RAMALLAH, West Bank -- On most days, Ramallah bustles with the sounds of commerce typical of Middle Eastern towns. The city, seat of power for the Palestinian Authority, is experiencing an economic boom that looks deceptively like normalcy. Pedestrians move along crowded sidewalks while traffic crawls along in the city center. In newer parts of town, bright new buildings give the city an air of prosperity reminiscent of the wealthiest areas of Jerusalem or Amman, the Jordanian capital.
Underneath the visible progress, however, signs are growing that the months ahead could bring heightened tension and even violence in the Palestinian Territories and in Israel proper. Ironically, one of the sources of the possible turmoil ahead is the expected signing on Oct. 25 of a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the Islamist party that expelled Fatah from Gaza two years ago in a brief but brutal paroxysm of violence. ...
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