[MRM]

The PLO is an umbrella organization that counts as members groups that cooperate in the destruction of Israel but would as soon kill each other as look at them. It dates back to the era between the Israeli war of independence and the Six Day War. Fatah is to the PLO kind of what Sin Fein is to the IRA.

Hamas is a rival oranization that grew up out of the gridlock of the 1980s as a response to the corruption of the PLO and Arafat. Think of them as the Black Panthers. They started out as a charity because the PLO was doing nothing to help the people in PLO controlled refuge camps. They quickly morphed into an armed group that provided charitable services rather than a charity that had some armed men. But yet they still run real social support services and they skim relatively little from the top before passing it on.

Hamas is the product of Iran. Fatah came from the Arab states.

So now Fatah is the old guard that has been entrenched in power and growing rich by skimming, and doing little to help the Palestinian masses because they keep their power and wealth by keeping the massess in refugee camps. Hamas are the young turks, agitating on the street for everything from clean water to the destruction of Israel.

Fatah has gotten tired of fighting Israel, and with the death of Arafat, would prefer to get along with Israel and get rich, rather than keep fighting and live in refugee camps. Hamas is just the oposite. They see themselves as the purists, continuing to take the fight to Israel and providing social services. To answer the direct question, Fatah has agreed to a two state solution and has eliminated the destruction of Israel from their party platform. The suicide bombers and missle launchers still attacking Israel are coming from Hamas-affiliated organizations.

Fatah and Hamas have co-existed for a long time because neither wanted to take the other on. When the US was asking Fatah to take out Hamas we were asking them to engage in a civil war to take out the rival faction. What just happened was the opening shot in the inevitable civil war. They are rival factions. They don't represent different ideologies; they just represent different groups where if one faction wins the other loses.

Right now Fatah is willing to make nice with the West; Hamas is not. Hamas has to use their fight against Israel as evidence that they don't share the corruption of Fatah. The Arab street is divided between the two sides. One can't win without the other losing. Fatah is in a fight to the death with Hamas, which probably explains their rhetoric. Fatah is losing, having been routed in a week or so from positions they held for decades, which probably explains their desperation.

Like it or not, Fatah is a largely corrupt organization that might not have the power to reform and lead the way it has been promising. Hamas is a much better organized group, better trained, less corrupt and far more effective. The road to middle east peace probably goes through Hamas.