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Secret report details Hamas' election options
03 November 2009
Palestinian student supporters of Hamas gather during student council election campaign activities at Hebron University in the West Bank town of Hebron, May 2008. (PA)
The poll decree has provoked bitter exchanges between Hamas and Fatah and re-entrenched divisions between the groups. It has also further damaged Egyptian-mediated efforts at formal reconciliation, which would have seen elections held in June 2010. In the wake of the furore greeting Abbas' decision, Jane's has obtained exclusive access to a confidential Palestinian intelligence report detailing Hamas' options for disrupting the elections.
The report states that Hamas was caught off guard by Abbas' announcement, which has ícomplicated the group's desire to end the íeconomic blockade of Gaza imposed in 2007 as opposing or boycotting the elections will prolong the siege. The report says Hamas is under popular pressure to reconcile with Fatah, adding that the group has been blamed by many Palestinians for damaging unity hopes by refusing to sign the Egyptian-mediated reconciliation agreement.