Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ramped up efforts to reconcile with Hamas. Abbas met with Hamas rivals in the West Bank on Saturday, for the first time in a year, after announcing the previous week that he is willing to go to the Gaza Strip, which would be the first time in four years, to meet with Hamas leaders and discuss Palestinian unity.

Associated Press reported Abbas would even be willing to pass up hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid if it meant making a Palestinian unity deal.

“Palestinians need American money, but if they use it as a way of pressuring us, we are ready to relinquish that aid,” said Azzam Ahmed, one of Abbas’ aides.

The United States and Israel consider Iranian-backed Hamas a terrorist group. Hamas refuses the right of Israel to exist and continually launches rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. Hamas was a part of a Palestinian unity government until the government collapsed in 2007 after Hamas brutally seized power in the Gaza Strip.

In response to the PA’s push for reconciliation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “I have one thing to say to them—you can’t have a peace agreement with Israel and Hamas. … Choose peace with Israel ….”

The momentum for Palestinian unity is part of a greater strategy in the PA’s bid for international recognition, which may come before the United Nations General Assembly in September. The Fatah-led government realizes that its case for statehood is weak unless it reconciles with its Palestinian enemy. Hamas realizes this as well.

According to the Associated Press,

Hamas leaders say they want a full power-sharing deal before meeting with the Palestinian president—including a deal on how to divide security responsibilities. …Hamas is demanding further gestures from Abbas before considering unity, such as a release of hundreds of Hamas prisoners locked up in the West Bank, re-opening closed Hamas charities and the removal of a ban on Hamas activities in the West Bank.Palestinian analysts say Hamas has hardened its negotiating positions recently and is feeling empowered by the recent upheavals in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt, where its ally, the Muslim Brotherhood, is expected to play a key role in the new regime.

If Abbas makes these concessions, we could see Hamas in the Palestinian driver’s seat in the West Bank, something the Trumpet has expected for years.