Fatah official says elections will be in May 2012

Ma'an (Arabic) quotes Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad as saying that he hedl a number of secret meetings in Cairo ahead of a planned meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' Khaled Meshal there next month (update: later this month.)

He says that agreements have already been made to hammer out a consensus government ahead of planned May 2012 elections, along with some agreements on restructuring security services and around the elections themselves.

He said Hamas was on board with this agreement even though they have made combative statements against Fatah in recent days.

I'm skeptical, to say the least. So far all the agreements have been for show, and the idea that Hamas would consider loosening its grip on power in Gaza is far fetched. It is only a little less far-fetched that Fatah would cave on the issue of security in Gaza.

What seems clear is that Fayyad will be gone, and whoever replaces him will not be as popular among Western governments. Chances are pretty good that whoever becomes caretaker prime minister will have some terror background.