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Palestinian Factions Vie for Spoils

(Christian Science Monitor) Joshua Mitnick - How will authority be divvied up between the Hamas prime minister's cabinet and the higher-ranking post held by Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas? "We will have a power struggle from now on from these two heads of government," says Bassem Ezbidi, a political science professor at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah. One of the most sensitive points of tension is who will control the 60,000-strong Palestinian paramilitary police. The ranks of the police are almost exclusively made up by Fatah, as are other parts of the Palestinian government. "Those people have been exposed to the Fatah political culture, and Hamas knows to change the composition will take time. I don't rule out Hamas facing these challenges directly, and getting into clashes and arm twisting," says Ezbidi.
2006-02-17 00:00:00
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