(Economist-UK) With less than a week to go, the reality has sunk in. When Palestinians elect a parliament on January 25 for the first time in a decade, they are expected to give the Islamist movement Hamas a good proportion of seats, in a resounding protest vote against the failures of the PA and its ruling Fatah party, and against Israel. A lot of the blame can be put on PA and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, who seems to have the right intentions, but has been unable to provide what opinion polls show matters most to Palestinians: domestic law and order. Now it is harder to blame anyone but the PA, which, to top it all, is facing a fiscal crisis entirely of its own making.
2006-01-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive