‘Israel has said it will transfer to the West Bank about 120 Fatah supporters who fled the Gaza Strip after clashes with Hamas,’ Al Jazeera reports. ‘Monday’s announcement marks a reversal of a previous decision, which had seen 32 men detained by Hamas after they were sent back on Sunday.’ (more…)

It seems that the minor civil war between Hamas and Fatah is flaring up once again; Hamas has now, in response to a series of bombings in Hamas-controlled Gaza, arrested several representatives of Palestinian President and leader of Fatah, Mahmous Abbas (Abu Mazen). (more…)

Salafi Jihadists are becoming increasingly active in ‘Palestine.’ They are garnering more support than ever before, and they are partially responsible for the increasing radicalization of Palestinian Arabs. If you think Fatah and especially Hamas are evil and extreme, just take the following comparison made by Salafi Jihadists into consideration: “compared to us, Hamas is Islamism Lite.” (more…)

Vanity Fair has what could potentially be a bombshell up. According to VF, the United States provoked a civil war in Palestine, thinking that Fatah would win it. (more…)

Ah, those peaceful Fatah terrorists are at it again:

 Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, on Sunday called for the murder of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad for “collaboration” with Israel and the US.

This was the first time the group has openly called for Fayad’s assassination. In the past, the group distributed leaflets strongly condemning Fayad and calling for his dismissal. (more…)

Here are three interesting articles about the situation in Gaza:
- Charles Krauthammer at NRO: Charles argues that the situation is, now, quite simple. The West and Israel should isolate Gaza, because the West cannot deal with a terrorist organization. Furthermore, Israel should adopt a zero tolerance policy towards Hamas / Gaza. “Israel should declare that it will tolerate no more rocket fire — that the next Qassam will be answered with a cutoff of gasoline shipments.” At the same time, the West should focus completely on Abbas and help him as much as possible. Abbas stands for - in the eyes of Krauthammer - moderation and the US should bolster him. Of course, Abbas is far from perfect (he’s weak for one thing), this should be considered his last change: it is up to him to turn the West Bank into a success.

- Daniel Levy at The American Prospect, on the other hand, believes that “ignoring Hamas and Gaza in an effort to bolster Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah isn’t going to work.” That is why he proposes “a three-part plan to address the current crisis and relaunch a viable peace process.” The plan consists out of three phases:
* Phase one: Stabilization. The US need to support Abbas, but not hug him to death. “Those elements within Fatah and Hamas and in the Arab world (hopefully including Saudi Arabia) who are convinced that the only stability and peace-building option for Palestinians (and Israelis) is via Palestinian power-sharing and national accommodation should establish channels of dialogue and negotiation towards that end.” Fatah has to “reign in its armed militants on the West Bank, to incorporate them into regular security forces, and/or initiate a process of collecting unauthorized weapons.” Furthermore, “In Gaza, Hamas will be expected to undertake a similar process of regularizing the carrying and display of weapons and the collection of unauthorized weapons with a view to a later integration of security forces. Hamas should impose order and a ceasefire that will also be accepted by Israel.” Lastly: “Mid-level officials will coordinate between Israel and Hamas in Gaza (directly or via international agencies) in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis and allow normal life to resume.”
* Phase two: Consensus-building on a new way forward. Once the situation has calmed down, “Abbas and the Fatah and Hamas leaderships should commit themselves to a new power-sharing political arrangement.” Which would result in “a new power-sharing arrangement between Fatah and Hamas leading to a renewed National Unity Government.” After that they have to: “Expand the circles of support around this new way forward: Hamas and Fatah would explain their respective positions and Abbas would advocate for international acceptance of the new Palestinian national framework as having the delivery capacity, especially on security, to carry forward a peace process.” Israel and the US would get involved as well and they would work towards a new plan. “Security efforts will be focused on solidifying a comprehensive ceasefire arrangement that includes the West Bank and Gaza.”
* Phase 3: Re-launch a better grounded peace process. “Launch a comprehensive regional peace process on all tracks. Israel and the new Palestinian government will announce their readiness to begin serious political negotiations on all issues. This process should also involve Syria, which is important in itself, and can help reduce tensions and avoid spoiler tactics that might undermine the process, emanating from both Lebanon and from within the Palestinian arena.” “As the security situation is further stabilized against the backdrop of the ceasefire, major efforts should be undertaken by Israel to dramatically free up living conditions in the West Bank, and to remove outposts and outlying settlements.” Also, previous agreements forged to re-link Gaza to the West Bank should be fully implemented — including the Access and Movement Agreement from November 2005.” Of course, “the Arab states, in the context of the Arab League Initiative, should undertake certain diplomatic gestures towards Israel.” The last point of this phase:

On the Israeli-Palestinian track, the negotiating goal should be defined as a permanent status agreement. In the absence of an ability to reach such an agreement, the process should not be defined as an all-or-nothing effort that has collapsed (learning from Camp David 2000). Rather, two fallback efforts would be simultaneously deployed: the Quartet should put forward its own detailed parameters for permanent status and perhaps have them endorsed in a UN Security Council Resolution, and Israel would undertake an immediate agreed withdrawal from the West Bank towards permanent borders, with agreed-upon international forces taking the place of the IDF.

- The Economist: “ecular nationalism of the sort Fatah stood for is coming to look like the weak force and radical Islam like the strong force. This poses a huge danger to a region already beset by violent conflicts. What is worse, Western policy is in danger of strengthening the wrong side by making the Islamists look like martyrs and the secularists like traitors.” A big problem with the “West Bank first” approach, hugging Abbas can labeling him a “moderate”: ‘Any Arab leader who wins the label “moderate” and is showered as a result of this with American love and money is in danger of being called a traitor.’
So, what needs to be done? Abbas has to deliver results. He has to show that moderation works. Working, in this regard, does not just mean that we should pour money into the West Bank; it means that Israel should withdraw, slowly but surely, from it.

From the three articles mentioned above, I agree the most with the article at the Econmist. Hamas and Gaza have to be isolated, the West Bank has to be supported, but money alone will not do the trick. Besides that, Abbas cannot afford to look like America’s best friend. That will only be counterproductive.

The Spiegel has an article up about what once was the headquarter of the Fatah-controlled Security Force in Gaza, which has been taken over by Hamas.

Hamas allows interested individuals to visit this headquarter: Hamas says that many of its members have been interrogated, tortured and murdered in its chambers.

For years the complex was a symbol of the horror disseminated by the security forces that reported directly to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. This is where Hamas men were taken after Fatah had arrested them. Some of those lucky enough to be eventually released reported that they had been tortured. Others disappeared forever…

Human rights organizations like Amnesty International have long voiced criticism of systematic human rights violations in the security force’s prisons, both in Gaza and the West Bank. In this respect, the fact that Hamas captured the Fatah headquarters in Gaza last week was more than just strategically significant — it was also a highly symbolic act.

“This building is a symbol of injustice in stone,” says Abu Mohammed, an officer in Hamas’s militant al-Qassam Brigades, who led the attack on the complex. He and his unit have occupied the compound since the building was captured, and Abu Mohammed is using the gatehouse as his office. “We came because we wanted to see the place where our brothers were killed,” he says.

Of course, it is undoubtedly true that Fatah has not treated Hamas members well. There is no doubt in my mind about the treatment quite some Hamas prisoners received. However, one should take whatever Hamas says with a grain of salt:

In the room next to the guard booth, large puddles of blood are drying out, surrounded by swarms of flies. “Fatah used this room to shoot people,” says the al-Qassam militiaman.

But why the security force would have performed executions in a room with two windows, directly adjacent to the gate of the complex, remains unclear. One can’t help but suspect that Abu Mohammed’s men may have used the room to shoot Fatah men who wanted to surrender.

Eyewitnesses last Thursday reported that the Fatah members who were defending the building were shot in the head, one after another, when, with their shirts removed and their hands held above their heads, they had attempted to surrender.

Abu Mohammed, of course, denies these allegations by saying: “We didn’t kill a single one of them. That would be un-Islamic.”

Sure.

Andrew C. McCarthy wrote an interesting article for NRO about the Bush administration’s decision to isolate Hamas and (but) to embrace Fatah / Abbas. Andrew writes:

President Bush’s stirring post-9/11 message that regimes the world over have to choose between aligning with civilization or with terrorists should officially be interred in war-torn “Palestine.” Seriousness about the doctrine is the only realistic way to defeat our enemies, and now we make a mockery of it. A mockery built on the trifecta-fiction that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is an avatar of peace, that his Fatah faction has aligned with civilization, and that the Palestinian people — the ones who freely chose to install Hamas as their parliamentary majority and who have trademarked “Intifada” as an instrument of statecraft — are somehow worth prostituting ourselves over.

In the Palestinian civil war, the Bush administration has unabashedly cast its lot with Fatah. The United States, in the midst of its own global war against Islamic radicalism, is promising additional millions in foreign aid for a cabal which maintains its own jihadist wing, and which is so thoroughly corrupt — having pocketed much of the foreign aid billions that poured in over the last two decades — that Palestinians opted for the more transparent Hamas terrorists when given the option…

Abbas proceeded to urge a throng of 50,000 Palestinians to re-aim their guns at the “occupation” (that would be Israel) instead of turning them on each other: “[W]ith the will and determination of its sons, Fatah has and will continue,” he brayed. “We will not give up our principles and we have said that rifles should be directed against the occupation…. We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation….”

That was less than six months ago — despite administration assertions on Monday that Abbas is “a partner who is committed to peace.” And none of it was a surprise. When Abbas was seeking election in 2005, he declared to a cheering mob in Gaza that Palestinian terrorists being sought by Israel were “heroes fighting for freedom.”

After that, Andrew takes a closer look at Fatah’s constitution (which isn’t exactly filled with positive statements).

Although I understand Andrew’s reasoning: that the US has made a deal with the devil, I think that he is wrong, in so far that the West has to do something and that now is a great opportunity to force Abbas to moderate Fatah and to work on a lasting peace. Lord knows that I am not exactly a big fan of Fatah either, but in this case Fatah is - certainly - the lesser of two evils.

It is time for some true realism in America’s foreign policy. I agree with those who say that talking to Hamas is completely useless, but Fatah and Abbas have indicated on several occasions that they might be willing to compromise, which means that talking to Abbas and helping him might pay off.

Fatah is not ‘good,’ but a regime does not have to be ‘good’ for the West to deal with it: the regime must be willing to compromise and to give us something of value (with, of course, something for them in return).

Investor’s Business Daily has a good editorial up about former President Jimmy Carter:

Has Jimmy Carter gone off the deep end? He’s now scolding the West for refusing to bankroll Hamas terrorists who’ve just seized power at gunpoint in Gaza. It’s a new low in coddling terrorism.

The answer, according to the IBD (and I agree) is: yes. From the editorial:

The statement [”The United States and Israel decided to punish all the people in Palestine and did everything they could to deter a compromise between Hamas and Fatah”] was so malevolent and illogical as to border on insane. Carter wasn’t honest enough to say he was rooting for terrorists who started a terrifying new war in the region and trashed what little democratic rule the Palestinians had. Instead, he tut-tutted the West for being insufficiently sensitive to the fact that Hamas thugs were democratically elected in 2006 in an “orderly and fair” vote.

When one party has started a civil war, democracy isn’t exactly the issue anymore. Just being elected does not justify making warfare on your fellow citizens. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeatedly points out that those who are elected democratically have an obligation to govern democratically or they aren’t democrats. Hamas has blown its right to democracy.

And:

Crazier still, Carter insisted Hamas was entitled to American aid because Fatah had been getting it. But he left out some details: Hamas is a terrorist organization that had broken six previous cease-fires, and its campaign platform vowed to destroy Israel. Hamas would gladly take Western cash to make good on that campaign promise to voters.

No one in the West is obligated to support an international terrorist organization just because it “won” an election. The proper response is to cut it off until it renounces violence.

Does the West encourage other countries to become Democracies? Yes. However, Democracy does not just mean what the majority (or a significant part of the population) wants: it is also about respecting human rights, protecting certain basic freedoms, and, generally, being a good member of the international community.

When Palestinians elect a terrorist organization into office, they should not complain when the West cuts off all aid. Hamas is an, I repeat, terrorist organization. We are not, in any way, shape or form, obliged to support a terrorist organization.

There are some people who seem to believe that it is all about Democracy. It is not. The majority of the people can vote to kill the minority. Does that mean that we have to support this decision?

Of course not you will say.

Good - Hamas wants to kill all Israelis and destroy Israel. Therefore, we are not obliged to help Hamas. In fact, if we give money to Hamas, Hamas will most likely not only use it to help Gazans, but also to buy weapons with which they will attack Israel and destroy (read: kill) all opposition.

Ahmed Yousef wrote an op-ed for the New York Times about the situation in Gaza. Strangely, Yousef defends Hamas - in the very first paragraph he explains why, according to him, Hamas’ take-over of Gaza was not a “coup.” At the very end of the op-ed all becomes clear: “Ahmed Yousef is the political adviser to Ismail Haniya, who became the Palestinian prime minister last year.”

Ah, that explains it then.

Lawhawk at A Blog For All says it all:

Let’s just ignore all the assassination attempts by Hamas on Fatah’s Abbas and other top leaders, both in Gaza and the West Bank. Let’s ignore the Hamas thugs throwing Fatah thugs off rooftops or executing them in hospitals or firing on crowds of Fatah thugs seeking to flee Gaza to Israel.

Hamas isn’t providing political stability. It’s enforcing its brand of law and order according to Islamist precepts. If you’re a member of Fatah, you’re toast. Law and order consists of Hamas thugs doing what they do best - cowing those without the guns into doing their bidding. As for getting basic services going, perhaps the Palestinians should consider using piping for sewage rather than rockets. As for the economics, perhaps they should consider growing agriculture in greenhouses instead of looting them and then using the remnants as rocket launching facilities or terror training camps.

LGF has a video up of “Ahmed Yousef in an appearance on Hizballah’s Al-Manar TV, explaining to the audience that Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks—just like the US was behind Pearl Harbor.” Part of the transcript:

These events were preceded by very detailed planning, conducted by strategists, who wove the strands of this plot. Some people were probably recruited, and, as has been pointed out by a certain Western intellectual, Israel excels in espionage within the US. and is capable of disguising many operations as Islamic. In other words, Israel is capable of penetrating certain Islamic circles, of directing and running them behind the scenes, so that they will conduct operations from which Israel benefits. Anyone who considers the events of 9/11 cannot say that the Muslims gained anything. There’s another dimension, which some people may have noticed. No one could have captured the pictures of the attack so perfectly except for the cameras in the hands of several Mossad agents, who were near the scene of events, and succeeded in filming this scenes so that it will always serve zionism to remind the world of the Arabs’ and Muslims’ crimes against America.

Yeah, definitely a good decision of the New York Times to print his column.

The New York Times has a couple of interesting articles up about the situation in Gaza: after the fighting, Hamas is now busy trying to enforce its authority. Of course, we will have to wait a bit longer to see what Hamastan will look like, but so far, the first signs are not exactly encouraging:

Ghada, 50, a Palestinian Christian, is afraid to go outside. When she does, “You have all these men suddenly in the street with these long beards, and they look at you in surprise, from up to down, and their look is, like, why are you like this?” Several times, young men have told her she should be killed for not wearing a head covering.

Ghada, who did not want her last name to be mentioned also said: “Look at how Hamas and Fatah fought each other, and they’re both Palestinian and both Muslim. If they do this to each other, what can they do to others? Now it’s to the advantage of Hamas to make it calm, but afterward we don’t know what they’re up to.”

She is quite right about that. Thomas Friedman wrote a great column about the Palestinian civil war, noting that, in effect, what goes around comes around:

certain habits, especially bad ones, die hard — and they can end up warping your own society as much as your enemy’s. You can see what’s happened here: If it’s O.K. to wear masks when confronting the Jews, it eventually becomes O.K. to wear masks when confronting other Palestinians. If it becomes O.K. to use suicide bombers against the Jews, it eventually becomes O.K. to use suicide bombers against other Muslims. What goes around comes around.

The column is also noteworthy because Friedman spends some time on the outfit both Hamas and Fatah forces wear, more specifically the fact that all of them wear masks when they are fighting. This mask sends - essentially - a terrifying message for the average Palestinian since it essentially says: “I don’t play by the rules. Be afraid, be very afraid.” Wearing a mask allows both sides to commit the most horrible crimes, while remaining anonymous. They can throw their Palestinian brothers off the highest buildings in Gaza, nobody can identify them. Thus, there is no reason to feel ashamed of what they are doing to their own country (except for the fact that they behave like a bunch of immoral savages, but that never stopped them before).

Israel meanwhile, once again proves that she has the moral highground by letting ill Gazans cross the border into Israel, where they can recieve much needed medical treatment. Once again - as usual - Israel shows her humane face, while the Palestinian thugs of Hamas kill as many ‘enemies’ as they can while letting their Palestinian ‘brothers,’ who did not ask for the conflict in the first place, die because they cannot receive the medical treatment they so desperately need.

Of course, there is also good news for some Palestinians, namely: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush have publicly embraced Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert promised to work with Abbas “to provide the Palestinians with a real, genuine chance for a state of their own.”

Bush has decided to focus solely on the West Bank: “the administration is pursuing what some have called a ‘West Bank First’ strategy in which money, aid and international political recognition would be heaped on the West Bank, enabling Mr. Abbas to develop a showcase government there that would attract support from ordinary Palestinians.” I have called for such a policy myself as well, and I am glad that Bush agrees: Hamas should be completely isolated, starved even (as a figure of speech), while the West Bank prospers. Pour money into the West Bank, demand some concessions from Abbas in return (no celebration of terrorism on PA TV for instance) and let the Palestinians see what happens if they embrace moderation.

The Haaretz calls on the Israeli government to allow refugees from Gaza to enter Israel, with which I agree although Israel should make sure - first and foremost - that those who enter are not terrorists.

In the end, this is a great opportunity for Israel to, finally, be considered to be the ‘good guy.’ Israel has lost many PR battles, it is time - I’d say - for a victory. Help Gazans to get out of Gaza. Give medical treatment to those who need it. Isolate Hamas, invest in the West Bank. Do that and the situation changes quite drastically in Israel’s favor.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements, former US President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was addressing a conference of Irish human rights officials, said the Bush administration’s refusal to accept the 2006 election victory of Hamas was “criminal.”

Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas…

Carter said the American-Israeli-European consensus to reopen direct aid to the new government in the West Bank, but to deny the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, represented an “effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples.”

Great - the Idiot-in-Chief has spoken. Remember, this is the same man who accuses Israel of being an Apartheid state. I find it amazing that Carter continues to defend the terrorists of Hamas. Well, on second thought, I do not actually: Carter speaks for the left-wing of the Democratic Party - the Wing that considers Palestinians to be victims and Hamas to be heroes / freedom fighters. The Wing that has no problem with comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and Gaza to Auschwitz.

Carter, as usual, believes that the Palestinians should be treated as children; they do not have to take responsibility for anything. They are victims. They do not have a say in what is happening to them - it is all Israel’s and America’s fault, according to Carter and his ilk.

I wish newspapers would stop quoting Carter. He has become completely irrelevant.

More about the situation in Gaza at On Faith.

Charles Levinson continues to blog about the situation in Gaza. It seems that Hamas is - slowly but surely - making it impossible for people to buy cigarettes, which is - of course - quite a terrible thing for smokers but not exactly life threatening. More importantly, “Hamas has moved to restore law and order in Gaza, including putting traffic cops at busy intersections to direct traffic.”

Today, Charles published this post about how Hamas smuggled weapons into Gaza as to be able to commit the coup it committed last week. Many Fatah officials are angry at Abbas, because he refused to smuggle weapons for them into Gaza.

Here are some couple of interesting articles about the situation in Palestine / Gaza and the West Bank:
- “Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday issued a decree outlawing the armed groups of Hamas and said its members would be prosecuted.” Abbas wrote he has decided to “consider the Executive Unit and the militias of the Hamas movement illegal, due to their military coup against the Palestinian legitimacy and its institutions.” As a result, “anyone who is involved in any of these two groups is going to be punished, according to the law and the orders of the state of emergency.” Hamas’ reaction: Abbas is a traitor who is part of some grand American-Israeli conspiracy to “bring down the Hamas government.”

- Israeli PM Ehud Olmert met with UN Secretary General Ban to discuss the situation in Lebanon and Gaza. According to the JPost, “Olmert asked that a draft plan be drawn up in Israel regarding the possibility of an international force on the Gaza border.” Sadly, “there was little likelihood that such a deployment would materialize.” Both Egypt and Hamas strongly object to such an international force (because such a force might make it impossible for Egypt to smuggle weapons into Gaza).

- Gazans, meanwhile, aren’t very positive. Asef Hamdi summarized the situation quite accurately: “In simple words… welcome to the Taliban lifestyle.”

- Meanwhile, incoming Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is believed to be planning “an attack on Gaza within weeks to crush Hamas.” No one can blame Israel for attacking of course considering the fact that rockets are fired from Gaza every single day at Israel. However, it seems to me that Israel would be wise to refrain from attacking for quite a while. As I have said before, starve Hamas. Enforce the borders. Make sure that nothing comes in and that nothing gets out of Gaza. Isolate Gaza completely. Then, if Hamas decides to launch more than one terrorist attack against Israel (I’m talking about coordinated terrorist attacks), strike back hard or, better yet, strike against Hamas leaders in Gaza, but let time to its work - let Gaza collapse.

- A senior Fatah officer explained why he and his buddies did not fight against Hamas and, instead, surrendered: “we are very disappointed with our leadership.” He explained: “We decided to surrender to [Hamas’s armed wing] Izaddin Kassam because we didn’t feel that our commanders and leaders were behind us. Many of our commanders had fled to Ramallah and Cairo, where they were issuing orders to us from air-conditioned hotel rooms.” It is quite remarkable that Abbas did not order his troops to fight back (until too late).

- Meanwhile, Israel says that it will not allow Fatah “to slaughter Hamas members in the West Bank like Hamas did to Fatah last week in the Gaza Strip.” My question: why not? Let it happen. Palestinians hate Israel no matter what Israel does. Let the Palestinians divide their land into two separate entities: Hamastan and Fatahstan.

- Outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz isn’t happy. “Peretz was outraged that Olmert and Barak were so quick to replace him. He told Olmert in a conversation on Friday that the telephone vote took him by surprise and that Barak violated a promise to him that the handover in the Defense Ministry would be coordinated in a respectful manner by the two of them.” Peretz (one of Israel’s worst Defense Ministers in the history of the country) said: “It’s not as if Barak is Rambo coming to save us. So why is [his appointment] being handled so hastily and disrespectfully?”

- And, lastly (from the JP that is), there is this column by Khaled Abu Toameh, called “Palestinian Affairs: Fatah’s final death blow.” Khaled explains why he believes Hamas was able to take control of Gaza so easily. In short: Palestinians believe that Hamas is the lesser of two evils. Fatah is incredibly corrupt. The problem: once Hamas rules, Hamas will become corrupt as well.

Next, lets go to the Haaretz:
- “Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad said after being sworn in Sunday that his first priority would be to restore security to the PA.” He said: “The first piority of our government is security and the security situation. The mission will be difficult and hard, but not impossible.” That of course depends: if he includes Gaza, it might be a bit more difficult that he anticipates. If, on the other hand, he is strictly talking about the West Bank he’s probably right.

- Aluf Benn wrote an op-ed about Ehud Barak. Aluf explains why Barak changed role models: first, he was a big fan of Winston Churchill, nowadays, he looks at General Charles de Gaulle for inspiration.

Gideon Levy writes: “Slightly before Shabbat came in on Friday evening, U.S. citizen G. reached the Palestinian side of the Erez Crossing. G., the headmaster of a private school in Gaza, may have been the last Westerner to leave the Strip. The last one to leave did indeed turn off the lights: The Palestinian side was empty.” Read this column if you want to see a perfect example of the idiocy of the left on this issue.

- Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel conclude that Hamas is a wolf in moderate clothing. Really? I dunno, I don’t think that there is much ‘moderate’ about Mickey “the Martyr” Mouse.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who defied PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s “presidential decree” to dissolve the Hamas-led government, called for unity among Palestinians and urged people to remain calm as fighters from his Hamas movement consolidated their hold on Gaza.

Haniyeh said Hamas was still committed to unity agreements it signed with Fatah.

“I still affirm that the road is open and wide to reformulating these relations on a firm nationalistic basis,” Haniyeh said, speaking after Muslim Friday prayers in Gaza City.

Some serious chutzpah right there. First Hamas take over Gaza, kill Fatah members / officials, loot Fatah buildings, talking about how they will install Islamic law as the law of Gaza… then Haniyeh says that everybody has to remain calm and that he and Hamas remain dedicated to a united Palestine with a unity government. What a bunch of nonsense.

The said thing is, I am quite sure that many on the left will fall for it and will call on the West to help Hamas / Gaza financially and politically.

More about the situation in Gaza:

This packed, impoverished coastal strip had a postrevolutionary feel on Friday: the green flag of Hamas, victor over Fatah in what amounted to a five-day civil war, flew over public buildings where once the multicolored Palestinian one had been.

While the violence was largely over, people worried not only about daily survival but also about how the round of deadly infighting — killing a reported 116 people — postponed hope for an independent and unified Palestinian state.

“These are the darkest days of my life,” said Ahmad Sawafiri, 47, a taxi driver. “What comes after all of this?

“We went backward 100 years.”

Mr. Sawafiri stood in a disgusted crowd in Gaza City watching looters strip the sumptuous villa of Muhammad Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief and bitter rival of Hamas, who was not in Gaza.

A disgusted crowd? This is what happens if you let terrorists take over your neighborhood. This crowd should have been disgusted years ago. Of course, they were disgusted with Fatah:

It was, for many Palestinians, a confusing and unaccustomed sight: black-hooded and normally disciplined Hamas fighters, seemingly driven by devotion to God, stripping away chandeliers, carpets, a bathtub — earthly goods but also symbols of what many see as Fatah’s corruption and excess. After the fighters left, poor people with donkey carts arrived, sweeping up stray bits of wood and metal and even uprooting the dapper Mr. Dahlan’s garden plants.

“I will explain it to you,” said one looter, Mazen Qasas, a vendor. “I am 34. I am married. I have six children. I am looking for a lamp, anything I can sell or use for my poor house. We are very poor. This is public property. These are corrupt people,” he said, referring to Fatah leaders. “They took everything.”

Sadly for the Palestinians, Hamas is, in this regard too, no better. Hamas is run by a bunch of thugs.

Here is what I suppose the West and Israel do: starve Gaza. Let not one penny get into Gaza. Let Hamas starve to death. Meanwhile, we invest in the West Bank. Talk to Abbas; help out economically, politically and militarily; demand - in return - that PA TV stops broadcasting extreme views; make sure that Abbas fights corruption.

Make the West Bank prosperous and relatively moderate. The people in Gaza will notice the contrast and will break with Hamas.

In related news: “Hundreds of Fatah gunmen on Saturday stormed Hamas-controlled institutions in the West Bank, including parliament and government ministries, and told staffers that those with ties to Hamas will not be allowed to return.”

That’s right - kick out Hamas completely. Let not one active member of Hamas live freely in the West Bank. Force Hamas members to either move to Gaza, go to prison as the traitors they are, or to break with Hamas.

More:

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah gunmen took over the Hamas-controlled city council and planted the Fatah flag on the top of the building. Fatah supporters also kidnapped seven Hamas supporters, and deposed a senior member of the Religious Affairs Ministry.

Now the West and Israel have to reach out to Hamas and help him strengthen his position. We have to focus on the West Bank now. We, the West and Israel, have to be Mahmoud Abbas’ only hope.

Hamas has now taken over every single part of Gaza. Gaza has become Hamastan. Although a Hamas spokesman told CNN yesterday that Hamas does not want to turn Gaza into an Islamic state, Hamas fighters beg to to disagree:

“This is the first step in the establishment of the Islamic state,” a Hamas member told Ynet from inside the Preventive Security Service building. “This is Islam’s victory, Allah’s victory, and we pray to Allah for brining us this victory.”

Hamas officials announced that the building would turn into a college for religion studies, and that the Sariya – the PA’s government office building – would turn into a large religious center.

Hamas also announced that it has a list of senior Fatah officials: it will try to find these individuals, when it does, these will be executed.

Charles Levinson:

“They’re firing at us, firing RPGs, firing mortars. We’re not Jews,” the brother of Jamal Abu Jediyan, a Fatah commander, pleaded during a live telephone conversation with a Palestinian radio station.

Minutes later both men were dragged into the streets and riddled with bullets.

Charles has a blog: Conflict Blotter where he has more.

The Big Pharaoh writes:

Egypt, at least the government, is watching this with tremendous concern. My advice to the Egyptian government is to deploy thousands upon thousands of army troops on the Gaza borders and beneath. The borders there are pretty small and could be controlled. This will definitely have to be in agreement with Israel.

Meanwhile, Chris Coughlin wrote a good opinion piece for the Telegraph. Chris writes:

Welcome to the new Islamic Republic of Hamas-stan, where every Palestinian woman is obliged to wear the veil and all traces of corrupting Western influences, from pop music to internet cafés, are strictly banned.

The creation of a mini Islamic state in Gaza now appears the most likely outcome as the militant Palestinian group Hamas strikes against the more secular-minded government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Of course, this is quite a disaster of the Palestinians who live in Gaza, but it also destabalizes the region:

And all this with Ismael Haniyeh, the Palestinian Prime Minister who came to power on the back of Hamas’s surprise election victory in the 2006 elections, yet to establish his de facto Islamic state. Even if Gaza remains under Mr Abbas’s nominal control, the implications of it becoming a self-contained Islamic entity are alarming not just for Israel, but for the wider region.

Hamas makes no secret of the fact that it now receives most of its financial and military support from Iran. The Iranian government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hamas leadership in June last year, in which it agreed to fund the militant group to the tune of £400 million…

Hamas is trying to replicate Hizbollah’s success in Gaza, not a pleasing prospect for Israel, which now faces the threat of having two Iranian-backed, Islamic fundamentalist organisations dedicated to its destruction camped on its northern and southern borders. It is not a thought that will help Israelis sleep easy.

Iran is also training Hamas militants in southern Lebanon.

There are, in essence, a couple of things the international community can do. Perhaps the best option right now is to completely isolate Gaza - to truly enforce its borders as to make sure that nothing gets into Gaza and that nothing can get out. It is a tactic from the Dark Ages, but hey if it worked then, it might work now again. Starve Hamas.

Having Hamas in power of Gaza and Hezbollah ruling over southern Lebanon is truly a nightmare for Israel. It would not surprise me if Israel decides to act relatively soon.

The main question is of course, how to deal with Iran? Without Iran Hamas would be nowhere. Without Iran, Hezbollah would not be as powerful as it is today. Hamas is sponsoring Islamists in the region, who take over (parts of) countries and establish Islamic rule there. Israel is threatened and so are the interests of the West, especially of America.

Jules Crittenden has more.

Palestinian PM Abbas dissolved the Palestinian government and declared a state of emergency earlier today.Good news for the inhabitents of Gaza, from now on they will be living in an Islamist rule:

Hamas announced Thursday that Gaza is now under its Islamic rule, the first step to becoming an Islamic state.

Palestinian legislator Saeb Erakat commented that “the violence is ’setting us back 50 years at least’.”

CNN talked to a spokesman of Hamas. He explained that, according to him, Fatah did not do its job in Gaza and undermined the unity government.

When asked about reports that Hamas members execute Fatah officials before their wives and children, the spokesman said that the reports are not true, lies, and that it is the other way around (according to him, Fatah members are executing Hamas members before their families).

He also said that Hamas does not want to create an Islamic Gaza.

All nonsense of course: Hamas is doing what it planned to do since they were elected into office (and well before that of course). They will take control over Gaza and will, most likely, attack Israel asap. Israel will then be forced to respond and the entire world will once again turn against Israel and Hamas will have a (propaganda) victory.

Better yet: Hamas has taken over the headquarters of Fatah’s Preventive Security forces in Gaza City. Abbas is “expected to announce an “important decision” later today.” The West and Fatah hope he will “suspend participation in the so-called unity government with Hamas, which began in March, or to declare a full state of emergency.”

Steven Erlanger and Graham Bowley explain:

The fall of that headquarters would have powerful resonance for both Fatah and Hamas. Preventive Security is an elite national security force that was founded by Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah strongman, and was considered to be one of the most important Fatah forces in Gaza.

It is quite possible that ‘Palestine’ will be divided in two areas: one ruled by Hamas (Gaza), the other by Fatah (the West Bank). Obviously, this prospect does not exactly make Israel very happy. Olmert already “warned of ‘regional consequences’ if Gaza fell under the complete control of Hamas.” With “regional consequences” Olmert probably means that Israel will attack Gaza this summer “to cut back Hamas’s military power.” The Israeli security agencies believe “Hamas, which is able to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt, is developing a sophisticated army on the model of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.”

Foreign Ministery spokesman Mark Regev explained: “The clear strength that Hamas is demonstrating on the ground is a problem for us, and a challenge. It’s a problem for the Palestinians, too,” Mr. Regev said. “Our whole policy is to work with moderate pragmatic Palestinians who believe in peace, and Hamas hegemony in Gaza is not good for Israel, for the Palestinians or for peace.”

“Asked whether the Hamas gains showed the failure” of America’s and Israel’s policy meant to “isolate and damage Hamas and build up Fatah with recognition and weaponry,” Regev said: “I don’t think Israel or the international community should give up on Palestinian moderates. That would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Today someone told me: “I hope that Hamas and Fatah will go on for a while, killing each other and that Israel will attack Gaza this summer, and destroy everything they can.” Of course, this is not the best way to deal with the Palestinian issue, but I understand the feeling of frustration so many people have. The Palestinians constantly blame Israel for their own crimes, for their own weaknesses, mistakes, and for their own failures, my hope is that this battle between Hamas and Fatah will change that, at least to a degree. Perhaps this will force some Palestinians to take responsibility for their own mess.

More news from Palestine:
- Nine Palestinians killed in Hamas-Fatah gunfights in Gaza. Hamas seems to have a ‘hitlist’ of Fatah officials it wants to kill. “The top name on the list is PA National Security Adviser Muhammad Dahlan, who is currently in Egypt.” The fighting has, reporttedly, also spread to the West Bank.

- Human Rights Watch says that “armed Palestinian groups have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law during recent fighting in the Gaza Strip, in some cases amounting to war crimes.” Both Hamas and Fatah have, for instance, executed captives, “killed people not involved in hostilities, and engaged in gun battles with one another inside and near Palestinian hospitals.”

Newsflash: terrorists tend to ignore human rights.
- Egypt has ordered Mashaal - who is the leader of Hamas but lives in Syria - to tell his fighters / terrorists to “hold their fire and desist from attacks on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ presidential compound.”

Egypts blames the fighting on external factors. Now, before certain people start blaming Israel for it - Egypt believes that Iran is behind it all. Same goes for Fatah: Fatah has accused both Syria and Iran of staging the civil war.

- CNN has more (including videos). CNN quotes a Palestinian official as saying: “If anybody thinks that we will be a winner out of this fire, I think they’re wrong. “If this fire continues, it will burn all of us. Nobody stands to gain anything.”

The Gospel of Matthew, 12:25-26:

Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

H/t Holly for quite some of the links.

The violence between Hamas and Fatah has not decreased: in fact, the two ‘parties’ are fighting each other more aggressively than ever before. Hamas is now trying to take control of Gaza. The terrorist organization has already attacked and captured the headquarters of the other terrorist organization (albeit less evil) in northern Gaza. 200 Hamas terrorists surrounded the building, “where some 500 Fatah fighters were holed up. Hamas fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at the building.”

Abbas has already called it a “coup” and ordered forces that are loyal to him “to defend their positions in the Gaza Strip.” The command of Abbas’ National Security Forces said in a statement issued in Gaza: “Advance, our forces! Confront the seekers of the coup. Defend your dignity and your military honour. Defend the security of your people.”

Meanwhile, Fatah gunmen surrounded the Al-Aqsa TV station. Al-Aqsa TV is, of course, the Hamas propaganda network. One of their all-time hits: Mickey the Killer Mouse. Fatah seemingly attacked and “shortly after the attack, the station started playing pro-Fatah songs, a sign that the security forces had taken control of the broadcast.” Sadly, however, “later, the television station broadcast pictures of what it said was a thwarted attack, along with pictures Hamas gunmen standing around captured security vehicles.”

The BBC has more:

Fatah leaders are meeting to decide whether to leave the three-month-old unity government they formed with Hamas in an effort to end factional fighting.

Some 18 people have been killed on the streets of Gaza in the past two days.

Furthermore, the residences of both Abbas and Haniyeh “have been targeted with gun and shell fire.”

More:

Frustrated Egyptian mediators said the rival factions appeared uninterested in talks.

The head of the mediation team, Lt Col Burhan Hamad, said: “It seems they don’t want to come. We must make them ashamed of themselves. They have killed all hope. They have killed the future.”

When, I ask, is the world going to learn? Hamas is not interested in peace, Hamas is interested in power. Once completely in power, it will force all Palestinians to live according to Sharia and it will, even more so than now, raise and educate children with just one purpose in mind: to turn them into terrorists. Once these children grow up, they can launch terrorist attacks against Israel.

Simple.

Recently, people have been calling for the West to talk with Hamas, to give Hamas money, etc. This - it seems to me - is definite proof that doing so would be a major mistake.

Of course, there are always those who think Israel is to blame for whatever it is the Palestinians do, but, hopefully these people will, for a long time to come, form the minority in the West and, hopefully, these people will never be in a position of power.

The Haaretz reports:

The Dutch Foreign Ministry is planning to give the Palestinian Police a special grant of 6.3 million euros ($8.4 million) in the following months, the Hague’s foreign minister announced last week. The special funding is “also in Israel’s best interests,” he said.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and Bert Koenders, Minister of Development Cooperation, announced the initiative last week. The money would be given to Palestinian police officers, they told the Dutch press.

The Dutch government expects to give each officer 360 euros through the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM).

Verhagen and Koenders told reporters that this would have a positive humanitarian impact on the lives of approximately 17,000 police officers and their families.

“This allowance will not only help increase safety in the territories but also will improve living conditions for police officers and their families,” they said in a press release. “The Palestinian civilian police have played an important role in recent months in containing and calming disturbances among Palestinians, notably in the Gaza Strip; the police must be strengthened to maintain and enhance safety and public order in the Palestinian territories.”

I’m divided about this matter: if the West pays policemen, the pressure on Hamas will decrease. The less money the Palestinians have because of Hamas, the more Palestinians will oppose Hamas. They will realize that Hamas is actually hurting them. If the West comes in and helps the Palestinians anyhow, many of them might get the impression that they don’t have to change anything.

On the other hand, investing in the Palestinians might also create (some) goodwill. Those policemen, one would think, will feel obliged. They will feel like they ‘owe’ us something and that we are not that bad after all. They will also understand what their lives can be like without Hamas: if Hamas goes, their lives will improve considerably. Besides that, they will also do what they are supposed to do: keep the peace. If policemen aren’t paid, they get desperate, after all they have to take care of their families and they might decide to join either Hamas or Fatah (or any other militia / organization) to be able to do so.

“An IAF airstrike targeted a minivan belonging to a Hamas militant in northern Gaza City on Friday, killing three people and wounding 12, Palestinian hospital officials said.”

The IDF said the aircraft struck the vehicle which was carrying weapons and Kassams, causing secondary explosions.

Separately, Israeli tanks fired five shells near a housing project in the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya, slightly wounding five people, according to hospital officials.
Officials said it fired tank shells at an open field in northern Gaza after identifying a rocket launch from that area and wanted to prevent further firings.

Palestinian security officials reported that an IAF airstrike targeted an empty Hamas school in northeast Gaza City on Friday night.

Rescue workers said one person was injured. The IDF made no comment.

Well, that’s what happens if you start firing dozens of rockets at Israel. It’s called retaliation. If Mexico was firing rockets at El Paso Texas every day, you can bet on it that the US would act.

That being said, one can ask the question whether it is smart for Israel to do this now. I’d say no. The reason: the Palestinians are fighting each other. Hamas wants to draw attention away from the Palestinian civil warunrest. It wants to unite the Palestinians / look like the good guy. If Israel attacks, the Palestinians will forget about Hamas and Fatah, they will focus solely on Israel and, once again, blame Israel for everything.

And not just the Palestinians, the world will respond like that. If one pays attention to the reports in the Western media, at least in Europe, the MSM frequently forgets to mention that Israel only attacks Hamas because Hamas is attacking Israel constantly. It is depicted as just being a mess, not caused by one group specifically. And then, we see Israeli tanks entering and occupying Gaza: Israel the aggressor. Nonsense of course, but good propaganda for Hamas and Fatah.

Israel should stay out of it right now: it has to secure its people by building shelters and let Fatah and Hamas kill each other.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz “ordered the IDF to continue with its current policy of pinpointed airstrikes against Hamas terrorists and Kassam infrastructure.”

Cross posted at The Moderate Voice.

It never ceases to amaze me that Palestinians never seem to be willing to take responsibility for their own behavior / problems.

The international community, Israel and Arab countries are to blame for the current inter-Palestinian fighting in the Gaza Strip for failing to life an economic siege on the Palestinians, a senior Hamas official said Wednesday.

The remarks by Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, came as fighting renewed between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza early Wednesday when Hamas gunmen stormed the home of a top Fatah official in Gaza City, killing five bodyguards inside, Palestinian security officials said.

He said: “”The international community and Arab countries shoulder part of the responsibility for the current events due to their attitudes toward the national unity government. The continued financial and political siege has pushed matters to this simmering tension.”

“The Israelis are behind all these events. It’s illogical that the Arabs stand idle watching the Palestinian arena while it’s on the verge of explosion under the siege. … This is a constant pressure that has led to a real explosion.”

Well, that the Palestinians don’t get a lot of money anymore, is because Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist. In other words: it’s not because the West is greedy or hates the Palestinians, it’s because the Palestinians voted for an organization / party that hates Israel and wants to destroy it.

And, o, not having a lot of money doesn’t mean you should kill as many (political) opponents as possible.

O, and teaching children that they are heroes, that they will be martyrs if they blow themselves while trying to kill as many other people as possible, doesn’t exactly result peace-loving adults.

Today’s Zaman reports that Palestinian Interior Minister Hani al-Qawasmi has resigned due to the ongoing violence in Palestine. Since, last Sunday, six people have died in the Fatah - Hamas conflict, and 52 have been (seriously) wounded.

Hani’s resignation might very well bring the downfall of the so-called unity government, which wasn’t that united to begin with.

Jesus said it very well: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”

The Haaretz:

Four Palestinians were killed and 14 others wounded Sunday in the worst outbreak of factional violence in the Gaza Strip since Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity government in February.

That’s the problem with uncontrolled hatred, isn’t it? It’s… oncontrolled, all consuming.