The BBC is now reporting that the agreement between Hamas and Fatah does not include an implicit recognition of Israel as was previously reported.
Palestinian minister Abdel Rahman Zeidan told the BBC the Hamas-Fatah document did not in any way recognise the state of Israel.
"There is no agreement between the Palestinians on specifically this phrase. You will not find one word in the document clearly stating the recognition of Israel as a state. Nobody has agreed to this. This was not on the table. This was not in the dialogue," he said.
BBC
Combined with the looming crisis over the fate of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, things are looking very dark indeed in that part of the world.
UPDATE- This article from
Christian Science Monitor does a better job of clarifying the complete lack of clarity of the Palestinian agreement. Apparently it can be read just about any way you'd like. It does not include any clear unambiguous statement recognizing Israel. CSM seems to interpret it not so much as a move to stave off Israeli action, but as a move to unify in preparation for Israeli action. Whether that's an accurate assesment, I don't know, but it certainly doesn't seem to have any hope of making the situation appreciably better in the short term..
