Palestinians Await Abbas’s Counter-Move after Hamas agrees to Rapprochement Conditions

The question of the moment for Palestinians is what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will do now that rival Hamas has agreed to the PA/Fatah conditions for reconciliation through Egyptian mediators? Since 2011, Fatah and Hamas have signed several agreements but none of them have been implemented. Last week, a visiting delegation of senior Hamas officials told their Egyptian host, the country’s head of intelligence, that it accepts the conditions, including doing away with a seven-man governance committee that effectively stands in place of a government for the Gaza Strip. With all available polling data showing the growing unpopularity of Abbas who faces a real possibility of losing a general election to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyyeh, the PA chief faces a tough decision. Lengthening his odds, Abbas has recently undertaken a campaign to drive a wedge into Gazans’ loyalty to Hamas by reducing the already few hours of electricity available each day in Gaza (usually four); drastically cutting the number of Gaza residents who receive vouchers to pay for medical treatment in Israel; and cutting salaries of Hamas-loyal government workers. Because there have been no elections since the violent struggle that changed the Gaza Strip’s rulers from the Palestinian Authority to Hamas in 2007, Abbas is frequently said to be in the tenth year of his four-year term. With Abbas slated to address the United Nations General Assembly this week where he is expected to take a hard line against Israel, his domestic plight could be the unmaking of what he hoped would be a powerful performance in a friendly forum.
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