Changing the prevailing colonial equation

In his opening remarks to the Knesset last Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified the stance taken by the government with regard to the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah – Israel will not negotiate with a unity government that incorporates Hamas.

According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu declared: “We want a true peace, not a false reconciliation with those who want to destroy us.” This stance, said Netanyahu, mirrors that of the US. He added: “Reconciliation for peace is good. Reconciliation to destroy Israel is not. It’s not that complicated.”

From the Israeli perspective, complications are swiftly dealt with. Additional settlement expansion, increased repression targeting Palestinian civilians and ensuring smooth collaboration with the Palestinian Authority all contribute to the Israeli version of peace, which is equivalent to colonising the entire territory while gradually depleting it of Palestinians.

Ynetnews reported that one of the bills which will be presented to the Knesset is reversing the Gaza Disengagement Plan of 2005, which would see the return of settlers to areas evacuated 12 years ago.

Read: Reconciliation best response to Israeli ‘noisiness’

For Palestinians, who have suffered the consequences of colonialism for over a century, if the earlier colonisation efforts are taken into consideration, peace can be a straightforward issue if decolonisation is embraced by Palestinian leaders and the international community as the foundations upon which Palestine can build its autonomy.

Apart from the political differences, what sets Israel apart from Palestinians is its ability and impunity in terms of territorial expansion and international support. The Palestinian struggle for freedom has been bludgeoned so many times, including by the international community, that coherence and consistency have become a distant recollection.

The reconciliation agreement is likely to elicit several different concepts of peace, yet none which spell loyalty to Palestinian liberation. Palestinian leaders have been operating in a space which has been quietly hijacked by diplomatic impositions. For each concession, a sliver of freedom has been annihilated. Israel’s declaration that it will not negotiate with a unity government that includes Hamas is not a novelty. Even though the assertion was communicated belatedly, Hamas as an epitome of Palestinian resistance is incompatible with Israeli demands and therefore it was only a matter of time before Netanyahu issued the statement.

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Shifting focus upon what Hamas is capable of changing in terms of the prevailing equation is important. The constant marginalisation of Hamas has incarcerated the movement in several cloistered traps – the most obvious being the geophysical aspect of Gaza and the political isolation imposed by the international community. Reconciliation as a product of these pitfalls can harbour neither unity nor peace, particularly when the PA’s aim is that of asserting control over Gaza in the name of such ambiguous terminology.

Through such actions, Mahmoud Abbas is facilitating the Israeli narrative while offering a diversion due to the reconciliation process. If Hamas is to retain its identity and cultivate a new form of diplomacy by prioritising resistance, it is important that within the unity government there is at least a consensus to move beyond what Israel requires and build upon an identity from within Palestine – one that refutes the predictable Israeli litany of complaints. Regardless of whether or not Hamas is directly involved in negotiations, Israel has not altered its colonial ambition. If the unity government settles for less than an anti-colonial approach, it is merely another pawn in Israel’s macabre game.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.