Current talks between Palestinian factions in Cairo are not the first, but they are, by far, the most important, given the critical nature of the timing of those talks.
In the past years, Egypt worked tooth and nail to unify Palestinian factions, especially Fatah and Hamas, on the road to forming a unified Palestinian front.
This front was necessary to strengthen the Palestinian negotiating position in the face of Israeli claims that the Palestinians are divided, a condition that invalidates any serious negotiations with them.
While all rounds of inter-Palestinian talks in the past happened away from the limelight, the current talks are held while the whole world is watching.
The world watches because the Palestinians have a rare chance now to come together and chart a new future, one where statehood dreams are not mere imagination or far-fetched.
There is almost universal unanimity on the Palestinians’ right to have their own state, one evidenced in the series of recognitions of Palestinian statehood made in the past weeks, including by states that were in the past staunch backers of Israel.
US President Donald Trump is also demonstrating an unprecedented keenness on settling the Arab-Israeli conflict on the road to constructing broader regional peace. He opposes Israeli plans to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank and pushes hard for the implementation of his peace plan for Gaza.
These are all chances not to be missed, because failure will be risky, not only for the Palestinians, but also for all Arabs.
The Palestinians meeting in Cairo now need to know that true the world stands ready to help them, but they need to help themselves first.
They can do this by having a high degree of self-denial. This applies to some Palestinian factions that need to perish in the coming period, especially after their strategies proved a complete failure, having brought to their people nothing but death and destruction.
This is not a good time for parochial factional fighting or interests. It is not a good time for games either. This is not about who will rule, but about whether the Palestinian territories will ever develop into a state.
President Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza does not explicitly refer to the founding of a Palestinian.
However, by standing against the annexation of the West Bank and pushing for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, he keeps the possibility of founding a Palestinian state alive.
Now it is the turn of the Palestinians not to bury this possibility by failing to unify. They need to act, and very quickly at that, to seize the opportunities available.
