Are Hamas and Fatah Getting Back Together?

Today’s Top Stories

1. Hamas has agreed to dissolve its governing body in Gaza and has made overtures to reconcile with long time rival Fatah, Mahmoud Abass’s ruling party in the Palestinian Authority government. However, it is unclear whether this is actual policy or merely political rhetoric. Hamas and Fatah have spoken about reconciliation numerous times in the past, to little effect. Analyst Oded Granot reflected the opinion of many experts:

…the deal…still hasn’t come together and is far from it. Hamas is sure that [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas is an illegitimate leader, who won’t run for re-election [while] Fatah understands that Hamas [is] committed to taking over the West Bank and deposing Abbas in favor of [Hamas head] Ismail Haniyeh.

This article in The Atlantic analyzes in further detail, concluding not only that the chatter is political maneuvering, but also that it will ultimately create harmful consequences for Palestinian people.

2. The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been seen making aggressive movements near Israel’s border, while engaging in a propaganda campaign presumably designed to intimidate Israelis, though it appears to be having little effect. While Hezbollah is spread thin in Syria and likely not in a strong position to attack Israel at present, some in Israel’s security establishment are taking the saber rattling seriously. Perhaps that is the reason for a recent IDF exercise designed to practice responding to a potential Hezbollah attack. It may also be the reason for the emptying of Haifa’s ammonia plant, which Hezbollah had previously announced as a target for rocket-fire.

3. President Trump spoke at the opening session of the UN’s four-day conference. Significant points included the following: criticism of UN’s inefficient management and bureaucracy, as well as concerns about North Korea, Syria and Iran. Despite harsh rhetoric on the UN in the past, Trump described the body as having “tremendous potential.” Earlier Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump met privately.  In prepared statements the American President expressed his hopes for peace between Israel and the Palestinians while Netanyahu said that Israel’s alliance with the US, “has never been stronger, never been deeper…in ways people see, and in ways they don’t see.” Referring to the JCPOA (the “Iran deal”) Netanyahu said, “The Americans have a desire to fix the agreement, and I offered a plan on how to do it,” while Trump somewhat cryptically said that the US position would become clear, “very soon.”

Israel and the Palestinians

• The Washington Institute is compiling a web site tracking every Israeli settlement in the West Bank, including satellite imagery and population statistics. While the information is not yet completely posted, some interesting details have already come to light:

• Of the some 600,000 settlers who live outside Israel’s internationally recognized borders (including in parts of Jerusalem), just 94,000 are outside Israel’s border-like security fence;
• Of the settlers above, just 20,000 of those moved in since 2009, when Netanyahu returned to office. This is in the context of an area populated by 2.9 million Palestinians;
• Last year, 43 percent of the settler population growth was in just two towns that sit astride the Israeli border — and that Abbas himself has proposed for Israeli annexation.

In short, it appears that Israeli settlements have not undermined the possibility of a two-state peace agreement, and are, in fact, not even close to doing so.

• Rasmea Odeh a Palestinian convicted terrorist with a decades-old record of bombings in Jerusalem will be deported from Chicago to Jordan on Tuesday. The story of deportation proceedings against Odeh has been continuing for some time, but it appears to be finally coming to its conclusion. The technical reason for her deportation is that she lied on her immigration forms when she did not disclose her arrest and conviction for terror activities in Israel. Odeh’s case is particularly noteworthy as she has developed a somewhat high profile as an activist with the Arab American Action Network, working with immigrants and women’s issues in the United States.

Around the World

• BREAKING: IDF fires Patriot missile at drone flying over Golan Heights. Army says unmanned aircraft apparently downed as it attempted to enter Israeli airspace from Syria. Details still emerging.

• Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi met Monday night with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, a highly visible act of public engagement that most Arab leaders tend to avoid. The two leaders made public statements regarding a Palestinian peace process, which has the counter-intuitive effect of sidelining Mahmoud Abbas who was also in town for the UN conference but was not party to the meeting. Analysts believe that the 90 minute talk likely included discussion of much more, including security cooperation in the Sinai, and how to address the feud/reconciliation dynamic between Hamas and Fatah.

Cannot stress how important this meeting was. Hamas is on its knees for Egypt, while Sisi is shaking Bibi’s hand in public. pic.twitter.com/8r6rAjy8rT

— Dov Lieber (@DovLieber) September 19, 2017

• A stunning turn of events in the evolving connections between Israel and the Arab world: Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa has denounced the Arab boycott of Israel and said his subjects are free to visit the Jewish state.

• A Kurdish referendum set for September 25 will call for independence. Though the vote has no legal or military effect in international circles, it has Iran worried as the country’s Vice-President stated, “We will not allow the creation of a second Israel in the north of Iraq,” Indeed, a recent rally in support of independence included Israeli flags, a sign of the warm feelings by Kurdish people toward Israel. The Kurdish people live primarily in an area of northern Iraq, close to Turkey and Iran. The US has long opposed Kurdish independence, to a great extend due to Turkish opposition, and America’s desire to maintain Turkey as a strategic ally. Lately, however, this puts the US in the ironic, and perhaps unexpected, position of being on the same side of the issue as Iran.

• As President Trump’s plans for a border wall with Mexico progress, journalists have gotten into the habit of referencing Israel’s “wall” along areas of the West Bank, usually in a critical manner. Indeed, some Israeli hi-tech contractors are bidding to work on security aspects of the US-Mexico wall, and Trump has in the past referenced Israel on this topic, but the similarities for the most part end there. Israel’s “wall” which is actually 95% wire fence, was built to end a massive terror campaign called the “Second Intifada.” Even today, the security fence stops attempted attacks every month, and deters even more. Why do journalists almost universally fail to include this context? For that matter, given that almost every border in the world contains some kind of security fence, why single out Israel at all?

Commentary/Analysis

• The problems the Islamic Republic of Iran poses go far beyond the nuclear program: including support for terrorism and criminal enterprises, threats to strategic waterways, and ballistic missile development. President Trump has expressed his desire to “tear up” the JCPOA (the “Iran deal”) or to “de-certify” Iran’s compliance with the deal’s milestones. So what will happen? The Weekly Standard analyzes some of Trump’s options, and likely outcomes.

• Iran signed a contract last week to provide five gas-fired power plants to the Syrian city of Aleppo. In January, the two countries signed deals that gave Iran a mobile telephony license and right to build a new network. After years of military engagement in defense of Syrian ruler Bashar Assad, Iran is doing big commercial business in Syria: is this kind of Iranian integration a foreshadowing of how the post-civil war Syria is going to look?

• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .

– Last Surviving U.S. Pilot Who Brought Yemenite Jews to Israel Honored – Itamar Eichner
–Former U.S. Mideast Envoy Dennis Ross: Saudis Could Lead Delegation to Israel – Tovah Lazaroff

The IDNS will be back next week. In the meantime, from all of the staff of HonestReporting, we wish all of our Jewish readers a happy and healthy new year – Shana Tova!

Image: Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90

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