But in Gaza, things are not looking good and the deafening official silence from nearly all around the Arab world, as it ignores the horror of the Israeli-imposed siege of Gaza, is a symptom of how many Arab States have been hoping that Hamas would just fade away. They are very worried by its radical and religious ideology and want it to fail.

Hamas has been on the Americans's hate-list for years, and they have put it down as a terrorist organisation, but this American definition fails to note that Hamas is a valid and popular political party that won the Palestinian general election in 2006.

Hamas has never seen peaceful negotiation as the only way to deal with Israel, although it has made clear that it favours an eventual peace deal based on the two-state formula.

It has pursued all sorts of armed resistance, including using suicide bombers to attack civilian targets, which prompted the Americans to define it as a terrorist organisation.

But in the region, Hamas's political challenge has been more powerful than its armed resistance since it refused to go along with the American-led peace process, making obvious that the Israelis were only paying lip service to the process anyway.

This has been obvious to the entire Arab world, and Hamas's bluntness has fetched it huge popular appeal.

Fatah has the support of the official Arab world, and Fatah has tried to work with the Americans and Israelis to find a peaceful route to peace, but with no success.

Israel has ignored the key requirements it is supposed to implement, making a mockery of the road map to peace talks. The colonies in the West Bank and Golan Heights have continued to expand and not one has been removed, travel restrictions continue, and when they want to, the Israeli armed forces go where they will.

The result is that the Fatah government of Mahmoud Abbas has been badly weakened as its key policy is obviously failing. Indeed, Fatah is now seen as almost colluding in the siege of Gaza by continuing to talk with Olmert's government.

The leadership of the Arab world has hoped that the blockade would force the people of Gaza to reject Hamas and move to supporting a more moderate government. The opposite has happened.

Although Hamas offers a very powerful ideology, it has not given much to the people of Gaza. Despite Hamas's poor delivery of services from the government to the people of Gaza, the Israeli siege has brought the people out in support of one another and the Hamas government.

At the same time, it is important to remember that Egypt is enforcing the blockade along with Israel. Gaza's Egyptian border is as tightly closed as its Israeli borders.

Egypt hates the radical and Islamist ideology supported by Hamas, and would like to see them reduced to a small radical fringe in Palestinian politics. This does not look like it is happening at all, since Hamas's refusal to go along with Israeli lies has made it very popular.

Reconciliation

The Arab world needs to work with the leaders of Hamas and Fatah to encourage a reconciliation. A unified Palestine would be far more able to deal with Obama's new administration and the expected right-wing new Israeli government.

In addition, Hilary Clinton, once she takes over as US Secretary of State, will have to respect a united and tough Palestinian position and she will be able to use it to put pressure on the new Israeli government.

The best outcome would be for Palestine and America to unite in forcing Israel into genuine dialogue and to abandon its refusal to take peace seriously.

Such a good position is worth trying to prepare for now. The Gulf States could take the initiative and offer to be neutral mediators and bring the two halves of the Palestinian political world together.

To manage this, Fatah has to stop being so accommodating to the Israelis. It should stop talking to Olmert's government, suspend all normal contacts, and put the Israelis into the diplomatic cooler while the siege of Gaza continues. It should really not be talking to them anyway if the colonies continue to grow as they have been for years.

Hamas needs to make clear that it has more to offer to the Palestinians than endless resistance. It should spell out how it sees peace being achieved, and what is required to make that happen.

These two moves would allow the leaders of Hamas and Fatah to find some common ground, which they need to do before the new US administration comes to the Middle East for the first time.

Source: http://www.gulfnews.com