The political division in Palestinian society is deep-rooted, and should not be reduced to convenient claims about the “Hamas-Fatah split”, elections, the Oslo accords, and subsequent disagreements. The division is linked to events that preceded all of these, and not even the death or incapacitation of the octogenarian Mahmoud Abbas will advance Palestinian unity one iota.
Palestinian political disunity is tied to the fact that the issue of representation in Palestinian society has always been based on one party trying to dominate all of the others. This dates back to Palestinian politics prior to the establishment of Israel on the ruins of historic Palestine in 1948; to a time when various Palestinian clans fought for control over the entire Palestinian body politic. Disagreements led to conflict, often violent, although at times it also resulted in relative harmony; in the establishment of the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) in 1936, for example.
These early years of discord duplicated themselves in later phases of the Palestinian struggle. Soon after Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser relinquished his influential role
— source Jews For Justice For Palestinians | Ramzy Baroud | Sep 29, 2021