GAZA — U.S. President George W. Bush's call for a new peace conference for Israel, Palestine and neighboring states that back a two-state solution is a welcome, if very tardy, development. But efforts to restart the peace process now confront a stark new reality: two mutually hostile Palestinian entities in Hamas-ruled Gaza and the Fatah-led West Bank must now be factored into the process.
The Hamas-Fatah face-off marks a dramatic shift in Palestinian politics, whose top priorities until now have been an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent state. It also tremendously complicates peace negotiations that the Palestinians and the "Quartet" (United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia) had premised on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank remaining as a single territorial unit.
Ironically, these territories were reunited by Israel's victory in the 1967 war, after 19 years of separation. Previously, Egypt had ruled in Gaza, while Jordan annexed the West Bank. Under Israel's occupation, and then with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1994, the territories remained separated geographically, but not politically. The Hamas takeover in Gaza has — at least for now — ended that political unification.
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