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We Palestinians have grown accustomed to complain and there are a myriad
of reasons why we should continue on this course. Yet, the challenges we
are facing at present and the opportunities that are there do not allow
for the luxury of continuous complaining.
The MECCA agreement under the auspices of His Majesty King Abdullah of
Saudi Arabia has emphasized that there is no way out except for both
Hamas and Fatah to work together. But both Fatah and Hamas need to be
inclusivist in their attempts at ordering house. All other factions and
political groups among the Palestinians, in and out of the Palestinian
Territories should be included as well in efforts at bringing in-house
order and consensus. We are in need of a national agenda that would
address our ills and woes and that would promote serious rehabilitation
of our institutions, ministries and other public and private
organizations so as to give more hope and encouragement to our people.
We need also to work out our priorities, not the factional ones, but
most important those that touch the lives of our people and their
aspirations, on a personal, communal and social levels. We have to pay
special attention to those families and individuals who have been
particularly affected by infighting in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere and
to help them heal. It is very difficult for dear ones to forget and
forgive but without achieving a broader national consensus bent on
reconciliation and reconstruction then the costly sacrifices of these
families and their dear ones would be wasted.
There are signs that Europe and others are willing to consider
positively the formation of a Palestinian National Unity Government. Our
priority should not be driving a wedge between the US and its allies in
Europe rather it should be how to move forward, after the formation of
the Unity Government, to serious peace negotiations that would achieve
our political aspirations. The peace negotiations are indeed a top
priority and without advancement on this, all our efforts at internal
rehabilitation and reconstruction will be in jeopardy. Our primary goal
is to end Israeli military occupation and all its restrictive and
oppressive control methods exercised routinely on our people. We cannot
govern ourselves within small Bantustans and without contiguous links
between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Accordingly, side by side with
reconstruction, we need to empower the President of the Palestinian
National Authority, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, to go full speed on the
negotiation track. All of us, irrespective of factions and ideological
positions on Israeli military occupation and ways to end it, should
support Mr. Abbas, Abu Mazen, on activating this track full speed.
The realistic statements made by the Hamas leadership whether those of
Mr. Ismail Hanieh, the Prime Minister designate on prisoner exchange
with Israel or those of Mr. Khalid Mish’al on a Palestinian state within
the 1967 borders are themselves additional reason why all should give
the National Unity Government a chance to succeed. It is clear that our
Palestinian people with its various political groups and factions are
ready for change. We should not let this opportunity pass without
exploring seriously how to affect internal reconstruction and
rehabilitation, on the one hand and the advancement of the peace
process, on the other. Reconstruction and peacemaking complement each
other as they are both needed in order to help our people achieve its
long awaited goal of an end to Israeli military occupation and the
establishment of a viable, free and independent Palestinian state.
The road forward is indeed very difficult but the ingredients for a
recipe of success are there, if we want to honor not simply the MECCA
Accord but also the sacrifices and aspirations of our Palestinian
people.
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