Not So Friendly Fire

Hamas and Fatah continue to exchange the gift of gunfire. It's the gift that keeps on giving considering that both terrorist groups are trying their best (or worst) to undermine and eliminate the other rival group.

Hamas and Fatah-allied gunmen exchanged fire in Gaza City and Ramallah on Friday, fanning fears of widescale fighting between the rival Palestinian groups a day after gunmen shot at the entourage of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

The street battles in the Gaza Strip and West Bank came amid Hamas accusations that a powerful Fatah leader orchestrated the attack on Haniyeh. Leaders of both groups had warned in recent days that the spiraling violence threatened to bring the Palestinians to civil war.

The fighting cast a cloud over celebrations Friday to mark Hamas' 19th anniversary. However, the Islamic militant group pushed ahead with its rallies, and at least 60,000 people gathered at a stadium in Gaza City for a celebration Friday afternoon. Haniyeh was expected to make an address.

The fighting Friday in the normally peaceful city of Ramallah began when Hamas supporters marched toward the center of town, where Fatah-allied police were deployed in advance of the Hamas celebrations. A total of 32 people were wounded by stones and gunfire, including a man hit in head by crossfire, hospital officials said.

In Gaza City, masked Hamas gunmen waged battle with Fatah-allied police near a security post in the middle of the city. The four-minute battle sent civilians running for cover.

Hamas and Fatah do not govern. They threaten. They cajole. They run guns, ammo, and have bag men who are trying to fund the continuing terror operations against Israel and against rival groups. The Palestinians are caught in the middle of this mess, but they are not entirely blameless.

They voted for Hamas in overwhelming numbers. They wanted the violence to escalate - that's what Hamas promised. The Palestinians didn't care or think that electing a terrorist group that doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist might turn off the spigot of international aid.

They now suffer the repercussions of those actions.

Hamas now controls the Rafah crossing. Fatah's thugs had been in control, but were forced out in a gun battle that also saw Fatah take shots at Haniyeh, wounding his son and killing a bodyguard.

Meanwhile, Kofi Annan is sad that he couldn't resolve the Middle East problems. Here's a clue Kofi. You're not that smart.

You didn't even have the first clue as to what was going on there, blaming the victim of terrorist attacks for the violence, refusing to call out the terrorist groups that purposefully targeted civilians, and putting terrorist groups on the same footing as nation-states. What Kofi did not only didn't resolve Middle East conflicts, but set back the cause of peace by hamstringing the ability of nations to defend themselves from terror attacks, turning the UN into a cashbox that rogue nations relied upon to prevent any action to enforce UN resolutions, and cozied up to regimes harboring genocidal intent.

Finally, you cannot impose peace on a group whose religious, cultural, and political ideologies are so entwined with the concept of destruction of those who oppose their way of life and see Israel's very existence as an affront to their religious beliefs.

UPDATE:
Hamas held big demonstrations in Gaza, where more than 70,000 followers congregated. Gunfights broke out less than a block from the home of noted terrorist Mohammed Dahlan. Hamas believes that Dahlan was behind the attempt on Haniyeh.

When Haniyeh finally crossed, unidentified men began firing toward him. One of his bodyguards was killed and his son and 26 others were wounded.

At the bodyguard's funeral, Khalil al-Hayeh, head of the Hamas bloc in parliament, told mourners that Dahlan was trying to instigate a coup against the government and appeared to call for his assassination.

Al-Hayeh exhorted the crowd to "get us the plotters of the coup."

"We will, we will," the crowd replied.

Dahlan said the allegations were an attempt by Hamas leaders "to mask their sweeping failure to manage Palestinian political and social life."

Dahlan, a member of Fatah is one to talk given their sweeping failures to improve the Palestinian socio-political situation.

UPDATE:
The NYT has some odd reporting here:

Today’s events were largely an extension of a strange episode on Thursday, when Israel temporarily barred Mr. Haniya from returning to the Gaza Strip after a tour of the Middle East. Israel said he was carrying tens of millions of dollars in cash in his luggage, and that the money could be used to finance terrorist attacks, though Israel provided no evidence of those claims. As Mr. Haniya approached the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Israel ordered the crossing closed.

The seven-hour standoff that ensued quickly turned into an internal Palestinian battle. Hamas gunmen stormed the border terminal on the Palestinian side of the border at Rafah to support Mr. Haniya, who was stranded on the Egyptian side.

The Hamas gunmen first clashed with the Palestinian security forces at the crossing, who are loyal to Mr. Abbas. Later, they battled Egyptian security forces on the other side of the frontier.

Mr. Haniya was eventually allowed to enter Gaza after leaving the money with Hamas officials who stayed behind in Egpyt. But as Mr. Haniya was leaving the border area, his entourage came under fire. One bodyguard was killed, and one of Mr. Haniya’s sons and one of his political advisers were wounded.

What's strange is the NYT reporting. First, they claim that Israel said that Hamas was trying to bring money into Gaza but Israel had no proof. Three paragraphs later, they say that Hamas thugs were left holding the money in Egypt while Haniyeh made his way into Gaza.

Curious. Very curious. Wouldn't the third paragraph prove the claims made by Israel? In a world with logic and reasoning, you would be correct. However, this is Israeli double standard world, and all bets are off. It's obvious that Hamas was trying to bring money in, and didn't like the fact that someone was preventing them from doing so.

It's also interesting that the Israelis weren't the ones at the border; it was a group of international monitors, and Fatah's Presidential security forces. No Israelis were there. It would appear that the Israelis tipped off Fatah about the money coming in, and the clashes ensued when Haniyeh refused to let Fatah take a cut. Fatah knows that Hamas with money spells trouble, so they blocked his entry.

Haniyeh didn't like this, and his gunmen opened fire. Meanwhile, another wonderful tidbit slides by: Hamas fired on Egyptian forces. Yet another sign that Hamas couldn't care less about laws, international law, or anything other than making sure that it got its money and no one stood in its way.

Technorati: terrorism, nasrallah, fatah, haniyeh, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, carter, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.