Fatah, Hamas Still At Odds

It's interesting to note some things, when trying to analyze and make sense of a lot of things. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is no exception.

Recently, Abbas and Olmert began showing signs that there is still a willingness to sit down and talk about the peace process.

Rice said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed o meet for "informal, broad discussions. "

That, within itself, is a good thing and certainly worthy of encouragement. It's not quite the ray of hope we'd all like to see, but it's a start and should receive some positive international reinforcement, to say the least. (I am not sure it has received a lot of attention, but that's not such a big surprise.)

At face value, it sounds promising. But wouldn't you know that right after this becomes known, Hamas has something to say about the whole thing?

Gunmen from the rival Hamas and Fatah Palestinian movements battled in the Gaza Strip for a third straight day Saturday, firing mortars and grenades in clashes that killed seven people, including a 12-year-old boy, in the increasingly bloody power struggle over the Palestinian government.

So what we see looks pretty plain through my eyes. Abbas just talks about having talks and presto, the fighting between Fatah and Hamas resumes. Does that seem more than just a coincidence? Or does my microscope need cleaning, again?

Hamas has said time and time again, they are not committed to peace with Israel. It's in their charter, called "The Covenant".

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

I believe them. How can one not? If they were committed, they would remove this from their charter and cooperate with Abbas with the hope that a meaningful peace could be obtained. You'd think that they would want to have a hand in the process, to score political points and claim some credit for their organization.

But sadly, they don't.

Instead, they leave this in. And by their rhetoric and by their actions, they prove they aren't interested in anything but Israel's destruction. How can we expect a process to be successful, if the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority is not committed and will not accept any other potential solution, except war?