The strength of our cause lies in unity.
The week's news at a glance.
Palestinian Territories
Elias Khoury
Al-Quds al-Arabi
Listen to the prisoners, said Elias Khoury in the Palestinian-run, pan-Arab Al-Quds al-Arabi. “The Palestinians held in the prisons of the Israeli occupation are our national conscience.” While Hamas and Fatah fight among themselves, losing sight of the common enemy and the common goal, five prominent prisoners, including Fatah Secretary-General Marwan Barghouti and Abdel Halek Natshe of Hamas, have envisioned a way toward peace. Their National Reconciliation Document, known as the prisoners’ letter, calls for all Palestinians to agree to a state alongside Israel, within the 1967 borders. It says the Palestine Liberation Organization is the only true representative of the people, and calls on all factions to support the PLO. The most important aspect of the plan, though, lies not in its details, but in its authorship. The prisoners’ letter is a reminder that the Palestinian national cause “belongs to Palestinians,” and not to other Arab regimes. And it is a reminder of the imperative to avoid internecine conflict. Palestinian civil war is “an American-Israeli trap to annihilate the very idea of Palestine.” The prisoners have given us a needed dose of reason. Let us now “put an end to the time of indecision” and come together not as members of Hamas or Fatah, but as Palestinians.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published