This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have signed a preliminary reconciliation deal in the latest in a series of attempts to end a decade-long Palestinian territorial, political and ideological split that has crippled statehood aspirations.

The deal, signed in Cairo in the presence of Egyptian intelligence officials, focuses on who should control the contested Gaza Strip and on what terms.

The two sides’ mutual hostility has defined the stark geographical and ideological division in Palestinian society between the West Bank and Gaza, which they have ruled separately since clashes that broke out in 2007.

Hamas was represented at the signing by Saleh al-Arouri, who has been accused by Israel of masterminding attacks on Israelis from his exile in Turkey and elsewhere.

Under the agreement, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority is to resume full control of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip by 1 December, according to a statement from Egypt’s intelligence agency. According to reports the agreement would also see Palestinian Authority forces take control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

In exchange, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the PA are expected to lift crippling restrictions on electricity supply to Gaza that have made the lives of its 2 million residents miserable in recent months.

While significant on paper at least, the deal is similar to previous attempts at reconciliation between the two sides and which were unveiled with fanfares and public declarations of unity, only to quickly run into the sand.

Despite the reported agreement on the Rafah crossing, it is unlikely to make much difference in practical terms for goods entering Gaza from Egypt, while truck traffic to the northern Sinai remains restricted by the Egyptian military because of the ongoing security crisis there.

A top Fatah official said Abbas would visit Gaza “within less than a month”. If it goes ahead, the Abbas visit would be the first since 2007, when the Islamist Hamas movement assumed control of Gaza.

In 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections, Hamas evicted Abbas’s western-backed Palestinian Authority from Gaza. Abbas was left with autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Over the past decade, each side deepened its control over its territory, making it increasingly difficult to forge compromises.

Previous efforts to reach a negotiated reconciliation between the two factions – such as in 2014 – have been announced before but have always faltered.



The current round of talks have focused on issues with broader areas of agreement between the two sides – leaving out the most contentious points, most significantly the future of Hamas’s 25,000-strong armed wing in Gaza.

The fine-print of the agreement will be pored over by both Israel and international donors to the Palestinian Authority for its implications. The deal may have profound legal consequences in terms of aid funding from the US.



Abbas has insisted he will only reassume control of Gaza if Hamas hands over power. Hamas, in turn, has said it will not disarm, even if it is willing to give Abbas control of the Gaza government.



The breakthrough – while provisional – has been driven by the changing dynamics in the wider Middle East, which has seen Egypt move to displace Qatar and Turkey as the key broker in Palestinian affairs, with both Hamas and Fatah increasingly reliant on Cairo’s sponsorship.

Struggling with the fallout from an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade since 2007, Hamas has found it increasingly difficult to govern or provide basic services to Gaza’s residents.

The 82-year-old Abbas, meanwhile, might be thinking about his legacy. The political split has been a major stain on his rule, particularly at a time when attempts to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood with Israel seem to be going nowhere.

Egypt too – which has long resisted becoming more deeply involved in Gaza – appears to have shifted its own position, driven in large part by the Isis-linked insurgency in northern Sinai centred around the city of el-Arish, a short drive from the Rafah border crossing.

Palestinian officials speaking to the Guardian suggested that given Egypt’s role, neither Fatah nor Hamas wanted to be seen as obstacles to the negotiations – a fact that had given momentum to the talks.

“Where the Qataris did not succeed, the Turks did not succeed, where Swiss and Norwegian efforts at reconciliation failed, the Egyptians have succeeded so far and in a few weeks,” said one official.

Responding to news of the deal, Israel said that any Palestinian reconciliation agreement must abide by international agreements and terms set by the Middle East Quartet - including the recognition of Israel and Hamas giving up its arms. “Israel will examine developments in the field and act accordingly,” a government official said.