- By courting Hamas, Abbas and Fatah are emboldening an Islamist movement that seeks to extend its control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. Hamas's declared goal is to replace Israel with an Iranian-style Islamist state.
- Abbas may also be using his renewed ties with Hamas as a way of pressuring the international community into providing him with more financial aid.
- Hamas evidently wants to use the West Bank as a launching pad for carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel.
- Hamas also does not appear to be headed towards recognizing Israel's right to exist. As such, Abbas seems to be handing Hamas the noose that eventually will be tied around his own neck.
After renouncing all agreements and understandings with Israel and the United States, including security cooperation, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his ruling Fatah faction are now cozying up to their rivals in Hamas -- a move that may prove to be counterproductive and pave the way for the resumption of massive anti-Israel violence.
By courting Hamas, Abbas and Fatah are emboldening an Islamist movement that seeks to extend its control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. Hamas's declared goal is to replace Israel with an Iranian-style Islamist state.
Abbas may also be using his renewed ties with Hamas as a way of pressuring the international community into providing him with more financial aid. The message he is sending to Western donors is: "If you don't fully support us and exert pressure on Israel, I will throw myself into the arms of Hamas."
The apparent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas began earlier this month when the two parties held a joint press interview by videoconference, during which they announced their intention to work together to "topple" both Israel's plan to apply its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank and US President Donald Trump's Peace to Prosperity vision for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The appearance of Jibril Rajoub, Secretary-General of the Fatah Central Committee, alongside senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri, a founding commander of Hamas's military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was aimed at sending a message to the Palestinians and the rest of the world that when it comes to Israel and the US, the Palestinians are prepared to lay aside their differences and stand united against "conspiracies aiming to liquidate the Palestinian cause and national rights."
There is no question that Hamas members will interpret the appearance of their military commander, Arouri, with a senior Fatah official and close confidant of Abbas as a green light from the PA leadership to launch terrorist attacks against Israel.
Shortly before his appearance wth Rajoub, Arouri said that Hamas believes that "the only way to deal with Israel is through a comprehensive resistance."
In an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen television station, Arouri said he did not rule out the possibility that the "armed struggle" would return to the West Bank and said that that could happen "sooner than some imagine." He also praised Abbas for halting security coordination with Israel, in a move mainly designed to prevent Hamas from staging a coup against the PA regime.
Instead of distancing himself from Hamas, Abbas has chosen to forge an alliance with a terrorist group whose charter explicitly calls for Jihad (holy war) and the elimination of Israel.
Instead of working with Israel to prevent Hamas from expanding its control to the West Bank, Abbas has chosen to sever all ties with Israel, including the security coordination that keeps him safe and guarantees his continued control over the PA.
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