Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas unite in Moscow

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 16:50 UTC

The implications of today's agreement are far reaching and confirm Moscow's leading role as an even-handed geo-political peace broker.

Leaders of the two main rival Palestinian political groups, Fatah and Hamas have met in Moscow where they agreed to form a unity 'all-Palestine' government. The agreement was reached after three days of talks in Moscow paving the way for the formation of a new National Council.

Although many symbolic talks between Fatah and Hamas have resulted in meaningless deadlock, today's agreement could pave the way for a future peace conference between a united Palestine and Israel.

In a further blow to US regional prestige, it is clear that in respect of Palestine both main factions as well as smaller Palestinian parties see Moscow's approach to the conflict as one that offers an even hand with a pragmatic goal; a penultimate resolution to this seemingly never ending conflict.

© AFP

Representatives of Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian political parties and movements met in Moscow on Tuesday to announce the deal.

For Israel's part, Tel Aviv has numerous trade deals with Russia, the importance of which has only been strengthened by anti-Russian EU sanctions. With Moscow seen as a crucial partner but importantly, also an impartial arbiter by both sides, there may be a chance to reach a meaningful settlement that thus far the US has only made increasingly unworkable.

Palestinian sources cite Donald Trump's recent election as one of the motivations to create a united front. However, in spite of Donald Trump's rhetorically unambiguous support of Israel, like with many things concerning Trump, his business acumen and pragmatic approach to geo-political conflicts, could work in the best interests of all sides in the conflict.

An important parallel can be derived from an understanding of the trilateral peace conference for Syria, which is about to take place in Astana. There, Russia, Iran and Turkey set out clear goals to create a lasting peace in Syria. In spite of Turkey's well known support of jihadist terrorist groups in Syria, Ankara too - at least on paper - has signed up to the common pledge to respect Syria's territorial integrity and her legitimate government.

Were Moscow to organize a peace conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict, as Russia has wanted to do for some time, one could envisage a similar scenario.

In such a situation, there could be a Russian drafted agreement signed off by a united Palestinian leadership and an Israeli government, with the US more or less agreeing to the terms without having an active hand in overseeing let alone enforcing the agreement.

Not only is this now plausible under a Trump Presidency, but it would help legitimize the agreement in the eyes of most Palestinians and even many Israelis who have felt equally let down by the Obama administration.

The template is there, and Russia's role as a leading geo-political mediator is now beyond doubt.

Will the US impede or accept this new reality?

This is in the hands of Donald Trump, a pragmatist far more trustworthy than Obama the ideologue.

Comment: More from Al Jazeera:

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and Hamas have been at loggerheads since the latter seized Gaza in a near civil war in 2007, after it won the 2006 legislative elections.

Last year the Palestinian government postponed the first municipal polls in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in 10 years after the high court ruled they should be held only in the Fatah-run West Bank.

The last time the Palestinians staged elections in which both Hamas and Fatah took part was in 2006.

The Palestinian representatives also met on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and asked him to dissuade incoming US President Donald Trump from carrying out a campaign pledge to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

'Russian approach'

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Khaled Elgindy, a senior Brookings Institute fellow and former adviser on peace negotiations, said it is still not clear how different the latest agreement is to previous deals.

Elgindy said the "most important factor" prompting the unity agreement is the leadership change in Washington DC.

"President Abbas may be looking to shore up his domestic position, and to insulate himself from what he sees maybe as a very hostile administration coming into Washington," he said.

Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Moscow, said the agreement in Russia signals the Palestinians "looking away" from the United States, which has been involved in the peace process for decades.

"Historically, peace discussions have been dominated by the US. They are looking for a different approach, and Russia certainly offered a different approach," she said.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian leader who is close to Hamas leadership told Al Jazeera that "things are far from clear or final yet".

"In principle, all of the Palestinian factions have agreed to form a national unity government, including Hamas, and to establish a new Palestinian National Council. But Abbas has yet to make a decision that will take concrete steps in that direction."

"Abbas will also have to consider the position of the regional Arab powers who might cast a veto on the whole thing because of their animosity toward Hamas."