Palestinians divided

Ceasefires in the bloody conflict between Hamas and Fatah factions come and go with the dreary predictability of spring showers…

Ceasefires in the bloody conflict between Hamas and Fatah factions come and go with the dreary predictability of spring showers. And the death toll rises remorselessly - 130 in the factional fighting since May, including 28 in Gaza over the last five days. The split, rooted in divisions over the recognition of the state of Israel, makes progress on the peace process all but impossible.

Today the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, will travel to Mecca to meet the exiled leader of Hamas's political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, and prime minister Ismail Hanniyeh in talks brokered by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in which Egyptian diplomacy is reported to be playing a major part. The immediate focus will be on hammering out a platform for a national unity government and distributing cabinet portfolios.

Agreement, the Egyptians say, is close, but it is only a first of further steps by Hamas that the Quartet (the US, EU, UN, and Russia) insisted again on Friday will be necessary for the lifting of international sanctions: the recognition of Israel, an end to military activity, and acceptance of previous peace agreements. The Quartet also backed a US summit initiative convened by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, involving Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Mr Abbas later this month.

Yet even though the European and moderate Arab states are pleased to see the US back in the peace business, significant differences remain about the approach being adopted. All agree that there needs to be discussions about what is termed a "political horizon", the rough shape of a final peace settlement in which a Palestinian state coexists peacefully with Israel.

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The idea is to produce a vision specific and attractive enough for Palestinians and Israelis to enable their leaders to muster support for the "sacrifices" necessary to get there, not least the disarming of militias and the vacating of Israeli settler outposts in the West Bank. The more limited short-term "road map" to peace would remain in place, but with the emphasis on the "horizon".

The differences arise over precisely the degree of emphasis, with the US and Israelis insisting that progress on issues like disarmament are key to selling a "horizon" deal. European and Arab leaders say that taking out the militants is probably impossible without an alternative vision. The Russians want to end the Hamas boycott. But such tactical differences, though important, should not become insuperable obstacles to starting down the road of dialogue. The dynamic of dialogue, once engaged, it is to be hoped, will point the way forward.