Five years after the establishment of the government called the government of national reconciliation, its president, Rami al-Hamdallah, finally resigned. "We put the government at the disposal of President Mahmoud Abbas and we welcome the recommendations of the Fatah central committee," he said in a tweet after Abbas asked him to dismiss the government.

Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, 17 governments have been formed so far, and Fatah has taken over all of them, the largest faction of the PLO. Fatah's monopoly of Palestinian politics led to disasters. It has not been able to form the desired Palestinian government, nor has it been able to use its influence to reunite the Palestinian factions with one another.

Most of these 17 governments have lived for short periods, with the exception of the government of Hamdallah, which has been in power for five years, despite the fact that it has failed in its basic task of bridging the great divide between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Besieged by Israel. In addition, it has also failed to bring the PLO factions closer together. So far, the second largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has refused to participate in the future government, which Fatah will control as usual.

Palestinian division has never been so low, and while all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been blamed for the failure to unify Palestinian efforts and to form a national strategy to combat colonialism and Israeli occupation, Of this blame.

Even before he became president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005, Abbas has always been a political figure with an important role. When he was prime minister between March and September 2003, under the leadership of the late Yasser Arafat, Abbas clashed with all those who challenged his own political agenda, including Arafat himself, and his constant struggle with Arafat at that time made him a favorite Washington.

Abbas was elected by a small majority, after Hamas and others boycotted the presidential elections, ending his first and only term in power in 2009. But a decade later, neither Abbas nor any of his governments has met the minimum requirements of democracy. In fact, the will of the Palestinian people has been held hostage by the Palestinian rich for many years, as they have been struggling to maintain their own interests.

The danger of free elections

In 2006 Hamas' victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council reminded Abbas, Israel and the United States, of the danger of free elections. Since then there has been little talk of the need for new elections, and no sincere efforts have been made to facilitate this task. Despite the logistical difficulties, since Palestine is occupied, no one wants to leave the last word to the people. In fact, Palestine and its people are not only under the siege of heavily armed walls, fences and soldiers, but under the siege of their failed leadership.

In 2007, the Hamas and Fatah movements clashed, leading to the current sharp polarization, where Palestinians were politically divided between the West Bank under Abbas and Hamas in besieged Gaza.

Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu often complains of his lack of a "Palestinian partner," his government, with the help of Washington, has done everything it can to ensure Palestinian division.

Several agreements between Fatah and Hamas were signed, the most recent of which was a more encouraging agreement, and was signed in October 2017. The Palestinians were cautious at the time, but they were also optimistic that a number of practical steps had been taken this time to transfer judicial responsibilities from Hamas to the government of Hamdallah, as in the various ministries of Gaza, or on the border between Rafah and Egypt.

When the wheel of action began to move, he renewed some hope among the Palestinians that things would change this time. The convoy of al-Hamadullah was attacked during his crossing of the main crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Surely there is an evil force that wanted to kill al-Hamdallah, or at least wanted to send a message of violence that would support those who wanted to stop political progress between the two main Palestinian groups. Hamas quickly announced its arrest of the criminals, while Fatah, without any investigations, announced that Hamas was responsible for attacking the al-Hamadullah convoy, which led to the cessation of all reconciliation negotiations.

This was followed by several coordinated steps aimed at punishing Gaza and pushing its besieged population, devastated by wars, to the point of absolute despair. Abbas refused to pay the money to the Israeli company that supplies the Gaza Strip with electricity, which made the sector live in the dark, in addition to several other measures, including the cancellation of salaries of employees in Gaza.

In response, tens of thousands of Gazans gathered at the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel, protesting the Israeli blockade, which became unbearable after Abbas' collective punishment.

Popular response

In fact, the "great return marches" still underway, which began on March 30, 2018, were a popular response to the Palestinians' weariness of war, siege and international neglect. Since the start of the marches, some 200 people have been killed and thousands have been maimed and injured.

Abbas is now in his 83rd year and his health is deteriorating. His supporters in the Fatah movement want to ensure a political transition that ensures their control over the Palestinian situation, because political monopoly offers many privileges, such as wealth, distinction, power and prestige. For Fatah, al-Hamdallah and his conciliatory government are no longer fulfilling their objective. In addition, a government of national unity with other Palestinian groups in this critical and transitional period seems a dangerous adventure for those who want to ensure their future control.

Ramzi Baroud is an American journalist and writer

A disastrous reality

The tragic reality is that all this politicization takes place under the constraints of the Israeli military occupation, fence, walls, trenches, illegal settlements, and bypass roads for Jews only, which surrounds all Palestinians from Gaza to Jericho and from Jerusalem to Rafah, Including Abbas himself, do not have their freedom, and all political titles are empty and have no value for an Israeli sniper soldier who shoots children through the Gaza fence.

The Palestinians should achieve their Palestinian unity as soon as possible, not just political settlements between factions, but the unity of a people facing the same brutal and oppressive enemy.

Although Benjamin Netanyahu complains of his lack of a "Palestinian partner," his government, with the help of Washington, has done all it can to ensure Palestinian division.