Palestinian President will direct an ultimatum for Hamas

According to Palestinian affairs analyst Avi Issacharoff, the last line in Abbas's speech – scheduled for Wednesday – will ask Hamas to hand Gaza over to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Rami Hamdallah, or the PA will halt all funding to the besieged enclave.

In other words, says Issacharoff, the PA will separate from Gaza gradually, and Hamas will have to suffer the consequences.

The Israeli analyst says he spoke to several senior figures in Abbas's Fatah party, who said the President was "serious this time" and would not allow Hamas to "play games".

Hamas, on the other hand, may resort to more stalling, with the possibility of seeking negotiations and Arab mediation efforts, Issacharoff also claimed.

Hamas has been at loggerheads with Fatah since the former seized the Strip in a near civil war in 2007.

Fatah runs the West Bank, the other part of the Palestinian territories separated from Gaza by Israeli territory.

Earlier this month, protests broke out for days in Gaza after the Fatah-run PA slashed the salaries of civil servants in the enclave, saying they were necessary because its budget has been hit by falling foreign aid. PA salaries in the West Bank, however, remained untouched.

Source: alaraby.co.uk