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COPYRIGHT 2005 IC Publications Ltd.
With the Islamic resistance Movement, Hamas, set to participate, for the first time, in the Palestinian legislative election, currently scheduled for January 2006, it is becoming ever more evident that Hamas is comprised of at least two strains of thought and plans of action.
The different shades of green (the colour of the official Hamas logo and flag) have become ever more evident in the aftermath of the September 2005 Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. While resisting disarmament by the Palestinian Authority, the mainstream Hamas leadership, based in Gaza and represented by Mahmoud Zahar and Ismail Hanieh, has edged closer to cooperation with the PA in coordinating the rules and regulations of the upcoming elections. With Hamas already firmly in control of at least a third of all municipal councils in the West Bank and Gaza, the legislative elections are expected to usher in an age of coexistence between the "secular" PLO parties and the Islamist Hamas. Not all members of Hamas, however, believe in power sharing or peaceful coexistence with the existing Palestinian leadership, as represented by the various branches of the PLO parties. In September and October armed clashes between members of Hamas and the...
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