Today,
Haaretz reported:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet in the coming weeks with top Hamas official Khaled Meshal in Damascus, a Lebanese daily reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the first time for renewed dialogue with Hamas without demanding the militant Islamic group first relinquish control of Gaza.
Hamas has steadfastly rejected Israel's right to exist on which any peace agreement must be based. The Hamas Charter also declares:
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that...
Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion.
Such a move by President Abbas would constitute a serious blow to peace prospects given Hamas' rejectionist positions. Any partnership with Hamas would undermine the credibility that the Palestinian leadership seeks a state that would to co-exist with Israel given Hamas' position on Israel's existence.
All said, this latest development, if in fact President Abbas carries it forward, would make it necessary for Israel to consider alternative solutions based on the idea that President Abbas may, in fact, turn out not to be a viable Palestinian partner for peace. It would be essential that Israel have a strategy should Israel need to wait until the emergence of new Palestinian leadership.
For now, this is an evolving and uncertain situation that bears watching.