Hamas-Fatah Reconciliation—Better Now than Later

It was inevitable. 

Hamas and Fatah have signed a reconciliation agreement leading to a unity deal with elections planned for no later than September. Israeli president, Shimon Peres called it, “a fatal mistake that will ruin the chances for the establishment of the Palestinian Authority as a country."

I call it a blessing in disguise. We should not interrupt our enemy while they get it wrong.

This agreement sings like Pavarotti. It exposes the false facade, the teeth of this Palestinian Authority (PA) jaw trap, for the whole world to see and realize.  Can you imagine signing peace with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, only to see it annulled a short time later by the next Palestinian, Hamas-inspired ruler? Wouldn't it be easier, less risky to renounce it now, before letting it grow and solidify, before consenting to the rule of terrorists over Judea and Samaria?

It's no secret. Hamas enjoys wide support among the Palestinian population in Gaza and in the West Bank. Hamas represents a critical share of the Palestinian population in these areas.  Had real democracy been put into action in these territories Hamas could have gained a significant share or even a majority of the votes, the same as they had in 2006. The latest Hamas-Fatah agreement can only elucidate and bring to the fore what was not apparent to those peace-seeking naïve leaders of the West.

Let's not bury our heads in the sand. Hamas is as Palestinian as an orange is to orange juice.  And one can't form a representative Palestinian government without sharing power with these blood-thirsty terrorists who keep calling for Jihad against all Jews. Signing a peace agreement with Mahmoud Abbas, with a person pretending to be in charge, with a government that does not represent, or does not even rule over half of its people is not worth the paper the agreement is signed on. This type of an agreement is exceedingly unstable. It's a ruse.

Fatah activist Kifah Radaydeh, who was interviewed on PA TV, could not have said it clearer.

"...we perceive peace as one of the strategies," he said. "…It has been said that we are negotiating for peace, but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine (i.e., the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea)." 

When it comes to their intentions vis-à-vis Israel, Kifah Radaydeh has been candid; Hamas has been forthright; the PA and its president have been deceptive. They fooled the Israeli left, they fooled the world; they gained sympathy and support for their fake cause.

Not anymore. Should the Hamas-Fatah reunion take place the rest of the world will confront a new PA. The world will face up to an uncompromising Islamic regime that does not take cover behind a fake façade.

Had unambiguous logic dominated the thinking of existing world powers, the Hamas-Fatah reunion would have helped the US and the EU put down that crack pipe and get a grip on reality. They would realize that blaming the Jewish state for lack of progress in the peace process with the Palestinians is like accusing Poland for instigating World War II, or holding the US responsible for setting off a war with al Qaeda on 9/11. They would realize that a majority of Palestinians are the ones who give Palestinians their bad name. They would recognize that peace in the Middle East will come when we all speak Esperanto, that agreements with unstable Islamic regimes are as dead as Latin.

The Hamas-Fatah reunion should serve as a revelation. It should help the Israeli government and the rest of the world realize that even if this reunion does not materialize at this instant it is a semi-dormant volcano ready to erupt at any moment in the very near future. 

You can't be safe living next to an active volcano unless you dismiss the Pompeii experience.  You can't make peace with a PA that changes its colors every other season unless you don't mind paving the road to an all out deadly war.

BIO
Dr. Avi Perry, a talk show host at Paltalk News Network (PNN), is the author of "Fundamentals of Voice Quality Engineering in Wireless Networks," and more recently, "72 Virgins," a thriller about the covert war on Islamic terror. He was a VP at NMS Communications, a Bell Laboratories - distinguished staff member and manager, a delegate of the US and Lucent Technologies to the ITU—the UN International Standards body in Geneva, a professor at Northwestern University and Intelligence expert for the Israeli Government.