The Mecca Agreement indicated Hamas’s willingness to abide, on a practical level, with the demands of the international community. Rather than acknowledging these concessions, Israel condemned the incoming cabinet.226 In particular, it denounced its commitment to the right of return through UN Resolution 194, a key demand for the Palestinians writ large—not just Hamas. This underscored Israel’s unwillingness to deal with certain political aspects that form the core of Palestinian nationalism, not of Hamas’s political agenda.
