RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority announced Nov. 17 that  coordination with Israel has been restored after a six-month hiatus. On May 19, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had cut ties with Israel in protest of the US Mideast plan and the Israeli West Bank annexation plan.

The PA’s decision to resume coordination, however, has damaged efforts to achieve reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. The latter is now threatening to undermine the agreements reached between the two sides, namely in Tukey on Sept. 24, when they announced agreement to hold legislative and presidential elections, as well as elections for the Palestinian National Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, within six months.

Even before the PA announcement, however, it appeared that little progress was being made between Fatah and Hamas. Following the agreement on elections, a meeting of the secretaries-general of the different Palestinian factions was supposed to be held by early October at the request of Abbas to announce a presidential decree for the election date. But this has yet to happen.

There have been several stumbling blocks to the reconciliation, namely the unspoken Egyptian anger at both Fatah and Hamas for meeting in Istanbul. Cairo considered this to be a threat to its sponsorship of the Palestinian issue, which prompted Abbas to postpone the meeting of the secretaries-general and the issuance of a presidential decree on the election date.