ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been warned by his intelligence services that the Islamist group Hamas could seize power in the West Bank, just as it did in Gaza five years ago.
A report by Aman, the military intelligence service, said Hamas sleeper cells in the West Bank had been ordered by Khaled Meshaal, its political leader, who is based partly in Egypt, to prepare for a struggle to take control. The analysis is supported by the security service Shin Bet.
According to military intelligence, there are strong indications that Iran is encouraging Hamas to replace Fatah, the more moderate party led by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority.
This would create a third proxy force, after Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, through which Iran could retaliate for any attack on its nuclear program from Israel.
After a long period as Hamas's main sponsor, Shi'ite Iran cooled towards the Sunni Palestinian movement when it supported the rebels attempting to oust Syria's Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran.
Hamas offices in Damascus were closed and its operatives moved to Qatar and Egypt. However, as Assad's position has weakened, the relationship between Iran and Hamas has been restored.
Iran regards Hamas as a strategic asset in the struggle against Israel. According to Israeli defence sources, Hamas militants are financed through Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
"Iran is losing its strongest Middle East ally, Syria. It can't afford to lose its Palestinian outposts surrounding Israel," one defence source said.
Last week Hamas put on a show of force when thousands of its supporters marched through the West Bank cities of Hebron and Nablus waving their green flags while Palestinian security forces stood by. Some observers said it seemed the Arab Spring was coming to the West Bank.
A close associate of Mr Netanyahu said: "Bibi (his nickname) understands the geopolitical changes in the Middle East. No way would (he) give up an inch of the West Bank - he is convinced that the intelligence assessment about a Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas) takeover is solid."
Before last week's cabinet meeting, Mr Netanyahu said Hamas had called for the destruction of Israel and the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem. "We have been here in Jerusalem for 3000 years. We have been in the land of Israel for close to 4000 years, and we'll remain here forever,"
he added.
Since the Palestinians won recognition as a non-member observer state at the UN last month, the Israeli government, which faces a general election in the new year, has approved the building of thousands of homes for settlers in the West Bank.
General Tawfiq Tirawi, a senior Fatah member and former head of Palestinian general intelligence, said: "We're on the verge of catastrophe. Hamas wants intifada (an uprising) and now only a spark is needed to light the inferno. Hamas will take over the West Bank."
General Tirawi believes Israel is inadvertently helping to bring Hamas to power by not introducing any political solution. Munib al-Masri, a Palestinian businessman who has tried to mediate between Hamas and Fatah, believes reconciliation is now out of the question. "Iran is financing Hamas in the West Bank," he said.
A new survey by Khalil Shikaki, a Jerusalem-based pollster, found that 48 per cent of those in the West Bank support Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's Gaza leader, compared with 45 per cent for Mr Abbas. "Most of the people are with Hamas. They have the determination. They represent the resistance to Israel," Mr Masri said.
