The price of an M-16 has risen to $10,000, and Fatah and Hamas are arming for war.
Hamas and Fatah are preparing for war, just to be on the safe side. Militants are gathering intelligence ahead of an operation against each other, rather than Israel. Yes, reports say the rival organizations are about to sign an agreement on the prisoners’ letter and that Hamas is willing to appoint technocrats to ministerial positions. But there is a crisis of confidence between Fatah and Hamas. On at least four occasions, senior officials have agreed that the special “operational force” established in Gaza by Hamas will retreat from the streets and return to the barracks. The agreement was not implemented even after last week’s particularly successful meeting between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. And so, Fatah and Hamas continue to prepare for war: Both sides are monitoring the movements of rival senior officials with roadblocks on the routes taken by military commanders. The recruitment, training and arming of more than 4,000 Palestinians in forces associated with Fatah centrists (Mohammed Dahlan’s preventative security force and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades) are meant to send a message to Hamas. “For every one of our men who is hit by Hamas fire, we will hit two of yours,” a senior Fatah official told Haniyeh last week.
Meantime, Hamas is still targeting the Fatah leadership. It’s a volatile choice. Israel doesn’t have to worry about the clan thing after targeted assassinations. But the clan/tribal thing in the terrortories[sic], well, that’s the real tit-for-tat violence going on.
I’m hoping that Hamas hits a Fatah member whose death can’t be overlooked by the leadership. Then we’d see the real civil war, and as they say, I hope they both lose.