With intra-Palestinian divisions being exposed in recent weeks, it appears some sort of breakthrough may have been achieved. On June 27, Hamas—the terrorist organization that controls the Palestinian government—and rival political party Fatah concluded a power-sharing agreement that provides a platform for dealing with Israel.

But will anything come of it?

The “prisoners’ document” upon which the agreement is based was drafted by Hamas and Fatah leaders held in Israeli jails on terror-related convictions. (Even the fact that imprisoned Palestinians—put behind bars on counts of terrorism—not only have the authority among their own people, but are given the means by the Israelis to influence Palestinian politics is rather bizarre.) The deal between Fatah and Hamas is designed in large part to ease financial restrictions on the Palestinian Authority by including implicit recognition of Israel and an agreement on security responsibilities.

The document endorses a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and supposedly indicates the Palestinians’ willingness to live peaceably alongside Israel. It is seen by many as implicit recognition by Hamas of Israel’s right to exist. Hamas legislator Salah al-Bardaweel, however, quickly clarified that: “We said we accept a state [in territory occupied] in 1967—but we did not say we accept two states.” Hamas representatives later told the bbc that “its agreeing to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza should not be seen as a final step, but as the first step toward eventual expulsion of Jews from all of Israel” (Dallas Morning News, June 29; emphasis ours throughout). The draft document also gives the signing parties the right “to conduct armed resistance against Israeli occupation—in other words, to commit terrorism against Israelis” (ibid.). Armed Palestinian militias are still allowable under the agreement.

Clearly, to place any degree of confidence in this agreement, expecting it to facilitate better Palestinian-Israeli relations, would be the height of naivety. Not only are Hamas militants concurrently continuing rocket attacks against Israel, but Hamas officials are blatantly stating they have not changed their goal of eradicating Israel.

What’s more, for any type of agreement to hold, it would need the blessing of the Hamas leadership in exile in Syria, headed by the most senior Hamas figure, Khaled Mashal. The Damascus leadership is in many ways the most influential of Hamas’s leaders, and is suspected of even having been responsible for ordering the recent abduction of an Israeli soldier. The Jerusalem Report points out that Hamas’s military leaders in the territories are in communication with the Damascus leadership and “are pushing for a violent confrontation with Fatah and for a resumption of terror against Israel”—actions that would obviously undermine the agreement (July 10).

Any document implying acceptance of Israel will, in the end, be merely a piece of paper.