Fatah plans to wait until after the Washington DC Olmert-Abbas-Bush conference in November – and then reconcile with Hamas.
"I believe the dialogue between the two movements is a certain choice, but I think it will be delayed until after the conference in the fall," Fatah central command member Kadora Fares was quoted by Haaretz as saying.
Fares later qualified his statement as more of a threat: If Israel did not make enough concessions, Fatah would choose the path of Hamas. "But if a breakthrough is achieved, then Hamas has to revise itself and be more realistic in dealing with the political development,” he said.
Ever since the 1993 Oslo Accords, Fatah has received various aid packages, arms, training and funding from both Israel and the United States. When Hamas took over in Gaza earlier this year, the Islamist group inherited sophisticated weaponry as well as surveillance equipment and training facilities. Hamas officials have expressed confidence that they will also inherit whatever concessions Fatah manages to extract from Israel in Judea and Samaria.
U.S. Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said last month that both Mahmoud Abbas and Salem Fayyad promised him that there would be no reconciliation or power-sharing agreement with Hamas. Other American officials were promised the same thing by the Fatah chiefs.
The PA-run Maan News Agency reported that Fatah leaders in Gaza resigned from the group Friday. The men had been tasked by Abbas with rebuilding Fatah in Gaza. The resignations reportedly came after they did not receive their salaries for several months.