"Fatah is making one critical—and perhaps mistaken—assumption: that the fighting with Israel is actually weakening Hamas.."

In NEWSWEEK, here

"Even if they wanted to, it's far from clear that Abbas's forces could wrest control of the strip. The Fatah boss says his counterparts in Gaza are demoralized and ineffective......

American officials have invested considerable time and effort helping to train Abbas's security services. Still, only a small minority of those troops are native Gazans......

For now, most Fatah figures are hoping that some sort of international peacekeeping force will move into Gaza after Israel pulls out. Such a move could pave the way for Fatah security forces to return to power some months down the road, the thinking goes......

Finally, all the speculation among Fatah figures makes one critical—and perhaps mistaken—assumption: that the fighting with Israel is actually weakening Hamas. Hizbullah, after all, came out much stronger after its 2006 war with Israel; it won simply by not losing..."