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Is dit wat de westerse media een ''burgeroorlog'' noemt? (http://www.maroc.nl/nieuws/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=220972)
Fatah nu officiele collaborateursleger van VS en Israel (http://www.maroc.nl/nieuws/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221782)
The powerful Hamas move to exert authority in Gaza, and the poor performance and motivation of the larger security forces supposedly loyal to Fatah, raised troubling questions for Mr. Abbas and Israel, and left the White House with a dwindling menu of policy options....Abdullah al-Aqad, 28, of Khan Yunis, said he joined the national security forces to have a job. He marveled at the speed of the Hamas advance. “We are 70,000 P.A. soldiers, and where are they all?” he asked. “And facing 10,000 Hamas soldiers.”...While Fatah blamed Hamas for the crisis, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs, Danny Rubinstein, said the “primary reason for the break-up is the fact that Fatah has refused to fully share the Palestinian Authority’s mechanism of power with its rival Hamas, despite Hamas’s decisive victory in the January 2006 general elections.” Fatah “was forced to overrule Palestinian voters because the entire world demanded it do so,” Mr. Rubinstein added. “Matters have come to the point where Hamas attempted to take by force what they believe they rightfully deserve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/world/middleeast/14cnd-mideast.html?_r=2&ref=world&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Gaza Turmoil Prompts Abbas to Dissolve Government
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By ISABEL KERSHNER and STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: June 14, 2007
JERUSALEM, June 14 — The Palestinian territories seemed headed Thursday to a turbulent political divide. Masked Hamas gunmen took control of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian president dissolved the three-month-old unity government, declaring a state of emergency and plans for elections.
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Abid Katib/Getty Images
Hamas fighters celebrated after capturing the headquarters of Fatah’s Preventive Security forces in Gaza. More Photos »
Multimedia
Hamas Seizes Key Fatah InstallationsSlide Show
Hamas Seizes Key Fatah Installations
Related
Hamas Seizes Broad Control in Gaza Strip (June 14, 2007)
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Jaafar Ashtiyeh/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images
Fatah gunmen attacking Hamas offices in Nablus today. More Photos >
An aide to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah announced the decrees, including the firing of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas, at a West Bank news conference after Hamas militias overran Fatah strongholds in Gaza, dragging men into the street and shooting them.
The territories that President Bush said he wanted to see become a state before he left office appeared torn asunder.
With Hamas controlling Gaza, it was not clear whether Mr. Abbas had the power to carry out his decrees. A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, dismissed them. “Prime Minister Haniya remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president,” Mr. Zuhri said. “In practical terms, these decisions are worthless.”
Even Mr. Abbas’s supporters were dubious. “An emergency government would be meaningless here,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at the Fatah-affiliated Al Azhar University in Gaza. “It wouldn’t be able to do anything. Hamas is everywhere. That’s the bottom line.”
The scene in Gaza was one of prayerful celebration for Hamas mixed with revenge. Hamas fighters took over the Fatah-run Preventive Security compound, driving away in cars loaded with weapons, computers, office furniture and other equipment.
Bystanders were shocked. Ghassan Hashem, 37, a civil servant, said, “I see Iraq here. There is no mercy. We are afraid. See how ferocious this fight was? There is no future for us.”
Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Hamas militia, told Hamas radio triumphantly: “The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived.”
The prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, said: “I call on my friend Abu Mazen,” referring to Mr. Abbas, who was in Ramallah, “to take the opportunity, now that almost the entire world understands the viciousness, the brutality of Hamas, to exercise his authority as the leader of the Palestinian people.”
Israel will do what it can, Mr. Olmert said in an interview, to “be helpful and supportive of the Palestinian people in every possible way, including economic cooperation and security cooperation.”
Mr. Olmert will travel to Washington over the weekend for talks with President Bush, which will focus on the collapse of Fatah in Gaza and Mr. Abbas’s chances of success. Mr. Olmert is expected to tell Mr. Bush that Israel favored sealing off the West Bank from the turmoil in Gaza, continuing to prevent contact between the two territories.
In security terms, Israel would like to seal off Gaza from the West Bank as much as possible, to prevent the spread of Hamas military power there, where Israeli troops still occupy the territory. Israel would also like to confront Hamas with the responsibility for governing Gaza — providing jobs and food and security to people.
Israeli officials suggested that Israel would work with Mr. Abbas and a Fatah government in the West Bank, and could gradually hand over to it the remaining Palestinian tax moneys, about $562 million, withheld since Hamas took power a year ago in March. “To give the money to a Hamas government would be reckless,” one senior Israeli official said. “To give it to a Fatah government is an opportunity.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support for Mr. Abbas’s decrees, saying he had “exercised his lawful authority.” Since Fatah conforms to the international conditions — accepting Israel’s right to exist, all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements and forswears violence — a government run by it without Hamas would presumably not be subject to international isolation and restrictions.
The United States, Israel and the European Union consider Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, a terrorist group. But it may be very difficult for the United States and the European Union to stop aiding the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, no matter who their rulers, and divert all aid through Mr. Abbas, who would have little influence in Gaza.
Some on the Israeli right suggest Gaza is lost and should be treated like southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah rules another kind of mini, semi-state.
But some Palestinians believe that Fatah and Hamas may also come together again. Mr. Abbas says the emergency government will rule until new elections are possible — but Hamas will not accept early elections. And it may be that another Arab government, like Egypt or Saudi Arabia, will soon step in to try to patch together the nascent Palestinian state, which is in danger of collapsing.
Is dit wat de westerse media een ''burgeroorlog'' noemt? (http://www.maroc.nl/nieuws/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=220972)
Fatah nu officiele collaborateursleger van VS en Israel (http://www.maroc.nl/nieuws/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221782)
The powerful Hamas move to exert authority in Gaza, and the poor performance and motivation of the larger security forces supposedly loyal to Fatah, raised troubling questions for Mr. Abbas and Israel, and left the White House with a dwindling menu of policy options....Abdullah al-Aqad, 28, of Khan Yunis, said he joined the national security forces to have a job. He marveled at the speed of the Hamas advance. “We are 70,000 P.A. soldiers, and where are they all?” he asked. “And facing 10,000 Hamas soldiers.”...While Fatah blamed Hamas for the crisis, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs, Danny Rubinstein, said the “primary reason for the break-up is the fact that Fatah has refused to fully share the Palestinian Authority’s mechanism of power with its rival Hamas, despite Hamas’s decisive victory in the January 2006 general elections.” Fatah “was forced to overrule Palestinian voters because the entire world demanded it do so,” Mr. Rubinstein added. “Matters have come to the point where Hamas attempted to take by force what they believe they rightfully deserve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/world/middleeast/14cnd-mideast.html?_r=2&ref=world&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Gaza Turmoil Prompts Abbas to Dissolve Government
* Sign In to E-Mail or Save This
* Single Page
* Reprints
* Share
o Digg
o Facebook
o Newsvine
o Permalink
Article Tools Sponsored By
By ISABEL KERSHNER and STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: June 14, 2007
JERUSALEM, June 14 — The Palestinian territories seemed headed Thursday to a turbulent political divide. Masked Hamas gunmen took control of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian president dissolved the three-month-old unity government, declaring a state of emergency and plans for elections.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Abid Katib/Getty Images
Hamas fighters celebrated after capturing the headquarters of Fatah’s Preventive Security forces in Gaza. More Photos »
Multimedia
Hamas Seizes Key Fatah InstallationsSlide Show
Hamas Seizes Key Fatah Installations
Related
Hamas Seizes Broad Control in Gaza Strip (June 14, 2007)
Enlarge This Image
Jaafar Ashtiyeh/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images
Fatah gunmen attacking Hamas offices in Nablus today. More Photos >
An aide to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah announced the decrees, including the firing of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas, at a West Bank news conference after Hamas militias overran Fatah strongholds in Gaza, dragging men into the street and shooting them.
The territories that President Bush said he wanted to see become a state before he left office appeared torn asunder.
With Hamas controlling Gaza, it was not clear whether Mr. Abbas had the power to carry out his decrees. A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, dismissed them. “Prime Minister Haniya remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president,” Mr. Zuhri said. “In practical terms, these decisions are worthless.”
Even Mr. Abbas’s supporters were dubious. “An emergency government would be meaningless here,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at the Fatah-affiliated Al Azhar University in Gaza. “It wouldn’t be able to do anything. Hamas is everywhere. That’s the bottom line.”
The scene in Gaza was one of prayerful celebration for Hamas mixed with revenge. Hamas fighters took over the Fatah-run Preventive Security compound, driving away in cars loaded with weapons, computers, office furniture and other equipment.
Bystanders were shocked. Ghassan Hashem, 37, a civil servant, said, “I see Iraq here. There is no mercy. We are afraid. See how ferocious this fight was? There is no future for us.”
Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Hamas militia, told Hamas radio triumphantly: “The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived.”
The prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, said: “I call on my friend Abu Mazen,” referring to Mr. Abbas, who was in Ramallah, “to take the opportunity, now that almost the entire world understands the viciousness, the brutality of Hamas, to exercise his authority as the leader of the Palestinian people.”
Israel will do what it can, Mr. Olmert said in an interview, to “be helpful and supportive of the Palestinian people in every possible way, including economic cooperation and security cooperation.”
Mr. Olmert will travel to Washington over the weekend for talks with President Bush, which will focus on the collapse of Fatah in Gaza and Mr. Abbas’s chances of success. Mr. Olmert is expected to tell Mr. Bush that Israel favored sealing off the West Bank from the turmoil in Gaza, continuing to prevent contact between the two territories.
In security terms, Israel would like to seal off Gaza from the West Bank as much as possible, to prevent the spread of Hamas military power there, where Israeli troops still occupy the territory. Israel would also like to confront Hamas with the responsibility for governing Gaza — providing jobs and food and security to people.
Israeli officials suggested that Israel would work with Mr. Abbas and a Fatah government in the West Bank, and could gradually hand over to it the remaining Palestinian tax moneys, about $562 million, withheld since Hamas took power a year ago in March. “To give the money to a Hamas government would be reckless,” one senior Israeli official said. “To give it to a Fatah government is an opportunity.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support for Mr. Abbas’s decrees, saying he had “exercised his lawful authority.” Since Fatah conforms to the international conditions — accepting Israel’s right to exist, all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements and forswears violence — a government run by it without Hamas would presumably not be subject to international isolation and restrictions.
The United States, Israel and the European Union consider Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, a terrorist group. But it may be very difficult for the United States and the European Union to stop aiding the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, no matter who their rulers, and divert all aid through Mr. Abbas, who would have little influence in Gaza.
Some on the Israeli right suggest Gaza is lost and should be treated like southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah rules another kind of mini, semi-state.
But some Palestinians believe that Fatah and Hamas may also come together again. Mr. Abbas says the emergency government will rule until new elections are possible — but Hamas will not accept early elections. And it may be that another Arab government, like Egypt or Saudi Arabia, will soon step in to try to patch together the nascent Palestinian state, which is in danger of collapsing.