When Palestine's sparring factions, the secular nationalists of Fatah and the Islamists of Hamas, last agreed in 2007 to form a single government, it endured for a dismal three months and collapsed into a three-day civil war that left Palestine split in two. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, while Fatah ran the West Bank, the core of a would-be Palestinian state. The previous unity government was weakened at the outset because the most influential foreign countries boycotted it and withdrew aid. This time the prospects seem a bit better. The main donor governments, including America's, feel more comfortable with the ministers and policies listed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president. Funds should continue, for the moment, to flow.
展开▼
