Palestinian Reconciliation at Snail's Pace
Daoud Kuttab laments the lack of progress in reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas in 2012.
The long-heralded Palestinian reconciliation is going on for another year despite wishes to the opposite earlier this year.
Thus 2012 began with lots of promises that produced the Doha declaration on Feb. 6 between Hamas’ Khaled Mashal and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also the leader of Fatah. The idea behind that agreement was that the controversial post of Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority be retained by Abbas.
However, even before the ink dried up on the agreement signed in the presence of the Qatari leader Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa, Hamas leaders in Gaza publicly opposed the deal and have worked since to scuttle it. Other attempts at reconciliation with Egyptian mediation have also failed to produce results as of this moment.
A brief period in the summer brought hope to some when the Hamas-controlled government allowed the independent electoral commission to open its offices and begin registering citizens in Gaza. But this also turned out to be short-lived and the office had to close May 28, when the Haniyeh administration in Gaza ordered its staff to stop registering potential voters.
