(TargetDailyNews.com) – Palestinian militias and other organizations are coming together after signing a declaration in China expressing the intention to combine and unite into a new government that would oversee the West Bank and Gaza Strip once Israel and Hamas are done fighting.
The announcement from Beijing came on Tuesday, July 23rd, and expressed a similar intention by numerous other Palestinian groups. There are a least a dozen individual organizations and militias operating in the region independently. The largest divide has been between Hamas and Fatah which have had strong differences in opinion for decades about how to govern and relations with Israel.
Israel is opposed to either faction having political power and also fostered the development of Hamas in the early 2000s as an opposing force to the Palestinian Authority which was largely made up of Fatah members and led by renowned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat until his death in 2004.
The major differences between the organizations are religious fervor and the approach to peaceful coexistence. Fatah is much more secular, whereas Hamas are hardcore Sunni Muslims. Hamas is willing to resort to violent methods and advocates for Israel’s complete destruction, whereas Fatah tends to be more peaceful and argues for coexistence in a two-state solution.
The two organizations fought bitterly in 2006 after an election showed a narrow victory for Hamas. Fatah has controlled the Palestinian Authority, making up most of its membership, and has severely clamped down on dissent in the West Bank where it controls most of the territory.
The PA has cooperated with Israeli raids and coordinated security arrangements, giving it a reputation as collaborating with the enemy of the Palestinian people.
Both organizations signed a peace agreement in 2011, but it was never implemented.
The new declaration suggests intent to form a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders which would include Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. It fails to specify a timeline for the establishment of such a state, nor does it outline precise steps for the organizations to come together under one banner.
Israel slammed the declaration insisting that its former ally, Hamas, can have no place in the governance of any Palestinian state unless it renounces violence and recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
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