Hamas-Fatah, Israel-Palestine, Nakba-Syria

Hamas and Fatah are in Cairo trying to organize a united Palestine. That Cairo is the venue is not surprising since Egypt has long been the go-between for Hamas and Fatah.

The two delegations are charged to put in place the “mechanisms of reconciliation, in particular the formation of an independent Palestinian government.”

Israel is opposed to the possible merger of Hamas and Fatah and it refuses to accept Hamas as a negotiating partner in future Israel-Palestine peace talks because of Hamas’ long-term position that Israel should be destroyed.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that in any peace talks, it would demand the right to keep its colony blocks, without mentioning keeping smaller colonies. This is a change from its former position that colony expansion is correct because it sees the lands being colonized as its lawful territory.

Meanwhile, as a measure of how far from any peace talks the region is, border clashes broke out on Nakba Day, the “catastrophe” as it is called by Palestinians. Nakba is the day on which the state of Israel was created and Palestinians began to be displaced.

Demonstrators tried to cross into Israel from Syria, the area of Jordan near Jerusalem, the Occupied Territories, and the Golan Heights in South Lebanon. Israeli troops fired warning shots and then fired on those whom Israeli officials said were trying to destroy Israel security structures. The resulting deaths were unanimously condemned by Arab states in the region.

However, some commentators suggested that Syria may have been responsible for many of the demonstrations, using them as a way to take media attention off its own brutal military sweep against peaceful demonstrators asking for more democratic government in Syria.