Western powers have rejected suggestions that Hamas as an entity can be allowed a role in governing Gaza at the end of the war, saying only that they recognise that Palestinian militancy will still exist.
Speculation that a weakened Hamas might be willing to form a partnership with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, and govern Gaza and the West Bank jointly, have been revived by a Russian invitation for Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow on 26 February.
The news of the meeting was confirmed by the Palestinian Authority prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, at the Munich security conference.
“We are ready to engage. If Hamas is not, then that’s a different story. We need Palestinian unity,” he said, adding that to be part of that unity, Hamas needed to meet certain prerequisites.
But French officials said they did not want Hamas in its current form given a role in governing Palestine after the 7 October attacks. The officials acknowledged that its ideas could not be obliterated.
The UK wants to see the Hamas military dismantled so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel, and for its leadership to go into exile, preferring a technocratic leadership inside a demilitarised governing authority to take charge pending elections.
Hamas, if it attends the Moscow talks, would like the discussion to focus on reviving a committee of Palestinian factions as a step in rebuilding the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the formation of a technocratic government, until conditions allow for holding elections.
It would also like to see the current Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, step down.
Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, when it expelled the PA following its win in elections the previous year, and unlike the PA does not believe in a two-state solution since this would require the recognition of Israel. The PA in the West Bank does recognise Israel, but is widely seen as in need of reform and democratic accountability.
Although western powers are at loggerheads with Russia over many issues, many western officials do not believe Moscow is playing a disruptive role in Gaza. The issue is made more complex by different Arab states holding different views on the future of Hamas. Qatar, for instance, thinks Hamas will survive in some form, and that its existence cannot be denied.
But the Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said Hamas “was outside the accepted majority of Palestinian people”, including over the recognition of Israel.
He added: “There must also be accountability about why Hamas was empowered in Gaza, and why it was financed in Gaza to reinforce the division between Hamas and the rest of the mainstream of the remaining peace-making Palestinian entities, whether it is the Palestinian Authority, the Palestine Liberation Organization, or public opinion.”
Set up as part of the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the PLO, the PA has seen its legitimacy steadily undermined by Jewish settlement-building in the occupied West Bank. Additionally, many Palestinians now regard the PA as corrupt, undemocratic and out of touch.
“Palestine is ready. We have the institutions, capabilities, but our serious problem is we are under occupation,” Shtayyeh said. “We are under Israeli occupation and we need it to end.”
When asked whether bringing Hamas into the broader PLO platform would alienate international partners, Shtayyeh said Hamas was an integral part of the Palestinian political arena. “In order for Hamas to be a member of the PLO, there has to be prerequisites that Hamas has to accept – the political platform of the PLO, an understanding on the issue of resistance, and we are calling for popular resistance and nothing else,” he said.
Insisting that Hamas recognise the PLO platform would force it to recognise Israel, an issue with which it has wrestled but ultimately rejected.
Shttayeh said: “They need to come to our political agenda. Our ground is very clear. Two states on the borders of 1967, through peaceful means. The Palestinians need to be under one umbrella.”
France confirmed that it was willing to move to recognise a Palestinian state, but would like to do so at the right time in conjunction with a collection of other European states, rather than as a unilateral gesture. A move by a large group of EU states would provide momentum towards a similar decision in the United Nations.
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