Reconciliation between the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah factions has traditionally been treated as a prerequisite to the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and Fatah controls Palestinian portions of the West Bank, and all are territories that the Palestinians reserve for a single Palestinian state. A state declared in those areas, as long as they’re split between two governments, would by definition be a failed state.

Talks to establish some level of reconciliation have been going on for years. Negotiations have been hampered by deep distrust and lingering resentment left by previous violence – Hamas’s 2007 expulsion of Fatah from the Gaza Strip was notoriously bloody – as well as by structural disincentives. Neither Hamas nor Fatah want to cede control of territory they currently rule.

Officially talks are in their on-again mode. Top Fatah officials, however, are not hopeful:

Rajoub doubted the ability of Abu Marzouk and Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, to influence the movement’s leaderships in Gaza. “We seek a national unity that begins with elections. We ought to be involved, and we are serious about it,” he said. Rajoub also stressed the need to draw a road map to be agreed upon by Fatah and Hamas in order to achieve reconciliation.

Hamas has an additional reason to seek reconciliation this time around. The group badly mishandled its relationship with Cairo, first going all-in on its relationship with Egypt’s former president Mohammed Morsi and then antagonizing the army-backed government that replaced Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked administration.

Partly as a result, the Egyptians have in recent months often kept the Rafah crossing – which connects the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian-controlled Sinai Peninsula – closed. The Egyptian military insists that the crossing, like the underground tunnels that link the two territories, represent a security risk. The closures have put the Gaza economy on the brink of collapse.

Hamas have asked Fatah officers to take control of the crossing and vouch for its security, providing Hamas with an economic lifeline. The request was declined:

Regarding the announcement about the refusal of the presidential guard to operate the Rafah crossing, he said, “The issue of the Rafah crossing is a humanitarian issue that Hamas should claim responsibility for. There is no need to emotionally blackmail us.” Had Hamas been rational in dealing with the situation in Egypt, it would have not caused the current impasse with Egyptians. Hamas caused a crisis with the people, the army and the intelligence services, which the Gazans are paying the price for,” he added.

[Photo: filiz Yilmaz / YouTube ]