That Hamas-Fatah/PA Reconciliation Agreement

No, not the one signed yesterday in Cairo.

The other one.  The previous one.  The "Mecca Agreement".

To remind you:

Hamas & Fatah Mecca Agreement is an agreement between Fatah and Hamas signed in the city of Mecca on February 8, 2007 after eight days of talks, agreeing to stop the military clashes in Gaza and form a government of national unity. Representatives from the Fatah side included the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and parliament member Mohammed Dahlan. The Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Khaled Mashal represented Hamas.

An analysis:

15 February 2007

The International Implications of the Hamas-Fatah Mecca Agreement

Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi

•The Mecca agreement between Hamas and Fatah does not presage a favorable diplomatic turn. It is merely a tactical political measure calculated to create a false impression regarding Hamas' political flexibility in order to whitewash the organization into being accepted as a legitimate player in the international arena without it having to meet the three preconditions of the Quartet.

•In practice, Gaza under Hamas rule continues to be a hotbed of terror organizations, including those with ties to al-Qaeda.

•The political flexibility of Hamas, as expressed in the Mecca agreement, derives first and foremost from Hamas' inability to score a decisive triumph, as well as from the international political and economic pressure which eroded public support for the Hamas government and the carrot and stick policy of Saudi Arabia (Hamas' financial patron). Hamas' main objective is the removal of the international boycott on the Palestinian Authority.

•Despite the desire of the EU countries to see a stable and democratic Palestinian government, past experience demonstrates that the billions of dollars poured into the Palestinian Authority since the Oslo process commenced have only served to strengthen the radical forces. If assistance is now extended to a Palestinian government where Hamas predominates, the West would be sawing off the limb of the tree which constitutes its Middle Eastern perch.

•Hamas, as part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, does not conceal its aspirations to foment Islamic revolution throughout the Middle East, which would topple the moderate regimes allied with the West and establish an Islamic caliphate which will threaten Europe.

How long did it last? Until June.

What evolved? Reconciliation?

No, this:-

One Gaza doctor, who has examined the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians killed in fighting with Israel, said the level of cruelty in the factional fighting was "beyond our imagination".

"Israeli missiles can dismember bodies... but such brutality cannot be between people who are supposed to be brothers in arms," the doctor said.

Khaled Abdallah, a construction worker, said attacks by rival gunmen on the homes of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and Abbas could mark the point of no return.

"I do not think they will ever reconcile. It is like pouring sand on a fire. It does not die out. Once some wind takes away the sand, the flames rise up again," he said.

It was even in the NYTimes.


(Major k/t= SoccerDad)