The release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, which will begin Tuesday night, marks another small victory for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his never-ending struggle with Hamas.

Abbas is proving to the Palestinian people that he can deliver, while the Gaza-based Islamic terror organization’s position is worsening, both in the West Bank and in Gaza.

Though Fatah and the Palestinian Authority don’t enjoy any exceptional support on the Palestinian street these days, Hamas’s political and economic crisis in recent months is causing distress among its leaders.

That distress, of course, wasn’t born out of the impending prisoner release. The coup in Egypt at the beginning of July was what diminished Hamas’s influence the most. Almost overnight, Hamas was transformed from being the ally of the biggest Arab state to its enemy.

Read the full article at Times of Israel