The True Enemies of the Palestinians? Like to Guess? - by Bassam Tawil

...Instead of removing Hamas from power, Abbas appears to be moving towards emboldening his Islamist enemies, who continue to denounce him as a "traitor" and "puppet" in the hands of Israel and the US. Even if the new agreement is implemented, Hamas and Abbas's Palestinian Authority will continue to be at each other's throats. Yet the two do have something in common: both are true enemies of the Palestinians, who continue to pay a heavy price for corrupt leaders who only care only for their jobs and bank accounts.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
20 September '17..

Since 2007, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have announced at least four "reconciliation" agreements to end their rivalry, which began a year earlier when Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections. This week, under the auspices of the Egyptian authorities, the two rival Palestinian parties announced yet another deal to patch up their differences and achieve "national unity."

The latest agreement between Hamas and the PA requires the Islamist movement to dismantle its shadow government in the Gaza Strip -- known as the Administrative Committee. It was this shadow government that prompted PA President Mahmoud Abbas to impose a number of punitive measures against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including cutting off salaries to civil servants, forcing thousands of employees into early retirement, halting payments for electricity supplied by Israel and reducing medicine supplies to hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

The Egyptian-engineered "reconciliation" agreement is being described by some Palestinians as a "historic" deal and a "positive development" toward ending the schisms and discord among the Palestinians. But judging from the reactions of Palestinians, the agreement holds little promise. Only the non-skeptical few think that the agreement will differ from all the previous, non-implemented ones.

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