9-2-2014 Why Abbas Needs Hamas – Schlomi Eldar Al-Monitor Israel Pulse

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/israel-hamas-fatah-mahmoud-abbas-no-choice-unity-government.html

 

Summary: Despite attempts by Hamas to topple Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the latter knows that he must preserve the Fatah-Hamas unity government at all costs, as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip risk becoming two Palestinian states.

 

Snippet:  Hamas needs Abbas to monitor the border crossings. Abbas, for his part, is loath to dismantle the unity agreement, even though the true face of the Hamas movement has been revealed to him. Abbas knows that dismantling the alliance would be tantamount to admitting that Fatah men have zero chances of setting foot on Gaza land from which they were forcefully expelled about seven years ago.

The Fatah-Hamas government, which the two sides are keeping on life support, is the only thing that inspires some hope, however slight, in Palestinian unity. Without it, Gaza and the West Bank are two separate entities, two Palestinian states for two quarreling nations. To Abbas, who has known bitter struggles in his life, the very thought of this is unbearable….

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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