Gaza city at the end of January 2006: The winner of the Palestinian parliamentary elections Ismail Haniyeh in an interview with Israeli media urged the US and the Europe to recognize the result of the vote and not to respond to the poll with a boycott of Hamas as Israel demanded.

"The foreign countries have demanded to respect the democratic game," he said. "That's why we demand from them to respect the will of the Palestinian people so they can in turn respect the principles of the democratic game."

Surprised by the election victory of Hamas which was also a result of blatant corruption and inaptitude of the ruling Fatah movement to achieve a negotiated solution to end the Israeli occupation, the head of the Palestinian autonomy government and of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, tried to square the circle:

He instructed Hamas to form a government and tried to get the group to refrain from violence and recognize Israel in order to end the Israeli economic embargo. But after several talks about reconciliation failed, Abbas threatened to hold new elections by the middle of December 2006.

"It's written in the constitution that the people are the source of authority," he said. "That's why I urge you to go back to the people. Let the people decide. They are the judge."

But almost immediately, Mahmoud Zahar, one of the most influential Hamas leaders in Gaza rejected the move: "We won't participate and we won't allow this to happen. If Abbas is tired, he should resign."

Fatah kicked out of Gaza

Shortly thereafter fighting erupted in the streets of the Gaza strip between Hamas and Fatah groups. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in weeks of fighting in Gaza. When well equipped Fatah supporters planned to cross the Egyptian border to move into the Gaza strip, Hamas reacted with brutal force: After a blitz campaign Fatah was eliminated as a political factor in the Gaza strip. Its supporters were persecuted and often tortured, sometimes even killed.

In the West bank Abbas put the former World Bank official Salam Fayyad, who lacks political backing and influence among Palestinians, in charge of running the government. Fayyad succeeded in revamping the administration of the autonomy government, but he doesn't possess any political support inside Fatah.

In December 2008 it looked like the peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas were finally nearing a breakthrough. But at the same time, the conflict between Hamas and Israel escalated. On November 4, the night of Barack Obama's presidential victory in the US, Israel killed six Hamas militants despite an active truce. After that Hamas resumed its massive military campaigns launching rockets at Israeli border towns.

Israel responded with three weeks of massive air strikes. When Israeli forces finally held their fire, 1,400 Palestinians in the Gaza strip were dead and thousands of houses destroyed.

The head of Hamas' politbureau, Khaled Mashal. in a speech given from Lebanon on January 22, 2009 declared victory and set clear limits for reconciliation with Fatah:

"We support national reconciliation on the basis of what has been achieved by the resistance: No compromises regarding Jerusalem and the right of return. We also reject the wall and the checkpoints. Palestinian prisoners must be released from the prisons of the autonomy government."

Nothing changed in the following two years. Palestinians still have to live under Israeli occupation. This may be about to change as the Arab democracy movement changes the political map of the Middle East - including the protectors of Hamas and Fatah, namely Syria and Egypt.

Author: Clemens Verenkotte (mik)
Editor: Rob Mudge