In short, it is difficult to see how this declaration is different than the other unity declarations. Though, one difference is that compared to the May 2011 agreement, Abbas and Meshal actually signed the Doha Declaration.

While the agreement has garnered praise from Egypt, Islamic Jihad and others, a number of Hamas officials in Gaza have slammed the agreement. Hamas via the Palestinian Legislative Council has  issued a document detailing the illegality of the move to make Abbas both President and Prime Minister.

The primary conclusion of the document is that

“The combination of the position of President of Palestinian National Authority and the prime minister involves a violation of the constitution, and is considered a violation of the constitutional amendments of 2003.” 

While Hamas’ arguments seem sound, it appears that the Palestinian Authority has already failed to abide by the agreement.

According to the Doha Declaration, the Palestinian Authority was supposed to release 64 Hamas political prisoners. On Tuesday, Hamas slammed the Palestinian Authority over this, as they noted discrepancies between those released and the list that they obtained.

According to Hamas, 7 of the prisoners are still imprisoned. In addition, 2 of the prisoners were never imprisoned, while 7 prisoners had been released over 5 months ago. One of the prisoners was released when his sentence ended some time ago. Three of those released were only arrested for a single day. 35 of the released had been released on bail, thus, their cases are still subject to trial.

In addition to Hamas officials slamming the agreement, Fatah officials have criticized it. A senior Fatah official told The Jerusalem Post, similar to Hamas’ legal document, that:

“This is a scandal not only because it violates the [Palestinian] Basic Law, but also because it turns Abbas into an autocrat with absolute powers. This is unacceptable at a time when the Arab world is witnessing popular uprisings against dictators.”

A number of political analysts have made a similar point. In addition, Palestinians have taken to social media sites to mock the situation, as one Palestinian wrote:

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas congratulates the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and invites him to meet with the chairman of the Fatah Central Committee, Mahmoud Abbas, under the auspices of the head of the PLO Executive Committee, Mahmoud Abbas, at the home of the Overall Commander of the Palestinian Armed Forces, Mahmoud Abbas.”

For those wondering whether Hamas has renounced violence with this new agreement, Hamas’ Izzat al-Rishq said yesterday that the agreement does not negate “armed resistance.”

“The Palestinian people maintain their right to all forms of resistance, and we are committed to armed resistance and the activation of popular resistance to confront the enemy, and we will not abandon any form of resistance at all.”

Al-Quds Al-Arabi is now reporting that three Fatah officials (Naima Sheikh Ali, Majid Abu Shamala, and Alaa Yaghi), originally from Gaza, now based in the West Bank, have slammed the recent activity of the Palestinian Authority security forces.

The three Fatah officials slammed the security forces for “waging a campaign of harassment and prosecution against Fatah members who sought refuge in the West Bank after Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip.” According to the Fatah officials, Palestinian security forces recently kidnapped one of their associates. During the kidnapping, the security forces reportedly used two cars with Israeli plates.

Fatah is not alone in its condemnation of the Palestinian Authority security forces. On Wednesday, Hamas slammed them for arresting five Hamas members near Nablus. One of those arrested was a teacher, who Hamas says was only arrested because of his political affiliation.

Now, Dahlan is at it again, though, this time he is commenting on the expulsion of his friend Samir Mashharawi from Fatah.

On Monday, Dahlan made two statements on his Facebook page. In the first statement Dahlan said:

The decision to dismiss the brother Samir Mashharawi is only what is expected of people who have lost their loyalty and affiliation to the movement.

He continued to say that the expulsion was simply an attempt by Abbas “to cover up” his domestic and political failures.

In a second statement Dahlan said:

If the war being fought by Abu Mazen against me was against the occupation, Palestine would have been liberated twice and all the prisoners would  have been released and the refugees would have returned.

On Tuesday, Dahlan issued a third statement:

Letters have been sent today to the members of the Legislative Council, calling on them to stand up to their responsibilities toward what is happening regarding the flagrant violations of the law and the Palestinian judiciary by the President.

InLightPress is now reporting that Mahmoud Abbas recently ordered the arrest of Joseph Shayeb, a journalist for Al-Ghad.

According to InLightPress, Shayeb was arrested after publishing an article about the expulsion of Samir Mashharawi from Fatah, something I also covered. Shayeb reportedly wrote in his report that the expulsion was ordered by Abbas and was “in violation of Fatah’s regulatory framework.”

Fortunately, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad intervened on Tuesday evening and ordered the release of Shayeb.

In related news, PalTimes reports that Rami Samara, a journalist, was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces on Tuesday evening after posting comments that were critical of the PLO on his Facebook page.

Update: The Associated Press has picked up on this story.

Rami Samara, an editor at the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, said plainclothes security agents took him from his office to Abbas’ headquarters on Tuesday and held him for four hours. “They showed me about 100 pages of comments I made on Facebook, mostly criticizing the Palestinian Authority and the PLO,” he said.

He said he was told he would be released if he signed a confession that he organized an anti-government demonstration on behalf of a small PLO faction critical of Abbas. Samara said he refused, but he was eventually released.

“Before this detention, I thought that we, the Palestinian people, enjoy wide freedom, but after what I saw, I think I’m being followed by the intelligence in every step of my life,” he said.

….In another case, journalist Yousef Shayeb, who writes for the Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad, said he was held for eight hours at a Palestinian intelligence office Tuesday. He said he was questioned about stories in which he alleged a Palestinian diplomatic mission abroad was riddled by corruption. Shayeb said interrogators demanded that he reveal his sources, which he said he refused to do.

Abu Bakr accuses Fayyad of trying to impede the success of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In addition, she said that Fayyad “is trying to end the Fatah movement.”

She also noted that Fayyad is only around because Hamas and Fatah have not been able to form a unity government and if they do Fayyad will be thrown out.

According to Abu Bakr, Fayyad acted like a “parasite” when Abbas took the Palestinian statehood bid to the UN in September. Abu Bakr is likely referring to the fact that Fayyad told the Associated Press that the UN bid was largely symbolic and would not change the reality on the ground.

“It is not going to be a dramatic result and I do not believe it will be right to continue, for there to be preoccupation about something dramatic happening.”

Abu Bakr seems like the outspoken type.

In fact, in the past she has called the United States “the greatest Satan in the world.” She also called and hoped for Israel’s destruction. In July 2008, she praised baby-killer Samir Kuntar and celebrated the release of the remains of terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. In October 2008, she said that Israel was like a wolf killing sheep. In October 2009, Abu Bakr declared:

If you read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, you’ll find that it is this channel [Al-Jazeera] that transmits The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Unsurprisingly, Hamas denied the report saying it was a fabricated story that was a malicious attempt to divide Hamas.

On Monday, Elaph, which seems to be the original source for the story said that it had confirmed that Meshal’s daughter and husband had been arrested, and subsequently released on bail.

As ElderofZiyon notes in his report of the Elaph piece:

The harassment is allegedly to show Syria’s displeasure at Hamas not supporting the Assad regime more strongly. Meshal has been trying to straddle the fence between supporting the Syrian revolution and not upsetting the regime.

Elaph’s sources claim that Meshal’s announcement that he will step down as Hamas’ political leader is related to this pressure from Syria. Elaph says that Syria prefers that he be replaced with his current deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk.

Despite the confirmation, Hamas has accused Fatah of waging a campaign of incitement and dissemination of false news against the group and its leadership. They are specifically targeting their complaint against the Fatah associated Palestine Press, which ran the story shortly after it appeared on Elaph.

Hamas has called on Fatah to clarify the situation or else they will assume that Mahmoud Abbas has given a green light for the campaign.

Hamas’s threats may have gotten through to Palestine Press as the page with the original story has been removed aside from the headline.

Well, maybe not as Palestine Press is running its own report based on the new Elaph story.

Excerpt:

Hamas’s decision to join the PLO is seen by some Western analysts and governments as a sign that the Islamist movement is headed toward “moderation” and “pragmatism.”

But in 2012, if the agreement with Abbas is implemented, Hamas will take control over the PLO.

Hamas is joining the PLO not because it has changed, but out of a desire to make the Fatah-dominated organization stick to its true mission: the liberation of Palestine from Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea — in other words, all the land that is currently Israel — and to achieve the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees to their original villages and homes inside Israel.

Once Hamas takes control over the PLO, it will seek to cancel all agreements and understandings reached between the organization and Israel, above all the 1993 Oslo Accords. Hamas also wants the PLO to withdraw its recognition of Israel.

Hamas leaders and spokesmen are openly saying that joining the PLO does not mean that they would recognize Israel’s right to exist or abandon the “armed struggle” against the Jewish state.

“Anyone who thinks that Hamas has, or will, change is living under an illusion,” declared Hamas representative Osama Hamdan.

Hamdan is one of several Hamas officials who have been trying in the past few days to explain to the world that his movement has not abandoned its radical ideology and will in fact continue to fight for the “liberation of all Palestine.”

But all these clarifications from the Hamas leaders regarding their true intentions seem to be falling on deaf ears in the West.

Read the whole thing here.

People hold pieces representing two states living side by side in peace and security during a rally in support of the national reconciliation between the two rival moderate movements of Fatah and Hamas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah,Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser Shikyerbouti)

Real caption here.

But you get my point: The palestinian leadership has been speaking of the 1967 borders – at least to the international community – but to their people, the real message is – shall we say – more optimistic.

He was from Fatah and she was from Hamas, the two rival Palestinian movements. They were both serving multiple life sentences. They had participated in killings – she for her role in a Jerusalem restaurant bombing, he in connection with the killing of an Israeli.

As lovers go they could not have been more star crossed, yet Nezar and Ahlam Al Tammimi met, fell in love, got engaged and finally married while they were sitting in Israeli jails. Both were among some 450 Palestinian prisoners swapped for Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit last week.

“Nobody believes me when I say that I never ever lost hope. I always saw the light at the end of the tunnel and now I am free,” Ahlam, 31, declares.

Married behind bars, the two now plan a big wedding – as soon as they can finally see each other. They don’t know when that will happen: Under the conditions of their release, Nezar was returned to his home the West Bank while Ahlam was flown to her family in Jordan.

—-

“I met a fellow Palestinian in the university who inspired me, it turned out he was a member of Hamas. I expressed my desire to join them. He told me he has to ask his superior because Ezzeldin Al-Qassam brigades have no female members. After a few days, he came with an approval, which made me the first female Ezzeldin Al-Qassam brigade member,” Ahlam explains.

Ahlam helped Ezz Al Din Al Massri, 20, to blow himself up in Sabarro restaurant in Jerusalem in August 2001, which killed 16 Israelis and injured 150. Her role had been to choose the location and secure transportation to reach that location. Not long after, she was arrested.

—-

Ahlam heard about Nezar Al Tammimi, her relative, 38, who was jailed in 1993 during his university years. He was also studying in Birzeit back then. He was sentenced to life in prison for belonging to a Fatah cell responsible of kidnapping and killing an Israeli in the Jewish community of Beit El near Ramallah. Ahlam admired him. Ahlam actually visited Nezar in jail before she was jailed herself. The spark of mutual admiration that they felt back then developed over time into love.

Ahlam and Nezar started exchanging letters while in jail. “Each letter would take a month to reach Nezar and another month to get his response back. I would place the letter in the mail and send it to my family. My family would send it to Nezar’s family. Nezar’s family would send it to him.”

“Nezar would go through the same process to send me a letter. Our letters were so precious, they took so much time and they were our only means of communication. We would share experiences, express our love and share our virtual dreams of being and living together after our marriage,” Ahlam says with a broad smile and a sparkle in her eyes.

The two were not only separated by bars but by membership in rival movements. After briefly sharing control of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and Hamas fought each other for control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and have failed to patch up their differences despite a declaration of national unity last spring.

On an August day in 2005, Nezar’s fellow inmates threw him a party to celebrate his engagement to Ahlam. Simultaneously, Ahlam celebrated a party in parallel with her inmates. After that, their one and only meeting came in March 2010, when they were both summoned by the Israeli intelligence to be questioned about the relationship between them and their future plans.

“After exchanging letters and falling in love we both decided to get engaged even if we were both jailed for life,” she recounts.

Their fathers arranged the documents and sent them copies of the marriage contract in jail. Nezar sent his wife wedding rings but the Israeli prison administration confiscated them all, she says.

—-

Ahlam’s dream now is to settle down after a huge wedding that reunites her with her husband Nezar. “All I dream about now is to live with Nezar, settling down and raising our future children.”

 How odd. I didn’t think Ahlam was the “children” type.

I find it inexplicable that these two murders should get a chance at happiness after they ruined the lives of so many.

I am willing to bet their wedding will be a target rich environment. Just saying.