As hype and hysteria over the Hamas-Fatah (PLO/PA) unity pact continues, many experts are concerned over Israel’s future.
But at least one expert has said that the unity pact will work in Israel’s favor: Arutz Sheva columnist Dr. Mordechai Keidar, an expert on the Israeli-Arab sector, and an Arabic literature professor at Bar-Ilan University.
“I think that it will not be different from many agreements which both sides have signed [over the] last five or six years,” Keidar stated Friday, in a special interview with Arutz Sheva. “Since nothing [was] implemented on the ground, this agreement also will face the same fate.”
“Hamas will never give up on their guns, will never give up on their governing of Gaza, will never give up on their weapons, will never give up on their money, on whatever they have,” he continued, “and the PLO, from the other side, [again] will not give up their achievements which they have achieved, especially in the international arena.”
“This is why, I think, within the [first] few weeks of negotiations on how to implement the understanding of the past few days, I think both sides will fail,” he added.
Keidar emphasized that concerns over the Fatah-Hamas unity pact are, in his opinion, grossly over-hyped.
“I’m not taking part in this ‘lamentation orgy’ you see these days because of this ‘reunion’ between the PLO and Hamas,” Keidar stated. “The differences are so deep culturally, economically, and when it comes to statehood.”
He noted that while “Hamas is marching toward its seventh year of statehood [control] over Gaza,” a PLO-backed state “might die in the cradle.”
Israel’s Response: Divide and Conquer?
According to Dr. Keidar, Israel’s answer to the unity pact should be to confiscate the PLO’s weapons while it has a “legitimate reason to do so.”
“Israel should, first of all, confiscate all of the weapons which the Palestinian security organizations have here, especially the American weapons,” he said. “These weapons can come into the hands of Hamas, especially if they win the elections [in the PA], which they have been trying to arrange.”
“American weapons in the hands of Hamas is something which Israel should not tolerate,” he stressed, noting that the time is right for Israel to do so, given that they have “good reason for why to confiscate” them. This way, he said, the unity pact could actually benefit Israel – not pose a danger, as several experts have stated.
Keidar then called for Israel to take a secondary, more radical step: dividing the PA into emirates, according to regional clans.
“In a second phase, Israel should dismantle the PA by stopping [the transfer of] money and by all other kinds of measures,” he stated. “[And] then, [it] should create on the ruins of the PA seven emirates in the West Bank [Judea-Samaria – ed.] based on the cities – Ramallah, Jericho, Nablus (Shechem), Tul-Karim, Qalqaliya, and the Arab part of Hevron.”
“Each of these emirates should be based on the local clans, which are powerful – which are loyal to themselves, unlike the PLO.”
Keidar did say, however, that Israel would continue to remain involved: by not allowing Hamas to come to power, as happened in Gaza seven years ago.
Source material can be found at this site.