, rocket attacks into Israel from Hamas bases prompted Israeli ground incursions and air strikes into the Gaza Strip (including an air strike on the office of PNA Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh). In July 2006 Israel launched a massive and destructive attack on southern Lebanon in response to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers.
After more than a year of infighting, a power-sharing government between Hamas and Fatah was formed in March 2007, which came about in part because Hamas reportedly agreed to make a slight position shift in its stance on talks with Israel and agreed to not entirely reject treaties with Israel that the PNA signed in the past.
Reaction and Outlook
Because Fatah had recognised Israel since 1993 and was willing to negotiate with the Jewish state, and was seen as a more viable partner in peace talks, Israel responded to the split from Hamas with trust-building gestures. The Israeli cabinet on July 8 approved the release of 250 Fatah security prisoners, in a bid to bolster PNA President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that he would meet with Abbas in the West Bank city of Jericho during the week of July 16 the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported on July 11.In response, Hamas officials accused Abbas of "collaborating" with Israel, The Times of India reported on July 8.
Jordanian King Abdullah II on July 9 said that he wanted the Arab League to broker reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah, the Iranian news service Press TV reported.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the takeover of the administration of the Gaza Strip by Hamas a "coup", welcomed the Fatah-led government and moved to isolate Hamas, according to an Associated Press report on June 23.
Many Palestinians reportedly considered Fatah as corrupt and ineffective, and believed that Fatah’s chances of heading a successful government in the West Bank were diminished by its defeat in the Gaza Strip, the Los Angeles Times reported on July 6.
Historical Context
Hamas (an acronym of Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, Islamic Resistance Movement) was established in 1987 as a Gaza-based offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In 1988 Hamas published its "covenant", a document of 36 articles calling for a synthesis of Islamism and Palestinian nationalism. Hamas was listed as a terrorist group by the USA, EU, and Israel, and refused to recognise Israel.Fatah, not currently considered a terrorist organisation by the USA, EU, or Israel, was founded in 1965 under the leadership of Yassir Arafat. At that time, it carried out guerrilla attacks on Israeli installations. After occupying southern Lebanon for a number of years, the group was dispersed by the 1982 Israeli invasion and took up residence in Tunisia until 1993, the year it signed an historic peace treaty with Israel. In the 1993 Oslo accord establishing the PNA, Fatah renounced terrorism and recognised the state of Israel, but the Fatah charter was not amended to reflect this.
Since the PNA was founded, Fatah members formed the backbone of its bureaucratic and security forces personnel. Arafat himself was elected president of the PNA in January 1996.
Hamas spent the 1990s in a cycle of attacks and reprisals against Israel, punctuated by unsuccessful attempts by the PNA to rein in the organisation. Hamas unleashed a series of devastating attacks on Israeli buses, while Israel succeeded in assassinating Hamas’s chief bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash in 1996 and its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in 2004.
The situation continued to worsen after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington DC, after which Israel attacked and occupied the PNA government complex, trapping Arafat in his presidential residence.
After Arafat's death, Fatah and the PNA became more conciliatory towards Israel, conducting high-level negotiations with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. However, the willingness for rapprochement was a factor in Fatah’s declining popularity with the Palestinian electorate, which led to the Hamas victory in 2006 elections.
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