Once again, pass the popcorn. I think things are about to blow.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – The Palestinians’ defiant Hamas-led government sent a new militant force into the streets of Gaza on Wednesday, disregarding President Mahmoud Abbas’ order banning the creation of the security body and raising the stakes in their deepening power struggle.
Hamas appeared to have been propelled into action by mysterious drive-by shootings that killed two of its militants in the Gaza Strip hours earlier. These and other recent cases of deadly infighting have threatened to plunge the Palestinian territories into bloody chaos.
[…] Abbas vetoed the force, which is to number about 3,000 fighters and be headed by Jamal Abu Samhadana, a key player in ongoing rocket attacks on Israel and a suspect in the deadly 2003 bombing of an American convoy in the Gaza Strip.
Ignoring Abbas, Siyam said the unit would begin operating immediately.
Within hours, dozens of members of the armed force, all wearing the beards favored by observant Muslims, were deployed in central and southern Gaza. At the Bureij refugee camp, about 75 fighters patrolled the camp or took up positions outside.
Members of a security branch answerable to Abbas stood just a few yards away.
Siyam activated the new force just hours after masked gunmen killed a member of Hamas’ military wing before dawn in a drive-by shooting at the Jebaliya refugee camp.
On Tuesday evening, another Hamas activist was killed in a similar attack in Gaza City. Two more Hamas activists were wounded in a third shooting. Those attacks came less than a day after the cars of senior Fatah militants were blown up in Gaza City.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Dozens of Hamas gunmen, armed with anti-tank launchers, shoulder-fired missiles, hand grenades and assault rifles, turned out in a show of force Wednesday at the funeral of the militant shot Tuesday. A mosque loudspeaker announced that the family would not receive mourners “until the killers are punished.”
During the funeral procession, a voice over a loudspeaker blamed a Fatah-dominated branch of the Palestinian security forces. Mourners called on Abbas to dismiss Rashid Abu Shbak, the loyalist Abbas had appointed as a senior security commander.
“Mysterious drive-by shootings”? Hello, they’ve been offing each other for years. It’s the palestinian way, don’tchaknow. Or at least, the terrorist way. No honor among murderers and all that.
If only they’d go after each other and leave Israel alone.
Faster please!
I am reminded of what an Israeli official said when asked to comment about the Iraq/Iran war in the 80’s, his statement was “Mazel Tov to both groups!”
The same can be said about the hamas/fatah civil war.
From your mouth to G-d’s Ears.
Mysterious drive-by shootings? The reason is obvious. The hamas guys looked Jewish. It’s just like the case a few years ago of Palis shooting a Christian Arab jogger in Jerusalem. They said he “looked Jewish” to them. What more reason do they need to kill?
I’ve got a beer cooling, the popcorn is ready to be popped, and my La-Z-Boy is all set for me to kick back and watch the Palestinian civil war. The only quibble is that one side or the other might win. Yes, I know, it’s an unChristian attitude, but I come by that honestly.
It will take scant weeks for the Palis to kill more of each other than the Israelis have since 1948, but my guess is that this will provoke no comment among the Palis’ friends in the west. After all, the Russians offed 30,000 Moslems in Chechnya, but the Islamic street seems to have taken that in stride.