Apr 25, 2014

Since the Palestinians have agreed to reconcile and create a national unity government until elections can take place, the debate now focuses on one simple question: Do the conditions imposed on Hamas by the Middle East Quartet apply to any future Palestinian government as a whole or do they apply to every individual member of the government?

After Hamas swept the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006, the Quartet — the United States, European Union, the United Nations and Russia — issued three conditions for dealing with any Palestinian government that might be established. It had to recognize Israel, adhere to previously signed treaties and renounce violence. The Islamic movement Hamas has always had a problem with these conditions. It has said it is willing to accept a long-term truce with Israel, but not to recognize Israel or give up the right of resistance, which is guaranteed to people under occupation.

The reconciliation agreement signed on April 23 by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Hamas calls for creating a national unity government consisting of technocrats. The agreement, which implemented the previous Cairo and Doha agreements, suggests that President Mahmoud Abbas act as prime minister until elections are held. One popularly discussed idea is that the Palestinian prime minister have two deputies, one in the West Bank (perhaps the politician Rami Hamdallah) and one in Gaza (most likely Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh).

Israel and its supporters in the United States are screaming in opposition to a process that has the support of nearly all Palestinians, as well as most of the international community. Once again, only some in the US government and Israel oppose a move that is in the common interest of the Palestinian people. The absence of any control by the Ramallah government over Gaza has often been framed as a Palestinian problem. The Israelis and their supporters have regularly questioned whether any agreement signed by Abbas and his team would be implemented in Gaza. Now that the question can be answered in the affirmative, the Israelis are complaining about it.

The new government headed by Abbas would certainly meet the Quartet’s conditions. Abbas recognizes Israel, although he has balked at Netanyahu's new condition of recognizing it as a Jewish state. He also accepts all previous agreements and renounces violence. The question, however, is whether every member of the government will have to meet these criteria, which are not imposed upon any other government.