Israel Matzav

Deja vu all over again: 'Palestinian' civil war

Shavua tov - a good week to everyone.

Four people were killed on Saturday, and some 35 were wounded, in clashes between the 'bad terrorists' from Hamas and the 'good terrorists' from Fatah in Gaza City. According to media reports, Hamas 'asserted control' over a Fatah 'stronghold' in the city.

Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard throughout the day across Gaza City. Hamas said it arrested dozens of people, including 10 who had tried to flee disguised as women, and confiscated weapons.

The fighting raged for most of the day in the crowded Shijaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, home to some 100,000 people, including members of the Fatah-linked Hilles clan. Hamas alleged that the clan was hiding suspects in a car bombing last week that left five Hamas members dead and sparked a Hamas crackdown on Fatah.

By Saturday afternoon, hundreds of Hamas security forces members were deployed in the neighborhood, patrolling the streets and searching houses. Hamas policemen fired in the air in celebration. A senior Hamas police official said searches would continue in coming days. Hamas also fired several mortar shells toward the nearby border with Israel, apparently to prevent fugitives from getting away.

Fatah is getting back at Hamas by arresting suspected Hamas members in Judea and Samaria. On Friday, it was reported that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen had released the Hamas members he had arrested in a bid for 'reconciliation,' but it sure doesn't sound that way from this report:

On Saturday, Abbas' forces widened their sweep to include members of the Liberation Party, a pan-Islamic movement that has sharply criticized the moderate West Bank leadership but says it espouses non-violent change. In the past, members of the movement were able to march in the West Bank without hindrance.

However, demonstrations in recent days were broken up by Abbas' security forces, and one senior security official said there is growing fear Hamas is using the Liberaton Party as a front in the West Bank.

Since Thursday, dozens of Liberation Party members have been arrested, said its spokesman, Baher Saleh. On Saturday, dozens more party members were detained as police tried to break up a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Deeb al-Ali, chief of the national security forces in the West Bank, said all political gatherings were banned because of the growing tensions with Hamas. "We have to stop rallies and marches or anything that leads to mass gatherings," he said.

Hamas definitely got the worst of the fighting on Saturday, as three of the four people killed were Hamas 'police officers.'

In the meantime, the Egyptians are apparently getting nervous about what's going on in Gaza, because on Friday they blew up the entrance to a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, killing five 'Palestinians' who were deprived of oxygen inside and wounding eighteen more. If Israel had done that, we would have been condemned for not allowing the terrorists an opportunity to get out of the tunnel first, but as long as it's just Muslims killing Muslims no one really cares.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:33 PM