Fatah on shaky ground in West Bank

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Fatah on shaky ground in West Bank
Many are looking to the fractured Palestinian party to curb Hamas' reach, but some wonder whether it will be able to hang on to its stronghold.
By Ken Ellingwood, Times Staff Writer
July 6, 2007

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — Routed in the Gaza Strip, the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is fractured and adrift at a moment when it is viewed by the outside world as the best hope for blunting the militant Hamas movement in the West Bank.

Once dominant in Palestinian affairs, the organization long led by the late Yasser Arafat is beset by a weak and aging leadership, internal schisms and a widespread reputation among Palestinians as corrupt, ineffectual and out of touch. Those troubles have some Palestinians wondering whether Fatah is more likely to lose the West Bank than to recapture the Gaza Strip from Hamas.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-fatah6jul06,1,808665.story?coll=la-middleeast&ctrack=2&cset=true