Hamas Calls for Strategic Dialogue With Fatah

Hamas has called for a 'strategic dialogue' with Fatah aimed as returning the cause to 'liberation without recognition.

Gabe Kahn. ,

Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh
Wikimedia Commons

Ismail Haniyeh, who serves as the 'prime minister' in Hamas-run Gaza, called on Monday for an 'inter-Palestinian' strategic dialogue to decide on a joint strategy for establishing an independent state, the semi-official Palestinian Authority Ma'an news agency reported.

"We are in favor of a strategic dialogue that will lead to a joint strategy regarding Palestine and activating the reconciliation we signed," he told reporters, referring to an as-of-yet unimplemented unity deal between Fatah and Hamas.

Haniyeh's remarks come mere days after PA chairman and Fatah-leader Mahmoud Abbas went to the United Nations to formally request full membership for a 'Palestinian state.'

Hamas leaders have maintained Abbas' bid has "no substance" and harms rather than helps their aim of destroying Israel.

The Islamist movement banned rallies in support of the UN initiative, although dozens of women defied the ban and held a demonstration on Friday.

"We are not against a state but we disagree with this political activity and this initiative," Haniyeh said.

"The Palestinian cause is a cause of a nation and Palestinian officials should not be alone facing American and Zionist policies. We should invest in the revival of the nation to toughen our positions," he added.

"We want to uproot the Palestinian cause from American and Zionist circles and bring it back to the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic ones," he added, reiterating Hamas' mantra of 'liberation' without 'recognition' of Israel.

"We say liberation first then the state, because states can't be created through UN decisions or through maneuvers and compromises, but through steadfastness and resistance."

But Haniyeh's call for a 'strategic dialogue' with Fatah may be moot as senior Hamas leaders, including co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar, have declared the Fatah-Hamas unity deal dead.