Fatah - Hamas

Khaled Abu Toameh skriver i Jerusalem Post om de invecklade relationerna mellan Abbas (Fatah) och Hamas. Om Israel ger efter för kraven från Hamas och friger fängslade i utbyte mot den kidnappade soldaten Schalit kan Abbas ställning försvagas ytterligare i förhållande till Hamas.
Palestinian Affairs: Abbas's angst
The PA has good reason to be worried. A deal between Israel and Hamas is likely to boost the standing of the movement among Palestinians, many of whom will give it credit for succeeding in doing what Mahmoud Abbas and the PA leadership have failed to do in past years - namely to secure the release of hundreds of prisoners from Israeli jails, including ones who have Jewish blood on their hands.
It would also be very embarrassing for Abbas and his Fatah faction if Hamas managed to secure the release of some of their supporters from prison, including such prominent figures as Barghouti or the commanders of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.
In the past three years, Abbas and Fatah have worked very hard to delegitimize Hamas in the eyes of the international community by depicting the movement as a murderous and fundamentalist armed group that staged a coup against a legitimate authority in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007.
Now Abbas has to sit in his offices and watch his enemies in Hamas hold meetings with German and Egyptian officials in Cairo and Damascus. If it were up to Abbas, Hamas figures like Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahar would be behind bars and not moving from one five-star hotel to another.