Palestinian Factions Sign Accord to End Rift

 

Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Fatah movement and — at least until now — an American ally, joined forces with Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, the Islamist group that rejects Israel’s existence and accepts arms and training from Iran.

At the signing ceremony inside Egypt’s intelligence headquarters, men from Mr. Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, and from Hamas, which rules Gaza? —? who had for four years viewed one another as solemn enemies? —? embraced and even joked. But they also expressed steely mutual resolve.

“We will have one authority and one decision,” Mr. Meshal said from the podium. “We need to achieve the common goal: a Palestinian state with full sovereignty on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital, no settlers, and we will not give up the right of return.”

The forces that produced this unexpected reconciliation are many — the changes in Egypt, the troubles of the government in Syria, the failure of peace talks with Israel and Mr. Abbas’s plans to retire with a lasting legacy. But the efforts of Mr. Abbas to join hands with Hamas also underscore his determination to pursue Palestinian statehood unilaterally and his willingness to risk a major rupture with the United States and Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, visiting London, denounced the pact as “a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism.” The Obama administration has been cautious, saying it needs more details. In a sign of declining relations, Mr. Abbas gave the administration no warning of the deal, first publicized last week.

Much about the pact remains to be determined — how it will define resistance, whether the two sides’ militaries can be coordinated and what happens to American and European aid. But it was agreed that a government of unaffiliated technocrats would prepare for elections in the West Bank and Gaza within a year.

In a sign of early change on the ground, Hamas’s television broadcasts were beamed for the first time into the West Bank, and Palestinian Authority broadcasts into Gaza.

On Wednesday, Mr. Abbas saluted Palestinian youngsters who had taken to the streets on March 15. Compared with other recent uprisings, that rally in Gaza City was small potatoes — 10,000 calling for unity between Hamas and Fatah.

But it was the biggest turnout for an unauthorized demonstration in four years of Hamas rule. It was an indication of rising public discontent, the first clear indication that the regional earthquake would not spare the Palestinians. From that moment, negotiations grew serious.

Hamas had rejected a similar unity agreement signed by Fatah nearly two years ago but, in truth, that offer was halfhearted. Mr. Abbas, along with his allies, the old Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak, the United States and Israel, wanted Hamas to be seen as the problem. A negotiated peace deal, he believed, would force Hamas’s hand later.

Mr. Abbas said last week that he had come close to an agreement with Ehud Olmert, then the prime minister of Israel, in 2008. When he tried to pick up negotiations with Mr. Netanyahu the next year, he faced a more hawkish approach.

“He wanted Israeli troops in the valley and on the heights for 40 years,” Mr. Abbas told a group of Israeli guests, speaking of areas in the West Bank. “That means a continuation of the occupation.”

Therefore, from September 2010, when Mr. Abbas concluded that negotiations were doomed, he began down another path — reconciliation with Hamas and a campaign for a United Nations declaration of Palestinian statehood in September. He has repeatedly said that he will not run for the presidency again, and a number of people who know him believe he wants to end his career on a note of unity.

Hamas was brought on board through meetings in Cairo under the auspices of the new Egyptian government.

In late March, the new Egyptian foreign minister, Nabil el-Araby, invited a delegation from Hamas to Cairo to meet at the Foreign Ministry instead of the intelligence headquarters or a hotel meeting room — effectively upgrading them from militants to diplomats, some later said.

“The foreign minister told them, ‘We do not want to talk about a ‘peace process,’?” said Ambassador Menha Bakhoum, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry. “We want a peace, and the only way to talk about peace is to end the divisions.”

In turn, Hamas brought up a reopening of the Gaza border with Egypt, which had been kept essentially closed by Mr. Mubarak. The Egyptians said they would open it, and things moved quickly.

Developments in Syria, where Hamas’s political leadership is based, have also played a big role. The government of President Bashar al-Assad has faced widespread popular demonstrations in recent weeks and has responded with brute force. The Syrian government demanded that Hamas profess loyalty to it, but Hamas, which considers itself a popular movement, has demurred, threatening its Syrian ties.

The deal appeals to Hamas in part because it would remake the Palestine Liberation Organization, the overarching authority of Palestinian politics that now excludes Hamas. A committee to study changes will include the leaders of all the Palestinian factions — including Mr. Meshal of Hamas — and could end up being the main power in the coming year.

“Hamas will be part of the political leadership taking major decisions,” said Mamoun Abu Shahla, a Gaza businessman and independent who has been involved in the process.

The difficulties the two sides face in reconciling their conflicting ideologies will be great. For now, while a committee negotiates the future of security cooperation and prisoners, each side will police its area independently. The Palestinian Legislative Council, the parliament where Hamas won a majority in 2006 elections, will also be revived.

Hamas’s rising influence could well mean that the United States, which labels Hamas a terrorist group, could cut off hundreds of millions or dollars in aid to the Palestinians.

Representative Steve Chabot, an Ohio Republican and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, met with Mr. Araby, the Egyptian foreign minister, on Monday and came away arguing that the new transitional government was “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and that Hamas could have unchecked influence over peace talks.

But Munib al-Masri, a West Bank businessman who has been promoting reconciliation, said the deal should be given a chance.

“Hamas will change,” he said in an interview. “Bring them in. Fatah used to be just like them.”

Fares Akram contributed reporting from Gaza, David D. Kirkpatrick from Cairo, and Isabel Kershner from Jerusalem.