The Separation of Tracks in Palestine: Gaza vs. the West Bank

When all reconciliation dialogues, Cairo meetings, and efforts by mediators (Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt) reach a dead end, and any unifying Palestinian narrative is absent; coupled with the suspension of all regional and international efforts to reach a settlement for the conflict in general, or to address the so-called "issue of disarming Hamas" — despite the fact that what is happening in the Gaza Strip goes far beyond the movement's weapons — and since politics knows no vacuum, especially in the oldest and most complex conflict in the Middle East; in this case, caution should be exercised regarding silent American maneuvers with parties from the Palestinian Authority and Arab factions to re-engineer the Palestinian situation generally to shift the center of gravity of the Palestinian Authority from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, even if the apparent focus is the situation in Gaza.

The most notable and dangerous aspect is the separation between the West Bank track and the political settlement of the Palestinian issue based on international legitimacy decisions and the two-state solution, which is currently stalled and off the negotiating table on one hand, and the Gaza Strip track and how to manage it on the other hand. All discussions about reforming the Authority and its return to governance in the Strip and about releasing customs funds are met with neglect for the Israeli practices in the West Bank and what it faces in terms of annexation threats, as if the American-Israeli plan — in which Arab parties are participating — aims to make the steps for the Authority's return to Gaza contingent on the gradual reduction of its role in the West Bank and the acceptance of the status quo imposed by Israel, whether it concerns settlement activities or the cancellation of some security apparatuses of the Authority or the annulment of agreements signed with the Authority, as was the case with the city of Hebron. In this case, the two-state solution could be activated, but in this scenario, the Gaza Strip alone would be the Palestinian state under discussion, and even then, it would not be an independent and sovereign state but would be under testing, constrained by conditions and obligations, and internal conflicts over power, keeping Gaza's residents in a constant struggle for survival and making them forget their central cause and what is happening in the West Bank.

In this context, there are attempts to bring closer the positions of the divided Palestinian factions, whether within or outside the Fatah movement and the organization, regarding this plan, sometimes through persuasion and other times through threats. I recall here an article I wrote in May 2013 titled (Upcoming Palestinian Reconciliation under American Sponsorship), following the failure to implement the Cairo Agreement of 2011 and the Doha Agreement of 2012.

The continuation of Hamas and other factions, including Fatah, in their stubbornness and ongoing division, and the absence of a single reference or unified vision regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip and how to manage the conflict with the enemy in general, is what will enable this plan or expected scenario to succeed, especially after reaching an understanding paper between Washington and Tehran and separating the Iranian and Lebanese tracks from the Gaza and Palestinian track.

This bleak scenario for the future of the Palestinian issue and the Gaza Strip will be better than a scenario or plan for the displacement of the residents of the Gaza Strip, which remains present in Israeli and even American strategic thinking, and may subsequently be followed by the displacement of West Bank residents.