A long awaited reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah looks promising but only time will tell.

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’s political leader, sounded optimistic as he announced that Hamas would sign the Egyptian reconciliation accord with Fatah and other Palestinian factions in October in an effort to pave the way for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

Nabil Amr, the Palestinian Authority’s envoy to Egypt, commented that Meshaal’s statements were encouraging. “But the real test will be in the coming weeks when we see  what Hamas is willing to do to facilitate unity and live up to political and constitutional responsibilities. Amr continued, claiming that” Hamas needs to be more flexible and show more awareness of the Palestinian situation and that it shouldn’t miss the chance. Hamas has to focus on elections as a constitutional must, regardless of whether reconciliation is reached or not”.

Fatah is still waiting to hear officially from the Egyptians details of Hamas’s proposed amendments.
Previous negotiations brokered by Egypt failed over disagreement on issues of security, the formation of a unity government, and elections.

While some analysts seem hopeful others are skeptical claiming that “Fatah and Hamas are speaking the same slogans without clarifying the terms of an agreement on what to do. They are putting the responsibility on the Egyptians it appears that the rival remain a “long way” from agreement.
A genuine truce will only be effective if there is union between Hamas and Fatah however it seems that no party is prepared to budge and Hamas has no intention of committing with deals between the Israeli occupation forces and the PLO.

Meshaal has been quoted “As long as our land and holy places are occupied, resisting Israeli occupation remains our right”. Observers have noted that Egypt has become less suspicious of Hamas, as a perceived branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as part of a Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis that has been trying to marginalize Egypt’s regional role; in turn Hamas has also become more open towards the Americans and Europeans, who seem to have grown more accepting … of Hamas being a part of the political game, as it has become evident that Hamas is not leaving Gaza, and Fatah won’t be able to regain it.