Via the AP comes the news that ‘Israel said Monday it will free two of its most prominent Palestinian prisoners—a militant mastermind from the 1970s and a gunman elected to parliament while behind bars—among 199 inmates to be released as a goodwill gesture to embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.’ (more…)
The leader of the militant group Hamas — the Palestinian faction that took power in Gaza in a military coup last year and ever since has been raining missiles down on Israeli border towns — has offered Israel a deal: we won’t kill your civilians if you don’t kill ours. (more…)
Israel continues to attack Hamas strongholds in Gaza. Yesterday marked the most deadly day of the campaign thus far: some 46 people were killed. More than 100 Palestinians were, reportedly, wounded. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed. “The Israeli attacks, mostly from the air on a clear, bright day, were aimed at stopping rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the Israelis said, especially after Ashkelon, a large city 10 miles from Gaza, came under fire from more advanced, Katyusha-style rockets of Iranian design,” the NYT points out. (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.
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.
The Jerusalem Post reports that Christians living in Gaza fear for their lives. According to the JP, they are increasingly attacked by extremist Muslims. As a result, Christian Gazans “appealed to the international community [on Monday] to protect them” against before mentioned extremists. “Many Christians said they were prepared to leave the Gaza Strip as soon as the border crossings are reopened.”
Over the past few days, a Christian school and Church in Gaza city have been attacked by Muslim terrorists. “Father Manuel Musalam, leader of the small Latin community in the Gaza Strip, said: “The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church. hen they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy Book, computers and other equipment.”
They did not just destroy “the” Cross, they destroyed every single Cross, and burned every single cope of the Bible they could get their hands on. The good news:
He said Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas phoned him on Sunday night to express his strong condemnation for the attack. “President Abbas promised that he would do his utmost to prevent such attacks on Christians here,” he said.
The bad news: Abbas has no influence whatsoever over what happens in Gaza. He can say everything he wants, he can promise whatever he wants, but Hamas is in power now and Hamas considers Christians to be infidels who should either be killed or forced to leave Gaza.
Hypocritically enough, “Islam Shahwan, spokesman for Hamas’s Executive Force in the Gaza Strip, denied responsibility.” He said: “We have instructed all our men to withdraw from the area. We will punish anyone who targets churches and public institutions.”
Yeah, I’m sure you will. Just as I am sure that you love Jews, but hate “Zionists.”
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:
Israel has offered to remove the economic embargo on Hamas if kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit is freed and Kassam rocket attacks stop, the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported on Sunday morning.
The message was reportedly conveyed to the Islamic group via Arab mediators.
A Hamas source in the Gaza Strip was pessimistic about the seriousness of the proposal, telling Al-Hayat that it was an Israeli attempt to “put out the feelers” on the now Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
A spokesman for Hamas further said that Alan Johnston would be released soon. Johnston is a reporter for the BBC and was kidnapped last March in Gaza. According to Hamas, he was kidnapped by individuals who belong to the Durmush clan. Hamas - reportedly - threatened the kidnappers that if Johnston would not be released soon / this weekend, Hamas would use force.
Sadly, in the words of Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, “there is nothing new yet regarding Alan.”
That sounds like a great deal for Hamas, no? All they have to do to is to release an Israeli soldier (if he is still alive) and stop firing rockets at Israel (on a daily basis). Both conditions, it seems to me, can easily be met. In return the terrorist organization gets just about everything it wants regarding the Gaza Strip. Money, water, food, factual recognition… Not a bad deal at all.
And Israel? Well, Israel gets it soldier back and an economically stronger neighbor, ruled by a bunch of extremists. Hamas will use all the money it gets to further strengthen its position in Gaza (and possibly the West Bank). More children will be taught that the sole purpose of their existence is to blow themselves up on a crowded Israeli market; we will see more videoclips of Mickey “the Martyr” Mouse; every now and then, a Hamas militant will cross the border into Israel to cause havoc; Gazan women will be forced to dress according to Hamas’ dress code; those who do not support Hamas will be killed; indeed, not quite a pretty picture.
This is quite ironic, isn’t it?
Enraged Fatah leaders on Saturday accused Hamas militiamen of looting the home of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City.
“They stole almost everything inside the house, including Arafat’s Nobel Peace Prize medal,” said Ramallah-based Fatah spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman. “Hamas militiamen and gangsters blew up the main entrance to the house before storming it. They stole many of Arafat’s documents and files, gifts he had received from world leaders and even his military outfits.”
Abdel Rahman said the attackers also raided the second floor of the house and stole the personal belongings of his widow, Suha, and daughter, Zahwa. “They stole all the widow’s clothes and shoes,” he added. “They also took Arafat’s pictures with his daughter.”
Of course, Arafat, the terrorist, should never have won the Nobel Peace Prize in the first place. So, in a way, one could argue that - finally, at long last - justice is done. He did not deserve it, it has now been taken away from his home.
I do wonder how the Palestinian people will react to this. Last time I checked, Arafat was quite popular. The majority of Palestinians might not be too happy with the way Hamas looted Arafat’s home.
Lets see, Hamas takes over Gaza, the result: homes of Fatah members are raided, everything that is worth more than $5 is stolen, everything else is destroyed. Aside from all the looting, people are being executed on the streets, in broad daylight.
I thought that Hamas wanted to bring peace and order to Gaza?
Meanwhile, the looting of Arafat’s home leaves Carl wondering: “How much would you pay for a Nobel Peace Prize on E-Bay?”
Noel Sheppard notices that Gazans - who are supposed to hate Israel because Israel is a brutal apartheid state - flee Gaza for… Israel. Also of interest is that Israel will allow food and other basic supplies into the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s takeover of the coastal area.
Let me join the chorus (with Charles and Joel): when will the American / Western media report about this? When? We constantly hear about how evil Israel is, how Israel oppresses the Palestinians, but now we see Palestinians fleeing Gaza for Israel and Israel sending food, water, etc. into the Gaza Strip to help out the Gazans.
Will this be reported? Probably not. After all, this doesn’t make Israel look bad.
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.
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.
“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.
The Washington Post reports:
British officials have been talking with legal counsel for Abu Qatada, a radical cleric who is under house arrest in Britain and believed to have close links to al-Qaeda, in hopes he will help secure the release of kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston.
Johnston, whose 45th birthday was Thursday, was seized more than two months ago in Gaza City. Prayer vigils, special television broadcasts and street demonstrations have been conducted from London to Jerusalem in a campaign to win his freedom.
This month, a Palestinian group called the Army of Islam claimed to be holding Johnston and demanded the release of Abu Qatada and other Muslim detainees in Britain. The group’s video statement showed a picture of Johnston’s BBC identity card but offered no proof that he was alive or well. Another group had earlier claimed to have killed him.
The British government, which has accused Abu Qatada of offering “spiritual advice and religious legitimacy” to extremists and is in the process of deporting him, has been “in discussions with Abu Qatada’s lawyer to see whether he would be willing to make an appeal for Alan’s safe release,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
“We regret that so far no appeal has been made,” she said, adding that Abu Qatada had placed “unacceptable conditions” on his making such a public statement.
One wonders what those “unacceptable conditions” might be. The anonymous spokeswoman refused to elaborate. One of the possibilities: he might have tried to stop his deportation to Jordan.
He wrote in a letter sent to the London-based Islamic Observatory Center: “I announce my full readiness to go on a trip to Gaza, with a delegation from BBC, to meet with the brothers, the abductors, concerning the release of the journalist Alan Johnston.”
Bad, bad, bad idea. He can help from prison if he wants to, and if Jonhston’s kidnappers agree to let him go because of Abu Qatada work, authorities might decide to reduce his sentence a bit, but they can’t let him go with a delegation to Gaza, nor can they let him off the hook completely. Why do I say that they might reduce his sentence? Because this is done with ‘normal’ prisoners as well. If they cooperate with the authorities they get something in return. It might not be popular, but it is logical.
|
|