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🇮🇱 Israel /Elections & Politics

Can Fatah’s Democratic Reform faction make peace with both Israel and Hamas?

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • The Fatah Democratic Reform faction says Palestinians must confront political realities and pursue peaceful coexistence, both with Israel and among rival Palestinian factions.
  • Spokesperson Dimitri Diliani criticized Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas while rejecting violence as a path to building a functioning society.
  • The faction’s leader, Mohammad Dahlan, has a long history of conflict with Hamas and Abbas and denies allegations that he attempted a coup, was involved in Yasser Arafat’s death or embezzled public funds.

Making peace with Israel and achieving unity among Palestinian factions may look like separate challenges, but the Fatah Democratic Reform faction says both demand the same difficult choice: setting aside years of conflict and accepting political realities rather than waiting for an idealized society.

Dimitri Diliani, the faction’s spokesperson and a former member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, presented that argument in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. He described Israel as a “morally bankrupt” society, but also said the policies of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had helped create the disaster facing the Palestinian economy. Diliani criticized those who use violence, saying it would produce only a “failed society.”

morally bankrupt

· Dimitri DilianiDiliani used the phrase to describe Israeli society while discussing the faction’s position on peace.

At the same time, he argued that Palestinians and Israelis must deal with one another as political communities. “Our faction looks at the State of Israel as a state that we need to make peace with in accordance with international law,” he said. “We don’t characterize its nature. It’s none of our business.” He added that Israel should view Palestinians as a people with whom it must make peace to survive in the Middle East.

failed society

· Dimitri DilianiHe used the phrase to criticize the use of violence as a political strategy.

The same pragmatic approach appears in the faction’s engagement with Hamas. Its leader, Mohammad Dahlan, once headed the PA Preventive Security Service and spent years fighting Hamas. According to a Vanity Fair report cited in the article, he was involved in a Bush administration-backed plan to remove Hamas from Gaza in 2008. Hamas later removed him from his position in Khan Yunis during its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Dahlan eventually left the West Bank after years of political confrontation and allegations from officials in his own Fatah party. Following a leaked recording in which he criticized Abbas and Abbas’s sons, the PA accused him of attempting a coup, involvement in the circumstances surrounding Yasser Arafat’s death and embezzling about $16 million in public funds. Dahlan has consistently denied those allegations.

Our faction looks at the State of Israel as a state that we need to make peace with in accordance with international law. We don’t characterize its nature. It’s none of our business.

· Dimitri DilianiDiliani explained the faction’s stated approach to relations with Israel.
About this summary

Originally published by Jerusalem Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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