Will Hamas give up arms for Palestinian reconciliation?
As Fatah and Hamas, the two main Palestinian factions, strive to achieve national reconciliation, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a demand that may throw a wrench into the negotiations.
Last week, Abbas called on Hamas to surrender its weapons to the Palestinian Authority. The two sides are slated to meet in Cairo on Tuesday for Egyptian-brokered negotiations.
The demand comes after more than a decade of division between Abbas' Fatah party, which controls the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, and its rival Hamas, which has de facto governed the besieged Gaza Strip since it took control of the coastal enclave after a 2007 putsch.
Hamas has sculpted itself as the only legitimate resistance to Israel's ongoing occupation. However, speaking to Egyptian television last week, Abbas called for "one state, one regime, one law and one weapon".
