For twelve years now, the Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas have been fighting each other. And by now one thing seems incontrovertibly clear: despite all efforts and despite countless mediation attempts by Arab rulers, and despite any number of reconciliation kisses between Fatah and Hamas functionaries, the Palestinians have not managed to end the division that tears their national movement apart.
Two governments, one people
The division has produced two parallel worlds: an authority in Ramallah that administers the West Bank under conditions of occupation, and a de facto power in Gaza that governs a blockaded strip. Each side derives its legitimacy from the failure of the other. Meanwhile the questions that actually decide the future – representation, elections, a joint national programme – remain unanswered.
The costs are borne not by the factions but by the people: blocked reconstruction, restricted freedom, a generation growing up with two narratives and no horizon. The reconciliation agreements have been signed many times; what has never followed is their implementation, because implementation would require both sides to surrender real privileges.
No end in sight?
An end will not come from gestures or summit photos. It requires the one thing both leaderships have avoided: genuine power-sharing under democratic legitimacy – elections, a reformed PLO, a national programme that binds both. As long as the division serves the survival of both leaderships, it will persist.
The twelve-year mark is therefore not a reason for resignation but for honesty: no external mediator can reconcile a division that both sides profit from. Only when the cost of division becomes higher for the leaderships than for the people will there be an end in sight.
