CAIRO: Fatah officials have joined in praising Hamas for their achievements this week in securing a prisoner swap deal with Israel. A member of Fatah's Central Committee, Tawfiq al-Tirawi, spoke in a village near Hebron, calling the deal a “national achievement.” However, some fear that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' recent bid for Palestinian statehood has been overshadowed by the swap. “Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas negotiated with Israel for a million years, and hasn't achieved a deal like this one,” said top Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar on Sunday. Tempers have stirred at the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters this week. “Right now all the attention is on the prisoners deal, and nobody is paying attention to the September bid,” a young student from Ramallah, Al-Bireh, told BikyaMasr.com. When Abbas filed his application for recognition of Palestine as a state in the UN on September 27, Palestinians were surprised to see such vigor from the leader. Abbas has been infamously timid in his dealings with the US and Israel. His sudden steadfastness, however, has afforded him increased popularity. Currently, speculations are blossoming in the West Bank about the future of Hamas-Fatah relations in light of the recent developments. “Whenever the balance of popularity and power changes they tend to have talks because each party on its own think that they can lay more pressure into getting what they want,” a Ramallah citizen reported to BikyaMasr.com. Last week, during talks related to the prison swap, Hamas and Fatah officials proclaimed an upcoming reconciliation. Hamas leader Khaled Mashal stated this Monday from Damascus that the two groups have taken serious and real steps toward reconciliation, according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz on Thursday. Earlier, Hamas expressed strong opposition to the bid for statehood at the UN, as they do not believe a state can be created through decisions and initiatives, but instead through taking action to liberate and create. “The prisoner swap deal was a tactical step from Hamas to tone down the UN bid,” a Ramallah source told BikyaMasr.com. “Israel helped in this as well,” he added. The UN Security Council committee is expected to report back to the full council next week about the progress it has made in assessing the Palestinian UN application. however, if the Palestinian application to join the United Nations comes to a vote in the full Security Council, the US has vowed to veto it. BM
