Despite Oct. 7, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority Continue to Seek Unity With Hamas
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by Ephraim D. Tepler and Itamar Marcus
People hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Hebron, in the West Bank, Oct. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
Ahead of the Palestinian elections scheduled for November — and knowing that Hamas is still the most popular faction among Palestinians — Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party is again calling for unity with Hamas.
And this time, Fatah is seeking unity with Hamas explicitly “to defeat Israel.”
Fatah Spokesman in the Gaza Strip Mundhir Al-Hayek: “Our opinion is clearly the unification of the factions (i.e., Fatah and Hamas) and the unification of our civil society in the face of the [Israeli] annihilation projects [so that] we can defeat Israel … We must unite, and if we do not truly unite, we will head towards the destruction of the Palestinian cause and our national project.” [emphasis added]
[Mundhir Al-Hayek, Facebook page, Aug. 19, 2026]
Fatah hopes to bring Hamas into a unified Palestinian political framework in which Fatah can preserve its own relevance and share power rather than risk losing it entirely.
For months, Fatah has been issuing this messaging through this spokesman in particular. As Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) recently exposed, Al-Hayek explicitly said that Fatah is not asking Hamas to change its “approach, doctrine, or thinking”; rather it merely wants Hamas to join the Fatah-dominated PLO.
Fatah has also claimed, through a senior party leader as exposed by PMW, that the US has provided assurances that Hamas could participate in the upcoming elections, through a non-identified electoral list.
Fatah’s latest call exposes both the ideological and political foundations of its unity campaign. Its proposed partnership with Hamas would preserve Hamas’ ideology, unite the factions against Israel, and — Fatah hopes — save the increasingly unpopular Fatah movement from political defeat.
Fatah would be the face of the unity, so that the international community could continue to pour money into the Palestinian Authority’s coffers, and Hamas — still immensely popular because of its Oct. 7 atrocities — would attract the voters to the united list.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of PMW, where a version of this article first appeared.
