Events leading up to the 2006 Palestinian legislative election In 2003, the
Palestinian Basic Law of the PNA was amended and a semi-presidential form of government was established, whereby a constitution creates a directly elected fixed-term president, plus a prime minister and cabinet collectively responsible to the legislature. Documents published in the
Palestine Papers reveal that in 2004, the British
Secret Intelligence Service helped to draw up a security plan for the Fatah-led PNA. The plan proposed a number of ways to degrade the capabilities of opposition groups such as Hamas,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and
Al-Aqsa Brigades. The strategy would involve disruption of
command, control, and communications capabilities, detention of key officials, and confiscation of their weapons and financial resources. This plan was passed to
Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official of the PNA, and most of the stated objectives were achieved by the West Bank-based PNA security apparatus.
Yasser Arafat, the
President of the Palestinian National Authority, died on 11 November 2004. A
Palestinian presidential election to fill the position took place on 9 January 2005 in both the West Bank and Gaza. This election—which was boycotted by both Hamas and PIJ—resulted in
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Fatah chairman
Mahmoud Abbas being elected president for a four-year term. On 8 February 2005, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon announced a ceasefire, which Hamas endorsed on 17 March 2005. On 19 March 2005, twelve Palestinian factions—including Fatah, Hamas, PIJ, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)—signed the
Palestinian Cairo Declaration, which reaffirmed the status of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and implied a reform of the PLO by its inclusion of Hamas and PIJ. Israel completed its
unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip on 12 September 2005, removing all Israeli residents and security personnel, and demolishing all of the associated residential buildings. On 26 September 2005, Israeli forces arrested or detained 450 members of Hamas for violating the ban on rallies, public meetings, and election campaigns inside Jerusalem. Most of those Hamas members were either running for office or actively campaigning for candidates in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election.
2006 Palestinian legislative election The
2006 Palestinian legislative election took place on 25 January 2006 and was assessed by
international observers as free and fair. It resulted in a Hamas victory, surprising Israel and the United States, which had expected Fatah to retain power. On 27 January, US President George Bush said "the landslide victory of the militant Islamic group Hamas was a rejection of the 'status quo' and a repudiation of the 'old guard' that had failed to provide honest government and services". On 30 January 2006, the
Quartet on the Middle East (United States, Russia, United Nations, and European Union) issued a formal statement congratulating the Palestinian people. In the statement, the Quartet stipulated that "future assistance to any new Government would be reviewed by donors against that Government's commitment to the principles of non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the
Road Map." Hamas rejected these conditions, saying that "the 'unfair conditions' would endanger the well-being of Palestinians". This view was echoed by Saudi Foreign Minister
Saud al-Faisal, who said: "The European Union insisted on having elections in Palestine, and this is the result of what they asked for. Now to come around, and say [they] don't accept the will of the people that was expressed through democratic means, seems an unreasonable position to take." The BBC's diplomatic correspondent, James Robbins, said the Quartet's response was chosen with care: "They did not demand a renunciation of violence or immediate recognition of Israel, but a commitment to these things in the future".
First Haniyeh Government After Hamas rejected the conditions of the Quartet, Fatah and other factions refused to join in a national unity government. On 29 March 2006, Hamas established the
First Haniyeh Government, which was composed mostly of members of Hamas, with Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister. The international community responded by
imposing economic sanctions against the PNA, and Egypt and Israel largely closed their border crossings with Gaza, instituting a
blockade of the Gaza Strip. President Abbas was under pressure from the international community, which considered Hamas's victory to be unacceptable, as it was perceived to undermine decades of international efforts to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The Quartet attempted to undermine Hamas and force it from power, while strengthening the position of Abbas. It was suggested that Abbas could use his constitutional powers to dismiss the government and call for new elections, which would be intended to yield a different result and reinstall Fatah in power on the grounds that the Palestinian electorate would perceive Hamas as a failure. The threat of new elections was never carried out because it emerged that Hamas might in fact be returned to power despite its inability to implement its manifesto, and because the movement itself strongly signaled that calling new elections, although a constitutional prerogative of the President, would amount to "a coup against Palestinian legitimacy and the will of the Palestinian people". The new Hamas government clashed with President Abbas, who had to share power with it based on the
Palestinian National Covenant. Through presidential decrees, Abbas extended exclusive presidential authority concerning administrative actions and periodically threatened to dismiss the Haniya government. Hamas responded by creating a parallel security force—the
Executive Force—which consisted of members of
its military wing, led by
Jamal Abu Samhadana. Abbas denounced the move as unconstitutional, saying that only the Palestinian president could command armed forces. Israel's Security Agency also supported President Abbas and the Presidential Guard but was concerned from their previous experience, where many Palestinian security officers who had been trained by the CIA later engaged in attacks on Israeli targets or joined the al-Aqsa Brigades during the
Second Intifada.
Second Haniyeh Government President Abbas and the Fatah-dominated PLO developed a plan to replace the Hamas government with one acceptable to Israel and the international community. According to the plan, unveiled in Al Jazeera's
Palestine Papers, a national unity government would be formed by mid-2007. If this new government failed to meet the Quartet's conditions, Abbas would dismiss the government and form an emergency government or call early elections. By October 2006, the United States, Israel, many Arab governments, and most of Abbas's key advisors still held the view that if Hamas did not unambiguously accept the Quartet's conditions, it should be forced out of power. In December 2006, President Abbas called for new parliamentary and presidential elections, which members of both Hamas and Fatah rejected. The Fatah and Hamas factions finally signed an
agreement to stop their military confrontations on 8 February 2007 and agreed to form a
national unity government. That government was established in March 2007. == Battle ==