Hamas and Egypt appear to improve relations after meeting

After a series of meetings between Hamas and senior Egyptian officials in Cairo relations between Egypt and the Islamist Palestinian group appear to be improving.

The improved relations may have important implications for Gaza and Palestinian politics. Ismail Haniyeh who recently became leader of Hamas said in a speech in Gaza on Wednesday that relations with Egypt which borders the strip to the south have been warming:"We have launched a new chapter with Egypt and the relations have witnessed a big move."

For most of the last ten years Egypt has supported Israel in enforcing a blockade of the strip by land, sea, and air. Hamas seized the Gaza strip in 2007 and has controlled it ever since. Just recently Israel has made the situation in Gaza even worse cutting off electricity to Gaza leaving it with only about four hours a day with power. The cuts hit hospitals and water treatment plants during a heat wave causing hardships for Gaza's two million people. Sanctions against Gaza are part of an attempt by the rival Fatah Palestinians to force Hamas to give up power and join a unified government.

In order to keep popular support Hamas is attempting to mend its relations with Egypt. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood regarded as a terrorist group in Egypt and so trying to improve ties with Egypt is an uphill battle. Nevertheless, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's newly appointed leader in Gaza met Egyptian officials including the chief of intelligence last month.

These meetings are thought to have been arranged by Mohammed Dahlan, who was a senior Fatah official originally from Gaza but now a staunch opponent of Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority President and leader of Fatah. Haniyeh claimed that Egypt had been helping to improve conditions in Gaza and has alleviated some of the hardships caused by the Israeli blockade. Haniyeh said: "We have found complete readiness by Egypt and their authorities have issued orders to implement a package of measures that has began with allowing fuel into Gaza." Haniyeh also thanked both Qatar and Saudi Arabia for financial support.

Dahlan spends much of his time in the UAE and has close relations to Egypt. He is emerging as a power broker in the region. Analysts claim that the developing ties between Hamas and Egypt are a challenge to the power of Abbas. The development may cause alarm in Israel and even the US and the EU all of whom regard Hamas as a terrorist group and do not want its influence to increase in the region.

Hamas has helped Egypt address security concerns by clearing land on its side of the border that created a buffer zone that has watchtowers, cameras, and barbed-wire fences. Gaza Tawfiq Naeen the head of security services in Gaza appointed by Hamas said: "These measures serve as a message of assurance to the Egyptian side." Hamas would like to see the one crossing into Egypt at Rafah kept open longer and to increase energy supplies and other imports.

Egypt would like to obtain intelligence on radicals who are entering and leaving Gaza and also help with tracking Islamic State (IS) militants who are attacking Egyptian troops in northern Sinai. In a sign that Abbas, now 82,, worries about these developments he is scheduled to meet with Egyptian president el-Sisi this week. According to Akram Attallah, an independent analyst in Gaza this is the first cooperation between Hamas and Egypt since Hamas was founded 30 years ago.

Dahlan has been active in fostering the new relationship of Hamas with Egypt. Abbas expelled Dahlan from Fatah back in 2012. Attallah said: "Dahlan employed this moment to present himself as the most efficient party in the Palestinian arena and a savior for Hamas." Analysts are watching to see what will happen to Hamas' relations with Qatar that in the last few years has spent more than $500 million improving infrastructure and health services in Gaza. It is possible that Egypt may demand breaking off relations with Qatar as a condition of improving relations with it.

In his speech, Haniyeh did not depart from the strident critical tone of his predecessor, Khaled Mashalal towards Israel. He railed against "Israeli violations" in Jerusalem and promised to free Palestinians in Israeli jails. He said not one inch of Palestinian land should be relinquished:“We will remain faithful to the principles of the Palestinian people, and at the forefront is the liberation of the land, of Jerusalem, of the al-Aqsa Mosque, the prisoners, the realization of the Palestinian right of return, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.” Haniyeh had nothing positive to say about Donald Trump: “We believe that the most dangerous thing official Palestinian policy suffers from is responding to and dealing with repeated American dictates.. since the arrival of the American president to power, with the pressure and encouragement of the Zionist enemy, Trump has been trying to “eliminate the Palestinian issue” by “blackmailing” Arab-Islamic powers “and imposing a so-called historic reconciliation.” Not surprisingly, Haniyeh also gave thanks to and praised its backers including Iran, Turkey and Qatar. However, he also emphasized his thanks to Egypt.

Egypt has been sending millions of liters of diesel fuel to Gaza to keep the Strip's only power plant can begin operation again after months of being shut down. Israel cut off power to Gaza after Abbas' Palestinian Authority stopped covering 35 percent of the cost of the Israeli-supplied electricity. There are reports that Dahlan and Hamas have agreed to a new "management committee" in Gaza which would see Dahlan share control in the enclave. However Haniyeh still spoke of reconciliation between Fatah in Ramallah and Gaza claiming that such reconciliation was one of the subjects of discussion with Egypt. Haniyeh said that Egypt was welcome to play a central role in such reconciliation. Haniyeh claimed: “Fatah won’t eliminate Hamas and Hamas won’t eliminate Fatah,” said Haniyeh, adding that together, with all the Palestinian factions united, “the occupier could be eliminated.”

Hamas student groups do well in West Bank university election

Hebron - The results of student council elections at West Bank universities showed that Hamas has gained popularity at the expense of the Palestine Authority.

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In an April 21 election at the Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron, the Islamic Bloc, the student arm of Hamas, tied with the Fatah Youth Movement, with each group winning 15 seats. This was a surprise but even more surprising were the results announced on April 22 from Birzeit University, showing that the Islamic Bloc won over Fatah by 26 seats to 19. Turnout at Birzeit was 77 percent, with the Hamas-aligned group receiving 3,400 votes and the Fatah-aligned group 2,545. In last year’s vote, the Fatah bloc won 23 seats while the Islamic bloc received 20, according to a school press release. The university president, Khalil Hindi, claimed the elections took place in a democratic and peaceful atmosphere. Birzeit, long a center of student activism, is considered the best university in the West Bank.

Abdul Rahman Hamdan, head of the Islamic Bloc said: “This victory is proof that Palestinians support the resistance, as it is the only way to obtain our rights and refuse the PA’s project, which is based on negotiations. Although the bloc was fiercely attacked by the Israeli occupation and the PA, we won. I expect the campaign to escalate in the coming phase.”Khaled Meshaal, who heads Hamas' political bureau said that his group was ready for legislative and presidential elections. Youssef Rizqa, a former information minister in the Hamas government said:“The reasons behind the victory of Hamas and the defeat of Fatah lie beyond university and stem from [President Mahmoud] Abbas’ stance vis-a-vis the resistance and the recent war on Gaza, the paralysis of the consensus government and the denial of the reconciliation.”

The university elections are taken as a barometer of trends in Palestinian politics. Birzeit University is liberal and Fatah was not expected to lose. Fatah was quite upset at a defeat on its own territory even if just in a student election. A Palestinian official told Al Monitor that Abbas "held a meeting with Fatah cadres in Birzeit in the past few days and scolded them for their huge loss facing Hamas supporters, knowing that they were offered financial allocations and security facilities allowing them to win."

The reconciliation projects between Hamas and Fatah apparently are not progressing. Negotiations with Israel are halted. There are internal disputes within the Palestinian Authority as well. The Palestinian Authority further alienates many Palestinians by cracking down on Hamas. A few days after the Hamas' student election victory, the Palestinian security apparatus arrested Islamic Bloc cadres. Fathi Qarawi, a member of Hamas' Legislative Council claimed:“Arresting and pursuing students reveals the true face of the PA. If it had known the bloc would win the elections, it would have used weapons to impede this victory. The PA won’t blink before oppressing any other attempt for Hamas to win, given its repeated losses.”

Back in September the two rival Palestinian groups agreed to a unity government for Gaza that would be headed by PA president Mahmoud Abbas. However, the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the humanitarian conditions in the strip are very poor and funding very limited: That funding is conditioned on the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, which is not really functioning in the Gaza Strip. The last visit of a number of PA ministers to Gaza two weeks ago ended after about 24 hours, showing that the option of PA rule in the Strip in the near future is not realistic.

Palestian resolution presented by Jordan fails to pass UN Security Council

The Palestinian resolution called for peace with Israel within one year and an end to Israeli occupation by 2017. The resolution failed to pass by just one vote.

The following countries voted in favor of the motion: Jordan, China , France, Russia, Luxembourg, Chad, Chile and Argentina. Only two countries voted against the resolution, Australia and the United States. Five countries abstained: United Kingdom, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea, and Rwanda. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN condemned the failure to pass the motion claiming: "The Security Council has once again failed to uphold its charter duties to address this crises and to meaningfully contribute to a lasting solution in accordance with its own resolutions. This year, our people under Israeli occupation endured the further theft and colonization of their land, the demolition of their homes, daily military raids, arrests and detention of thousands of civilians including children, rampant settler terrorism, constant affronts to their human dignity and repeated incursions at our holiest sites." 

 Samantha Power, ambassador to the UN from the US, claimed that the resolution undermined efforts to achieve a two state solution. She complained that the resolution contained nonconstructive deadlines and did not take into account Israel's legitimate security concerns. Power's said: “We voted against this resolution not because we are comfortable with the status quo. We voted against it because … peace must come from hard compromises that occur at the negotiating table.” 

 The resolution had called for an end to Israeli building of settlements and also called for East Jerusalem, now occupied by Israel, to be the capital of Palestine. Peace negotiations were to be based on the pre-1967 borders before the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip were captured by Israel. Many pro-Palestinian groups also opposed the resolution. Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada complained to Al Jazeera that the resolution actually undermined Palestinian rights, including those of Palestinian refugees. He said: "This was a terrible resolution which was unanimously opposed by every major Palestinian faction, it contained so many compromises in an attempt to avoid a US veto that it was weaker than existing UN resolutions." 

 Earlier, Palestinian representatives had warned that should the resolution fail, they would join the International Criminal Court and file suits against Israel. The motion was submitted by Jordan. It had the agreement of 22 Arab States and the Palestinian Authority as well. Even if the resolution had passed the United States would have vetoed the bill to prevent its adoption. After the vote Dina Kawar, Jordan's Ambassador to the UN, said: “The fact that this draft resolution was not adopted will not at all prevent us from proceeding to push the international community, specifically the United Nations, towards an effective involvement to achieving a resolution to this conflict."

Abbas' anti-Israel rhetoric annoys the US and Israel

The US expressed annoyance at the UN speech of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas accused Israel of carrying out acts of genocide during the recent Operation Protective Edge.

Abbas also accused Israel of planning another "Nakba" or "disaster" referring to events before and after Israeli independence: During the 1948 Palestine War, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled, and hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed.[2][3] Abbas termed the latest round of conflict in the Gaza strip "a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world, moment by moment" and claimed that the devastation was unmatched in modern times. Abbas also accused Israel of undermining any chances for peace during the earlier 9 months of negotiations as well as consistently trying to "fragment our land and our unity." While Israel may very well be guilty of war crimes, Abbas' use of the term "genocide" is hardly accurate.
 Israel has been upset not only by Abbas' rhetoric but by the formation of a unity government with Hamas regarded by both the US and Israel as a terrorist organization. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was quite critical of Abbas and suggested he could not be a partner in future peace talks:"Abu Mazen's (Abbas') words at the UN General Assembly sharply clarify again that Abu Mazen doesn't want and can't be a logical partner for a political settlement. Abbas isn't a member of joint government with Hamas for no reason." Senior officials in Israeli Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's office also denounced the speech.
The US joined the chorus of criticism with State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, saying: "President Abbas' speech today included offensive characterizations that were deeply disappointing and which we reject. Such provocative statements are counterproductive and undermine efforts to create a positive atmosphere and restore trust between the parties." Abbas' rhetoric may be designed to show his constituency that he is tough on Israel. Abbas has lost support while Hamas has gained it by standing up to Israel in spite of the devastation wreaked upon the Gaza Strip because of Hamas' continued resistance and firing of rockets into Israel.
Abbas may be strong in his rhetoric but failed to follow through with actions. He did not say anything about joining the International Criminal Courts. His aides have often said he is prepared to do so, an action that would irritate the Israelis. Abbas said:"We will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment." Abbas failed to indicate how this was to be accomplished and said nothing about taking the issue to the International Criminal Court.
 Abbas' aides also claimed that Abbas would press for a new UN Security Council resolution that would set a three year schedule for Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 war. The aides said as well that if the UN did not accept the resolution Abbas would seek membership in more international agencies including the International Criminal Court. Abbas could bring to the court not only the war crimes issue but also Israeli construction of settlements in the West Bank that the Palestinians see as part of their future state.
  Hamas and the Palestinian Authority(PA) have reportedly negotiated a "comprehensive" agreement that will see officials of a unity government take over the civil administration of Gaza. The unity government is led by President Abbas. Both groups hope that this agreement will pave the way for easing of the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel with the help of Egypt.
 A recent study by the Palestinian Authority estimates costs of reconstruction in Gaza to be $7.8 billion. Under the agreement, the PA will take control of the border crossings of the Gaza Strip including the key Rafah crossing into Egypt. Abdel al-Sisi the Egyptian president had demanded that the PA and not Hamas control the crossing. The agreement will end Hamas' seven year long sole rule of Gaza after it won elections in 2006. The agreement comes after complaints by each side about the other including Hamas' anger at the PA refusal to pay the salaries of 45,000 civic employees in Gaza. If the new agreement holds and the new government operates smoothly this will be a giant step forward in resolving the constant bickering between Hamas and the PA that continually threatens Palestinian unity and prevents a common front in negotiations with Israel.