Word: gaza
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Hamas may have emerged victorious over Fatah in Gaza. But there was another militant group with clout in that thin strip of Palestinian territory. And now Hamas must reckon with it as it figures out how to keep a semblance of peace with Israel...
...Among Gaza's many militant groups, the boys of Islamic Jihad have a different swagger. They walk with death in their shadows, and they move with the stiff pretense of being unafraid of it. Of course, they don't call it death but "martyrdom," and it awaits them in the form of an Israeli missile when these die-hard teenagers creep out into the orange groves and sand dunes to launch rockets at Israel...
...militants know that after they fire off their homemade rockets, they have only a few seconds to sprint away before a guided Israeli missile comes flaming in. Islamic Jihad admits to losing over 70 men this way last year. And yet they persist. In Gaza, there is no shortage of young men who are mesmerized by the idea of a warrior's death...
Islamic Jihad's activities are now under intense scrutiny, not only by the Israelis but also by fellow militants Hamas, who assumed power in the Gaza Strip after a short but brutal fight with Fatah, a movement linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas...
...Hamas is trying to avoid provoking Israel into attacking the Gaza Strip. Instead, say Hamas officials, they are trying to restore order and calm after what one human rights activist described as the "organized, orchestrated chaos" that reigned during the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas. And to gain a breather, Hamas leaders say they are willing to observe a truce with Israel. But Hamas knows that the cease-fire will never succeed unless Islamic Jihad also signs...