Fatah moves closer to Hamas, away from Fayyad

A little-noticed political fight in the PA is the one between supporters of "prime minister" Salaam Fayyad and the Fatah leadership:

The Palestinian Authority security forces here have launched an investigation to determine who is behind leaflets that were distributed over the weekend and which describe PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad and his cabinet ministers as "traitors."

Many of the leaflets, which were distributed on the streets of several West Bank cities, were collected by Palestinian policemen loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Despite the fact that the Aksa Martyrs Brigades denied any connection to the leaflets, PA officials here told The Jerusalem Post that they have no doubt that some members of the group were behind the latest threat.

The officials added that they also did not rule out the possibility that top Fatah operatives who were strongly opposed to Fayad's government and Abbas's policies were also linked to the leaflets.

The threats against Fayad have prompted the PA to beef up security around him and other senior members of his cabinet. "We are taking these threats very seriously," a PA security official told the Post. "We have launched an investigation and soon we will discover who's behind the leaflets."

The leaflets accused the Fayad government of collaboration with the Israelis and Americans against armed Palestinian groups that are operating against Israel. They also lashed out at Fayad for allegedly ordering the PA security forces to use force to disperse demonstrations in protest against last week's peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

Abbas, who still hasn't returned to Ramallah after the Annapolis conference, is expected to meet with senior Fatah officials later this week to discuss their demands regarding the Fayad government.

Some of the officials, including a number of Abbas's closest aides, have expressed concern over Fayad's growing influence and the possibility that he might challenge Abbas's authority. Fayad has also come under fire for refusing to channel funds to many Fatah supporters.

Meanwhile...

...PA officials confirmed that Hamas and Fatah representatives were scheduled to meet in Cairo soon for talks on ways of ending their differences.

So Hamas and Fatah are trying again to unify even while Fatah is breaking with Abbas, their leader, over Fayyad who actually sometimes tries to reduce the support that the PA gives to Fatah terrorists (who are usually PA policemen anyway.)

Sounds like these guys are perfectly ready to implement their roadmap obligations!