Fatah and Hamas end long-running feud

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group has inked a deal with rival Hamas to end their long-running feud and form an interim government ahead of elections within a year.

Israel said the accord, which was brokered in secrecy by Egypt, would not secure peace in the Middle East and urged Abbas to carry on shunning the Islamist movement, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007 after ousting Fatah in a civil war.

Forging Palestinian unity is regarded as crucial to reviving any prospect for an independent Palestinian state, but Western powers have always refused to deal with Hamas because of its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

“What was agreed upon for the moment is a framework agreement without much meat on the bones. There are still major issues that have to be determined,” says Gershon Baskin, founder and Co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Centre For Research and Information.

“Who’s going to be Prime Minister? How are they going to create a government? What’s going to happen with the security cooperation that exists between the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank and Israel – and no security cooperation in Gaza?”

With all these questions still unanswered, Baskin told Vatican Radio that it is “difficult to imagine that they will actually conclude this agreement.”

Listen to Gershon Baskin’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: