Hamas and Fatah sign declaration to end rift amid Gaza war
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00:00Well, I mean, the first and probably most important thing to say is we should not get
00:04too excited because Hamas and Fatah have signed declarations putting their divisions behind
00:11them before.
00:12In fact, over the last decade, there's been more than a dozen of these kind of declarations,
00:19but they often go nowhere because Hamas and Fatah have so many positions that they just
00:27simply don't agree on.
00:29And I'll give you just a couple of examples.
00:32For example, Hamas wants to remain armed and have some major role in running the Gaza Strip.
00:41And the Palestinians say that, you know, they have the Palestinian authority, they have
00:45a police force, and that all the arms should be, you know, in the hands of their police
00:51officers, by the way, officers who are trained by the United States.
00:56Hamas also, for example, rejects all of the Palestinian authorities' agreements with Israel,
01:02going back to the Oslo Accords, including the PA's desire for an independent state because
01:10of course Hamas sees the future Palestinian state including all of Israel.
01:16So these are deep divisions.
01:19China put out this agreement, which, you know, if you read on the face of it, it should,
01:26you know, it doesn't really reflect the very complicated reality on the ground that will,
01:33you know, almost surely torpedo this declaration like the past declarations.
01:41And it will be deeply unpopular and unacceptable for Washington because it does state that
01:47Hamas will have some role in governing the Gaza Strip after the war.
01:51That is not an option, according to the United States, and of course not according to Israel.
01:58The foreign minister, Yisrael Katz, tweeted already that this is, you know, an untenable
02:04agreement and that Hamas will have no role in the future of Gaza because they will be,
02:09as he said, defeated.
02:11Jordana, let's talk about Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington at the moment.
02:15Now, what is he particularly, specifically looking to accomplish?
02:19Well, I think that's a terrific question, and it's very unclear, I think, to many in
02:27Israel what Netanyahu is actually after in this trip to Washington.
02:34Other than setting a record as the foreign leader who's given the most addresses to a
02:40joint session of Congress, you know, that may be one of Netanyahu's main goals, to get
02:46into the history books.
02:48But there's no real pressing reason for him to be in Washington.
02:53You know, he's had ups and downs with the Biden administration, the last one about ammunitions,
02:58but that has even been sorted.
03:01He sent high-level delegations to deal with issues of the ceasefire and postwar Gaza planning.
03:08And of course, he'll arrive at a time of really political uncertainty and a dramatic moment.
03:16Kamala Harris is taking all the oxygen in the room right now.
03:21She will not be at Netanyahu's address to Congress.
03:25That will likely make the headlines more than anything Netanyahu says in that speech.
03:30He's not expected to unveil a Gaza ceasefire plan.
03:34He's not expected to unveil a new path towards peace that might include normalization with the Saudis.
03:41You know, so this seems like a trip that Netanyahu really is all about, maybe Netanyahu, but
03:47not necessarily any greater policy achievements.