Even if the reconciliation does succeed, it will make no appreciable difference to prospects for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian agreement, one way or the other
The Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation and the Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
On Wednesday, April 23, 2014, representatives of Fatah and Hamas meeting in Gaza reached agreement on a long-sought reconciliation. That same evening, the Israeli government canceled a scheduled meeting of Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, and the following day, the government voted unanimously to suspend negotiations. The government argued that in his embrace of Hamas, Muhammad Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the PLO and Fatah, had rejected peace. However, it is therefore not altogether clear why Israel, rather than initiating a suspension of negotiations after repeatedly insisting that Abbas commit himself to their continuation, did not instead exploit the reconciliation announcement to improve its standing in the international blame game that has been the main sub-text of the negotiations all along.
