One Palestinian civil war, coming right up. It's a lab - if they can make the experiment work they get to upgrade to the West Bank. If not - well, there's a fence around Gaza, the experiment is less likely to be costly to the Israelis. And:
Israeli officials, however, emphasised that any failure by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister - also known as Abu Mazen - to seal his end of the deal could still wreck chances of a breakthrough.
Under the provisional agreement, Israel would allow a "grace period" lasting at least a week when it will not respond with force to any attacks originating in the Gaza Strip, Hamas's power base. In return, the PA must deploy its own security forces against Hamas.
Sounds like typical Bush MO: give them enough rope to hang themselves with, and let them knot the noose themselves.
"The idea is to give [the PA] a chance," an Israeli diplomat said. "If it's just a temporary trick to get us out of there, we'll be back in after two or three weeks."
So either way, Hamas is toast. Neat.
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