News Analysis: One year later, Palestinian unity still far from accomplishment

It has been one year since the Palestinian unity government was formed, yet there are more obstacles and less achievements between the rival groups in achieving real internal reconciliation.

Palestinian observers and analysts believe that the government had faced severe difficulties, inside and outside, especially in solving the internal crisis which was created as a result of eight years of division between Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

On June 2 last year, Palestinian ministers from both Gaza and the West Bank were sworn in before President Abbas, according to a reconciliation understanding that was reached in April last year in Gaza between the two rival groups.

The mission of the unity government was to end the internal division, treat its negative consequences, reunite the official Palestinian institutions, prepare for elections and facilitate the plan of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.

The unity government was the first ever to be formed for both Gaza and the West Bank since the beginning of the internal division, which began when Hamas movement violently seized control of the Gaza in 2007. Both Fatah and Hamas agreed on the mission of the unity government, yet they failed to turn their words into actions.

Ahmed Rafiq Awad, the political analyst from Ramallah, said that one of the most significant achievements of the unity government was that it was the very first step of making internal reconciliation on the ground which will be followed by more steps in order to finalize it.

"The only link that the government managed to make between Gaza and the West Bank was political and the step of forming it prevented more division. The unity government showed the world that the Palestinians are becoming united under one government," Awad told Xinhua.

He also said that another achievement was to find an accepted international channel of donations although this channel was weak. It was mainly related to the Gaza reconstruction that was decided after last summer's Israeli war on the coastal enclave.

Meanwhile, Awad said that there were also failures in unifying Palestinian institutes, where the unity government was accused of being dictated with a policy that serves the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on the expense of Hamas movement.

"The government was unable to fully implement the spirit of the agreement due to the growing feuds and differences between Hamas and Fatah and the absence of coordination between them," said Awad, adding that "both rivals didn't have the will to end the internal division."

GAZA CRISIS

The humanitarian and political crisis in the Gaza Strip represented the main core of the problem to achieve full reconciliation. It failed to expand its administrative and security control over the coastal enclave.

Since the first day in office, the new government faced Hamas criticism, accusing it of turning its back to Gaza and ignoring the suffering of its populations. The unity government still hasn't regularly paid the salaries of 43,000 Gaza employees nominated by Hamas after 2007.

The government presented a plan to resolve the salary problem. The plan proposed the return of the employees who refrained to get back to work after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. At the same time, the government would gradually reallocate Hamas employees to work with steady monthly salary.

The plan was rejected by Hamas. The government also complained that Hamas still controls Gaza, refusing to hand over its control of the crossing points of Gaza.

Mustafa Sawaf, the political analyst from Gaza who supports Hamas, told Xinhua that the government doesn't exist on the ground in Gaza. It didn't fully carry out its role and duties.

"The Palestinian rivals should sit and talk, evaluate the performance of the government and see alternatives related to the fate of the unity government and how to resolve the crisis in the Gaza Strip," said Sawaf, adding that "both should work together away from their ideological agendas."

George Jackman, head of the Ramallah-based Democratic Studies Institution, told Xinhua that the unity government is not the only party to be blamed because of the increasing Israeli restrictions and the lack of international support.

"The government is a victim of the existing situation, where its competences are limited and found itself in the middle of competition between two powers with two different political ideologies and strategies," said Jackman, who ruled out that any of the two parties would topple the government.

He clarified that the government will remain in its current situation due to the absence of a new margin, such as preparing for general elections. He said the two rival groups will continue ruling their division but their differences, especially security issues, will never change. Endit