Palestinian reconciliation

In a much welcome development last week Fatah and Hamas struck a deal to form an interim government and fix a date for general elections. A joint statement later said "the consultations resulted in full understanding on all points of discussion" and that Egypt, which brought the Fatah and Hamas to the negotiations table, has been allowed to invite all Palestinian factions to sign a national reconciliation agreement in Cairo in the next few days.
Notably, about two years ago, ie, 2009, the two factions had almost reached an accord to form a transitional government leading to elections, but it fell through with Hamas complaining that the accord was revised without its approval. This time though the deal is expected to come to fruition because a process of change is underway all over the Middle East. Hosni Mubarak, a close ally of the US - which paid him $1.3 billion annually to maintain the status quo in Israel's favour - is no longer there to do his sponsor's bidding. Egypt, the Arab world's traditional leader, seems to be getting ready once again to play that role. Egyptian intelligence agencies have been working behind the scenes to broker a reconciliation agreement between the two Palestinian factions.
Predictably, both Israel and the US are extremely unhappy to see Hamas and Fatah work towards national reconciliation. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman described a peace deal that includes Hamas as "crossing of a red line." He also threatened to use "a vast arsenal of measures" to punish Fatah leaders for reconciling with Hamas, including lifting of VIP status for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister Salam Fayyad, "which will not allow them to move freely." Brandishing a more serious threat, he said "we could also freeze the transfer of taxes collected by Israel for the Palestinian Authority." These threats, especially about withholding Palestinian revenue collections, will badly hurt Palestinian economy, and hence have the opposite effect. The measure will only strengthen the Palestinian people's resolve to unite and resist their common enemy. They have gained nothing from Abbas's efforts to negotiate peace with Israel for over 20 years.
A US official issued a stinging rebuke to the Palestinian Authority for striking a deal with Hamas which it calls a terrorist organisation - despite the fact that it won majority vote in Gaza in the 2006 elections. Interestingly, aside from accusing Hamas of terrorism, the US has urged the Palestinians to "abide by past agreements" and to recognise "Israel's right to exist." Anyone following the so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace process knows that it was always Israel, aided and abetted by the US, which refused to honour the Oslo Accords and every other agreement for Arab-Israeli peace. If the US is now reminding the Palestinians about the past agreements, that could be reflective of anxiety in a fast changing Arab world. A Palestinian reconciliation agreement amid Arab awakening will certainly give sleepless nights to Israeli government and its backers in Washington.