There’s only one thing that Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah hate more than Israel, and that’s each other. So, when the two branches of Palestinian politics suddenly announce that they are going to become the best of friends, the deal should be treated with a great deal of caution and, in reality, be seen for what it really is; a sign of utter desperation on both sides. 

Not that I wouldn’t be the first to celebrate if indeed Palestinian politics had moved on from the past and would see Hamas renounce violence and their intent to wipe Israel from the face of the map and drive the Jewish people into the sea. If this coming together were to prompt a declaration of peace with Israel, a genuine peace that would allow the people of the Jewish State to live securely within their own borders whilst at the same time giving freedom to the incarcerated people of Gaza (and to those in the West Bank still living under a relative repressive regime), I would be one of the happiest men alive. I want to see peace in our land and I believe all people are entitled to live free and have the chance to prosper.

But, sadly, the announcement of the cosying up of Hamas and Fatah offers none of those likelihoods. Indeed, in allying themselves with Hamas without the terrorist government in Gaza retracting one word of their doctrine of obliterating Israel, Fatah have soiled themselves (yet again) with the vile rhetoric and intent of their fundamentalist new partner. They should be judged by the company they keep, a point that those who may well have the opportunity to vote in the UN in September on the potential recognition of a Palestinian state should bear very much in mind. What would it say about any country voting in favour of such a decision that they give the ’green light’ to statehood to an organization that is officially a terrorist entity, is sponsored by Iran and Syria, flagrantly abuses human rights, and wishes to impose Shariah law on its people?

When you form any sort of an alliance or coalition you can only be judged to be as strong as your weakest link. In trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community, Fatah, the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank, has performed the most ill conceived case of collective political ‘hari kari’ that I can recall. Fatah had been receiving masses of support from the EU, the US, the IMF and many other major international bodies, financial and logistical support that has seen their economy grow in leaps and bonds in recent years despite the unfortunate stalemate in peace negotiations with the present Israeli government.

Whilst the eyes of the world were on the hugely impressive and genuinely joyous wedding of the year at Westminster, this shotgun Palestinian ‘wedding’ of the most ill conceived partners possible, will begin with the US set to withdraw funding from the PA, and the EU and others hurriedly reconsidering their position.

This is a disaster for the Palestinian people, a people who have suffered for long enough through the corruption and incompetence of their leaders over the last 40 years, and who, (certainly in the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank), had at last been on the verge of seeing their lives improve, only for their latest incompetent corrupt leadership to drop them right back in it just when there was a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. It is understood that Israel’s Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz has ordered that taxes normally passed on to the PA from the Israeli treasury be withheld as they risk be filtered through to Hamas to fund their war against Israel. This seems a not unreasonable move given Hamas’ recent track record.

Any hope that neutrals might have had that Egypt would move to a genuine democratic process following the removal of President Mubarak suffered another massive blow with the news that the new Egyptian regime wish to fully open the border with Gaza allowing complete freedom of movement for people and goods; the goods almost certainly to include significant weaponry making its way from Iran via Sudan, through Egypt to Gaza. The signing of a deal between the supposedly reconciled secular Fatah and the fundamentalist Hamas factions in a ceremony in Cairo later this week, a deal overseen by the new faces in charge in Egypt)is another indication of the direction of the new Egyptian policy towards Israel, as too is the reputed indictment for treason of Egypt’s former Energy Minister who sold oil to Israel as part of the Israel/Egypt peace deal with the full backing of the international community, and could now be sentenced to hang by the supposedly ‘democratic’ new authorities.

With a significant influx of Al Qaeda personnel into Gaza since the fall of Mubarak, and Al Qaeda doubtless in turmoil following the overnight news of the death of Osama Bin Laden and likely to strike hard in retaliation at various targets around the world in response, the likelihood of a military engagement between Israel and Hamas has surely increased significantly.

The Palestinian leadership (both Fatah and Hamas) have rarely done the right thing for their people from the earliest days of Yasser Arafat’s brutal and corrupt tenure to the current status quo under Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Mashaal. If there had in recent years, been a positive light of hope for the Palestinian people beginning to glow at the end of a long and very dark tunnel, that light might still be there following the sad news of this ill-conceived alliance, only it is now that of an oncoming train.

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