Well, well...

So, do we face the proposition of TWO Palestinian countries/territories? One in Gaza ("Hamasstan") and one in the West Bank?

Hamas, both funded and trained by Iran, are kicking Fattah's arse all over the Strip - they now own the North-South highway and nearly everything of controlling worth: Radio & TV stations and security points; they even pulled a surgeon off a man on whom he was operating and killed him.

They're now calling for an end to the...ahem...'unity' (i.e. conjoined Hamas/Fattah) gov't!?

First sightings of a Jihadist Junta on Israel's doorstep??

Syrians have killed 6 Lebanese members of parliament (via car bombs) in the last four weeks; the Lebanese army are now in a 'to the death' struggle with Arab militants in the refugee camps in Beirut...

All we have to do now is pick where this year's summer holiday is going to be, right? FFS!



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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

Q & A

Last Updated: 2:18am BST 14/06/2007

What is Fatah?

Fatah is the secular party led by the president, Mahmoud Abbas. Meaning "conquest" in Arabic, it is a reverse acronym of Harakat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniya (Palestinian Liberation Movement). Founded among Palestinian refugees in the late 1950s and led by Yasser Arafat, its aim was Palestinian liberation through violence. In the early 1990s, Arafat signed the Oslo peace accords, accepting the right of Israel to exist. A flood of foreign aid saw Arafat and his cronies grow wealthy and corrupt.

What is Hamas?

Hamas is the Islamic party led by the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. It swears to establish an Islamic state in historical Palestine, which includes Israel. Meaning "zeal", Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement). Founded in 1987, it pioneered suicide bombings which made no distinction between civilian and military targets. Its leaders were assassinated by Israel. Its popularity, both for its resistance and charitable work, grew among Palestinians, particularly following Arafat's death in November 2004.

How did Hamas rise to power?

In January 2006, Hamas won a majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections. Resultant international sanctions led to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid critical for meeting the authority's payroll, including thousands of security service personnel. Despite aid agency efforts, the growing poverty fed Palestinian unrest. Meanwhile, security services loyal to Mr Abbas refused to answer to the new Hamas interior ministry, leading to the creation of a Hamas-loyal executive force. In Gaza, these conflicting security services overlap with powerful family militias to create a volatile cocktail.

What went wrong?

As tensions between rival security forces spilled over, Fatah and Hamas met in Mecca in February to sign a power-sharing deal. The important foreign and finance ministries went to independent politicians while Hamas controlled the social affairs ministries. However, the two groups could not choose an interior minister and their eventual candidate, Hani Qawasmeh, resigned after weeks. Factional fighting broke out again.

What will happen next?

With Hamas trying to take control of the Gaza Strip, Mr Abbas now faces impossible choices: declaring a state of emergency and attempting to rule by decree, dissolving the government for early elections, or negotiating a truce. Observers speculate a permanent division between Gaza and the West Bank, with Hamas and Fatah governments respectively. That would likely drive already conservative Gaza deeper into Islamic zeal and farther from international support. A separation would all but end hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

Hamas hails 'liberation' of Gaza


Hamas gunman outside the captured Preventative Security building

Hamas has taken control of almost all the Gaza Strip

Hamas militants have hailed a series of military victories over rivals Fatah in the Gaza Strip as a new "liberation" of the territory.

Fighters seized Fatah's Preventative Security building in Gaza City, the intelligence service headquarters, and overran the town of Rafah.

A least 20 Palestinians died as the latest battles raged throughout Gaza.

An aide to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called the Hamas offensive a coup against the Palestinian Authority.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh told the BBC that Mr Abbas was likely to dismiss the government and call new elections.

Gaza has been the focal point for a violent and bitter power struggle between Hamas and Fatah since Hamas won a surprise election victory in early 2006.


"What happened today in the Preventive Security headquarters was the second liberation of the Gaza Strip."
Sami Abu Zuhri
Hamas spokesman


Hamas, an Islamic organisation, rose to prominence in Gaza during two Palestinian uprisings, and refuses to recognise or negotiate with Israel.

Fatah, a secular political grouping headed by Mr Abbas, ran the Palestinian Authority before 2006 and officially recognises the Jewish state.

The two groups are nominally working together in a three-month-old government of national unity.

But Mr Abbas was advised throughout Thursday to dismiss the government and possibly impose a state of emergency.

'Executions'

In Thursday's fighting, Hamas targeted four key security and intelligence compounds in and around Gaza City.




Rivals: Fatah and Hamas

There were scenes of looting and celebration from Hamas militants as they seized control of the Preventative Security and Gaza's intelligence headquarters.

Several reports accused Hamas of shooting dead defeated Fatah fighters in front of the building.

"They are executing them one by one," one witness told the Associated Press.

A Hamas TV station showed pictures of militants tramping triumphantly through the ransacked HQ, reviled by Hamas as a symbol of Fatah's violent offensives against the Islamic group during the 1990s.


"The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived."
Hamas spokesman


A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "What happened today in the Preventive Security headquarters was the second liberation of the Gaza Strip," referring to the Israeli withdrawal of troops and settlers in 2005.

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," another spokesman told AP.

"The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived."

World concern

Thursday's fighting came despite calls from around the world for an end to the fighting.

The international community has called for a ceasefire, and Arab League head Amr Moussa said the fighting was destroying the Palestinian cause.

The EU and US have voiced international concern. with the EU suspending aid operations in Gaza in response to "suicidal" violence.

Meanwhile, there were also reports that at least four young Palestinians were killed by an explosion in Rafah.

However, Israel denied its forces had fired in the area.

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

Maybe the international community shouldn't have got such a mental erection when Hamas won the elections and isolated it so readily. Yes, they refused to recognise Israel, but at least they were in the system then and once they were "hooked on aid"/had investments worth losing, a drift toward moderation might have been possible.

As it is they've decided to take with the gun what was denied them by ballot. Tommy, you might be right. West Palestine might start issuing different postage stamps to East Palestine!
Regards

Jack

Executing prisoners is a war crime. What will the United Nations have to say about it. Dont hold your breath waiting. spot.


Abbas declares state of emergency
By Nidal al-Mughrabi Reuters - Friday, June 15 02:16 amGAZA (Reuters) -

Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led Palestinian government and declared a state of emergency as the Islamist group's gunmen routed his last forces in Gaza and seized effective control.



While Washington rallied support for Abbas, Hamas stormed remaining strongholds of his secular Fatah group in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, finally seizing the presidential compound, the last bastion of Abbas's authority in the coastal territory.

Jubilant Hamas gunmen hunted Fatah loyalists, killing some and parading one top figure's mutilated body through the streets. "Allahu akbar! (God is Greatest!)," one gunman chanted through a megaphone from a captured Fatah security headquarters.

Medics said at least 30 people were killed on Thursday, taking the death toll to more than 110 in six days of conflict which leaves an aggressive Islamist entity on Israel's borders.

Abbas, from his power base in the West Bank, accused Hamas of staging a coup in Gaza in the fighting, which has ripped apart international proposals for Middle East peace that envisaged Gaza and the West Bank as a future Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader of Hamas which enjoys support from Iran and Syria, said his government would ignore Abbas's "hasty decision" to dismiss it. Haniyeh blamed Fatah for pushing the Islamists to react.

Fatah and Hamas had gone into government power-sharing deals in an effort to overcome their differences but these were plagued by violence between their supporters.

In a statement, Abbas said he was "declaring a state of emergency in all the lands of the Palestinian Authority because of the criminal war in the Gaza Strip ... and military coup".

Abbas, successor to the late Yasser Arafat who embraced negotiation with Israel to try to found a Palestinian state in the two territories, said he would form an emergency cabinet to rule by decree and held out the prospect of early elections.

But gun law, not the constitution, held sway in Gaza.

Cheering Hamas fighters hoisted green Islamist flags over Fatah buildings. The fate of Fatah fighters seen being led away, bare-chested, after surrendering was unclear. There were unconfirmed reports of prisoners being shot.

The White House accused Hamas of "acts of terror" and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Abbas to emphasise support for Palestinian "moderates" but acknowledged finding troops for any international force for Gaza would be tough.

CRIPPLING EMBARGO

Some of Gaza's impoverished 1.5 million people view with trepidation the success of Islamists set on defying a crippling Israeli and Western embargo. But Hamas has many supporters.

Nailing Washington's colours to Fatah's mast, a tactic some say hurts Abbas's position with his own people, Rice said: "President Abbas has exercised his lawful authority ... We fully support him."

Analysts believe such talk may signal an easing of year-old anti-Hamas sanctions on the West Bank to bolster Abbas. The sanctions were introduced after Hamas won a majority in parliament at elections in January last year.

A Fatah official in Gaza said he had seen eight colleagues gunned down while he escaped death "by a miracle".

Hamas's armed wing said it "executed" Samih al-Madhoun of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an ally of Abbas security aide Mohammad Dahlan. His body was dragged through a refugee camp.

Some Fatah gunmen retaliated against Hamas in the West Bank, seizing Hamas supporters in the towns of Jenin and in Nablus. The Brigades said its men killed a Hamas supporter in Nablus.

Businesses owned by Hamas supporters were targeted by angry crowds in the Israeli occupied territory, where some 2.5 million Palestinians live.

Haniyeh, who unlike Abbas spoke in person on television, blamed Fatah for abusing its power and persecuting Islamists. "They pushed people into reacting," he said.

But he called for restraint from his fighters and offered talks: "I call for a national and comprehensive dialogue to begin immediately."

For Hamas fighters in Gaza, some in camouflage uniforms, the fall of one Fatah base after another was cause for celebration. They fired in the air and handed out sweets.

Others paraded in the streets and showed off weaponry seized from Fatah, whose forces the United States has helped train and arm in a bid to counter the rise of Hamas -- to little effect.

Diplomats, who declined to be named, said an aide to Abbas had acknowledged hundreds of Fatah's men ran away from battle or ran out of bullets during the fighting.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi and Wafa Amr in Ramallah and Ori Lewis, Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Jeffrey Heller and Alastair Macdonald in Jerusalem)

Fatah crushed as Gaza becomes Islamist state

By Charles Levinson in Gaza City and Carolynne Wheeler in Ramallah
Last Updated: 11:53am BST 15/06/2007


Hamas has taken over the final Fatah stronghold in Gaza and created what is in effect a miniature Islamist state.

President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency as Hamas fighters seized the presidential compound in Gaza City after bombing and burning their way through a number of other Fatah-held compounds.


Hamas fighters celebrating the fall of the internal security service headquarters and the ‘liberation’ of Gaza from the Fatah ‘collaborators’

After claiming to be prepared for a "last stand", reports said that Fatah-aligned fighters simply laid down their weapons and walked out.

Triumphant Hamas militants fired Kalashnikovs from Gaza rooftops, hailing the "liberation" of the territory from the moderate Fatah party it sees as "collaborators" with Israel and the United States.

A Hamas spokesman called for the immediate release of captured BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who has been held since March 12.

Israel and its allies were left to contemplate the emergence of an enemy state, a radical Islamic "Hamas-stan" on its Mediterranean coast and a moderate Palestinian stronghold on its other flank, in the larger West Bank.

Mr Abbas's declaration of a state of emergency dissolved the Fatah-Hamas unity government that had been formed in March.


President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the Palestinian government

"We have decided to do the following, to dismiss [Hamas] Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh," said a spokesman for Mr Abbas. The statement also suggested that Mr Abbas could try to call early elections but Hamas dismissed his decrees as "worthless".

Arab and Muslim states appealed for calm, warning that the fighting was threatening the Palestinian cause. The United States, Britain and the EU pledged continuing support for Mr Abbas, but his ability to lead the Palestinian Authority appeared damaged beyond repair.

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, told Hamas radio. "The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived."


Gaza Strip: map of the conflict

The fall of the internal security service headquarters in southern Gaza City marked a significant triumph for Hamas, whose members were tortured by the service's officers during a crackdown in the late 1990s. Hamas declared the compound would now be known as the Heresy Compound and the surrounding neighbourhood renamed the Hill of Islam.

Among the Hamas hard-liners now believed to be driving the offensive are Said Siam, a former interior minister, and Mahmoud al Zahar, a former foreign minister, both of whom are believed to have been tortured by Fatah-run security forces.

Hamas said it had "executed" a top Fatah "collaborator" and issued a death list of other supporters of Mr Abbas. The White House accused them of "acts of terror".

At the presidential compound, massive metal roadblocks had been dragged into position, sealing off the neighborhood from traffic. Civilians still living in the area packed their families into cars and fled.

At least 100 Palestinians, mostly militants, have been killed since Gaza was plunged into civil war this week. The violence is spreading to the West Bank, where Fatah remains in control. A fight between Fatah and Hamas erupted in the north West Bank city of Nablus as security forces swept through the territory arresting Hamas members.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, telephoned Mr Abbas yesterday and underlined US support for Palestinian moderates committed to a negotiated peace with Israel.


At least 100 Palestinians, mostly militants, have been killed since Gaza was plunged into civil war this week

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has said an international force along Gaza's border with Egypt should be considered and Sean McCormack, the US State Department spokesman, hinted they would consider such a force.

The European Commission announced it was suspending all humanitarian aid projects in the Gaza Strip due to the violence.

Some Israeli hard-liners have begun referring to Gaza as "Hamastan" and called for Israel to cut off water and electricity to the territory and seal off all borders to imports and exports. "It has to be defined as a hostile and dangerous entity and be treated as such, because it is," Amos Gilboa, a senior Israeli defence official told Israel Radio.

Muawiya Hassanein, head of the emergency department in the ministry of health in Gaza City, told The Daily Telegraph that hospitals in the territory were short on blood, medicine and equipment because no supplies could get there with all crossings closed by Israel. It is a portent of the difficulties that lie ahead for Hamas now that it alone will rule Gaza.

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

Fundamentalists threaten Israel from all sides

By Con Coughlin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/06/2007


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.

And with fighters loyal to Mr Abbas's Fatah movement either surrendering or fleeing, it seems that not even the might of Israel can prevent Hamas from fulfilling its long-held ambition of establishing an Islamic state within the Palestinian territories.

The Gaza Strip, the 20-mile stretch of desert scrub wedged between Israel and the Sinai Desert, has never been a happy place. The majority of the 1.4 million Palestinians who live there are mainly refugees from Israel's 1948 war of independence and have rarely seen their living standards rise above subsistence level. But the addition of religious fanaticism to economic privation has severely worsened their plight.

Even before this week's violence, activists had been busy attacking cafés, video shops and restaurants that serve alcohol or sell what are regarded as subversive Western films.

An internet café at the Jabaliyah refugee camp was bombed because zealots believed its customers might be exposed to pornography or pop music. The desire to enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law even resulted in a gunman attacking a UN primary school because it allowed young boys and girls to mix together in the playground.

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.

Until then, most of the Palestinian Authority's funding came from the EU and America, but this dried up when Hamas came to power and refused to give up its long-standing policy of seeking Israel's destruction or to renounce its terrorist past.

In addition to financial support, Iran provides training to members of the military wing of Hamas by sending them to camps in Lebanon and Iran run by the elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.

Past Iranian attempts to supply the Palestinians with military hardware have been less successful, with the Israeli navy intercepting a ship laden with explosives destined for Gaza in early 2002. But earlier this year, the Iranians sought to establish new supply lines to Gaza.

On February 24, Khaled Mashaal, Hamas's supreme leader, travelled to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, where he met senior Quds Force officials and Sudanese politicians who are broadly sympathetic to Hamas's political objectives.

The main topic of conversation was setting up a supply route that would enable Iran to smuggle rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles, guns and explosives through the porous border between Gaza and Egypt.

The dispute over tightening the border is now one of the issues at the heart of the current violence; Hamas refuses to countenance the deployment of an international force that would seriously curtail the activities of the arms and money smugglers who use a sophisticated network of tunnels to transport their contraband into Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian campaigners frequently claim that the main reason Gaza is in crisis is that the economic blockade imposed by America and Israel following Hamas's election victory has reduced the civilian population to penury. This was the essence of the argument advanced by Alvaro de Soto, until recently the UN's special co-ordinator for the Middle East, who seems happy to blame anyone for the Palestinians' plight except the Palestinians themselves.

Ordinary Palestinians, it is true, in both Gaza and the West Bank, are suffering hardship. But this is not because of a lack of funds entering the Palestinian territories: it is because successive Palestinian administrations have made no effort to distribute the resources available equably among the population.

Hamas, on the other hand, sees economic deprivation as a form of political oppression. The World Bank reported that donors contributed about £375 million to the Palestinian territories in 2006, twice the amount they received in 2005. But since taking power, Hamas ensures any funds are spent on Islamic causes and its 6,000-strong militia, leaving the majority to fend for themselves.

The bonus for Hamas is that, by forcing the majority of Palestinians to exist in dire poverty, it succeeds in attracting widespread sympathy from international do-gooders who do not understand the sadistic economic manipulation that is taking place.

Not surprisingly, many Palestinians who were previously agnostic about their Muslim heritage have found themselves embracing the Hamas cause, more out of economic necessity than religious obligation.

Hizbollah - another Iranian-funded militia - used similar tactics to establish its power base in southern Lebanon during the 1980s. Hizbollah, of course, has now become a dominant force in Lebanese politics.

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.

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

Hey Shane mate,

I doubt it will be long until you're warned-off and stood-to, so good luck mate and keep your head down!

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

The international community's treatment of Hamas was much tougher than that applied to Zimbabwe. Why is that I wonder?