Hamas seizes Fatah security base

[almaty 19]

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Hamas forces seized the southern Gaza town of Rafah on the Egyptian border, further establishing its control of the Palestinian territory, Palestinian security sources told CNN on Thursday.

Hamas took control of Rafah on Wednesday, the sources said. It lies near the key Rafah border crossing, which is jointly monitored by Israel, Palestinian forces, and European Union monitors.

Hamas forces Thursday overtook a key Fatah security installation in Gaza City, raising questions as to the fate of Fatah's future role, if any, in Gaza.

Video from Hamas' al-Aqsa TV showed that the green flag of the Hamas organization had been placed on the rooftop of Preventive Security headquarters as a gunman stood nearby shooting his weapon into the air. Other Hamas fighters, wearing black masks, patrolled outside the compound.

Hamas video also showed a group of shirtless men with their hands in the air being marched down the street at gunpoint -- one man wearing only his underwear.

There are unconfirmed reports that some of the men were executed. That report was denied by a Hamas representative in Beirut.

The Associated Press reported that an explosion rocked Gaza City on Thursday afternoon, and plumes of white smoke rose from the direction of a security post but no further details were immediately available.

Hamas forces already control areas north and south of Gaza's largest city and are working to remove the remaining Fatah strongholds in Gaza City.

Hamas fighters have surrounded Fatah bases in the city, ordering those inside them to surrender, according to CNN's Talal Abu-Rahman.

Overnight, Hamas pounded Fatah targets in Gaza City with mortars and rockets.

The factional fighting is threatening to break apart the Fatah-Hamas unity government that governs the Palestinian territories.

As many as 70 Palestinians have been killed since the Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence escalated four days ago.

Fatah leader and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to make a "decisive" statement later in the day Thursday, Fatah sources told CNN.

A source close to Abbas' office told CNN that the president is considering dissolving the current government and forming a temporary, emergency government.

The unity government was formed earlier this year as an attempt to stop previous fighting in Gaza, as well as to restart international aid that was cut off after Hamas took power last year.

Fatah's Central Committee voted Tuesday night to suspend its participation in the Hamas-led unity government if the fighting continues.

Israel has expressed concern about the possibility that Gaza could be solely controlled by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday if Hamas gains control of Gaza it would have "regional implications" and he called for an international force to patrol the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent Hamas radicals from importing new and more powerful weapons into Gaza.

Hamas' goal is not a civil war with Fatah, but to target rogue elements of Fatah's security forces, according to Osama Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Lebanon.

"We are not talking about a conflict between Hamas and Fatah or even a problem with Abu Mazen (Abbas)," Hamdan told CNN International.

"The problem was with some officers in the (Fatah-controlled) security forces who were against the law, and they worked hard to undermine the security plan and the national unity government."

Hamdan said the rogue elements targeted by Hamas have been free to create their own fiefdoms in Gaza under Fatah rule, which ended last year.

"We want the security forces to be under the law, not to create their own laws, as what was happening in the past 10 years," He said.

Hamdan said Hamas acted because no one in Fatah -- not even Abbas -- has control of the lawless forces.

"So someone has to control the situation and bring them to the law," he said.

Hamdan denied reports that his forces are executing members of Fatah in the streets of Gaza.

"That happened to our members on the hands of some well-known officers," he said. "I believe they are trying to blame us by the things which they have done."

Gun battles rage in Gaza

Battles between Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Authority's parliament, and gunmen and police units controlled by Abbas' Fatah movement have left at least 70 Palestinians dead in the past four days.

Among the dead were two Palestinian workers for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, prompting the agency, which provides humanitarian relief to nearly a million Palestinians in Gaza, to scale back its operations.

Wednesday's biggest toll came when Hamas militants bombed a tunnel beneath the Fatah-controlled Preventive Security Service headquarters compound in Khan Younis, killing 11 members of the unit, Palestinian security sources told CNN. Hamas quickly declared complete control of the compound, the security sources said.

Hamas overran Fatah positions in northern Gaza on Tuesday and declared all villages and towns north of Gaza City -- including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp -- a closed military area. Gunmen could be seen perched on buildings, forcing residents to cower in their homes, the sources said.

Hamas militants addressed residents over mosque loudspeakers on Wednesday, declaring the region a military zone and demanding residents hand over their weapons to Hamas by 7 p.m. Friday (noon ET/1600 GMT.)

Protesters demand end to bloodshed

Meanwhile, in Gaza City, Palestinians took to the streets demanding an end to the bloodshed, waving Palestinian flags and chanting for peace. But gunmen opened fire on the demonstrators, killing one and sending dozens scrambling for cover, according to Gaza hospital officials.

The head of the Egyptian delegation to Gaza that is trying to broker a lasting truce between Hamas and Fatah fighters was at the demonstration, but was not injured in the melee.

Both sides have ignored Abbas' call for a cease-fire, and he blamed both sides for the escalation Wednesday.

"This is madness, the madness that is going on in Gaza now," he said Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority. "Everyone who carries weapons, who shoots and attacks is responsible. Everyone must stop it."

He said he would continue to work toward an end to the fighting -- "Otherwise, I think that the situation in Gaza will be brought to a collapse," he warned.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department criticized Hamas for attacking "legitimate security institutions" in a bid to undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and urged regional leaders to support Abbas. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington is concerned about Abbas' authority, but noted that the violence has not spread to the West Bank.

The United States is providing about $60 million to the Palestinian Authority to beef up Abbas' forces in his struggle against Hamas, the Islamic party that won control of the Palestinian parliament and government in January 2006 elections.

"We have called on others in the region to express their support for President Abbas and those Palestinian moderate political elements who have forsworn the use of violence and who have an interest in reaching a political settlement with Israel via the negotiating table," McCormack said. "We're going to continue to support those elements, and we're going to continue to support President Abbas."

Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity government earlier this year in an effort to stop previous clashes and resume the flow of international aid that was cut off after Hamas took power. Hamas has refused to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist, and Israel and the United States, who consider it a terrorist organization, have accused it of receiving weapons from Iran.

The latest fighting has been particularly bloody. Over the weekend, a Fatah supporter was kidnapped and later tossed to his death off a high-rise building. Hours later, in an apparent reprisal attack, a Hamas supporter was killed in the same manner.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement on Wednesday accusing the armed groups of "serious violations of international humanitarian law, in some cases amounting to war crimes."

[Saddle Bronc 124]

All-too-simple to analyse.

Basically, analogous to a power-grab-fight between Stalin (Abbas, of Fatah) and Mao (Meshal, of Hamas--though represented by his puppet Haniyeh who I'll call "Zhou" for the analysis). Unfortunately, Stalin-alone was a disaster for SovUnion and Mao-alone a disaster for China--so you can easily picture what a power struggle between such will involve.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

wow!!

[doodlebug 3]

I've listened to npr about this and read a few articles but what I just don't get is dont' they both want the same ultimate goal for Palestine????

[mawilson 2,133]

I've listened to npr about this and read a few articles but what I just don't get is dont' they both want the same ultimate goal for Palestine????

Hamas are stubborn, religious idealists. They basically want "everything" (aka

"return to 1967 borders") and won't settle for anything less than that. What they

don't realise is that they are wasting their time (and lives of their people.) That

ship sailed a long time ago and Israel will never return to 1967 borders.

Fatah has more realistic expectations of what can be achieved for Palestine and are

willing to negotiate (with Israel.)

This is my take on it, anyway.

[zyggy 9]

Sounds like a Civil War to me... although you won't see anyone call it that. But in reality, that is what it is.. a battle for control of the Palestinian people...

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Hamas are stubborn, religious idealists. They basically want "everything" (aka "return to 1967 borders") and won't settle for anything less than that. What they don't realise is that they are wasting their time (and lives of their people.) That ship sailed a long time ago and Israel will never return to 1967 borders.

Fatah has more realistic expectations of what can be achieved for Palestine and are willing to negotiate (with Israel.)

This is my take on it, anyway.

You missed some significant points.

Hamas has been strident in refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist as a nation (so the "1967 borders" is an absolute joke--they actually mean 1937 borders--meaning all the territory of the then-British-ruled "Mandate of Palestine" must be under Hamas).

The true picture of Fatah's "willingness to negotiate" was revealed in 1999 when Clinton suggested a plan (approved by then Israel-PM Barak) which Arafat snubbed--as he had never given up the idea of being Sultan of entire "Mandate of Palestine" area.

[Scott & Lai 12]

Hamas are stubborn, religious idealists. They basically want "everything" (aka "return to 1967 borders") and won't settle for anything less than that. What they don't realise is that they are wasting their time (and lives of their people.) That ship sailed a long time ago and Israel will never return to 1967 borders.

Fatah has more realistic expectations of what can be achieved for Palestine and are willing to negotiate (with Israel.)

This is my take on it, anyway.

You missed some significant points.

Hamas has been strident in refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist as a nation (so the "1967 borders" is an absolute joke--they actually mean 1937 borders--meaning all the territory of the then-British-ruled "Mandate of Palestine" must be under Hamas).

The true picture of Fatah's "willingness to negotiate" was revealed in 1999 when Clinton suggested a plan (approved by then Israel-PM Barak) which Arafat snubbed--as he had never given up the idea of being Sultan of entire "Mandate of Palestine" area.

Precisely.

[mawilson 2,133]

Hamas has been strident in refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist as a nation (so the "1967 borders" is an absolute joke--they actually mean 1937 borders--meaning all the territory of the then-British-ruled "Mandate of Palestine" must be under Hamas).

Probably. You give them one finger and they will take the whole hand. If Israel

starts capitulating to their demands (even one bit), why would they stop at the

1967 borders? Why not continue the attacks (uhm sorry, "armed struggle against

Zionist occupiers") until they have Haifa, Jaffa and Acre?

The true picture of Fatah's "willingness to negotiate" was revealed in 1999 when Clinton suggested a plan (approved by then Israel-PM Barak) which Arafat snubbed--as he had never given up the idea of being Sultan of entire "Mandate of Palestine" area.

Yes....well.....Arafat wanted more than that. He wanted the right of return of Palestinian

refugees to the homes in Israel that their families had possessed and left (some by

choice, others under duress) before or during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Hamas has been strident in refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist as a nation (so the "1967 borders" is an absolute joke--they actually mean 1937 borders--meaning all the territory of the then-British-ruled "Mandate of Palestine" must be under Hamas).

Probably. You give them one finger and they will take the whole hand. If Israel starts capitulating to their demands (even one bit), why would they stop at the 1967 borders? Why not continue the attacks (uhm sorry, "armed struggle against Zionist occupiers") until they have Haifa, Jaffa and Acre?

The true picture of Fatah's "willingness to negotiate" was revealed in 1999 when Clinton suggested a plan (approved by then Israel-PM Barak) which Arafat snubbed--as he had never given up the idea of being Sultan of entire "Mandate of Palestine" area.

Yes....well.....Arafat wanted more than that. He wanted the right of return of Palestinian refugees to the homes in Israel that their families had possessed and left (some by choice, others under duress) before or during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

To point a mistake in your reasoning. Since the state of Israel (at 1948-1967 border) is a subset of the "Mandate", the "right of return" meant exactly that he wanted the whole area--meaning that Israel would be dissolved and Arafat would then by tyrannosultan of the whole area.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Abbas dissolved the "government" (note: the only other government I know of which includes those with Naxalitish completely destructive ideologies is the recently installed Nepalese--so no model to effectively study), http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6754499.stm.

And he's given go-ahead for Fatah to take revenge in West Bank.

Result: Gaza Strip ruled like Taliban-Afghanistan and West Bank like Ershad's regime in Bangladesh (who was worse for the country than Mujib, Ziaur Rehman or the perpetually-duelling Khaleda and Hasina).