Abbas Dissolves Palestinian Government

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 6/14/07 at 5:50pm

A beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency and disbanded the Hamas-led unity government after the Islamic militant group vanquished its Fatah rivals and effectively took control of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Fearful that Hamas' momentum could spread to the West Bank, Fatah went on the offensive there, rounding up three dozen Hamas fighters. Angry Fatah militants threw office furniture out a third-story window of the Palestinian parliament building in the West Bank city of Ramallah, then set fire to the office of three Hamas lawmakers.

It was a day of major victories for Hamas and its backers in Iran and Syria — and of devastating setbacks for the Western-backed Fatah. In one particularly humiliating scene, masked Hamas fighters marched agents of the once-feared Preventive Security Service out of their headquarters, arms raised in the air, stripped to the waist and ducking at the sound of a gunshot.

The violence has killed at least 90 people in the past five days, including 32 on Thursday alone. Witnesses, Fatah officials and a doctor reported executions by Hamas militants of defeated Fatah fighters Thursday; Fatah said seven of its men were shot in the head gangland-style. Hamas denied any such killings.

Abbas, of Fatah, fired the Hamas prime minister and said he would install a new government, replacing the Hamas-Fatah coalition formed just three months ago. Abbas' decrees won't reverse the Hamas takeover of Gaza. Instead, his moves will enable Fatah to consolidate its control over the West Bank, likely paving the way for two separate Palestinian governments.

Because Fatah has recognized Israel's right to exist and signed on to past peace agreements, the international community's boycott of the Palestinian territories in the wake of Hamas' electoral successes may no longer apply to the West Bank — just to Gaza. Some 2 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, while 1.4 million reside in Gaza.

Hamas' success has thrown into turmoil everything from Mideast peacemaking to Palestinian statehood to relations with Israel and the West.

"The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived," Hamas spokesman Islam Shahawan said.

Fatah's old demons — corruption, petty quarreling, lack of leadership — led to its dismal performance. While disciplined Hamas systematically hoarded weapons, Fatah's Gaza leader, Mohammed Dahlan, preferred travel and West Bank politics to preparing for the inevitable showdown with the Islamic militants. Dahlan returned Thursday from Egypt, where he stayed several weeks after knee surgery. But instead of going to Gaza, he headed for Ramallah.

Many West Bank Palestinians, watching the fall of Gaza on their TV screens, pinned the blame on Abbas, whom they see as indecisive and detached. During Hamas's assaults in Gaza this week, no prominent Fatah leader was in the coastal strip to take command.

"Hamas has leadership, a goal, an ideology and funding," said Gaza analyst Talal Okal. "Fatah has neither leadership, nor a goal, a vision or money."

By capturing Gaza City's three main security compounds and the southern town of Rafah, Hamas secured its hegemony in Gaza, putting Islamic extremists in control there. Hamas seized its final target, Abbas' Gaza City headquarters, late Thursday, according to witnesses.

For first time since fighting erupted five days ago, Abbas issued an order to strike back. But his words were too little, too late.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas' decisions have "no value" on the ground.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz vowed not to let the takeover of Gaza spill over into violence against Israel. Some Israelis said only a Gaza invasion could curb Hamas' military power. But for now, the government seems more inclined to stay out, fearful of inviting more rocket attacks on southern Israel.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States backs Abbas' move. Abbas informed Rice of his decision in a phone call earlier Thursday.

"President Abbas has exercised his lawful authority as president of the Palestinian Authority, as leader of the Palestinian people," Rice said. "We fully support him in his decision to try and end this crisis for the Palestinian people and to give them an opportunity ... to return to peace and a better future."

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[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/14/07 at 6:02pm

everyone knows abu mazen is a tool of the hooknose brigades and only through the might of hamas can the palestinians achieve their goal of driving the jews into the sea and reclaiming every inch of their homeland. allahu akbar!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/14/07 at 6:16pm

Seriously, this is turning into a horrifying bloodbath. Fatah says Hamas is taking captured soldiers and security officers and executing them in the streets in front of their families, which Hamas denies, but since it's happened before, there's no reason to doubt it.

The end result will be a fundamentalist government in Gaza and probably in the West Bank too, which will be loyal to Syria and Iran and which will never negotiate for peace with Israel, only more and more war until finally both sides use nuclear weapons.

And who will suffer the most: first, the Palestinian people, then the world.

There is no solution. Even if Israel were to cease to exist at this moment, even if Israel were never to have existed at all, the fighting would go on.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/14/07 at 6:38pm

The **** has hit the fan

Israel is probably thinking what they will do now

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/14/07 at 6:43pm

It's worse than any of us thinks. And Bush has destroyed any credibility the US might have had in leading the nations of the world in helping the situation.

===

Friday June 15, 3:06 AM
Arabs Fear Spread of Gaza Conflict

Arab countries are eyeing the chaos in Gaza with alarm, fearing that the Palestinian fighting could spread to the West Bank and further destabilize the region. The Arab League chief on Thursday called for a cease-fire, warning of disaster otherwise.

Arab governments have been stunned by a battle that is rapidly creating a dramatically new reality on their doorsteps: a Gaza Strip controlled by the militant group Hamas and a West Bank held by the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Egypt sent police to beef up security on the border with Gaza. Authorities deployed armored vehicles and water cannons to prevent any potential mass flight of Palestinians out of Gaza, while searching for tunnels under the border through which infiltrators could pass.

There are fears that if the fighting spreads to the West Bank, it will further weaken Abbas and ultimately stir up trouble for Jordan, said a Jordanian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the situation's sensitivity.

Roughly half of Jordan's 5.5 million population is Palestinian. A Gaza-style civil war in the neighboring West Bank could spark clashes between the factions' supporters in the kingdom _ particularly in refugee camps where many support Hamas, the official said.

The fighting is a major blow _ if not a death knell _ to months of attempts by U.S. Arab allies Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to unify the Palestinians and allow a resumption of the peace process with Israel. The three regional powers have backed Abbas while trying to moderate Hamas, and Egypt and Jordan have helped train Abbas' security forces.

On Thursday, they were pushing a last-ditch attempt to mediate a resolution. An Egyptian delegation, sent to try to negotiate a cease-fire, was holed up in the presidential palace in Gaza City, where fighting was raging.

Arab foreign ministers planned emergency talks Friday in Cairo. Arab League chief Amr Moussa called for a cease-fire, warning that if the Palestinians do not support Egyptian mediation, "the outcome will be a disaster."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for all sides to "cooperate with Egyptian mediation." But he also threw Cairo's support strongly behind Abbas, calling on all factions to "respect the Palestinian Authority ... and its President Mahmoud Abbas."

A senior figure in Hamas' exiled leadership in Syria, Moussa Abu Marzouk, insisted the fighting would not lead to a Gaza-West Bank split, saying the territories are "united and would remain so."

But fighting appeared headed in that direction, with Fatah in the West Bank arresting Hamas members there to assert control, even as Fatah positions fell in Gaza.

That would leave Arab moderates supporting a crippled Abbas, while facing a tough choice on how to deal with Gaza. They could try to engage with Hamas leaders in a bid to salvage some form of unity government _ but emboldened Hamas militants may be even less likely now to make concessions.

The alternative is a harder line, with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia isolating Gaza and Hamas. But that could further push the impoverished coastal territory _ rife with weapons and with a densely packed population of 1.4 million _ into a source of instability and militancy that could bleed over into its neighbors.

"Gaza is steadily turning into a failed mini-state," wrote Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. "And in failed states, small or large, extremism breeds and spreads."

Arab states fear a Hamas-run Gaza could become a power center for the group's allies Iran and Syria. On Wednesday, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit accused unnamed "regional forces" of fueling the fighting _ an apparent reference to Iran, which gives heavy financial support to Hamas.

Syria said Thursday it was following the events "with deep concern and pain" and called for Palestinian unity and "closing ranks to face the Israeli occupation."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia remained silent, apparently angered by the collapse of its high-profile mediation attempts.

Saudi King Abdullah put his credibility on the line with a February summit in Mecca between Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, creating the unity government that has been destroyed by the fighting, with Abbas dissolving it Thursday.

"It's futile to bet on Palestinian unity," Saudi journalist Dawood al-Shirian told The Associated Press. "By fighting among themselves, the Palestinians are making Israeli aggression against them appear marginal."
AP: Arabs Fear Spread of Gaza Conflict

[Popular]

Posted: 6/14/07 at 7:17pm

This is hitting a little too close to home for me personally. Disturbing and horrible doesn't begin to describe what is happening!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:08pm

Takeover by Hamas Illustrates Failure of Bush's Mideast Vision

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 15, 2007; A18

Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace. "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror," the president declared.

The takeover this week of the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group dedicated to the elimination of Israel demonstrates how much that vision has failed to materialize, in part because of actions taken by the administration. The United States championed Israel's departure from the Gaza Strip as a first step toward peace and then pressed both Israelis and Palestinians to schedule legislative elections, which Hamas unexpectedly won. Now Hamas is the unchallenged power in Gaza.

After his reelection in 2004, Bush said he would use his "political capital" to help create a Palestinian state by the end of his second term. In his final 18 months as president, he faces the prospect of a shattered Palestinian Authority, a radical Islamic state on Israel's border and increasingly dwindling options to turn the tide against Hamas and create a functioning Palestinian state.

"The two-state vision is dead. It really is," said Edward G. Abington Jr., a former State Department official who was once an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas, whose bouts of vacillation have irritated U.S. officials, yesterday dissolved the Palestinian government in response to Hamas's takeover of Gaza. U.S. officials signaled that they will move quickly to persuade an international peace monitoring group -- known as the Quartet -- to lift aid restrictions on the Palestinian government, allowing direct aid to flow to the West Bank-based emergency government that Abbas will lead.

"There is no more Hamas-led government. It is gone," said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the administration must still consult with other members of the Quartet. He said that humanitarian aid will continue to Gaza, but that the dissolution of the Palestinian government is a singular moment that will allow the United States and its allies to create a "new model of engagement."

The evolving U.S. strategy would let the Hamas-run Gaza Strip fend for itself while attempting to bolster Abbas as a moderate leader who can actually govern and deliver peace with Israel. The senior administration official noted that Gaza has no territorial issues with Israel, since there are no Israelis in Gaza, so the Hamas entity there would have no stake in potential peace talks concerning the border on the West Bank.

Referring to Abbas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters yesterday that "we fully support him in his decision to try and end this crisis for the Palestinian people and to give them an opportunity to return to peace and a better future."

But analysts said yesterday that this strategy of dividing the moderates from the extremists -- which was the core of Bush's 2002 speech -- proved ineffective and may have led to the dilemma facing the administration.

"The less we try to intervene and shape Palestinian politics, the better off we will be," said Robert Malley, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the International Crisis Group. "Almost every decision the United States has made to interfere with Palestinian politics has boomeranged."

Bush made his speech at the height of a bloody Palestinian uprising, after concluding that then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was too tied to terrorism to make peace. Bush ordered U.S. diplomats to never again meet with Arafat.

Under international pressure, Arafat agreed to name Abbas as a newly empowered prime minister in 2003. But Abbas quit within months, saying he never got enough support from the United States or Israel to be effective.

When Arafat died at the end of 2004, Abbas won the elections to replace him as president of the Palestinian Authority. Despite deep Israeli misgivings, the United States encouraged Abbas to hold Palestinian legislative elections -- and Abbas invited Hamas to participate, believing he could beat them at the polls. But Hamas won, giving Hamas control of the cabinet and of the powerful prime minister's post that had been created at the behest of the United States.

Then, Washington organized a financial boycott of the government, in an effort to showcase Abbas as a moderate alternative in his role as president. But the financial squeeze engendered Palestinian ill will toward the West, not Hamas, and Abbas earlier this year agreed to a unity government with his opponents. The United States had just begun delivering nonlethal aid and training to security forces loyal to Abbas when Hamas decided to strike and seize Gaza.

"The people who are moderate are not effective," said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "And the people who are effective are not moderate."

Rice has been to Jerusalem four times since December, seeking to rekindle peace talks and to help the Palestinians and Israelis discuss what she called the "political horizon" -- the contours of a Palestinian state. But the discussions never progressed far, largely because of the political weakness of Abbas and his Israeli counterpart.

Before the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Bush and his aides had debated whether the president should make a speech marking the fifth anniversary of his Middle East address, on June 24, in part to rebut criticism that his administration has accomplished little to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Aides say now that those plans are up in the air. It is not clear what the president would say.
Takeover by Hamas Illustrates Failure of Bush's Mideast Vision

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 1:42pm

Oh the irony... the Washington Post criticizing Bush now...

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 2:30pm

>>>The end result will be a fundamentalist government in Gaza and probably in the West Bank too, which will be loyal to Syria and Iran and which will never negotiate for peace with Israel, only more and more war until finally both sides use nuclear >>>weapons.

Israel does not negotiate for peace or acknowledge the existence of Palestine, so I imagine things are not going to be much different. The only reason Gaza is off the table is because Israel doesn't occupy it anymore. Israel has nukes how is that fair? Who are they going to use them on?


This goes much deeper than Israel. These infights and militias are used and manipulated by our government to fuel responses, and retaliation. This has invasion Iran all over it.


>>>And who will suffer the most: first, the Palestinian people, then the world.

The Palestinians are and have been suffering. I'm not sure they are really going to abandon Hamas.

>>>There is no solution.

If there is no solution then why didn't Israel just stay in Gaza? Why not just keep on being perfect.


>>>Even if Israel were to cease to exist at this moment, even if Israel were never to have existed at all, the fighting would go >>>on.


Whether or not this is true, the US has only one vested interest in the region and that is oil. You watch.

Whether or not these people fight is beside the point. This area has seen more blood than Kotex. The problem now is the West has so much vested in this discombobulating warfare and sectarian social control. The US stopped giving aid to Palestine for some time.

Iran is not a real threat to anyone. Israel has protection. If the US really was concerned about terrorism, shouldn’t Pakistan be targeted? They are HOSTING Osama Bin Laden, they have a nuclear arsenal that could reach Israel…. Um… Does the US really care all that much about Israel or national security?

You should ask yourself, why is this on the news? Why is this in the headlines? Iraq has seen many more people killed in the last week. Something is not right here.