ANALYSIS: It's everyone against everyone in Palestinian autonomy

Ramallah - The Palestinian autonomous areas are hopelessly divided between the radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza and the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, based in the West Bank. Three months after the rival Hamas and Fatah movements first began an Egyptian-mediated bid to end a now almost two-year-old split between Gaza and the West Bank, the negotiations remain stalemated. A fifth round of reconciliation talks between the two sides ended Monday. Only one day later, Abbas swore in a new caretaker government, once again headed by the independent Salam Fayyad. Fayyad had resigned in March, hoping to add some pressure to efforts to form a Fatah-Hamas unity government which would pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections in January 2010. Abbas did not want to arrive at his May 28 meeting with US President Barack Obama, 10 days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's White House welcome, without a functioning government. He also felt he could not hold out without a government until the next, and very possibly last, round of Fatah-Hamas talks, set for July 5. That did not stop Hamas from slamming the formation of the new West Bank-based cabinet as 'premeditated sabotage' of the unity talks. It also did not prevent new turmoil within Abbas' own Fatah, whose parliamentary bloc have called for a boycott of the new government. They are furious over the appointment of Fayyad, rather than of one of their own. Abbas had little choice beyond Fayyad, although he could have used Fatah support especially ahead of a party conference on July 1. Donor countries prefer to entrust their massive financial aid with Fayyad, an internationally respected economist see as reliable and transparent, rather than with the corruption-plagued Fatah. Abbas had hoped that the new, broader, transitional government would enjoy greater legitimacy, strengthening him in the West Bank, and thus also in his negotiations opposite Hamas. With 20 ministers, he wanted it to include the main factions of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The president has tried to revive this umbrella group as 'the sole representative of the Palestinian people,' amid his power struggle with Hamas, which is not represented in the PLO. Of course, the Hamas-dominated parliament, dysfunctional because many Hamas lawmakers are jailed by Israel, had never voted its confidence in that transitional government. But some analysts believe Fatah's internal row sparked by the cabinet formation was not strengthening Abbas, but was weakening his party and perhaps even reducing its chances of winning future elections. Widening the row further, two other major PLO factions have also announced they would boycott the new government. 'Its formation only inflamed an already existing split within Fatah,' Hafiz Barghouti, the editor-in-chief of the Ramallah-based al- Hayat al-Jadida newspaper, told the German Press Agency dpa. Calling Fayyad's cabinet a 'one-man government,' he said its intention had been 'to bring in as many nationalist forces as possible,' but with the boycott, 'this did not happen.' 'Fayyad and Abu Mazen (Abbas) wanted to strengthen their government, but instead they weakened it,' Palestinian analyst and newspaper columnist Hani Masri said. 'They wanted an expanded government to face Israel, Hamas, and to present it to the Obama administration,' he noted, but added: 'This step has only led to a division within Fatah and this is going to weaken the movement.' Abbas 'should have waited until the reconciliation talks have ended,' Masri opined. If elections are to be held in January, when the term of the current Hamas-dominated parliament ends, preparations for the polls would take at least six months. The July round of Fatah-Hamas talks is therefore expected to be the last one - culminating either in an agreement or in total collapse. So far, the obstacle toward a unity government that would prepare for the elections remains firmly in place: Hamas rejects Fatah's demand that it recognize previous PLO accords - and thereby Israel. The two sides also continue to bicker over the election system. In the meantime, without Palestinian unity, the Gaza Strip cannot be rebuilt. Its absence is also the very reason cited by Israel that no progress on the peace process is possible. Without unification, Palestinian elections cannot be held and the stalemate of the past years could continue indefinitely.