Hermit
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Yet another consequence of overthrowing a democratically elected government.
« on: 2007-06-13 17:40:52 » |
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Hamas Seizing Control of Gaza Strip
[Hermit: Your tax dollars at work. Defeating democracy in order to aid the Israeli government by starving the Palestinians until desperation leads directly to civil war. The blood is no longer just on the hands of the Israelis. Of course, it works in Israel's favor to not have a government with whom to negotiate. Which is perhaps why, from the early aggression against the inhabitants of the Palestine in the 1920s, to the blatant genocide being engaged in today (ably assisted by their security council co-conspirator), Israel has worked on exiling, incarcerating and killing any representatives of the Palestinians, while continuously reducing the area and resources available to the expanding second-class population of the illegally occupied territories.
It is worth considering that many Palestinians consider that Abbas may have acted with Israel to dispose of Arrafat, quite probably with justification. It is interesting to compare the etiology of polonium-210 radiation poisoning documented in Alexander Litvinenko's murder with the description of the progression of the symptoms in Arrafat's case.
I begin to wonder if the World court could impeach a member of the UN's security council.[/b]
[b]Source: Associated Press
Authors: Sarah El Deeb, Diaa Hadid
Dated: 2007-06-13
Hamas fighters launched a fierce offensive on Gaza City Wednesday, firing mortars and rockets at Fatah's main security bases and the president's compound as the Islamic group appeared close to taking control of the entire Gaza Strip.
With fighting raging on rooftops and streets in nearly all corners of Gaza, residents huddled in fear in their homes.
Fayez Abu Taha, 45, a businessman in the southern town of Rafah, said he was trapped in his apartment building with his family after Hamas fighters took over a nearby rooftop and Fatah responded by taking over the roof of his building.
"I don't know what they are battling for now," he said. "I can see the bullets flying from my windows. Coming and going."
At least 15 people were killed in fighting Wednesday, bringing the total in four days of infighting to nearly 60. Among those killed Wednesday was a man shot when Hamas gunmen fired on a peaceful protest against the violence, witnesses said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called the fighting "madness" and pleaded with the exiled leader of Hamas to halt the violence.
Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas issued a joint statement after nightfall, calling on all sides "to halt fighting, and to return to language of dialogue and respect of agreements," according to a statement from Abbas' office. The call was broadcast on Palestinian TV.
The two have made numerous calls for an end to the fighting in the past, to no avail.
Hamas and Fatah nominally share power in a coalition government, while Fatah runs most of Gaza's security forces. But no one was listening to the elected leaders' pleas for calm as the focus of power passed to street militias.
Hamas gunmen neutralized the main strongholds of the Fatah-linked security forces, ruling the streets and taking control of large parts of Gaza in the process.
Abbas' forces - desperately trying to cling to their besieged bases in Gaza - lashed out at the president, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight.
The fighting cast doubt on the future of the joint Hamas-Fatah government, set up in March to stop the bloodshed.
Hamas, already in control of much of northern Gaza, seized the southern town of Khan Younis and began a coordinated assault on the town of Rafah, also in the south, security officials said.
The rout of the security forces was so bad that 40 Palestinian security officers broke through the border fence in Rafah and fled into Egypt seeking safety, Egyptian police said.
"What can I say? This is a fall, a collapse," said Col. Nasser Khaldi, a senior police official in Rafah.
In the afternoon, Hamas forces attacked the three main compounds of the Fatah-allied forces in Gaza City - the headquarters of the Preventive Security, the Intelligence Service and the National Forces - in what could usher in the final phase of the battle.
Hamas fighters, firing rockets and mortar shells, took over the rooftops in nearby houses and cut off the roads to prevent reinforcements from arriving. They called on the beleaguered Fatah forces to surrender.
Hamas gunmen in high-rise buildings also fired at Abbas' Gaza office and house and his guard force returned fire. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time of the fighting.
During the battle at the Preventive Security Service base, both sides fired wildly from high-rise rooftops.
Dr. Wael Abdel Jawad, a physician trapped in his apartment, said he heard Fatah fighters shouting at colleagues on an adjacent roof to send them more ammunition.
"All of us are terrified here. Shooting came through the windows of our apartment, children are screaming. We are hearing from a nearby mosque the call by Hamas to surrender," he said.
"Those fighters on rooftops are like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. They don't know where to shoot," he said.
In another dramatic battle in Gaza City, hundreds of members of the Fatah-allied Bakr clan, which had fought fiercely for two days, surrendered to masked Hamas gunmen and were led, arms raised, to a nearby mosque. Footage broadcast on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV showed some of the Bakr women trying to enter the mosque. Hamas gunmen later drove off with some of the Bakr fighters, witnesses said.
Two women from the clan tried to leave the area to take a sick girl to a hospital and were shot and killed by jittery Hamas gunmen, a clan member said.
After nightfall, Hamas militants blew up the house of one of the Bakr clan's leaders, witnesses said.
In Washington, U.S. officials condemned the fighting.
"Violence certainly does not serve the interest of the Palestinian people, and it's not going to bring the peace and prosperity that they deserve," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
Earlier Wednesday, Hamas militants surrounded a security headquarters in Khan Younis and called on everyone inside to leave or they would blow it up, witnesses said. The building was then destroyed by a bomb planted in a tunnel underneath it, said Ali Qaisi, a presidential guard spokesman.
Security forces later said they lost control of the town.
"Khan Younis is finished, but we are still holding on in Rafah," said Ziad Sarafandi, a senior security official. Soon after, Hamas militants blew up a second security building near Rafah after a long gunbattle and other battles raged in the town, said Khaldi, the senior police official.
"They are shooting at anyone and everyone who is Fatah," said Youssef Abu Siyam, a Preventive Security officer in Rafah.
Hamas and Fatah have waged a sporadic power struggle since Hamas won parliament elections last year, ending four decades of Fatah dominance of Palestinian affairs. But the battles have worsened in recent days as Hamas began a systematic assault on security forces to take over Gaza.
The fighting spilled into the Fatah-dominated West Bank. Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire in the city of Nablus and a nearby refugee camp after Fatah gunmen tried to storm a pro-Hamas TV production company. Hamas said 12 of its fighters were wounded.
On Wednesday, Abbas spoke by phone with the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to try to stop the crisis, said Abbas aide Nimr Hamad.
"This is madness, the madness that is going on in Gaza now," Abbas told reporters.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees, said it would curtail its operations after two of its Palestinian workers were killed by crossfire.
"We are scaling back, we are not pulling back," said the agency's Gaza director, John Ging.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, said the clashes could have been avoided if Abbas had given the Hamas-led Cabinet control over the security forces, which he blamed for a wave of kidnappings, torture and violence in Gaza.
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