It should only happen:
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is considering resigning from his post if Israel continues its military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a top PA official said Thursday.
The official said Abbas, in a series of phone conversations with Arab, American and EU leaders and government officials, strongly condemned Israel’s attacks as a “severe blow” to the peace process. — Jerusalem Post
Israel, of course, is fighting a war with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations in the south. It is illustrative of the contempt in which Israel is held by its “peace partner” that in his view Israel is not permitted to defend herself against the continuous rocket attacks — dozens each day — as well as murderous sniping, etc.
“The president has said that he will resign if the military escalation and daily killings continue,” the official said. “Israel’s actions undermine the Palestinian Authority and drive more Palestinians into the open arms of Hamas and Islamic Jihad”…
Several Fatah officials on Thursday visited Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar in Gaza City to offer their condolences over the death of his son, Husam, in Tuesday’s IDF operation. The delegation was headed by top Fatah operative Ibrahim Abu al-Naja. The visit came hours after Abbas phoned Zahar to also offer his condolences. It was the first time the two had talked since Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last June.
There is nothing in the slightest surprising about this because although Hamas and Fatah disagree on the nature of ‘Palestine’ (should it be a ‘normal’ secular dictatorship or an Islamist state governed according to Shaaria), and on tactics (should they even pretend that Palestinians will be satisfied with a state that does not extend to the Mediterranean) — both factions agree that Israel must eventually be replaced by an Arab state.
Possibly this was what Abbas had in mind last summer when he angered many Fatah partisans by responding to the Hamas coup in Gaza with inaction, pretty much allowing Hamas to seize the Palestinian Authority’s arsenal of US-supplied weapons without having to face any organized resistance.
Meanwhile Fatah’s own war against Israel continues, with yet another shooting in West Bank, this time not fatal.
It’s incredible to me that all this can be going on and the US administration does not realize that its plan to suppress Hamas with Fatah, armed and trained by the US, cannot possibly work and will only result in more dead Israelis.
The present as it were ‘peace negotiations’ are not realistic, and are not going nowhere.
Abbas can of course be faulted for much including his underlying aim and strategy- but I also believe it does not make much sense to fault him for being sensitive to deaths of his own people.
I am not faulting him — just pointing out what should be clear to everyone, especially the US administration, that Fatah cannot be expected to fight Hamas because they are really on the same side.