The Mecca Accord was an agreement between Hamas and Fatah to end violent fighting and form a new Palestinian government based on national unity. It allowed Ismail Haniya to remain Prime Minister and divided positions within the government. However, it made no mention of Israel. The accord crumbled in 2007, prompting emergency meetings and calls for the factions to rejoin the terms negotiated.
The Mecca Accord, also known as the “Mecca Declaration”, is an agreement between two Palestinian power factions, Hamas and Fatah. At the time of the Mecca Accord, Hamas was represented by Khaled Mashaal and the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya. Fatah was represented by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and also by a member of the Palestinian parliament, Mohammed Dahlan.
The final terms of the Mecca Accord were negotiated through talks between representatives of Hamas and Fatah, which lasted more than a week, and took place in the Saudi city of Mecca. The primary goals of the Mecca Accord were to end the violent fighting between the two factions, as well as form a new Palestinian government based on national unity. The fighting, which had become increasingly violent in the year preceding the Mecca Accord, had concentrated in areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas appeared in a public ceremony on February 8, 2007 in the city of Mecca. Here the two signed the Mecca Agreement and announced additional targets held by their respective sides. Mashaal has called for an immediate end to the violence between Hamas and Fatah, while Abbas has pleaded with the newly delegated government to adhere to previous agreements between Palestine and its rival territory, Israel.
The new government mandated by the Mecca Accord allowed Ismail Haniya to remain Prime Minister. Positions within the Palestinian government have been divided between Hamas, Fatah and four other Palestinian groups, while the areas of finance, internal affairs and foreign affairs have been delegated to independent parties. Perhaps disappointingly for the international community, the Mecca Accord made no specific mention of Israel, nor of any plans to recognize Israeli territorial legitimacy.
In June 2007, the Mecca Accord seemed to have crumbled. The then president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, had dismissed the unified government dictated by the Mecca Agreement. Tensions between Hamas and Fatah have once again escalated into crisis, prompting Arab ministers and heads of other Arab countries to call emergency meetings. Spokesmen for Saudi Arabia, which had brokered the Mecca Accord, have called on Palestinian factions to rejoin the terms negotiated therein. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal also said that the re-emergence of the conflict between Hamas and Fatah served Israel’s territorial interests, and was therefore counterproductive for both Palestinian groups.
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