Word: gaza
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After dithering while his Hamas rivals conquered the Gaza strip, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday took two decisions that underscored his ineffectuality: first, he gave permission for his Fatah fighters to strike back - four days late. By the time Abbas issued the orders, his men were either being paraded through the streets in their underwear, or being executed...
...second decision - to dissolve the Fatah-Hamas coalition government and declare a state of emergency - was already a foregone conclusion. Hamas are the new owners of Gaza strip, with over 1.5 million Palestinians under their Islamist sway, and there is nothing that Abbas can do about it. Gaza is lost to Abbas, who is supported by the Bush Administration and Israel. All the beleaguered Palestinian leader can do now is consolidate his hold on the West Bank territories, where his Fatah forces are stronger than those of Hamas. On Thursday, the Fatah militias rounded up 30 Hamas cadres...
Hamas and Fatah may have passed the point of no return. The unprecedented viciousness of the renewed fighting between the rival Palestinian factions in Gaza makes any new cease-fire difficult to envision. Gangs have tossed enemies alive off 15-story buildings, shot one another's children and burst into hospitals to finish off wounded foes lying helplessly in bed. It is beginning to feel like civil...
Over three days, at least 70 Palestinians were killed, and 180 more were wounded, as Hamas declared control over northern Gaza. Hamas fighters are better organized and motivated than those of Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The Bush Administration sees Abbas as more moderate and flexible than the Islamists of Hamas: Tel Aviv intelligence sources tell TIME that the U.S. is putting pressure on Israel to open up Gaza's sealed frontiers to allow in shipments of Israeli weapons to fortify Fatah. But many Israeli intelligence officers doubt that a last-minute infusion of arms could...
With his control of Gaza crumbling, Abbas' only weapon is to pull out of the "unity" government with Hamas, saddling the Islamic militants with tighter international sanctions. It's a desperate tactic, but Hamas officials say they are in no mood to negotiate with Abbas. Gaza locals say Hamas has prepared a list of Fatah leaders to either arrest or execute, a move that would make a diplomatic compromise that much less likely...