HAMAS ATTEMPTS ANOTHER KIDNAPPING

Debmey

God is against these terrorists. May they rest well in pieces. When all these terrorists are dead, then there will be peace on earth.  

peace

Debmey

By Michael Widlanski
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 18, 2007

May 15 is always a 揵lack date

Debmey

HAMAS PLOTS TO KILL ABBAS

By Charles Johnson

I抦 shocked to find out that there are assassination plots going on in Gaza. Hamas planned to assassinate Abbas.

    Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas canceled a planned visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday for fear that Hamas militiamen might attack his convoy, PA officials here said.

    揟he Palestinian security forces have received information according to which Hamas was preparing some kind of an attack on President Abbas抯 convoy,

Debmey

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hundreds of Hamas fighters firing rockets and mortar shells captured the headquarters of the
Fatah-allied security forces in northern Gaza on Tuesday, scoring a key victory in the bloody battle for control of the seaside strip.
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Both sides said Gaza had descended into civil war, as the death toll from two days of Palestinian fighting reached 37.

Tuesday's battles marked a turning point, with Hamas moving systematically to seize Fatah positions in what some in the Islamic militant group said would be a decisive phase in the yearlong power struggle. The confrontations became increasingly brutal in recent days, with some killed execution-style in the streets, others in hospital shootouts or thrown off rooftops.

The conflict escalated further when the Fatah central committee decided to suspend the activities of its ministers in the government it shares with Hamas. In an emergency meeting in the
West Bank city of Ramallah, Fatah decided on a full withdrawal if the fighting doesn't stop, said government spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.

President Mahmoud Abbas accused the Islamic militants of Hamas of trying to stage a coup.

A survivor of the Hamas assault on the northern security headquarters said the Fatah forces were outgunned and reinforcements never arrived. "We were pounded with mortar, mortar, mortar," the Fatah fighter, who only gave his first name, Amjad, said, breathing heavily. "They had no mercy. It was boom, boom. They had rockets that could reach almost half of the compound."

Battles raged across the
Gaza Strip during the day. The staccato of gunfire echoed across Gaza City, plumes of smoke rose into the air from far-flung neighborhoods and one firefight sent a dozen preschoolers scrambling for cover.

In a sign of the heightened hostilities, both sides threatened to kill each other's leaders. A rocket-propelled grenade damaged the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and four mortar shells slammed into Abbas' Gaza City office. Neither attack caused any injuries.

Desperately trying to boost morale, disorganized Fatah forces attacked Hamas' main TV station, but were repelled after a heavy battle. The station later showed a group of captured men it said were among the attackers, blood streaming down their faces.

Many Gazans, pinned down in their homes, were furious with the combatants. "Both Fatah and Hamas are leading us to death and destruction," said Ayya Khalil, 29, whose husband serves as an intelligence officer. "They don't care about us."

There was concern the fighting might spread to the West Bank, where Fatah has the upper hand, as Hamas notched victories in Gaza. Late Tuesday, Fatah gunmen wounded four Hamas activists in the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah said in a statement.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed stationing international forces along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt to prevent arms from reaching Palestinian militants, including Hamas. However, he ruled out assistance to Abbas' forces.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate halt to the violence and urged all sides to support Abbas.

The U.N. warned that its efforts to supply refugees with assistance were in jeopardy because of the fighting.

Hamas and Fatah have waged a power struggle in fits and spurts since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006, and Hamas signaled that the fighting was moving into a decisive phase. It ignored pleas by Abbas and exasperated Egyptian mediators to honor a cease-fire.

"Decisiveness will be in the field," said Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Hamas military wing.

In contrast, Fatah commanders complained they were not given clear orders by Abbas to fight back and that they had no central command. Fatah's strongman in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, has spent the last few weeks in Cairo because of a knee injury. Other leading Fatah officials left Gaza for the West Bank after previous rounds of bloodshed.

"There's a difference between leading on the ground and leading by mobile phone," police Col. Nasser Khaldi said of Dahlan's absence. "Hamas is just taking over our positions. There are no orders."

Both sides have been arming themselves in recent weeks, smuggling weapons through tunnels from Egypt.

Abbas accused Hamas leaders of trying to seize control of Gaza by force.

The headquarters of the Fatah-allied security forces in northern Gaza, a key prize for Hamas, was taken by the Islamic militants after several hours of battle. Some 200 Hamas fighters had fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the compound, where some 500 Fatah loyalists were holed up and returned fire. Thirty-five jeeploads of Fatah fighters were sent as reinforcements. After nightfall, Hamas seized control, said a Hamas commander, Wael al-Shakra.

A Fatah security official confirmed the building had been lost. At least 12 people were killed and 30 wounded in the fighting.

Earlier, Hamas fighters also overran several smaller Fatah positions in Gaza.

Hamas gunmen also exchanged fire with Fatah forces at the southern security headquarters in the town of Khan Younis, but did not launch a major assault there. The town's streets were empty as people huddled inside. One Hamas man was killed, according to Hamas and medical officials.

In Gaza City, Hamas fired mortars and explosives at the pro-Fatah Preventive Security headquarters, drawing return fire from watchtowers in the compound. Elsewhere, Fatah fighters killed four Hamas gunmen in a battle near the besieged house of a senior Fatah commander.

The State Department and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, warning of a "very dangerous security situation," advised journalists not to travel to Gaza and urged any there to leave.

Even before the current outbreak of violence, no Western correspondents were based in Gaza. As the violence escalated this week, most journalists were staying off the streets, covering the conflict from the windows of high-rise buildings and keeping in touch with their sources by telephone.

Hamas and Fatah have been at odds since the Hamas election victory ended four decades of Fatah rule. The sides agreed to share power in an uneasy coalition three months ago, but put off key disputes, including control over the security forces. Most of the forces are dominated by Fatah loyalists, while Hamas has formed its own militia and has thousands of gunmen at its command.

Beverley Milton-Edwards, a Hamas expert at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said Gaza is heading for a final showdown. "This has become the existential battle for the soul of the Palestinian people," Milton-Edwards said.

Brutality has grown in recent days, with people shot at close range in street executions. On Sunday, a member of Abbas' presidential guard, Mohammed Sweirki of Fatah, was kidnapped and hurled off a 15-story apartment building, followed a few hours later by the killing of a Hamas fighter, Abu Kainas, thrown from the roof of a 12-story building in apparent retaliation. In all, more than 80 people have been killed since mid-May, most of them militants.

Human Rights Watch, blamed both sides. "Fatah and Hamas military forces have summarily executed captives, killed people not involved in hostilities, and engaged in gun battles with one another inside and near Palestinian hospitals," the New York-based group said in a statement.

Debmey

The Slow (Civil) War of Attrition       
By Micah Halpern
MicahHalpern.com | June 14, 2007

The past few days have been particularly costly for the Palestinians. Dozens of Fatah members and an equal number of Hamas followers have been killed and dozens upon dozens have been wounded. Leaders from both sides in this struggle among brothers have been targeted. They are fighting not only for their cause, they are fighting for their lives.

The Palestinians are caught up in an ugly, bloody, deadly civil war.

Civil wars do not begin suddenly and they do not end with the cessation of overt hostilities. Modern day civil wars do not begin when one day, one side launches an all out war against the other side. Civil wars are not camp time color wars. In recent history the initial phases of civil wars have been marked by tensions and skirmishes, hostilities brewing and bubbling below the surface. The idea is to cause the other side pain and suffering but not so much so that they will feel the need for reprisal. The objective is not to escalate the tension, so they brew and bubble until they can no longer be kept in check - and then they boil over.

In a civil war neither the fighters nor the organizers nor the leaders are concerned with the effect that a long protracted conflict will have on the masses. They don't care about the effect it will have on their economy and markets. They don't care about the greater good of their society. They care only about wreaking havoc on the other side, the enemy. Civil war is the most costly and most destructive kind of war. It is a war of atrophy. Civil wars are known as the slow wars of attrition.

For sixteen months I have been observing Fatah and Hamas, watching closely as tensions escalated. For sixteen months I have been predicting this civil war. It came about as the natural, inevitable, next step as Hamas ascended to political power. Gone were the soup kitchens that fed hungry Palestinians. The doors were closed on the school programs that educated Palestinian youth. The money was needed elsewhere. The money was needed for guns.

In any civil war, and the Palestinian civil war will be no exception, victory is hollow. Civil wars and their tensions linger for decades even after they are resolved. Palestinians are used to infighting, they have a long history of internal fighting. But it was always kept under wraps and under control by Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian bully. Arafat pounded his people into submission, he unified them by way of an oppressive regime. Arafat prevented any alternative voice or power from emerging. And with Arafat's death came a dearth in Palestinian leadership.

Fatah and Hamas cannot maintain this war indefinitely. Both sides are equally brutal, ruthless and violent. Neither side has enough manpower, money or munitions. There are several factors that will cause the outward violence to come to a trickle if not a complete stop.

Public disgust and rejection will be a deciding factor.
Right now Hamas is quickly losing the public relations battle, but they do not recognize that reality. Right now Hamas has no time or patience or concern for public opinion and polls. It is a mistake on their part, perhaps a fatal mistake.

Numbers count in determining the victor. Victory can be predicted based on the number of weapons and the number of supporters who gather in the streets with their guns held high to rally in support of their side. The quality or the age of the weapons is almost irrelevant.

Successful strikes at high level targets will point to a winner. Whichever side succeeds in killing more high level military leaders will win. Hitting military leaders will cripple the other side not only psychologically but also tactically.

In recent battles Hamas used rockets to attack the house of a Fatah military leader in Gaza killing him and his brother. Fatah retaliated by kidnapping and murdering a Hamas leader and dumping his body outside the offices of Palestinian TV. The Fatah compound of Abbas in Gaza was hit with rockets and a Hamas TV station was taken over by Fatah. This war is escalating.

A cease fire will never last. Only a knock out or a massacre will change the situation. It is only a matter of time before there is a massacre or before one of the highest level leaders is assassinated - or both. In this environment, in this culture and in this kind of war, both are inevitabilities.

In the end Hamas will win. Or Fatah will win. In the end it makes no difference. The Palestinian people will have been decimated, raped by their own leaders.

Debmey

Hamas overruns rival Fatah's key posts

By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer 56 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas fighters overran two of the rival
Fatah movement's most important security command centers in the
Gaza Strip on Thursday, and witnesses said the victors dragged vanquished gunmen into the street and shot them to death execution-style.
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Hamas also seized control of Rafah in the south, Gaza's third-largest city, according to witnesses and security officials. It was the second main Gaza city to fall to the militants, who captured nearby Khan Younis on Wednesday.

Hamas captured the Preventive Security headquarters and the intelligence services building n Gaza City, major advances in the Islamic group's attempts to take over Gaza.

After the rout at the security headquarters, some of the Hamas fighters kneeled outside, touching their foreheads to the ground in prayer. Others led Fatah gunmen out of the building, some shirtless or in their underwear, holding their arms in the air. Several of the Fatah men flinched as the crack of gunfire split the air.

A witness, who identified himself only as Amjad, said men were killed as their wives and children watched.

"They are executing them one by one," said Amjad, who lives in a building that overlooks the Preventive Security complex. "They are carrying one of them on their shoulders, putting him on a sand dune, turning him around and shooting," he said by telephone.

The killers ignored appeals from residents to spare the men's lives, said Amjad, who declined to give his full name, fearing reprisal.

Preventive Security is an especially despised target of Hamas because the agency carried out bloody crackdowns against the Islamic group in the 1990s.

Fatah officials said Hamas shot and killed seven of its fighters outside the Preventive Security building. A doctor at Shifa Hospital said he examined two bodies that had been shot in the head at close range. The officials and the doctor spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Militants and civilians looted the compound, hauling out computers, documents, office equipment, furniture and TVs.

The moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, for the first time in five days of fierce fighting, ordered his elite presidential guard to strike back. But his forces were crumbling fast under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Islamic fighters.

In all, 14 fighters and civilians were killed and 80 wounded in the battle for the Preventive Security complex, bringing the day's death toll to 25, hospital and security officials said. About 90 people, mostly fighters but also women and children, have been killed since a spike in violence Sunday sent Gaza into civil war.

The two factions have warred sporadically since Hamas took power from Fatah last year, but never with such intensity. Hamas reluctantly brought Fatah into the coalition in March to quell an earlier round of violence, but the uneasy partnership began crumbling last month over control of the powerful security forces.

Hamas had been tightening its grip on the Preventive Security complex for three days, stepping up its assault late Wednesday with a barrage of bullets, grenades, mortar rounds and land mines that continued until the compound fell. Electricity and telephone lines were cut, and roads leading to the complex were blocked. Hamas claimed it confiscated two cars filled with arms.

The
Palestine Liberation Organization's top body recommended that Abbas declare a state of emergency and dismantle Fatah's governing coalition with Hamas. Abbas said he would review the recommendations and decide later Thursday, said an aide, Nabil Amr.

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas' militia, told Hamas radio. "The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived."

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, heralded what he called "Gaza's second liberation," after
Israel's 2005 evacuation of the coastal strip.

Israel was watching the carnage closely, concerned the clashes might spawn attacks on its southern border. Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a weekly meeting of security officials that Israel would not allow the violence to spread to attacks on southern Israel, meeting participants said.

White House press secretary Tony Snow called the situation "a source of profound concern" that is being monitored by Washington. He said Hamas has expanded its "acts of terror" to target the Palestinian people themselves.

"We are keeping a very close watch," he said. "It's certainly not a situation we like."

The
European Union said it suspended humanitarian aid projects in Gaza, citing the escalating violence there.

The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, warned of a "disastrous outcome" if the bloody infighting continues and called for an immediate cease-fire.

Hamas, meanwhile, had its sights on two other key command centers in Gaza City.

In a broadcast on Hamas radio, the Islamic fighters demanded that Fatah surrender the National Security compound by midafternoon. Light clashes were under way there when the ultimatum was delivered.

RPGs were fired toward Abbas' Gaza compound, provoking return fire from his presidential guard. For the first time since the fighting began, Abbas ordered his guard to go on the offensive against Hamas at the compound, and not simply maintain a defensive posture, an aide said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation was fluid.

Hamas fighters fired dozens of RPGs at the intelligence services building in Gaza City. When they captured it, Hamas television broadcast pictures of the fighters raising the group's green Islamic flag on the roof.

In Rafah, Hamas took over the Preventive Security building, according to witnesses and Col. Nasser Khaldi, a senior police official.

"I can see the Preventive Security building in front of me. Hamas has raised its green flags over it," said a civilian resident, who identified himself only as Raed. He said men carried away equipment from inside and the Fatah-allied security men ran away.

Near Rafah, Hamas officials said an Israeli tank shell struck a group of children from the same family riding in a car, and hospital workers said five were killed. The Israeli army denied its forces fired in the area.

Gaza hospitals were operating without water, electricity and blood.

Even holed up inside their homes, Gazans weren't able to escape the fighting. Moean Hammad, 34, said life had become a nightmare at his high-rise building near the Preventive Security headquarters, where Fatah forces on the rooftop were battling Hamas fighters.

"We spent our night in the hallway outside the apartment because the building came under crossfire," Hammad said. "We haven't had electricity for two days, and all we can hear is shooting and powerful, earthshaking explosions.

"The world is watching us dying and doing nothing to help. God help us, we feel like we are in a real-life horror movie," he said.

Fatah has threatened to carry the fighting to the
West Bank, where Hamas is weak. There have been sporadic battles in the West Bank this week, and on Thursday, Fatah went across the territory rounding up Hamas fighters in an effort to assert control.

The violence has exposed the depths of the disarray in Fatah's ranks since Hamas ended Fatah's 40-year dominion of Palestinian politics last year.

Fatah has asked Israeli permission to bring in more arms and armored vehicles, but Tzahi Hanegbi, chairman of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Army Radio that arming Fatah would be "insane" because the weapons would fall into Hamas hands.

He said Israel was considering backing Fatah forces in the West Bank, but did not elaborate.

Debmey

Hamas overruns Gaza as Abbas sacks government
Posted: 15 June 2007 0201 hrs
         
         
Photos         1 of 1                        

Palestinians rush towards the blown-up pro-Fatah security forces HQ
           
         
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Debmey

Fatah-Hamas clashes spread to West Bank
Posted: 13 June 2007 2125 hrs
         
         
Photos         1 of 1                        

           
         
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Debmey

OIC Malaysian meet rejects international force for Gaza
Posted: 14 June 2007 1553 hrs
         
         
Photos         1 of 1                        

Israelis inspect a damaged house following a rocket attack
           
         

KUALA LUMPUR - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Thursday flatly rejected a UN plan under discussion for international peacekeepers in Gaza, calling instead for stronger leadership from Palestinians.

Secretary General of the 57-member OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said the fighting in Gaza was between "the same people" and that leaders within the split Hamas-Fatah government had to take control of the situation.

"What is needed is not external forces, what is needed is a better understanding between internal forces," Ihsanoglu told reporters on the sidelines of an OIC health ministers' conference in the Malaysian capital.

"I do think that there is a need for strong leadership on behalf of all political leaders and the situation cannot be allowed to further deteriorate," he added.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday the idea of sending an international force to restore peace in the Gaza Strip was worth exploring amid fears of an all-out Palestinian civil war.

"This is an idea we need to explore," he said, adding he had had preliminary discussions on the issue with members of the UN Security Council.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana also said that all options should be considered to restore calm to Gaza, including deployment of an international force.

Ihsanoglu said he was in constant contact with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas of Fatah, and Hamas' Prime Minister Ismail Haniya over the violence.

"We are afraid that it will spread over into the West Bank," Ihsanoglu said.

"I have visited these places a few times, shuttling between Ramallah and Gaza, and I can say that the leadership should immediately show its strength and its resolution in implementing necessary acts (towards restoring calm)," he said.

Ihsanoglu blamed the fighting on a lack of will to heed a power-sharing agreement signed in Mecca in February by Abbas and Hamas' exiled supremo Khaled Meshaal.

"The situation there is a reflection of the lack of determination to abide with the Mecca agreement," he said.

Debmey

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

A very good flash presentation of what actually happened. A very interesting take that was never taught to the people.

Debmey

Nazis in Gaza       
By David Stolinsky
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 21, 2007

Recently the front page of the Los Angeles Times showed a color photo of a Hamas member standing on a desk in a Gaza government office, wearing a ski mask, carrying a Koran in one hand and an AK-47 in the other. This photo reveals in stark clarity the situation in the Gaza Strip:

    * Since Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza, there has been a violent power struggle between Fatah, the late Yasser Arafat抯 group now headed by Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, an even more violent group with ties to Iran.
    * Palestinians went to the polls and elected Hamas with a large majority. Hamas named the prime minister, while Abbas remained as president.
    * Fatah is also a terrorist organization, but supposedly it recognizes Israel抯 right to exist, while Hamas does not even pretend to do so.
    * Unwilling to share power, Hamas violently attacked Fatah, killing some members and forcing others to flee to the West Bank.
    * Hamas seems unaware that desks in government offices are made to sit behind while governing, not to stand on while waving automatic weapons.

Can the Palestinians find nothing better to do with their newfound independence than to kill one another, while lobbing an occasional rocket into Israel? This sad situation raises a fundamental question: What determines the fate of nations?

It is obvious that the fate of individuals often is not determined by their merits. We see innocent children stricken by cancer. We see good people killed or maimed by drunk drivers. We see obnoxious people living long, healthy lives. Unless we live in fantasy, we are forced to admit that what happens to individuals, at least in this world, often has little to do with their virtues

Debmey

By P. David Hornik
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 22, 2007

Gaza has now reached its nadir as a poverty-stricken, Islamist terror state. Michael Medved quotes Gazan poet Bassem al-Nabris as writing that, if there were now to be a referendum in Gaza on whether the Israeli 搊ccupation

mentosonline

Ok, just looking through the news recently, and since our local media in Singapore has been writing a series of articles on the Hamas-Fatah-Israel situation (complete with interviews of the local Palestine people), I was wondering what the opinions are across the Straits. Perhaps some might post newspaper articles and pictures?

Debmey

They are not interested cos its a muslim verses muslim thingy, even if it means sufferings for palestinians, its ok for them.

Such is the hypocrisy of msians.

alphawolf

Wah so easy for you to make conclusions eh? It's more of a political matter so its not discussed in this board but elsewhere.

Besides, what do you know, since you can't read Malay?

yipun78

Y dun u paste some of the 'interesting' stories or fairy tales dat ur country newspapers wrote abt tis Hamas Fatha thingy, we sure would like to read how d stories being told in S'pore version

Debmey

S'pore newspapers simply cut and paste from international news services. Nothing fairy tale.

You mean palestinians killing palestinians is a fairy tale story to you? No black muslims get killed in Darfur to you cos its another fairy tale?

yipun78

bla bla bla  n yet i still dun see any articles from S'pore to read

Debmey

There you go mentosonline. The opinion from msians. I'm right. They pretend it didn't happen.

yipun78

To the obvious questions, there are obvious answers.