A deal is never a deal in the Middle East until the signatories confirm it where it matters most--in their streets, with their constituents' blessing. So the latest deal between Hamas and Fatah, the opposite poles of Palestinian power and identity, may be nothing more than the latest deal between Israel and the Palestinians--a promise to keep talking, rather than keep fighting. But today in Yemen, where Fatah and Hamas had been circling each other in Yemen's week-long attempt at reconciling them, the two camps agreed to shake hands.

The so-called Sanaa Declaration read: "We, the representatives of Fatah and Hamas, agree to the Yemeni initiative as a framework to resume dialogue between the two movements to return the Palestinian situation to what it was before the Gaza incidents." Whether that situation was much to be desired is another question altogether, although the deal may well signal Hamas' willingness to return the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas won a stunning majority of the vote in the January 2006 parliamentary elections, ending Fatah's long choke-hold on Palestinian politics. Tension between the two factions was bound to grow, and did, exploding in open warfare in June 2007. Hamas drove Fatah out of Gaza. The two haven't spoken much since, plunging Palestinian conditions in Gaza, socially and economically, to their bleakest levels since 1967.

Israel and the United States had hoped to wedge Hamas out of the picture by supporting the more moderate Fatah, which at least recognizes Israel's right to exist (Hamas does not). But Fatah is hopelessly corrupt, whereas Hamas, for all its terrorism and brutality, wins Palestinians' allegiance by providing a slew of social services and presenting an essentially honest, hyper-strict cadre of fanatically disciplined leaders. Israel and the United States have been trying again to use the rift between Hamas and Fatah to press an advantage they never quite had with Fatah. This latest hint at reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas doesn't bode well for the Israeli-American strategy, vague and, so far, fruitless though it was.

Unresolved, too, is the basic tension between Fatah and Hamas: One is willing to make peace with Israel. The other isn't. Ultimately, the two cannot make peace with each other until they resolve that tension.

Learn More About the Fatah-Hamas Conflict:

• What Is Fatah?
• What Is Hamas?
• Hamas Charter, Part 1
• Hamas Charter, Part 2
• Conflict in Gaza: Hamas and Israel
• Israel's Separation Barrier in the West Bank
• Bush's Road Map for Peace Five Years Later