GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Rivals Hamas and Fatah are moving toward a unity government as early as next week, in what seems to be their most promising attempt yet to heal a seven-year split that weakened the case for Palestinian statehood.
Both are propelled by crisis. The Islamic militant Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in 2007, is having trouble governing alone because of crippling financial problems. Abbas needs a new political program after his strategy of statehood through talks with Israel yielded deadlock. Yet even if the sides manage to replace their competing governments in the West Bank and Gaza with a joint one, the potential of failure remains high because of their ideological divide and the false starts of the past.
