Hamas and Fatah – the two main Palestinian factions which have been at odds for almost two decades – have agreed in talks in Cairo to create a committee that will jointly run the postwar Gaza Strip.
While Israel had refused to countenance a “day after” governing scenario involving Hamas or the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, the move nonetheless signifies fresh willingness from Hamas to give up its rule of Gaza and could help advance internationally mediated ceasefire talks.
In talks brokered by Egypt, the two sides agreed on a committee of 10 to 15 politically independent technocrats, most of them from Gaza, who will administer education, health, the economy and aid and reconstruction with the help of international actors, negotiators said on Tuesday.
It would also jointly administer the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt – the only way in and out of the territory not connected to Israel. The Fatah delegation must seek final approval from the PA president, Mahmoud Abbas, on its return to the West Bank, the Associated Press reported. Who would sit on the committee had not been finalised.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on the agreement.
Hamas, an Islamist movement, and Fatah, which is secular, have been at loggerheads since a brief civil war that led to Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Many reconciliation initiatives over the years since have failed.
The military wings of both parties are considered terrorist organisations by many western countries, but the Palestinian Authority cooperates with Israel on security issues, a measure that has helped make it deeply unpopular with the Palestinian public.
Abbas, 89, was elected to a four-year-term in 2006 but has served as president ever since. Last month, he appointed an interim successor for the first time, but his pick – Rawhi Fattouh, the low-profile president of the Palestinian National Council – was widely interpreted as an effort to prevent a power struggle inside Fatah, keeping power concentrated within Abbas’s inner circle when, or if, he steps down.
Attempts at brokering a lasting ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, led by Egypt, Qatar and the US, have stalled repeatedly since the war broke out after Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
The Biden administration, seeking to build on the implementation last week of a fragile truce between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, said it has renewed efforts at a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
So far there has been no indication that either side has changed its terms for a deal. Hamas says that any agreement must mean a final end to the war, and Israeli troops must withdraw. Israel says the conflict will end only when the remaining 100 or so hostages have been returned and Hamas is completely destroyed, and insists Israeli troops must remain in the strip.
Joe Biden has called for a revitalised Palestinian Authority to govern the West Bank and Gaza as a prelude to eventual statehood, while president-elect Donald Trump is likely to support plans by elements of Israel’s far-right government to annex parts of the territories.
