Deeply divided Palestinian groups have been involved in secret negotiations for more than a month over ground rules for their uprising against Israel, trying to agree on fundamental issues like why they are fighting, how to end the conflict and if suicide bombings are a legitimate weapon. The 12-party talks have secular Palestinian organisations committed to peace talks, including Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organisation, along with fundamentalist and radical groups, comprising the Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). They have at various times involved US and European mediators, emissaries from Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and offers of mediation by several Arab countries, according to participants. For many of those involved, the talks are a vital first step before any peace agreement can be cemented between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The negotiations are also a sign of the distrust Palestinian leaders have of Arafat and whatever peace deal he may cut with Israel and the US, analysts said. ‘‘The biggest obstacle to a ceasefire is the very real fear of civil war’’ if Arafat buckles to Israeli and US pressure and agrees to arrest Palestinian militants, especially Hamas members, said Eyad Sarraj, a Palestinian psychiatrist and political analyst in Gaza City. ‘‘Collectively, the Palestinian leadership has lost its credibility with the Palestinian people, and Arafat is having serious difficulty trying to control things,’’ Sarraj said. Participants said that the negotiations have multiple aims, but the overriding one is to achieve a consensus among Palestinian groups with broad ideological, political and religious differences and to unite them behind a ‘‘national programme’’ that could eventually lead to a coalition government and a prohibition against suicide bombings. ‘‘We hope that the Palestinian leadership and Arafat will draw the conclusion that Arafat should relinquish power to a collective leadership or institution’’ that could include Hamas, said Ziad Abu Amr, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza and a key organiser of the talks. ‘‘I’m not freeing Israel from responsibility (in fomenting the conflict), but Hamas has managed to oppose the peace process and ultimately kill it. Our argument is: We’ve tried exclusion, and see what it produced? Now it’s important to try inclusion.’’ (LATWP)
