| A new poll yesterday showed Hamas deadlocked with the ruling Fatah party ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections. The results were the latest sign of trouble for Fatah, which had dominated Palestinian politics for decades. According to yesterday’s poll, Fatah would capture 32.3 percent of the vote, while Hamas would get 30.2 percent. In Gaza, the two groups are just a few percentage points apart, with Hamas grabbing 36.4 percent of the vote to Fatah’s 36.7 percent. The survey of 1,000 people by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, putting the two rivals in a statistical dead heat. |