Hamas has learned an important lesson about leadership, you need to be able to take care of the followers, lest they turn on you. Hamas has faced the realities of dealing with the world when it lost nearly all Palestinian financial support because it would not renounce terrorism or accept Israel as a sovereign nation. Apparently, a low-cash diet has opened some eyes:

The BBC’s Alan Johnston in Gaza says that the document that Hamas and Fatah have been negotiating for weeks talks of working to end the Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, which would live alongside Israel.

Hamas has, up until now, always rejected any recognition of Israel, which it regards as having been founded on stolen Palestinian land.

It is not yet clear what movement Hamas may have made on this crucial issue, our correspondent says.

When the agreement is made public, the wording and the details will need to be scrutinised to see if there has been any really significant shift in Hamas’ position, our correspondent says.

To be honest, I doubt Hamas is going to make the kind of crystal clear, unambiguous statement required. It would be seen as capitulating, as being weak. But we shall see what is produced. At some point the people of the region will wake up and realize living together is better than dying together in an extended war.