Israel Matzav

Gazans: 'Hamas is all hot air'

With apologies to Allah, Ed and Michelle for the headline....

Hamas is handing out checks to homeless Gaza residents after first forcing them to listen to speeches about how the 'mighty warriors' of Hamas defeated the Israeli military machine. But Gazans are not fools and are not buying it. They understand that Hamas is full of hot air.

"There's a lot of talk," resident Zayed Khader, 45, said after the speech, as he waited for his name to be called so he could pick up relief checks worth a total of $6,000 for his family of nine. "When I see them actually building my house, I'll say these are good words."

Khader watched Thursday's bustle, of cabinet ministers, bodyguards and aid deliveries, with disdain. He said he has told visiting Hamas politicians that the civilians are the losers and that they oppose continued rocket fire on Israel - the attacks that triggered the war.

"It's all hot air," he said of the officials' promises. "What do they care if my house is bombed?"

Jumma Dardona, whose nearby three-story family house has been rendered uninhabitable, fears he'll live in a tent for a long time. "No one knows the accurate period," said Dardona, 34, as he cut firewood behind the last row of tents, his 6-year-old son Mohammed by his side.

Dardona and several others in Salam said they want Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement to put aside their rivalries. They say the infighting is one of the main reasons for the misery of Gaza civilians. "As long as they fight, I feel I am lost," said Dardona, who served as a policeman before the Hamas takeover.

Don't hold your breath waiting for that infighting to be put aside. Hamas is doing all it can to make sure that it controls the distribution of aid money - and not Fatah. And al-AP reports that Fatah - the 'good terrorists' who are the darlings of the 'international community' - is invisible.

However, the Fatah government, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has not been visible among the aid groups, sidelining him even further in the eyes of many Gazans.

Abbas still pumps huge sums into Gaza every month, paying the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants and police, like Dardona. But his promised $3.5 million for the families of the dead - according to Gaza health officials nearly 1,300 - has not been disbursed, in part because Gaza banks suffer from a shortage of bank notes, another fallout from the closure.

Hamas, which smuggles cash through border tunnels instead of using bank transfers, has no problems with distribution.

And you thought Ed and Allah were Hot Air. Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:41 PM