No Fight from Fatah

No Fight from Fatah updated

McClatchy has a good article today on the shift in power between Fatah and
Hamas.

… But there was no last stand. Instead, Fatah leaders fled the Gaza Strip by boat and on foot, leaving lower-level fighters feeling betrayed. In five days of fighting, Fatah never put up a real fight. The question is why not. (snip) Whether it was conspiracy or collapse, Fatah’s downfall in Gaza has created an unexpected opportunity for Israel, the United States and others to re-establish full relations with Abbas and the pro-Western emergency cabinet he’s installed to replace the elected, Hamas-dominated Palestinian government. The outside world has moved quickly to bolster Abbas. The United States announced that it would lift the financial embargo that had starved the Palestinian Authority since Hamas won elections in January 2006. Israel agreed to release Palestinian tax revenue it’s impounded. But the story of Fatah’s final hours in Gaza is a reminder of how tenuous Abbas’ position may be. If he becomes too cozy with Israel, he can be accused of betraying the Palestinian cause. Angry Fatah fighters could view their sense of betrayal as reason to turn on Abbas, or at least temper their support for him. … .. Fatah’s last stand: collapse or conspiracy?

Becoming “too cozy with Israel” doesn’t seem likely to happen.
But survival does strange things to leaders. However, Olmert
is unlikely to embrace Abbas too closely. He’d end up even further on a limb.

UPDATE: What Hamas wants. But understand that our actions in Iraq have made Hamas “stronger than ever” (same author as previous link). The struggle continues, but Abbas seems on the losing end.

The events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya but never received the handover of real power from Fatah, the losing party. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has now tried to replace the winning Hamas government with one of his own, returning Fatah to power while many of our elected members of Parliament languish in Israeli jails. That is the real coup. … ..