The US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel have warned the octogenarian Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas against holding the Oct. 8 municipal elections he has called for the Palestinian-ruled West Bank towns and locales and the Gaza Strip. He was told he would be exposing his Fatah party to the same defeat as it experienced in the last parliamentary elections the Palestinians held 10 years ago, when Hamas swept to a majority. Hamas does not need to scoop up all 400 Palestinian local authorities on the West Bank and Gaza Strip this time. The campaign alone will give the Islamist party the chance to restore its wrecked political infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. Dismantling its networks took three years of hard work by US, Israeli and Palestinian intelligence and security agencies. This the election would turn to scrap. No one doubts that Hamas will ride in on its campaign apparatus and voter support to re-establish its terror networks the day after the vote.
DEBKA REPORT