Palestinian government

For six months, Palestinians and Israelis conducted negotiations under the auspices of the United States - negotiations that seemed to go nowhere. Ultimately, Fatah leaders stunned their Israeli and American negotiating partners with the news that they had reached an agreement with Hamas, which holds power in the Gaza Strip, to form a unity government. New elections were also announced.

In response to the closing of ranks between the two long-time Palestinian rival groups, Israel said it would cease the peace talks, which had already been stagnating. Israel - and the EU - classes Hamas as a terrorist organization with which it refuses to conduct negotiations.

As talks wrap up between the two large Palestinian groups, the creating of their joint government will almost coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The timing was not necessarily planned, but it underscores the developments that both the PLO and Hamas, which was founded in 1987, have undergone in recent years. If the two groups stick to the agreements and declarations of intent they have issued, then Palestinians will be presenting a much different face to Israelis in the future.

A move toward peace

Hamas, in particular, has shifted its political course, said Nabil Amr, who served as an information minister in the West Bank in 2003. Fatah had to convince Hamas to recognize Israel or at least allow its cabinet members to do so, which Amr called a step in the right direction. He said he hopes Israel and the United States will also honor that move, saying it shows that the Palestinians have done something proactive toward achieving peace.

The unity government will make it easier to claim negotiations are being conducted on behalf of a larger swath of the population, Amr said in an interview with DW: "Now, we can say that - if the Israelis say, 'You are not representative of all the Palestinians.'"

The two Palestinian parties also have good reasons to unite when it comes to domestic matters. Each of them has failed to live up to voters' expectations even after years in power. Conditions for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have worsened. In particular, the fresh water supply has turned catastrophic. Meanwhile, many Palestinians also complain about Hamas' sharply conservative approach to religion.

For its part, Fatah has repeatedly faced corruption allegations, and many in the West Bank have expressed frustration with the lack of progress after years of negotiations with Israel.

There are further reasons for the two parties to reach out to one another, according to Mahdi Abdul Hadi, head of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA). Hamas, he said, has more or less been isolated in the wake of revolutions in the Arab world. After the fall of Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi one year ago, the party lost its most important partner.

"We cannot afford to be isolated and under siege for a long time - especially the one and a half million people who are in a big prison in Gaza," he said.

Fatah, he added, will also need support from both parts of the Palestinian territories in its future negotiations - making reconciliation between the two parties unavoidable.

Hamas' reconsiderations

Hadi said most of the concessions had to have come from Hamas' side, particularly with respect to shifting course in the following three ways: recognizing a possible two state solution; stepping back from military resistance; and accepting the election slated for fall.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a series of applications for inclusion in international treaties and organizations with the goal of internationalizing the conflict with Israel and, within the foreseeable future, allowing an international court to consider Israeli's policies on the West Bank. However, such treaties also have a disciplinary effect on the Palestinians themselves - for example, by establishing human rights demands that now have to be fulfilled.

Further politicization of the conflict

The agreement with Hamas also points in the direction of self-discipline and pragmatism, said Nabil Amr, adding that the differences in worldview between Fatah's secular and Hamas' Islamic orientation played no role.

"We're not talking about unity between Fatah and Hamas. We're talking about a new platform because we are - both of us - under occupation, and we can reach understanding for that form of problem," Amr said. "This is not an ideological thing, it's something political."

Fatah and Hamas have agreed to a pragmatic course going forward. Their unity government seems prepared to go a long way toward meeting central demands put forth by Israel. By doing so, they will put pressure on the Jewish state, which now has to decide how to react to the new situation.