Our Secret Weapon Against A Palestinian State In September: Fatah And Hamas

Sure, they were all smiles last month when they signed on to the creation of a unity government, but the prospects of election for that government are dimming.

This should not be a news flash: Hamas and Fatah still hate each other--and the Palestinian Unity Is Going Nowhere Fast:

In the West Bank, men suspected of belonging to Hamas are still in jail for opposing President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

In Gaza, where Hamas rules, Abbas's supporters continue to face harassment by the Islamist group's security forces.


In the month since it was announced, a deal aimed at ending the feud between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah has made little headway toward repairing the damage of four years of civil strife.

The lack of progress on the ground, where security is in the hands of the rival administrations, has already raised questions about whether elections can be held within a year, as promised in the agreement brokered by Egypt.

Without that spirit of cooperation between Hamas and Fatah, which it is unlikely the two terrorist groups had to begin with, going to the UN to recognize a second Palestinian state is the least of their worries:

Under the agreement, the Palestinians have committed to form a new cabinet to govern the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. That is seen as the easy part of the deal, though the rivals have yet to agree on a prime minister.

More difficult will be restoring political freedoms which have been one of the main casualties of the Palestinian crisis and without which, observers say, elections cannot happen.

...Fatah has its own narrative of oppression at the hands of Hamas in Gaza. In the agreement, Hamas and Fatah agreed to release political detainees, though both have denied holding any.

Looks like this could be another lost opportunity, as Abba Eban must be saying I told you so from beyond the grave.

Technorati Tag: Fatah and Gaza and Hamas and West Bank.