There is much despair and suffering in the Gaza Strip. UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov warned May 23 that Gaza “is on the verge of collapse.” Gaza’s almost hermetic closure by Israel, the rift between Hamas and Fatah, and the continuous investment by Hamas in arms and tunnels instead of investing in the economy have led to a catastrophic humanitarian disaster. Hamas cannot resolve it on its own, even now that Egypt has agreed to open the Rafah crossing during the month of Ramadan. Within the Hamas political and terrorist leadership in Gaza are different opinions as to how to deal with the crisis, ranging from a political solution to another war with Israel.
A senior PLO official with close ties to the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip told Al-Monitor that Ramallah is satisfied over Hamas’ failure to ignite violence against Israel from the West Bank. In fact, while President Mahmoud Abbas condemns the Israeli killing of Gazans and has called for three days of official mourning, he believes that Hamas has failed in its latest effort to ignite violence for political and public relations purposes. And so, despite Arab, Muslim and international outpouring of sympathy with the victims of the confrontation, Hamas itself is as isolated as before in handling the Gazan humanitarian crisis.
In his view, there is currently an opportunity for Israel to negotiate, via Cairo and Ramallah, a deal with Hamas that would stabilize the situation. More so, such an initiative had already been discussed by Ramallah leadership and Egypt, as well as the European Union.
According to the PLO senior official, an essential condition for such a deal would be the implementation of the reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas in a way that would allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take civilian and some security control of Gaza, especially on the crossing points. Also, Hamas would demilitarize most of the Gaza Strip, except for a force overseeing public order, with a civilian security contingency similar to that of Fatah in the West Bank. Israel would then be required to lift the sea closure of the Gaza Strip, keeping its navy 6 miles away from Gaza, allowing for the establishment of a Gaza harbor.
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