In another sign of the fraying of the unity agreement between Hamas and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, Hamas officials reactivated their parliament on Wednesday, which had been suspended since the agreement. Only Hamas legislators attended the session, which took place in the terrorist-controlled Gaza Strip. At the center of the dispute between Hamas and the PA is the payment of salaries for Hamas employees, as well as the question of who has ultimate authority over the Gaza Strip. Hamas has demanded that the new unity government pay the salaries of the 50,000 civil servants it recruited after overthrowing the PA in Gaza in 2007. On Monday, Hamas employees staged a sit-in in Gaza to protest the PA’s refusal to pay their salaries.

Last weekend, Hamas destroyed ATMs at several branches of the Bank of Palestine to prevent the PA from paying Fatah workers in Gaza without paying the workers of the Hamas government at the same time. Hamas has arrested dozens of Fatah members in the Gaza Strip while the PA has arrested dozens of Hamas militants in the West Bank. According to Avi Issacharoff at the Times of Israel, a senior Hamas official has been directing attacks against Fatah targets in the Gaza Strip over the past few months in order to undermine the unity agreement. These attacks included the bombings of 13 senior Fatah officials’ homes in Gaza and a bombing near the home of the unity government spokesman.

Gaza reconstruction has been significantly hindered by the ongoing standoff between Hamas and Fatah. The war between Israel and Hamas ended in August with an agreement that the Fatah-dominated PA would take over the Gaza Strip. However, the PA has balked at taking charge of the border crossings and reconstruction efforts until Hamas surrenders control over the Strip, which it refuses to do.

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