After a year in which Arabs have fought and died for democracy, the Palestinian Territories seem to be the one place in the region where autocracy is on the ascendancy.
The reconciliation deal signed at the beginning of this week between the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Islamist group Hamas under the auspices of Qatar will give Mahmoud Abbas even more power. The 75-year old will now act as interim prime minister in a caretaker government in addition to his current positions as PA president and chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Neither the PA-administered West Bank nor the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have held elections since 2006, when the outcome precipitated a brief power-sharing arrangement prior to the civil war of 2007.
The deal sets the conditions for the formation of a unity government with Abbas leading “independent technocrats… whose task will be to facilitate presidential and parliamentary elections and begin the reconstruction of Gaza,” according to an official statement. The agreement will see the Western-backed political independent and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad—who has led state-building efforts and did much to root out Arafat-era corruption from Fatah’s ranks—removed from his post and effectively sidelined.
Despite their historical rivalry, Fatah and Hamas announced their intention to pursue reconciliation in May 2011. They were motivated not by a breakthrough in relations as much as mutual need, with their traditional power bases weakened by the effects of the Arab Spring. The fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak weakened Fatah, and Hamas was forced to look elsewhere as the ongoing Syrian uprising has threatened to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In response to Hamas’ reticence in defense of its patron Assad, Iran is reported to have halted its financial support.
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