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Fatah Official Urges Hamas To Abandon Muslim Brotherhood

Fatah senses Hamas' regional decline, and is urging it to focus its efforts on national reconciliation.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) talk with an official during their meeting in Cairo November 24, 2011. The leaders of Fatah and Hamas met for the first time in six months on Thursday and hailed progress toward ending Palestinian divisions that has led to separate governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but there was no sign of a breakthrough.  REUTERS/Mohamed Al Hams/Handout  (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVER
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While all eyes in the Arab world are focused on Egypt, in Palestine, people have one eye on the events in Egypt and another on Hamas. Observers realize that the political future of Hamas and its current position cannot be separated from what is occurring in the Egyptian political arena.  

Prior to the revolution, Egypt served as an incubator for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. Following the Jan. 25 Revolution it maintained this role, yet with one essential difference: Members of the Muslim Brotherhood were the decision-makers. Hamas, according to its charter, is one of the Brotherhood's wings in Palestine. Thus, the link between the deteriorating situation in Egypt and Hamas' political situation was inevitable, especially since Egypt serves as the only "lung" to the outside world for the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has controlled since 2007.

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