Tensions are increasing within the ranks of the Hamas leadership as several top officials oppose the deal Hamas and Fatah made in Mecca. The Mecca deal calls for Hamas and Fatah to lead the Palestinian Authority together. The exact makeup of the unity PA has not yet been decided, and the groups' leaders have repeatedly failed to come to an agreement.



PA Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud A-Zahar and PA Interior Minister Said Siam, who are expected to lose their positions when the new PA leadership is determined, are among the senior officials who reject the Mecca deal. Hamas members who refuse the deal point to Hamas’s recent willingness to offer Israel a temporary truce as a sign of increased Hamas weakness due to Fatah. The willingness of top Hamas leaders to discuss peace initiatives and truce agreements is a betrayal of Hamas ideology, they say.



Hamas spiritual leader and arch-terrorist Khaled Mashaal rebuked Siam and other officials for rejecting the Mecca deal.