Undecided state

The Palestinian Authority under Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas struck a historic deal a few weeks ago to form a unity government, but in real terms, and where it counts most, the two sides are still far apart.

All Palestinians aspire at unity because it would be the only way their conflict with Israel can come to an acceptable resolution.

However, the unity just reached is rather cosmetic, dictated by circumstances and geopolitical considerations.

For starters, Abbas has renounced resort to military means to solve the Palestinian problem. He repeatedly said so in the past years, and openly rejected the return to Intifada or the militarisation of the Palestinian conflict with Israel.

Abbas contends that the use of arms by the Palestinians brought them only misery, suffering, widespread destruction and made them miss opportunities for peace without bringing the creation of an independent Palestinian state any closer.

Even more important, perhaps, is the fact that on the territory ruled by the PA live Muslim and Christian Palestinians on equal footing.

Palestinian Christians play a critical and indispensable role in the Palestinian quest for justice, statehood and independence.

Hamas, on the other hand, is a strictly Islamic movement that puts its faith first and foremost in the military option to bring the Palestinian conflict to a just resolution.

Hamas contends that total dependence on endless peace talks, in which the PA has engaged for years, will get the Palestinians nowhere.

Hamas points out that the decades of negotiations with Israel, direct or otherwise, produced nothing so far and failed to bring the Palestinians any closer to establishing their own state on Palestinian soil.

The PA and Hamas seem, therefore, miles apart on fundamentals concerning the Palestinian case.

This said, the ideologies of both main Palestinian factions and their perspectives on how to confront Israel have been proved wrong over the years.

Neither the peaceful roadmaps pursued by the PA nor the military means advocated by Hamas and like-minded Palestinian factions have been successful. If anything, they reaped a bitter harvest.

No language or deeds by Palestinians appear to succeed in bringing them closer to their national dreams and aspirations.

The just-ended war of Gaza, on the other hand, may have brought the quest for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the forefront again.

On the up side, the inconclusive fighting in Gaza may have convinced Israel that it is high time the Palestinians were allowed to establish their own state in order to avoid a repeat of the 51-day war. 

Without hope, Palestinians could be driven to desperate means to achieve their goals.

On the down side, the Gaza war may have inflated the Israeli fear that an independent Palestinian state might be dangerous for Israel, if Hamas fires its rockets, especially since Hamas leaders announced, after the temporary truce with Israel, that it would be soon preparing for the final war to liberate Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian territories.

I fear that the just announced ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will not last long since it settled nothing for either side.