Hamas members see ‘false unity’ with Palestinian Authority

“I fear that the [rapprochement] steps taken toward Hamas may be tactical and stemming from the PA’s own interests after it reached a dead end, and that it wants to use [the Hamas] card in front of Israel and the Americans,” Rajoub continued.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the West Bank in February, the PA has summoned and arrested Hamas activists across the territory and investigated with some into their social media posts. That has prompted Shaker Amara, a prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank, to describe such a policy as an act of sabotage of national efforts and a consolidation of the divide.

However, Ehud Hamo, a correspondent for Israeli Channel 12 in the West Bank, revealed in a Sept. 16 report that the PA leadership issued instructions to its security forces in the past days following the signing of the Arab normalization deals with Israel in Washington not to arrest any Hamas member unless it is an extreme, sensitive case.

Yahya Moussa, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip who also chairs the Human Rights and Oversight Committee at the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al-Monitor, “Since its inception, the PA has taken the path of negotiations with Israel. It is unwilling to change this course because its interests are correlated with Israel, despite the rupture today. We are in a position that will neither lead us to a national reconciliation nor to resist the occupation. I am not optimistic about any upcoming steps, because the PA is not serious about that and it does not want to have a competitor or any other program in the political arena. It even views the green Hamas flag as an existential threat. Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) no longer has a political presence; no one raises the phone to speak to him and everyone is waiting for the end [of his term]. It is strange how all of a sudden Hamas steps in to save him with the courteous remarks.”

Although pessimism prevails over Hamas’ middle leadership about the rapprochement with Fatah, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ political bureau who is in charge of the national relations’ file, said in a televised statement on Sept. 15, “Hamas seeks to stand by Fatah and all Palestinians in the liberation battle if there is an agreement on the popular resistance and there are contacts to solve the internal Palestinian situation.”

Meanwhile, some PA circles believe that Jibril Rajoub, secretary-general of the movement’s Central Committee who is leading the efforts to communicate with Hamas, is not backed by all of Fatah. They believe he is seeking rapprochement with Hamas for his own personal gains among Palestinians and not to achieve Palestinian reconciliation. 

Sari Arabi, an expert on Islamic movements and an author for Arabi21, told Al-Monitor, “Hamas believes that a rapprochement with the PA is better than a rupture, even though it does not lead to a serious reconciliation, a real unity or a shift in the PA policy.” 

He said, “Hamas cannot refuse to communicate with the PA, even in the media, in order to counter the annexation and normalization plans, although the PA benefits from Hamas’ propaganda among the Palestinians. Yet the problem resides in some of the Hamas leaders’ exaggeration when it comes to unity with Fatah. That is why they need to listen more to the middle leadership level whose vision is realistic when it comes to the PA. The true reconciliation and serious popular resistance implies a confrontation with the Israeli occupation, which the PA’s ruling class rejects.”

Commenting on rapprochement, skeptics within Hamas believe the PA has not given leeway for any serious popular resistance and has not led any effective resistance since the United States declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the Mideast peace plan.