Sacrificing peace for propaganda - that is the accusation being levelled at Palestinian leaders.

The inter - Palestinian peace process has hit a yet another stumbling block this week.

A reconciliation agreement was supposed to be signed by the 25th of this month.

It was intended to lead to cooperation between Fatah and Hamas over eventual elections and the reconstruction of war-damaged Gaza.

But the Palestinian authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and Fatah leader, has decided not to back a UN-sponsored war crimes report about Israel's assault on the Gaza strip.

Hamas says the move amounts to a betrayal of the Palestinian people and has postponed the signing of the agreement in protest.

So what does it all mean for the future of Palestinian unity and the Middle East peace process?

Inside Story, with presenter Nick Clark, discusses with guests Munzer Suleiman, the director of the centre for American and Arab Studies in Washington, Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, and abdul- Sattar Qassem, a professor of political science at An-Najah National University in Nablus.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Monday, October 12, 2009.