On Wednesday, rival Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas have announced a reconciliation deal. Although the two parties have already announced accords before and also saw them fell through, the latest announcement has drawn swift condemnation from Israeli officials considering that it was still trying to work out its troubled peace talks with the Palestinians. The Washington Post said that the political accord could threaten the peace talks as the Israeli government considers Hamas as a terrorist organization. The Obama administration said that the accord between Fatah and Hamas was disappointing.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "This could seriously complicate our efforts - not just our efforts, but the efforts between the parties more importantly to extend the negotiations."
The Post said that the political deal came days ahead of the expiration of the deadline set by US Secretary of State John Kerry for an outline of the peace deal between Israel and Palestine. The newspaper also said that the accord could spoil Israeli-Palestinian discussions this week on how to keep the already beleaguered peace talks going.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad, who represents Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a news conference that the two factions have purportedly fulfilled a national responsibility to reach to an agreement. As a result of the announcement of a deal, Abbas will reportedly have five weeks to form a unity government that would be based on the conditions already lain out in previous accords and to push plans for parliamentary and presidential elections.
The Post said Fatah is the dominant party of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) . Ruling the Palestinian territory in the West Bank, it has broke ties with Hamas, an Islamic militant movement following the former's seizure of control over Gaza in 2007. Meanwhile, Israel has been working on peace negotiations with the PLO in the last nine months thanks to a US-backed initiative.
Senior research fellow Kobi Michael at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel said about the potential future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talk and said, "This kind of agreement will definitely affect the talks negatively. Having a unity deal will make life much harder for [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas. He will now not be in a position to make meaningful concessions to Israel."
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