U.S., Israel wary as Palestinian factions advance unity deal

Palestinian rivals are closing ranks in anticipation of a planned September bid to seek U.N. recognition of an independent Palestinian state--a move that may further complicate Washington's hapless efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the peace table. Representatives of rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah announced Wednesday they've made progress towards ending their four-year sometimes bloody feud.

Hamas and Fatah representatives reportedly signed the initial part of the reconciliation pact Wednesday in Cairo. The agreement provides for new Palestinian elections to be held in a year's time, according to a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also head of the more moderate Fatah party. In the meantime, the spokesman said, the two factions will agree on a new government of experts.

Washington appeared to be blindsided by the reported agreement, which Palestinian officials said would be finalized at a signing ceremony in Cairo by the end of the week.

Some veteran Middle East observers expressed skepticism the deal would materialize, noting that past reconciliation agreements had often broken down at the last minute.

But things could be different this time, thanks both to possible UN recognition in the fall and the rapidly changing political dynamic in the Middle East. One key shift, of course, is the fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, who had shared Israel's and Fatah's hostility to Hamas, which controls Gaza and which is an off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the Syrian protests currently targeting the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad, complicate the political picture for the more vehemently anti-Israel and Islamist Hamas, which has long enjoyed Assad's support.

So far, the prospect of a more united Palestinian front hasn't touched off much enthusiasm among several key players in Jerusalem and Washington.

"You cannot have peace with both, because the Hamas aspires to destroy the State of Israel, and says it openly," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked in reaction to the news, according to a tweet from the spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington Jonathan Peled.

"The purported deal, which does not require Hamas to accept Israel's right to exist, or the binding nature of prior Palestinian commitments, or even to require Hamas to temporarily forego violence against Israel ... is a recipe for failure," said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Middle East subcommittee in a statement Wednesday. "It is a ghastly mistake that I fear will be paid for in the lives of innocent Israelis."

Some commentators worried that Hamas' participation in a Palestinian government would imperil the institution-building work spearheaded by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who is particularly despised by Hamas and seen as too close to Washington and Israel.

Jon Alterman, director of Middle East studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said while details of the reported deal are still murky, "what's clear is how much of a problem Palestinian reconciliation will be for the Obama administration." Alterman, who often consults with the administration on policy to the Middle East, cautions that the political dynamic in Washington isn't accommodating to a coalition government that includes Hamas. "The Republican House was deeply skeptical about any U.S. aid going to the Palestinian Authority even without Hamas participation in government. Sustaining any sort of aid relationship if Hamas shares power will be a herculean task."

The reported reconciliation deal "doesn't necessarily change" the Obama administration's dilemma over how to advance the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, said Ken Pollack, a former Clinton administration official who heads the Saban Center for Middle East studies at the Brookings Institution.

The Palestinian accord may give a small boost to those in the Obama administration arguing that the United States should announce proposed U.S. parameters to help guide resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pollack added. Whether the U.S. should do so - perhaps in an anticipated Obama speech in the coming weeks - is currently the subject of an intense, and as-yet unresolved, internal administration debate, he noted.

Still, some Middle Eastern experts said the Palestinian action shouldn't come as a complete surprise. An alliance among Palestinians for the sake of statehood "was bound to happen sooner or later" in the absence of negotiations with Israel, said Martin Irom, a former spokesman for former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek. "Same with Abbas going to the UN."

"Since it is unlikely [Netanyahu] will offer a peace plan, Palestinians need to get their ducks in a row before September when they are going to the U.N. to declare a state and probably get overwhelming support doing so," according to a former senior George H.W. Bush official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

(Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, right, and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, left.: Khalil Hamra, File/AP)