Hamas Going Through Election Motions As It Awaits Possible West Bank Chaos

By Yaakov Lappin

The two Palestinian rival governing movements, Fatah and Hamas, are preparing for elections in the coming months, and while it remains unclear whether they will really go ahead, Hamas is awaiting possible chaos in the West Bank, which it could exploit to boost its presence.

Elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council are scheduled for May 22, elections for the Palestinian Authority presidency are due to be held on July 31, and elections for the PLO’s National Council are scheduled for Aug. 31.

Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006, the last time elections were held. A year later, the terror organization staged a violent coup in the Gaza Strip, overthrowing the Fatah movement and ejecting the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority. Since then, Hamas turned Gaza into a dense rocket base, pointing and firing thousands of projectiles at Israeli cities. It has prioritized building a terror army that routinely threatens the security of Israelis, and is now attempting to avert an economic collapse through Qatari financial assistance to Gaza.

But Hamas has never given up on its ambition to consolidate its rule in the West Bank, where Fatah governs, and where Israel and the Palestinian Authority share a common security interest of repressing Hamas’s armed networks.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is keenly aware that dangerous “surprises” can occur if the scheduled elections go ahead, according to C...