Unification Ritual

So this is a problem. Palestine has formed a unity government. That isn't the problem part. The issue is that said unity government hasn't unified on the subject of whether to recognize Israel (/whether killing Israelis is okay). The Fatah leadership says they reject violence categorically. I don't believe them, but it's still a nice gesture. The Hamas half of the government refuses to budge in inch on the whole "destroy the Zionists" bit. Hence, the Israeli government's response:

"President Abbas accepts the three international principles and Prime Minister Haniyeh not only doesn't accept them, but calls openly for Palestinian resistance -- that is, for Palestinians to commit terror against Israel," said Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Israel will not recognize or deal with such a government."

It's probably good that Israel has a single entity to deal with (in whatever manner it ends up dealing), but when the unity government isn't unified over some pretty key issues, I don't think we're really going to see any progress.