HAMAS'S COMING VICTORY OVER FATAH IN WEST BANK

Law and Order in the Palestinian Authority - Tim Butcher (Telegraph-UK)
The lawlessness that led Fatah to lose control of Gaza is repeating itself in the West Bank, a senior Palestinian official has claimed.
"This week a local gunman took a stolen car to the licensing authority and when the manager refused to give him a license, he shot the ceiling of the office and went outside still shooting,'' said Taysir Nasrallah in Nablus.
"This was about 20 meters from an official police checkpoint but they did nothing. "Eventually, another manager came, apologized and gave the gunman the license for the stolen car.''

Hamas Creating New Armed Cells in West Bank - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Hamas' armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, has become "very active" in some parts of the West Bank, and the PA security forces have failed to thwart Hamas efforts to create new armed cells, a senior PA security official said Sunday in Ramallah.
"We are going after the wrong guys," he said. "We are detaining journalists, university students and low-level political operatives. Meanwhile, Izzadin Kassam is establishing secret cells and acquiring more weapons."

Hamas Optimism vs. Fatah Despair - Dan Murphy (Christian Science Monitor)

• Among many young Gazans there is excitement for a Palestinian enclave that fully embraces the principles of their Islamic Resistance Movement without the interference of Fatah rivals. In talking to Fatah members in the West Bank, however, a picture of despair, disorganization, and exhaustion emerges.
• "Audiences in the U.S. have a strong feeling of black and white and they're betting on which side will win based on whether it agrees with them," says Mouin Rabbani, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. "But there's an issue that is overlooked: The virtual disintegration of Fatah."
• Neither side has shown themselves to be paragons of democracy. In the West Bank, hundreds Hamas activists have been jailed for their political beliefs since June, gunmen out of uniform are frequently seen on city streets, and the local security forces are seen by many average citizens as unruly thugs.
• Qadura Fares, a member of Fatah's young guard, says: "Fatah needs radical surgery, but the patient is very frail. If you meet with 200 Fatah representatives, they'll all tell you the same thing. Corruption is our big problem. But, of course, some of those 200 are among the corrupt. Are they going to give up their positions? It doesn't look like it."
• One adviser to the Bush administration says that when Fatah leaders come to Washington they invariably talk about what the U.S. should do to weaken Hamas, rather than present new initiatives to further the interests of the Palestinian people.