Rival movements Fatah and Hamas have agreed to create a unified Palestinian government. Two political groups announced they were working on “purely internal issues.” Observers are confident that this is the end of the peace process. Kommersant FM correspondent in Tel Aviv Boris Stern spoke about the situation in more detail.

It seems that the announcement of reconciliation and the creation of a government of national unity between Fatah and Hamas came as a big surprise to Israel and the United States. That is, of course, the dynamics of relations between the two groups in Palestinian politics were monitored. But no one believed that Romal and Gaza would come to an agreement. Even in this version. Now Israel is breathing a sigh of relief. The peace process is over. Under the bench. At yesterday's meeting of the narrow security cabinet in

A fundamental decision was made in Jerusalem.

There will be no friendship with the Palestinian national unity government. From the point of view of Netanyahu’s cabinet, this decision is logical, says political scientist Andrei Kozhinov.

Hamas has not abandoned its ideology to destroy the State of Israel. “He hasn’t changed his approach to the issue of terror against civilians at all,” he noted. “Thus, the Israeli government cannot negotiate with this organization, even though Hamas will be part of a supposedly legitimate Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip.”

This is already the problem of Mahmoud Abbas. At a minimum, the head of the Palestinian Authority was warned that, according to Jerusalem's forecasts, this would end in a loss of power for him. After all, if a government of national unity appears, the security forces of the autonomy will no longer be able to fight Hamas cells in the West Bank, where they still control the situation. No less interesting is what Washington can now offer Jerusalem.

Political scientist Andrei Kozhinov believes that the US President will now have to come up with all the ideas anew.

“We have already received official statements from US senators and congressmen who literally said the following: “If Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and does not recognize the conditions of the international quartet, then the US Congress will freeze its contributions to the Palestinian Authority. This could lead to the complete collapse of this administration,” he said.

However, American ideas are probably not that important for Israel. That is, they are important, but at least they can be discussed for a long time in offices and at negotiations. The next meeting between the leaders of the two countries - the US President and the Israeli Prime Minister, by the way, will take place at the end of May.

It will be worse if the united Hamas-Fatah collective begins its consolidation with active actions against Israel. There will definitely be no time for diplomacy here.

Hamas and Fatah reconciled in unity