The Madrid 15^th Anniversary Conference began as if it were held specifically to foment the elimination of Hamas. The number 15 is strange, anyway and does not coincide with any memorable point in time. There was a one-time jump of over 15 years without prior warning, for an event that had already aborted itself and at a time when the world is ever-changing.

Attendance at the conference was unimpressive. The invited parties sent second-tier representatives in their place. Essentially, the representation took on an unofficial form. Most likely, there is no one really interested in this Madrid+15 conference, except in terms of one more indication of an American-European design for Palestine based on the concept of raping this country’s history so that only “appropriate” political facts remain or can be generated.

The mission is clear: to erase the results of the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. An entire year has passed since those elections brought victory to Hamas, resulting in a majority of parliamentary seats for them, and their right to form the Palestinian government.

And almost a year has passed since the comprehensive international boycott of the Palestinian government was initiated, including strangulating measures put in place against the Palestinian people, aimed at wearing them down until they change their minds. Meanwhile, no vision has been developed, according to which a solution, even a temporary one, could be devised in Palestine. The Quartet Committee thought it sufficient to repeat its preconditions, ones that have become superficial due to a lack of context or any relation to the dynamics of the situation on the ground: recognition of Israel, recognition of previous agreements and a renunciation of violence. This is, in many ways, similar to the “nos” of the Arab regimes, which they repeat from one conference to the next. Yet, the curtains on these conferences are transparent, inadequate for concealing the cheap deals and concessions that have gone on behind them. As for the Quartet, it hides behind its preconditions, which it has done nothing with, even when those at the helm of the Palestinian Authority were in total agreement on every word.

They cannot put President Abbas back into power through fiat, just as Hamas will not disappear with the stroke of their magic wand.

The Quartet really has nothing to offer. It does not have a plan for a political solution in Palestine or even a cohesive set of arrangements. Of course, we will witness a return to the flow of official and unofficial funds and a return to the welfare system. As everyone knows, this is a system, which, from the beginning, has suffered from unfair distribution. The bottom rungs of the ladder, on which the largest sector of Palestinian society lives, has hardly benefited.

Have we forgotten that this so-called corruption is one of the reasons for Hamas’ success?

However, the actual problem is the bankruptcy of the peace process and its arrival at a dead end. The construction of the Separation Wall has been nearly completed and the Palestinians have internalized it as a matter of reality just like the hundreds of military checkpoints severing any contiguity of the West Bank. Similarly is the continuing confiscation of land, the expansion of settlements and the Israeli government’s measures to annex Jerusalem.

On the same note, the municipality of Paris “graciously” sent funds to the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem for Christmas and the New Year, to decorate the city with lights, Paris-style. It wanted to celebrate the 40^th anniversary since the “unification of the city,” according to a statement by the Paris municipality. That is, a celebration of the occupation and annexation of Jerusalem, unrecognized by international law. So, either the Paris Municipality is outside the boundaries of international legitimacy or international legitimacy does not exist. On what grounds, then, are the Palestinians and their political forces expected to function within the scope of international legitimacy?

This is where the damage lies, because there is no proposed settlement for Palestine. The Palestinians have known this since they went to the first Madrid Conference, as part of the Jordanian delegation, stemming from former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s refusal of any official Palestinian presence. Then came the secret talks that led to the Oslo Accords, and to the humiliation and bitterness the Palestinians were made to injest for the next decade, which ended in the death—or Israeli assassination of—Abu Ammar (Yasser Arafat).

During this entire period, Israel continued to alter agreements de facto and de jure, and continued with its annexations, expropriations, assassinations, arrests, shelling and incursions, of which no one forced a halt. On the contrary, Israel refused all international resolutions condemning it, such as the ICJ ruling on the Wall, and before that, the European Parliament’s decision to impose sanctions on Israel if it did not halt its measures.
Incidentally, this all took place before Hamas won the elections, when there was a party that adhered to the conditions of the Quartet, who in turn did not move anything forward or never wanted to.

Remembering this fact could prevent us from falling into the prevalent logic today in Palestine, through which the thick smoke of inter-factional fighting has consumed everything and appears to be the only reality. This is a diversion Israel has succeeded in creating, which is its latest achievement but not necessarily its last. At present, Israel feigns innocence of any ramifications of the Palestinian infighting while they—that is the Palestinians—eliminate one another. Thus, the conditions under which they live are completely forgotten and the Palestinians are asked to “act rationally”; such were the messages coming from Egypt and Jordan.

Meanwhile, President Abbas seems to be on the bandwagon of, “Rid us of Hamas and you can have whatever you want.” This is something the American administration, the sole recipient of attention from Abbas, tells him day and night, neglecting all other parties from the Arab world to Europe. Fatah has gone to great lengths to provoke factional tensions, under the pretext of avenging itself from those newly empowered, still considering themselves the main (and branch) powers. The situation has reached the point of employing any possible issue in this conflict. Fatah even decided to organize a mock funeral for Saddam Hussein, not out of respect for the man but so they could complete the experience with chanting the slogan “Shiite Shiite” in Hamas’ face. No tribal or traditional familial tensions, far removed from anything political have been left unused; people have been kidnapped and killed in the name of various causes.

Likewise, Hamas is acting as though the elections, which brought them to the head of the government, are the end of all means and that the PA is “theirs,” which is the same mentality as Fatah. Perhaps the two sides are fighting for possession over the only thing left to possess in Palestine—the symbolic framework. Or perhaps there is nothing of real substance behind it that the two sides seriously consider. Maybe it is Hamas’ stubbornness, which seems to have no bounds (which also includes kidnapping, killing of children instead of their parents, breaking into homes and using minarets as sniper positions, which recently happened in Gaza)—this stubbornness towards frustrating every attempt to erase the reality of its victory.

Hamas aims at gaining international recognition, even without recognition of its legitimacy, because the fact remains that it exists and must be dealt with. Hamas hopes that this in itself is a change in the balance of powers, currently biased against the Palestinian cause. This was embodied in recent statements by Khaled Meshal who said, “We will not recognize Israel officially but as a reality on the ground. We will accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders as another reality.” This is a settlement proposal that could have gained momentum, except that currently, world opinion is moving in another direction. The US president is preparing to strike Iran through a wide coalition, so he can achieve alliances in the region according to his own standards. This is a maniacal plan that could push the entire world into an all-out war. However, this is a completely separate subject.

There is no political horizon for the situation in Palestine. Perhaps accepting this fact may open the door to a solution, which is that all Palestinian parties (where is the Popular Front and where are the multiplicity of civil society institutions by the way?) must agree on Palestine’s neutral position towards this new wave of conflict coming to the region. Fatah cannot be in the US-Arab alliance against Iran—it will gain nothing from this. And Hamas cannot behave as if this is the era of difficult settlements in which it is the most capable of handling: there are no settlements at all! Only by way of this outlook can Palestine go back to holding a solid equation. Otherwise, if the situation does not change, the Palestinians will compromise themselves just like others compromised them in the past.