Russia Brokers Peace Deal Between Fatah & Hamas

0
46

Al Jazeera is reporting that the Palestinian Authority’s dominant political party Fatah and Hamas have agreed to form a new unity government.

The agreement was reached Tuesday evening after three days of talks in the Russian capital of Moscow, and will include the Islamic Jihad group, which had been previously precluded from negotiations.

The deal signals an end to a decade of hostilities between Fatah and Hamas, which began when Hamas won elections in Gaza in 2006, and followed up their political win with a military conflict in which they removed Fatah officials from power.

From Al Jazeera’s report:

Last year the Palestinian government postponed the first municipal polls in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in 10 years after the high court ruled they should be held only in the Fatah-run West Bank.

The last time the Palestinians staged elections in which both Hamas and Fatah took part was in 2006.

The Palestinian representatives also met on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and asked him to dissuade incoming US President Donald Trump from carrying out a campaign pledge to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Peace discussions in the Middle East have typically been shepherded by the United States, but this germinating peace accord symbolizes a further expansion of Vladimir Putin’s Russia into Middle Eastern geo-politics. The Obama Administration has had very few foreign policy successes in the Middle East, mishandling its involvement in the Syrian Civil War as well as a cooling of relations with Israel. Adding to uncertainty in the region is the impending inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump.

This peace deal between Fatah and Hamas should help the Palestinian people seek their own destiny, facilitate their natural rights to movement and free association, which would benefit their economy, and be on a more united and solid footing when seeking peace with Israel.

The following two tabs change content below.
Dillon Eliassen is a former Managing Editor of Being Libertarian. Dillon works in the sales department of a privately owned small company. He holds a BA in Journalism & Creative Writing from Lyndon State College. He is the author of The Apathetic, available at Amazon.com. He is a self-described Thoreauvian Minarchist.