The credibility crisis between Hamas and Fatah regarding the reconciliation agreement signed by both parties Oct. 12 can no longer be ignored. Differences of opinion have deepened, and in the last round of talks in Cairo on Nov. 21, the post-signing smiles were replaced by anger and open recriminations. It would seem that the gaps between the sides cannot be bridged.

The first to express his frustration and announce that the reconciliation had reached a dead end was top Hamas official Salah Bardawil, the delegation member representing Hamas in the Cairo talks. In a video clip he disseminated (and then deleted shortly afterward, evidently under Egyptian pressure), Bardawil grumbled that Fatah is trying to sabotage the reconciliation. The Hamas official decisively declared that the talks had already failed, though his movement was determined not to adopt any drastic steps in the meantime.

On the other hand, Hussein al-Sheikh, the Fatah delegation member to the talks, accused Hamas as the party guilty of placing obstacles in their path. Sheikh contended that the Palestinian government was not given responsibility for even 5% of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) civil spheres of responsibility in the Gaza Strip, and that the weapons issue has not been resolved at all. Sheikh argued that Hamas does not really accept the "one weapon, one law" principle, where the PA is the sole governing and security authority.

Israeli observers are keenly following the talks taking place between the sides. As my colleague Ben Caspit wrote in Al-Monitor, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made statements against the reconciliation, Israel has been actually trying to do what it can to make the reconciliation succeed, almost from the moment the plan was conceived. Israel supported the reconciliation due to Egyptian and American pressure. And there was probably also the component of Israel's clear interest in resolving the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.