Protocol of the Elder of the PA: He Says Hamas's Meshaal Is Untrustworthy

Evidence that the Hamas-Fatah partnership is on shaky ground:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is reported to have complained to the emir of Qatar during their recent meetings in Doha about Hamas’s attempt to stage a coup against his regime in the West Bank.

The Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar published on Monday what it said was the protocol of the meeting between Abbas and the emir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was invited to join the meeting at a later stage.

The protocol quotes Abbas as telling the emir that Hamas has been working to foil and bring down the PA ever since its establishment.

“(Former PLO leader Yasser) Arafat invited them (Hamas) to join the Palestinian Authority and the 1996 elections, but they refused and said that democracy is forbidden because it is the rule of the people, while we want the rule of sharia,” Abbas was quoted as saying. “They issue fatwas (religious decrees) as they like and use religion to serve their interests.”

Abbas said – according to the protocol – that each time he meets with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, the latter tells him that Mashaal is a “liar.”...

The prototypical alliance of convenience. I give it a week or two--tops--before it breaks down for good.