http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395429032&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFullFeb. 16, 2006 23:27 | Updated Feb. 17, 2006 6:31
Fatah-Hamas power struggle looms
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
The new Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council, which is due to be sworn in on Saturday during a special session, is seen by many Palestinians as marking the beginning of a bitter power struggle between the Islamic movement and the ruling Fatah party.
"From now on we will have two authorities and most likely this will lead to a clash," said former Palestinian Authority minister Nabil Amr, a Fatah candidate from Hebron who lost his seat in the PLC in the last election. "The struggle will be between the president's office on the one hand and the parliament and cabinet on the other."
Amr is perhaps the most appropriate man to take on the looming power struggle. More than three years ago, he served as information minister in a cabinet headed by then-prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, the current chairman.
That cabinet was formed under pressure from the US and European countries as part of an effort to force Yasser Arafat to share power with a prime minister - a post that had not existed in the PA until then.
snip