ALJAZEERA: Shock, disbelief, elation and a surge of giddy optimism were among the reactions of Gazans to Wednesday’s news that Fatah and Hamas had agreed to form a unity government that, if implemented, would end the seven-year schism that separated Gaza from the West Bank. An Israeli airstrike on the besieged enclave the same day, however, served as a reminder of the scale of the challenges that lie ahead.
Crowds of people gathered to celebrate outside Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s house in the Al-Shati refugee camp, known as Beach Camp. (More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population consists of families of refugees who lost their homes inside what is now Israel when it was created in 1948.) As the sun set along the Gazan coast, fishermen returning to port were greeted by a bustle of celebration, as refugee children played on the sand and crowded around Palestinian television news network vans parked on the crowded street outside the refugee camp.
A group of youth activists gathered outside Haniyeh’s house and then moved through the refugee camp into central Gaza to celebrate, and to demand that Hamas make sure the reconciliation deal is implemented on the ground. The agreement requires that new elections be held for the Palestinian Legislative Council and presidency — both structures of the Palestinian Authority, which hasn’t held elections since the 2006 legislative poll won by Hamas — as well as for the ruling body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It is the PLO that conducts peace negotiations with Israel, and opening that body up to more democratic representation that would include participation by Hamas and Islamic Jihad — groups that have until now rejected the U.S.-led peace process — could alter the course of the Palestinian national movement… (more)
