In a telephone interview broadcast on BBC's Arabic-language network a few days ago, an Arab journalist asked Yasser Abed Rabbo in Ramallah: "Who, in your eyes, is the enemy: Israel or Hamas?" Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's steering committee, was a minister in previous Palestinian governments and is currently considered one of the people closest to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). His views against Hamas are among the most rabid in the PA.

Even before Abed Rabbo managed to answer, the journalist hastened to explain that he was asking who the enemy is because the PA is conducting a dialogue with the government of Israel, whereas it is refusing to speak to Hamas. Abed Rabbo, who sounded astonished by the question, did not reply; instead, he lambasted the journalist: "You are cheap and insulting." The journalist replied: "I suggest that you watch your tongue." Abed Rabbo repeated, "you are cheap and insulting" and slammed down the phone.

The fact that Abu Mazen and representatives of Prime Minister Salam Fayad's government in the West Bank are holding talks with Israel's government at the same time as they are boycotting and refusing to talk with the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is the harshest accusation that Hamas spokesmen have leveled against Abu Mazen. Last Friday, Abbas issued a presidential order that sentenced every member of Hamas's Executive Force in Gaza to three to seven years in jail. This force is in complete control of the Gaza Strip, and Abu Obeideh, a spokesman for the organization, responded to the order with mockery and scorn.