The Fatah movement, which controls the Palestinian Authority security
agencies, has said it is ready to join Hamas in the war against Israel.

Former Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, regarded as Fatah's chief in
the Gaza Strip, earlier said the movement would not join Hamas in any
government coalition. But Dahlan said Fatah was now ready to fight alongside
Hamas against Israel on Egypt's Nile Channel on January 29th and that he
hoped Hamas would succeed in joining forces with Fatah in a protracted war
against Israel. Dahlan also said Hamas would also run military facilities:

"Certainly we will join forces in facing Israel, and Hamas announced that it
will join its forces, will lead a struggle against Israel and also will run
bases," Dahlan said. "I hope Hamas will succeed in those three things."

So far, Hamas and Fatah have also been threatening each other. On Febuary
1st, insurgents detonated a bomb in front of the house of a major commander
of Dahlan's former organization, the Preventive Security Apparatus (PSA).

Seeking to prevent Fatah retaliation, Hamas leaders denied any connection to
the attack on former PSA director Col. Suleiman Abu Mutlaq. The PSA,
however, blamed Hamas for the bombing. Mutlaq was Fatah's candidate who ran
and lost for the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in the KhanYunis
region. Hamas blamed Fatah rivals of Abu Mutlaq for the bombing which
damaged his house.

Despite Dahlan's dismissal, Hamas has not given up on Fatah participation in
the next Palestinian Authority (PA) government. Hamas leaders told the
London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat newspaper on February 4th that Egypt, Syria,
and some Gulf Cooperation Council states have prepared a plan for Fatah
participation in any Hamas-led government.

The newspaper said that under the plan, Hamas would agree to reduce the
powers of the prime minister and the cabinet. The changes would limit the
prime minister's role in foreign affairs and security, while strengthening
PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Under the plan, Fatah would be given several key ministries. This would
include the
Interior Ministry and National Security office. Hamas has not formally
responded to the Arab plan.

Egypt has urged Hamas to include several Fatah figures in the next
government.

A-Sharq Al Awsat, as well as Al Quds, all Palestinian Authority newspapers,
reported that PLC member Ziyad Abu Amr would be offered the job of foreign
minister. Salam Fayyad would be allowed to keep his post of finance
minister.

Meanwhile, Hamas has declared that all Palestinian agreements with Israel
have been annulled.

Ahmed Bahr, a leader of the Hamas movement, told Al Quds on Feb. 1st that
all agreements with Israel were annulled. Bahr said Hamas did not win the
elections in the Palestinian Legislative Council on the basis of the 1993
Oslo agreements that established the Palestinian Authority.

"There is a tremendous difference in this matter," Bahr said. "We would
never enter the elections on the basis of the Oslo agreements. We entered
the 2006 elections in accordance with a Palestinian-Palestinian agreement in
Cairo in March 2005."

"We have never said and we'll never say that we will conduct negotiations
with Israel," Bahr said to the PA run Al Kuds on Feb. 5th, 2006.

This should mean the Oslo Accords are dead. But nobody in the West says
this.

Bahr also said Hamas was not committed to any of the Oslo agreements that
stipulated peaceful dialogue and cooperation with Israel. He said Hamas and
Fatah, led by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, were committed to the same aim:
"the end of the Israeli occupation."

"It is true that our brother Mahmoud Abbas and our brothers in the PA say
that they want to end the occupation through negotiations," Bahr said. "And
we say you have negotiated more than 10 years and have not ended the
occupation." He referred, of course, to Israel not negotiating itself out of
existence, not just the West Bank and Gaza.

Bahr said the "resistance drove out the occupation from the Gaza Strip. I
stress that I have not entered the elections on the Oslo agreements. I
stress that we entered the Palestinian elections in the interest of the
Palestinians."

The Hamas leaders said the purpose of the Oslo agreements was to ensure
Palestinian
recognition of Israel. Bahr said Oslo was designed for the Palestinian
concession of
a large percentage of its land (Israel within secure borders) as well as the
annulment of the PLO covenant.

"Oslo has already brought us disaster and helped settlements, raised the
level of corruption to alarming proportions and increased Israeli attacks,"
Bahr said.

Bahr said Hamas would unite the PA security forces and ensure that they
serve the
Palestinian people. He denied the assertion by another PLO leader, Khaled
Masha'al, that Hamas would convert the PA forces into a Hamas army.

The position enumerated by Bahr appeared to be in the solid mainstream of
the movement Mahmoud Zahar, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, told
Hizbullah's Al Manar television on January 25th, and that his movement would
continue to attack and refuse to recognize Israel and replace the Jewish
state with a Muslim entity.

"We will not give up the resistance in the sense of Jihad," Zahar said.
"Palestine means Palestine in its entirety -- from the [Mediterranean] Sea
to the [Jordan] River, from Ras Al Naqura to Rafah. We cannot give up a
single inch of it."


Zahar envisioned a Palestinian educational system that would instruct
children to kill
Jews. He said the Culture Ministry would idolize suicide bombers. "Our
Culture Ministry will teach them how the martyr is turned into prose,
literature, and poetry, and how a woman, who used to cook and do the
laundry, becomes one of the heroes of Palestine," Zahar said.

Hamas has been presenting positions to Arab and Islamic leaders and on
February 7th,
Masha'al led a Hamas delegation to Cairo to meet Egyptian leaders. The
delegation was sent to visit the Gulf Arab states and would seek audiences
in the European Union as well. The delegation consisted of Hamas
parliamentarians Said Sayam and Mohammed Shama.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas would appeal for support for the
Palestinian people. He also said Hamas has been in touch governments in the
EU and the United States.

Stay tuned for more in the War on Terror as the "peace process" continues.
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