Maybe, maybe not

Isabel Kershner and Ethan Bronner have an article in The New York Times about Palestine:

Palestinians thronged the central squares of Ramallah and other cities of the West Bank to watch President Mahmoud Abbas address the United Nations and formally announce the Palestinians’ request for full membership in the world body.
A hush came over the crowd of thousands in Ramallah as Abbas began to speak, and all eyes were fixed on a large television screen. The city was festooned with Palestinian flags, adding to the sense of momentousness. Many of those too young to remember the return of Yasir Arafat to the occupied territories in the mid-1990s said that this was the first national celebration they could recall. “Large numbers of people have come out like this before, but they always had anger on their faces,” said Muhammad Jimi, 21, a student.
This time the atmosphere was overwhelmingly festive. But it was also tinged with a measure of defiance, as well as disappointment over the stance of the Obama administration, which has opposed the Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations and has vowed to veto it if necessary.
“I am here to tell the Americans that we are with Abu Mazen,” said Issa Al-Rafati, 46, a construction worker, calling Abbas by his popular name. “America took Israel’s side against our people.”
Columns of youths marched into the square from side streets holding portraits of Abbas. They lit candles as Abbas spoke and darkness fell. At the end of the speech the crowd roared Allah Akbar! (God is great) and another popular Palestinian chant: With blood and spirit, we will redeem you, O Palestine!
The Palestinians rallied inside the city centers, mostly avoiding friction with the Israelis, as Abbas had instructed. But the relative calm was marred by the killing of a Palestinian man earlier in the day during a clash with security forces near Qusra, a village in the northern West Bank. A dozen Israeli settlers from a nearby outpost had arrived to pray on land at the edge of the village, an act that the Palestinian villagers viewed as a provocation. Hundreds of people marched toward the settlers, some with Palestinian flags, and Israeli troops intervened. The Israeli military said its forces used riot dispersal means and eventually live fire after Palestinians hurled rocks at security personnel. The military said a joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation was under way.
The Israeli military has heavily bolstered its presence around the West Bank, worried that the Palestinian move toward international recognition of its statehood might inspire large-scale marches or violence against some of the 330,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. It is equally concerned that radical settlers could provoke confrontations.
At Kalandia, the often tense crossing point between Ramallah and Jerusalem, clashes rumbled for hours as Israeli troops used tear gas against several dozen people throwing stones. In the village of Nabi Saleh, where there are weekly Friday demonstrations against the Israeli occupation, a large chair painted in the blue of the United Nations was carried in a procession, a symbol of the aspiration for Palestine to be declared the organization’s 194th member. In addition, demonstrators burned Israeli flags and posters of President Obama.
Israel still fears that Palestinian frustration could turn to violence in the coming weeks or months, when it becomes apparent that Abbas’ bid for recognition has not led to any significant change in the West Bank. But many Palestinians said they understood that the bid alone would not change their circumstances. “There will be no change on the ground, but a change in our national strategy,” said Ibrahim Barham, a businessman who is active in Fatah. “If there are negotiations with Israel, they will be based on new rules.”
In Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, a rival to Abbas and Fatah, there was almost no presence in the streets because from the outset Hamas had banned shows of support for the United Nations bid. At the Unknown Soldier Park in Gaza City, a traditional gathering place, a dozen security officers from Hamas, some in plain clothes, turned people away as they arrived in twos and threes. In a nearby restaurant, Laterna, a few tables were occupied, their chairs turned toward a television set that was broadcasting Abbas’ speech live.
A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in a statement that the speech “succeeded in describing Palestinian suffering but failed to prescribe the means of treatment” by emphasizing the need for negotiations. He reiterated the Hamas position that the bid for United Nations membership was only a “tactic” aimed at improving the basis for negotiations.

Rico says he apologizes to Allen Sherman, but the line Hello, Hamas, hello Fatah keeps ringing in his head...