In an honor/shame society, appearances are reality, and Hamas appeared as the undisputed leader of Palestinians during the Gaza fighting, as most Palestinians looked at Hamas as an organization that actually does something, as opposed to Fatah.
But now, Hamas needs to rebuild Gaza - and most donors don't want to deal with Hamas directly or exclusively.
Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire, is including the PLO in all negotiations, even bringing PA representatives with them to visit Gaza.
Mahmoud Abbas is trying to ensure that the PLO's role in getting donors for Gaza will allow some of those funds to go to him and his groups.
The PA is also trying to emphasize "defending Jerusalem" as its role, which is exactly what Hamas pretended to do with thousands of rockets.
In addition, the PLO is working closely with the ICC to try to get it to accuse Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Both Hamas and the PLO are trying to make contacts with Arab countries to act as the real representatives of Palestinians. The PLO is leading in that race, but Hamas looks like it will re-establish relations with Syria at Iran's urging; the two split when Hamas criticized Syria for killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Hamas is calling for a "Day of Rage" in the West Bank this Friday, in a move to attract the masses to the idea that Hamas is their real leader. Two weeks ago, Fatah held a general strike in the West Bank for the same purpose.
Hamas is also heavily publicizing its "victory parades" through Gaza, sending a message to West Bank Arabs as the true leaders in fighting Israel.
We aren't even mentioning the international community's attempts to parlay this to their own advantages. The UN, EU, Quartet, Egypt and Qatar are all trying to look like the ones who can broker a deal and appear like world leaders. "Human rights" organizations are rushing to publish anti-Israel reports as quickly as possible.
It's all politics.
No one really cares about actual, ordinary Palestinians and how they can live normal lives without being at the mercy of their immature leaders who are willing to sacrifice them at a moment's notice for their own political gain.
