Published: 15 March 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
EARLIER THIS MONTH, The Jewish Independent published an article by veteran Middle East correspondent Ben Lynfield that expressed his optimistic take on the recent developments within the Palestinian camp amidst their hopefully rapidly approaching elections, for the first time in more than a decade.
Lynfield’s analysis centred around a letter sent in early February by Senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official, Hussein al-Sheikh, to Hadi Amr, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Biden administration.
That letter summarised the PA’s view of the commitments agreed upon in a meeting last September between various rival Palestinian factions, including Hamas, in the leadup to the upcoming legislative elections scheduled for May 22 this year.
The letter included purported commitments by the parties to international law, to a Palestinian State in 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, to the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and to peaceful transition of power after the elections.
But Lynfield’s attention was captured by the final item on the list: “Commitment to popular resistance (peaceful)”. Crediting the PA President and Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) – who Lynfield succinctly described as “dictatorial, weak and with a coterie perceived as corrupt” – with a major achievement, Lynfield claimed that “Hamas [agreed] to commit to dropping the armed resistance (terrorism in the eyes of Israel and most of the world), that was once its raison d’etre, in favour of ‘peaceful’ popular resistance.”
Lyfield claims this represented “a seismic change” and adds “God willing, and much now depends on Israel’s response, the shift could portend the minimisation or complete end of bus bombings and indiscriminate rocket attacks."
However, a closer reading of the circumstances around the letter suggests Lynfield’s reading of the letter was overly optimistic. If Hamas really had promised to foreswear terrorism, then his conclusion “What an opportunity for peace Abbas has opened!” would be amply justified.
Alas, it is not. The broader picture is far more complex and much less optimistic.
The PA, and not Hamas, composed the letter to try to make Hamas’ electoral participation acceptable to the Biden Administration.
First, it is important to understand who sent this letter, to whom, and why. The PA is seeking to soothe American reservations about the participation of Hamas - designated as a terrorist organisation by the US – in the elections. The PA, and not Hamas, composed the letter with the aim of trying to make Hamas’ electoral participation acceptable to the Biden Administration.
Hamas, on the other hand, has never made any public commitments like those that appear in the letter. On the contrary, it has subsequently made clear it is not willing do so.
The background story to the reaction to the letter among Hamas ranks is the internal primary elections being held within Hamas. This is a long process occurring over the last few months, with voting taking place in four areas - abroad, Gaza, among prisoners in Israeli jails and the West Bank.
The final prize is the position of the Head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, who is essentially overall leader of the movement (with some limitations).
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Gaza leader Yihaya Sinwar was considered the major challenger to current Political Bureau head Ismail Haniyeh; (Sinwar eventually won, but only after a tough battle against Nizar Awadallah, who is considered a Haniyeh associate).
Currently living abroad, Haniyeh did not like the PA letter as published, which he sees as expressing the views of “pragmatists” who may have gone behind his back and made compromises with their arch enemy, Fatah. The memory of the violent 2007 coup in Gaza by Hamas against Fatah, when Abbas refused to hand over power to Hamas after it won the elections in 2006, is still fresh in everyone’s minds.
So after its publication, Haniyeh quickly distanced himself from the letter, clarifying on February 20 that “Hamas is continuing its resistance project based on ‘ending the occupation and liberating the Palestinian land from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river."
Hamas has never made any public commitments like those that appear in the letter. On the contrary, it has subsequently made clear it is not willing do so. The background to this is the internal primary elections being held within Hamas
The Hamas Political Bureau as a whole, the organisation’s body responsible for foreign relations, rejected the commitments allegedly made in the meeting with the PA in September, stressing in a statement on February 25 that no individual can speak in the name of the whole movement, and affirming the organisation’s “adherence to its choice and its resistance path until return [to Palestine] and liberation.” Similar statements were made by other Hamas officials abroad.
Hamas leadership in Gaza then also toed the party line, at least publicly. Senior Gaza Hamas official Fathi Hamad said that in the elections “Hamas will join any list that endorses the armed resistance. Palestine is Muslim-owned and no one is entitled to give up one inch of it.”
Fathi was referring to reports that Fatah and Hamas would run in a joint list, sharing power between them in advance and practically making the elections redundant.
It should also be noted that even if Hamas did apparently accept a Palestinian state with 1967 borders in its deliberations with the PA last year, that would be old news, as it already said so - vaguely of course and without a commitment to cease seeking Israel’s destruction - in 2017. But nothing fundamental changed then and Hamas operatives continued with terror and rockets on Israel since.
Lynfield’s hopeful analysis of the PA letter reminds me of a famous quote from Woody Allen; “What a world. It could be so wonderful if it wasn’t for certain people.” It would indeed be wonderful if Hamas openly and publicly renounced terrorism.
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Photo: Re-elected Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in 2019 (Mohamed Abed/AFP)
