20-22 'Palestinians' killed as Fatah suspends participation in 'unity' government
Between 20-22 'Palestinians' have been killed in fighting today in the Gaza Strip (11 Hamas and 10 Fatah according to the only account I saw that broke down the numbers), Fatah's 'security headquarters' in the Gaza Strip have been captured by Hamas, a Hamas deputy minister has been 'kidnapped' and Fatah has suspended its participation in the 'national unity' government. Those are the highlights of today's fighting in Gaza (and some in Ramallah).
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert said that his government would not interfere in what he called "the battle of the Palestinian pragmatic forces against the extremist forces." In a meeting today with the Dutch foreign minister, Olmert
called on the West to take immediate action to "change the situation in Gaza" and said that serious consideration should be given to the introduction of a UNIFIL-type international force along the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt to prevent the continued smuggling of arms to Hamas.Given the poor record of the UN and UNIFIL in the past, one has to wonder why Olmert would want a force like that in Gaza. Meanwhile, the force that Olmert calls 'pragmatic'
issued a threat to exterminate the entire Hamas membership in Judea and Samaria in the event of continued attacks by Hamas in Gaza. A spokesman for the Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Abu Udai, declared to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency, "If the Hamas movement continues to assassinate Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip - as it killed the northern Gaza Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades commander Jamal Abu Al-Jidian and his family - then we will wipe out the entire leadership and all the activists of Hamas in the West Bank."Let's give them a
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:42 PM
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