Is there any personal interaction between Fatah and Hamas PLC members despite the PLC being frozen?
Prior to Fatah’s revolutionary conference last August we had quite cordial relations with our Fatah colleagues. However, as the conference drew near communication ceased and they told us that talking to us would jeopardise their chances of being elected to Fatah’s central committee. Previously we respected Fatah under the leadership of the late president Yasser Arafat as the first Palestinian revolutionary organisation. However, we believe that the current policy of persecuting Hamas members and negating the right to resistance against the Israeli occupation is a big mistake on the part of the PA. Q: Do you believe the popularity of Hamas in the West Bank has grown and do you think this popularity might be another reason for the PA refusing to hold elections? A: Abbas has publicly acknowledged our growing popularity. I have no doubt that if free elections were held tomorrow we would win them again as we did in 2006. At the student elections at Birzeit University last year, we got 20 pe
