Deja Vu

This morning I got a particularly violent case of déjà vu when I read stories about Gaza militants launching rockets into Israel and Israeli PM Ehud Olmert threatening a “disproportionate” response. The likelihood of another escalation in violence makes expediency of peace agreements and ceasefires all-the-more important. But peace negotiations in the region have never exactly been described as swift.

This is mainly because Israeli-Palestinian conflict is facing such an assortment of problems on many levels. One major one seems to be the fact that the Palestinians aren’t united, that an agreement is impossible if not all Palestinians are able to take part. Though the world may see Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian leader, many of the Palestinians don’t, and it is their opinion that really matters to the success of any peace talks.

In an attempt to work on this particular puzzle piece, Abbas of the Fatah party is now in Cairo with President Hosni Mubarak and a few reluctant members of Hamas, trying to “negotiate a permanent ceasefire which could lead to Gaza’s borders being reopened after an 18-month Israeli blockade which has prevented all but the most basic humanitarian supplies from entering.” But they aren’t likely to get anywhere soon, and not just because of the hostility Hamas probably feels towards the Egyptian leader who turned Gazans away at the border during the 22-day Israeli offensive—“Mr Abbas has said talks were impossible with anyone who rejected the supremacy of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which he leads. This follows a statement last week by the exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said the PLO ‘expresses a state of impotence, abuse and a tool to deepen divisions.’ Hamas has never been a member of the PLO.” [BBC, 2/2/09]