The World Should Welcome the Palestine Unity Government by Patrick Seale

The World Should Welcome the Palestine Unity Government

by Patrick Seale Released: 18 Mar 2007

The Palestine national unity government, which begins work on Monday, 19 March, has the huge task of providing its battered, besieged and famished people with security and the basics of a decent life. It must then attempt to persuade Israel to come to the table and negotiate a two-state solution to their ancient conflict.

No one can honestly claim that its prospects are good.

It faces two formidable obstacles: First, its internal cohesion remains fragile, with competition inevitably continuing between Fatah and Hamas. Last month the two parties were on the verge of all-out war. It will need time, skill and real goodwill for reconciliation to take hold.

Secondly, Israel has denounced the new government as "a step backwards for peace prospects" and has launched an intense diplomatic campaign in Washington and Brussels to discredit the Mecca agreement of March 8 -- which brought Hamas and Fatah together -- to undermine the new Palestinian government and to keep the international boycott of Hamas in place.