Gun fire has been exchanged in Gaza between Palestinian police (who answer to the President who is from Fatah) and armed Hamas members. This has been building for a while.
At this stage, there are more questions than answers. Will this escalate? Is Fatah being encouraged by the US? Is it a problem to overthrow a democratically elected fascist government?
We should pay attention to this story more than recent horse injuries may permit.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Palestinian Civil War?
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 6:14 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
You may want to watch this from Frontline to get an idea of what the future may hold.
// posted by USWest
Gee, Fatah ruled as a dictatorship under Arafat. I don't see Hamas as "fascist" in any normal sense. Fatah/PLO was doing terrorism when Hamas boys were throwing rocks. There is no "clean" side in the Palestinian power struggle to "cheer" for. Fatah also doesn't need any encouragement to fight for power.
As I see it, the best thing that has happened to Palestinians in 40 years is that they had an election, the ruling faction lost, and it actually left office - a (relatively) peaceful transition of power. Fatah is doing the Palestinian people no favors by offering the prospect of some sort of coup d'etat or civil war as an alternative to Hamas rule.
// posted by LTG
The Palestinians have been divided for a long time. What held things in check was respect for Arafat. So long as he was present as a symbol, then the Palestinians felt obliged to keep their animosities in check. Once he was gone and no new symbol replaced him, the lid was off. The battle will produce the new symbol. This is how it works.
One of the concerns about the Israeli pull out was that things would degenerate into Civil War. Some Palestinian experts believed that Israeli knew this and calculated its pull out with the idea that it would cage the Palestinians in Gaza and let them kill each other, sort of like gladiators.
// posted by UsWest
I've heard that "gladiator" thing before. What a stupid idea. What happens when you put two tigers in a cage? The nastiest, strongest one emerges. Stupid, stupid idea.
// posted by LTG
Hamas is a fascist/racist organization. I really don't understand why LTG bends over backwards wot make them appear better than they are. Fatah are corrupt and bad too and certainly have a nasty nasty past (much of recent!). But Fatah are at least willing to recognize Israel's right to exist within a two state solution. Hamas is not.
Furthermore, is it clear that Hamas will ever voluntarily stand for reelection? Fatah gets a lot of points in my book for losing that election. I hope they get a chance to win the next one.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
I don't understand RBR's passionate belief that because Hamas does not formally recognize Israel (although it is willing to negotiate) it is so uniquely fascist/racist that it can't be dealt with. We'll see if they permit elections - that's a critical test, we agree. Hamas is no more racist than the state of Israel, on that I hope we can all agree.
// posted by LTG
I should add that I think we have to be realistic in the Middle East, particularly Palestine/Israel, and not get hung up on requiring ideological purity before talking to people. Peace doesn't happen that way. If the USA can host Gerry Adams of the IRA in the White House, we can sure as hell talk to the PLO, Hamas, or anyone else who can deliver peace.
This morning, Abbas announced that unless Hamas recognizes Israel in 10 days, there will be a referendum.
Hamas remains a terrorist organization. 'Nuff said.
Post a Comment