Fatah and Hamas: a decade of strained relations

GAZA CITY: Palestinian rival movements Hamas and Fatah have missed another deadline to implement a reconciliation deal, potentially burying the landmark accord aimed at ending their decade-long split.
Here is a look back at the history of the dispute:

Islamists win at the polls
In 2006 the Islamists of Hamas take part in parliamentary elections for the first time, sweeping to a landslide victory.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah movement had dominated the Palestinian parliament since it was established.
A unity government is installed with Hamas taking key posts but it is dogged by international demands to renounce violence, recognise Israel and past peace deals, which it rejects.
Hamas seizes Gaza
In 2007 simmering tensions between the rival factions erupt into clashes in Gaza.
After a week of violence Abbas dismisses the unity government and declares a state of emergency in the territory.
But Hamas fighters rout pro-Abbas forces and take control, a move the president calls a coup.
Stillborn reconciliation
In 2011 Fatah and Hamas say they have reached an understanding to create an interim government to prepare for elections, but implementation is repeatedly delayed.
The next year the rivals strike a prisoner exchange deal and agree Abbas should lead an interim government, but the decision is never implemented.
Agreement on a unity government is reached in 2014. It is sworn in but fails to exercise authority over Gaza.
Pragmatism
In 2017 Hamas eases its stance on Israel, saying its struggle is not against Jews but against Israel and accepts the idea of a Palestinian state in territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
But it still refuses to recognise Israel and continues to speak of liberating historic Palestine.
The group, still blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union as well as Israel, is seen as seeking to ease its isolation without marginalising hardliners.
Pressure and concessions
Hamas creates an "administrative committee" in Gaza, seen by Fatah as a rival Palestinian government.
An Egyptian-led reconciliation push receives a boost when Hamas agrees to dissolve the committee and cede civil power, saying it is ready for talks on a new unity government and elections.
In Oct 2017, Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah visits Gaza for the first time since 2015 and his ministers take formal control of government departments in the territory.
Dwindling deal
The two factions open reconciliation talks mediated by Egypt in Cairo, later announcing they have reached a deal.
The first deadline of the agreement is met. Hamas hands over control of Gaza's borders to the Palestinian Authority.
But the two sides remain sharply at odds over the fate of tens of thousands of Hamas civil servants and two separate civil administrations in Gaza.
Hamas misses a major deadline in December and another on Feb1, with no progress in sight. — AFP


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