Gaza: Fatah Hopes for Comeback

Palestinian security force officers loyal to the Fatah Movement carry automatic rifles and documents seized after they raided a Hamas run mosque in the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007. Palestinian security forces seized three assault rifles in a hiding place in the local mosque. The intelligence chief in Nablus, Abu Jihad Kmeil, accused Hamas of using mosques for illegal activity.(AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh) (Nasser Ishtayeh - AP)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Alaa Siyam's limbs are purple from a beating by Hamas police _ but he says that won't stop him from joining protests against the militant group's leaders now running Gaza.

Hamas' defeated rival, the Fatah Party of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is counting on loyal foot soldiers like Siyam as it takes hesitant first steps to rebuild its shattered organization in Gaza.

After staging small anti-Hamas prayer vigils in recent weeks, Fatah hopes to intensify protests in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started Thursday, and galvanize its supporters. Some in Fatah are floating even bigger dreams, of a popular uprising that would force Hamas to agree to new elections.

Analyst Jihad Hamad says expectations of large-scale protests against Hamas are unrealistic at this stage. Many Gazans are increasingly disillusioned with both political parties, and Fatah has failed to clean up its corrupt image, which helped the Islamic Hamas to defeat it in 2006 parliament elections.

Hamas, which wrested control of Gaza in June by vanquishing Fatah security forces, insists it firmly controls Gaza.

However, it has outlawed the prayer protests and beaten, detained or threatened some of those involved, a sign it's concerned about the demonstrations spreading.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused the West Bank-based Abbas and his supporters of conspiring to overthrow Hamas by fomenting unrest. He said Fatah was wasting its time, noting that even when Fatah controlled a large arsenal of weapons and most of Gaza's security forces, it could not drive out Hamas.

"Are fireworks here and there going to bring any benefits?" he asked dismissively.

Yet a recent poll indicates Hamas' popularity is slipping, with three in four Palestinians saying they opposed Hamas' violent Gaza takeover.

Support for Fatah is now 48 percent, up five points from June, while backing for Hamas dropped two points to 31 percent, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, an independent think tank that questioned 1,270 people with an error margin of 3 percentage points.

If presidential elections were held today, Abbas would win 59 percent, compared to 36 percent for Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister he deposed after the group's Gaza takeover. In June, Abbas was ahead by seven points.

Encouraged by signs of a backlash against Hamas, Fatah activists in Gaza have been stirring in the past month.