ng an invitation from his Hamas counterpart to visit the Gaza Strip to break the impasse over reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas factions. Ismail Haniyyeh, who led Hamas' forced takeover of Gaza in 2007, issued the invitation on Tuesday after rallies were held in both Gaza and the West Bank by thousan

. That proved to be a foretaste of the current crisis. The "Change and Reform" bloc in Gaza, which includes Zahhar and the de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyyeh, immediately reacted to the agreement with Abbas by issuing a blistering "legal memorandum." The document laid out detailed and categorical object