The first working session of the new Palestinian parliament has ended in turmoil, with the opposition Fatah party walking out.
The legislature has just come under the control of the Hamas militant movement, following its sweeping election victory in January.
After years of entirely dominating the parliament, the Fatah Party now finds itself in the minority, and its members were incensed by Hamas' approach to a key procedural issue.
The differences between Hamas and Fatah are deep and bitter.
In the past, Fatah has attempted to suppress Hamas by force, imprisoning its leaders. And all through the recent election campaign, Hamas hammered Fatah for the corruption in its ranks.
These are parties with very different ideologies and it is not surprising that their first, proper parliamentary encounter was tense.
Walkout
A few weeks ago, in its last act, the old, outgoing Fatah-dominated parliament passed measures designed to strengthen the presidency which will remain in Fatah's hands.
Now Hamas has moved to overturn those measures.
Fatah says that would not be legal, and when the Hamas majority voted to go ahead and review the work of the previous parliament, Fatah members rose and walked out of the chamber.
One of them, Nabil Shaath, said it was a one-off demonstration and they intended to return to the parliament.
‘This is a protest about this meeting,’ said Mr Shaath.
‘We will attend later meetings, and we will discuss this with our leadership and with their leadership to come with... a new system that will really make it worthwhile for us to be part of that parliament and not overruled on order by the numerical majority.’
Despite the gulf between the two parties, Hamas is still urging Fatah to join it in a coalition government in the interests of national unity.
But the signs are that Fatah will decline the offer, and this very fraught exchange in parliament is an indication of how difficult it might be for the two parties to work together in any new administration.