Strategic Assessment

When the Palestinian unity government was established on March 17 on the basis of the Mecca agreement between the Fatah and Hamas movements, the Palestinian public and the Arab world saw an opportunity to end the Palestinians' internal crisis and to progress along the Israeli-Palestinian track. Israel primarily viewed the creation of the new government both as a risk to the sanctions imposed on the Hamas government and as a risk to the diplomatic boycott – i.e., given the possibility that Hamas as a ruling party would gain international legitimacy without making any substantial changes in its position towards Israel. International parties were essentially divided between those that shared Israel's position (the US) and those that saw the creation of the new government as an opportunity that should be explored and whose potential should be realized in full (several European countries).