Haaretz: First, We'll Shoot A Bit, Flex A Muscle

[ Middle East News Service Comment: Long introduction/compilation summarises what would have otherwise been the posting of four additional items.

[The appalling situation in the Gaza Strip has not received the attention that it has warranted. Of course the disappearance of kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston has meant that there are hardly any non-Palestinian reporters in the area thus reducing the flow of information.

But it is not only the lack of visual material that has resulted in a lack of interest. As far as the western media is concerned ,Palestinians killing Palestinians is not “sexy” news. Consequently there has been a dearth of analysis of the reasons for the internecine fighting. What there is fits in with what one may call the black-hole-of-Calcutta syndrome. In its weekly ad in Haaretz the Israeli Peace Bloc Gush Shalom (rhymes with Bush-Sharon) summed it quite well:

We have isolated Gaza.
We have starved Gaza.
We have expropriated hundreds of millions that belong to them.
We have convinced the world to impose a blockade on them.
We have humiliated Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas].
We have boycotted Hamas.
We have pushed them into a fratricidal war.
Now there is anarchy.
The price is paid by [the bordering Israeli township of] Sderot.

Palestinian Laila El-Haddad who has been blogging in the Guardian is not quite satisfied with that explanation:

‘The fact is, Gaza is not combusting spontaneously.

‘To quote Alistair Crooke, "the US is not only not interested in dealing with Hamas, it is working to ensure its failure" - a policy promoted and openly acknowledged by the American deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams.

‘In his meetings with a group of Palestinian businessmen last January, Abrams said the US had to support Fatah with guns, ammunition and training, so that they could fight Hamas for control of the Palestinian government. And just over a week ago, a 16-page secret American document was leaked to a Jordanian newspaper outlining an action plan for undermining and replacing the Palestinian national-unity government. The document outlines steps for building up Abbas and his security forces, leading to the dissolution of the parliament, a strengthening of US allies in Fatah in the lead-up to new elections.

‘Events have unfolded according to plan, with not so much as a peep or word of protest from the major world governments.’

Extreme (and unpleasant) as this view may appear, it fits in with Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff’s take in Haaretz. They blame Hamas for instigating and leading fighting – but only because it took pre-emptive action:

‘Unlike in the other rounds of the battle between Fatah and Hamas, the sense that prevailed this week in the Gaza Strip was that this time Hamas has decided to win. The main reason for the organization's decision to attack with all its might stemmed from the assessment that if it does not act quickly, it is liable to lose its advantage over Fatah. In Hamas they followed with concern the preparations by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his adviser Mahmoud Dahlan in advance of yet another confrontation. Recently Fatah's people have won extensive financial support from the United States and European countries, and have received American equipment and weapons from the moderate Arab countries.

‘As far as Hamas is concerned, the meaning of postponing the confrontation would be a substantial strengthening of Fatah. Hamas decided to embark on an organized and well-timed campaign: no more random incidents between the sides, but rather a full-fledged war plan, whose implementation began Sunday and whose aim is singular: winning. Hamas people bombarded Abu Mazen's presidential compound, attacked all the main command centers of Fatah mechanisms and laid ambushes for the adversary's forces.’

The impetus for the Fatah plan came from the US according to another Haaretz report this time by senior political correspondent Aluf Benn:

‘The United States is pressing Israel to help bolster security forces in the Gaza Strip that are loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

‘Major General Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator, recently discussed the function of the pro-Abbas Presidential Guard and National Security forces with senior Israeli officials.’

There is no question that Palestinians are not joking when they refer to the situation as a second Naqba (catastrophe.) But it is equally bad news for Israelis and anyone else who cares about the people of the region and world peace. Israelis are the western Negev are feeling the impact of Hamas Qassam rocket already. But if Hamas’s electoral victory is overturned through military force then the prospects for a negotiated settlement will just about disappear. An agreement between Israel and Fatah under those circumstances will be meaningless and will not have the support of the majority of Palestinian people – a pre-condition for its success.

The analysis below by veteran Arab Affairs reporter Zvi Bar’el goes deeper into the reasons why the Israeli government’s reaction is not in the interest of its people – Sol Salbe.]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/861221.html

Last update - 01:35 20/05/2007

First, we'll shoot a bit, flex a muscle

By Zvi Bar’el

It is the same prestige that contributed quite a bit to creating the real strategic threat facing Israel. This threat is not expressed by the terrifying Qassams that are causing Sderot residents to flee from their city, but rather by the disintegration of Gaza, by the subjection of its million and a quarter residents to the reign of gangs, by the neutralization of the ability to build a strong, united Palestinian leadership, and by the establishment of a state of terror in Gaza, which operates almost in isolation from any central Palestinian administration.

The reason for the state's prestige being in question is its need to justify the decision not to recognize the Hamas government and to impose an economic siege on the territories. At the same time, Israel has conditioned the Palestinians' ability to exist on a matter of honor - on Hamas' recognition of Israel. How ridiculous now is the tally of triumphs and defeats of Fatah versus Hamas, of corpses on one side versus corpses on the other side, and the mathematical determination that Hamas is winning on the street. Is it not the same Hamas that already won over the street in the elections last year? The same Hamas that maintained the welcome cease-fire for many long months? The same Hamas that signed the Mecca Agreement and accepted the Arab Initiative?

… .snip…

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/861221.html

[The independent Middle East News Service concentrates on providing alternative information chiefly from Israeli sources. It is sponsored by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AJDS. These are expressed in its own statements]

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