ISRAEL has overreacted to Palestinian unity moves. On Wednesday, shortly after Fatah and Hamas announced plans to form a unity government within five weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the move, decided to boycott peace talks scheduled for the day and said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had chosen “Hamas, and not peace”. What Mr Netanyahu forgets is that unity among Palestinians is the first, essential step towards having successful talks aimed at ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and creating an independent Palestinian state. Besides, as Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said, there was an understanding between Hamas and Fatah that Mr Abbas had the mandate to negotiate with Israel on behalf of all Palestinians. The US-brokered talks between Israel and Palestine are scheduled to end next week, but the Likud government has found a pretext to walk out. Israel does not appear to have any plans of quitting the occupied territories, and has continued to establish new settlements and expand existing ones, with the Jewish population on the West Bank having reached half a million. Lately, there have been vague feelers from Israel aiming at doing away with the 1967 borders.

The split between Fatah and Hamas following the 2006 elections hurt the Palestinian cause immensely. There have been attempts in the past, such as those by Hosni Mubarak, to unite the two factions, because the discord and violence had turned the West Bank and Gaza into two cantons with no status in international law. All eyes will now be on Hamas and Fatah to see how long the new arrangement will last. Unity between Fatah and Hamas is the prime condition for forging a united front for the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation. The two sides must pledge they will accept the results of the elections, scheduled within six months, whosoever wins.