Escape From G.C.

When John Carpenter made Escape from New York and Escape From L.A., he envisioned an apocalyptic near future where former grand cities were turned into maximum security prisons, where the inmates ran the asylum, and anarchy reigned in those prison settings.

Carpenter would not have to look far to see the inspiration for another movie. All he'd have to do is look at Gaza today.

Hamas continues to advance throughout Gaza, eliminating Fatah strongholds, including the headquarters of Fatah’s Preventive Security forces in Gaza City.

Aides to Mr. Abbas say he is expected to announce an “important decision” later today. He is under pressure from within Fatah and from his Western allies to suspend participation in the so-called unity government with Hamas, which began in March, or to declare a full state of emergency.

Hamas forces consolidated their control over much of Gaza on Wednesday, taking command of the main north-south road and blowing up a Fatah headquarters in Khan Yunis, in the south.

By Wednesday, Hamas controlled Gaza City except for several areas, including the presidential compound of Mr. Abbas and the Suraya headquarters of the National Security Forces, the Palestinian army. Hamas had surrounded Al Suraya, calling on the occupants to surrender. Mr. Abbas was outside Gaza, in Ramallah, on the West Bank.

Today, Hamas tightened its grip further by capturing the headquarters of the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security forces, in the Tal el-Hawa district of Gaza City.

The fall of that headquarters would have powerful resonance for both Fatah and Hamas. Preventive Security is an elite national security force that was founded by Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah strongman, and was considered to be one of the most important Fatah forces in Gaza.

It's somewhat entertaining to read that the New York Times now considers the PA's governing entity a "so-called" government. This is a so-called government that is nothing more than a collection of terrorist groups that are each vying for complete control over the territories. The Times is also still hesitant to call the situation a civil war, but by the time they decide to do so, the war will already be over, and nothing will remain but for Hamas to eliminate the Fatah remnants. I don't mean by exile either. Hamas intends to kill their foes - everyone they see as collaborators with Israel or those that stand in the way of Hamas's goals.

Abbas doesn't have much power at this point. He's outmanned and outgunned in Gaza, and his ability to shape events is severely limited. Quitting the government gives Hamas complete control. Stepping down might help Fatah in the interim, but there's no one capable of running that terrorist outfit any better.

At least 14 Fatah were killed in the latest fighting in the Gaza Strip. In retaliation, Fatah has captured 36 Hamas thugs in the West Bank.

Palestinian security forces allied with Fatah arrested three dozens Hamas activists in the West Bank on Thursday, as the Islamic group was close to a military takeover of Gaza.

Fatah leaders said a decision was made by security commanders to crack down on Hamas in the West Bank, to prevent it from taking any positions in that territory, a Fatah stronghold.

"Last night, there was a decision by the leaders of the security forces to go after Hamas and to arrest them, before they think of bringing the war here," said Issam Abu Bakr, a Fatah leader in the West Bank city of Nablus. "This is true for all of the West Bank. Perhaps it was a belated decision, but now we can stand against Hamas and defend ourselves."

Fatah is on the defensive most everywhere, and while the West Bank is its traditional stronghold, Hamas has made serious inroads in the Palestinian polity, such as it is, as the last elections showed.

The fighting continues in places like Nablus and Jenin.

With the civil war going on in earnest, the EU has suspended humanitarian operations in Gaza. And even as Hamas and Fatah are fighting each other, the terrorists are still finding time to fire kassams into Israel, forcing Israel to engage in operations to go after the terrorists inside Gaza as well.

Israel has not cut off utilities to Gaza as yet, including water supplies. That article also has the following:

Another humanitarian issue that Israel will likely have to grapple with over the next few days, if the fighting intensifies, is whether to allow Palestinians fleeing the violence into Israel through the border crossings. The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt has been closed since Saturday.

Marc Otte, the EU's special Middle East envoy, told The Jerusalem Post that the EU was not asking Israel at this time to do anything specific regarding the fighting. He said that it would obviously "not be productive" for Israel to take sides in this conflict.

Otte said the Egyptians, who have representatives inside Gaza, are continuing to try and bring about a cease-fire, "but the question is what comes after the cease-fire." Pointing out that there had been a number of cease-fires reached and breached over the last few months, Otte said that the Palestinians "need to decide that enough is enough and turn their energies elsewhere." But, he added, this presently was "not the mood."

Referring to an idea Olmert floated Wednesday of an international force on the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza to prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip, Otte said that this idea was only in very preliminary stages of discussion.

"My understanding is that this issue is being discussed," Otte said, but that there was "not a plan being rolled out at the moment."

A senior Israeli official said that the idea, first broached some three weeks ago by the Foreign Ministry, would be discussed by Olmert when he goes to Washington next week. Olmert is scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush on Tuesday, and is also expected to meet separately with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This is the type of issue that would generally come up in a meeting with Rice.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senatorial Candidate Hillary Clinton told the Post Wednesday that when it came to the means of strengthening Fatah in its struggle with Hamas, she was "going to leave those decisions to the Israeli government." She was speaking after making remarks at an Orthodox Union luncheon in Washington warning of the danger a Hamas victory would pose for Israel and the region.

Fatah and Hamas pose a danger to Israel, as both seek Israel's destruction. Fatah has never complied with the terms of Oslo or Wye, and yet they're seen as moderate since they're at least willing to pay lip service to the diplomats. Hamas isn't even willing to lie about their intentions. They want to kill Jews.

Israel should not allow the Palestinians to enter Israel as refugees. Not only would this allow Hamas thugs to enter Israel, breaching the security fence that has kept them at bay, but would cause long lasting demographic and security problems for years to come.

The Palestinians have created the mess in Gaza, and they must fix the problem themselves. Giving them a way out that avoids them having to take responsibility for their own mess will only exascerbate the situation.

Considering that the situation in Gaza shows the futility of trying to create a deal between Israel and the Palestinians when the Palestinians have shown no interest in building a prosperous society alongside Israel in Gaza, one should treat the Road Map dead. There is no entity among the Palestinians that wants peace with Israel. Fatah has not lived up to the obligations and Hamas ignores them, instead repeatedly stating its intention to destroy Israel at the earliest possible opportunity.

UPDATE:
Yet another example of Hamas rules:

Jamal Abu Jadian, a top Fatah commander, fled his home in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday evening dressed as a woman to avoid dozens of Hamas militiamen who had attacked it. He and several members of his family and bodyguards were lightly wounded.

But when Abu Jadian arrived at a hospital a few hundred meters away from his house, he was discovered by a group of Hamas gunmen, who took turns shooting him in the head with automatic rifles.

"They literally blew his head off with more than 40 bullets," said a doctor at Kamal Udwan Hospital.

Hey, I know, let's give the Palestinians a state and see what happens. How is it that there are still diplomats who are trying to push that nonsense even as the Palestinian civil war displays what kind of governance Hamas and Fatah are about - reprisal slayings, murdering people in cold blood, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and stoking violence against 'the other,' whether it is Israel or other terrorist groups. If Israel did even a fraction of what Hamas and Fatah have done in the past few days, there would be UN resolutions submitted faster than the speed of light, human rights groups would demand Israel hand over key officials for trial in an international criminal court, and groups would not only demand boycotts and embargoes, but would make such a stink that it would force Israel to back down from its right to defend itself against attacks. Of course, as Meryl loves to point out, this is yet another example of Israeli double standard time. When Hamas and Fatah actually engage in war crimes and crimes against humanity, no one so much as blinks.

If Israel did this, the usual suspects would be screaming bloody murder, but when Hamas does it to Fatah, not so much.

Mark Steyn points out that this episode should end the whole notion of Palestinian nationalism once and for all, but it wont. The diplomats have too much vested in the concept to consider any other alternative.

Tigerhawk wonders if civil wars are a natural state for Arab countries that are not governed by dictatorships [updated - or if there are other factors at play]. Considering that the Palestinians were a de-facto dictatorship under Arafat and still managed to have a low level civil war due to Hamas and PIJ fighting with Fatah all throughout, I'd find reason to disagree. The level of violence never rose to the levels is has in recent months primarily because Abbas is far less capable of dealing with threats to his power than Arafat ever was. Arafat was always a master at personal survival and power accumulation. That was the key to his survival as head of the PLO for so long. Abbas has yet to figure that out.

Others blogging: Israelated, Israellycool, Snapped Shot, and Fallback LGF.

UPDATE:
Time Magazine spins this as a defeat for the Administration's policies. Well, it is. Anyone who thought that the Palestinians would be interested in peace with Israel should be disabused of that notion once and for all. Trying to play a neutral party in negotiations with Palestinians and Israelis is a fool's errand. The Palestinian terrorists consider the US an enemy, and have no problem going after Americans either. Yet, we've had no problem providing the PA with weapons and continue to publicly support Abbas. Why?

The running argument is that the alternatives are far worse. Actually, we've seen the folly of not dealing with terrorists as anything other than groups that must be severely limited.

Of course, there are those that are laying the fault for the Palestinian civil war at the hands of the Israelis as well:

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the situation in Gaza Wednesday "fluid," and added that the U.S. is "continuing to support President Abbas" and has called on others in the region to express their support.

For months, Abbas, urged on by U.S. advisers, had been strengthening his security forces in Gaza. But Hamas was not idle during that interlude. The well-disciplined Islamists were busy plotting for this final assault, stockpiling ammunition, mortars and tons of explosives. They drew up lists and established the whereabouts of senior Fatah officers to be executed, positioned snipers on tall buildings around rival outposts and even tunneled under Fatah security headquarters in Khan Younis, where on Tuesday Hamas blew up a one-ton charge of explosives, killing 13 people. "We are fighting for our faith," one Hamas spokesman explained to a radio interviewer, "and Fatah are fighting for their salaries. That is why we will win."

Israeli officials say Washington had tried to avert the rout of Fatah in Gaza by pleading with Israel to rush in a new supply of arms. But Israeli intelligence sources told TIME that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office refused to help Abbas, fearing that the arms would fail to make the difference and would end up in the hands of Hamas.

Western diplomats blame Olmert's government for consistently undermining Abbas, thus strengthening the Islamic militants. "Israel has one policy with the Palestinians," this diplomat said, "And that's 'Keep them weak'."

Excuse me? Who is this diplomat they've cited? I want names. Israel should look the other way while terrorists who openly call for Israel's destruction are able to get their hands on the very weapons they need to carry out a war with Israel? These diplomats have no problem pushing Israel under a bus just to say they've made a deal between Palestinians and Israelis.

Pseudorealists, one and all.

These diplomats can return to their comfy homes and sip on tea, while Israel has to deal with terrorist regimes on their borders lobbing rockets, threatening mass casualty attacks, and staging invasions using subterfuge to capture Israelis for purposes of forcing Israel to release Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails.

Israel's policy was to give Gaza to the Palestinians, complete with infrastructure, utilities, and an economic base. That happened in 2005. The Palestinians promptly destroyed the economic tools - greenhouses; plundered the infrastructure - taking pipes for sewage and turning them into rockets; and ignored the social fabric - all to wage war. That's not on Israel, but on the Palestinian terrorists running Gaza. That would be Hamas and Fatah.

UPDATE:
Hamas claims to have captured documents proving Fatah's complicity with Israel, along with documents showing CIA ties to Fatah. It's tough to argue with a bunch of terrorists over the veracity of their finds. Israel and the CIA do have incentives to support Fatah over Hamas, but would they provide support in such a fashion that it would be easily discovered?

Hamas claims the finds justify their side in taking the actions it has in the civil war. Of course they do. They'll find justifications no matter what was found. They want to crush their enemies, and will use anything and everything to support that position, regardless of its veracity.

UPDATE:
What does Hamas do once it has secured Gaza City? It opens up the gates to the jails and lets out all the inmates. We've now come full circle in the origins of my post heading, especially as Fatah thugs who are still around in Gaza are looking for the exits.

UPDATE:
Carl in Jerusalem points out that Abbas has dissolved the Palestinian unity government via a Ynet article:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas informed the representatives of the Quartet, the US and Jordan that he is dissolving the Palestinian unity government and plans to announce a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip, in light of the ongoing violence between Hamas and Fatah.

Of course, that is an empty decision considering that Hamas and Fatah never could agree on a government for more than a few days before shooting at each other. And that state of emergency means that Fatah's claiming martial law in the areas that it still controls. The fighting will get much worse.

In the meantime, Hamas gunmen continued to chase down senior Fatah officials who managed to infiltrate Hamas roadblocks. One of those officials, Samih al-Madhoun, an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader, was captured and shot dead in the central part of the Strip, apparently while making his way to Egypt.

Terrorists killing terrorists. Too bad. So sad.

Fatah continues to go after Hamas locations in Nablus, and the kids are playing amidst the gunfire. Or should I say ducking and covering while the 'adults' are firing their weapons randomly.

UPDATE:
Israpundit suggests that with the international community disorganized and the PA in tatters, Israel might be in a position to reassert authority and administrative control over the whole of the West Bank. The context could be to prevent a Fatah-Hamas war.

To my mind Israel is now in a position to deal with Judea and Samaria separately from Gaza. I have long championed annexing Judea and Samaria and recognized that splitting these territories from Gaza would meet with much international opposition. No longer.

On the pretext of preventing a Hamas/Fatah war in J & S, Israel should replace the PA or Fatah as the governing authority. Then Israel law should be extended to the entire area. The West is in such disarray now that a bold action by Israel would not meet the resistence it might otherwise have. With the growing influence of Iran, Israel is the only card left to play in the West’s deck.

Gaza is a lost cause, and Israel doesn't want to recapture it - though it will have to deal with Hamas via airstrikes and raids to prevent further damage done. The West Bank holds special significance to Israelis, because many religious events occurred in areas that are now part of the West Bank. Heck, even Palestinians are clamoring for Israeli administration given the failures of the PA, Fatah and Hamas to govern.

UPDATE:
Conflict Blotter has running updates of the situation, live from Gaza. He's not sure what's going on, but the sound of celebratory gunfire has filled the air.

UPDATE:
Hamas has said in the past that they want an Islamic state in Palestine. Now, they're saying that they wouldn't impose an Islamic state in Gaza. One of those statements is a lie. I put odds on the latter. Hamas has also said that Abbas's claims to dissolve the government are outside his powers, and carry no weight.

UPDATE:
You've got to be kidding me. The BBC calls Jerusalem, Israel's capital and a couple of Palestinian organizations call to complain. BBC retracts. Excuse me, but Jerusalem is Israel's capital. It has been since 1948. That's where Israel governs from, and it has been Israel's historical capital. The Palestinians are busy trying to rewrite history to claim otherwise. Given that their little civil war has shown that the PA doesn't exist and that the terrorists have no interest in peace with Israel, any Palestinian claims to Jerusalem are worthless - as worthless as the paper Palestinian ceasefires are written upon.

UPDATE:
You think that the civil war might be affecting the possibility of talks to release Gilad Shalit? You think? Hamas has him, and they're not going to let him go - not without Israel releasing hundreds of terrorists who will turn around and try to kill Israelis once again.

Hamas also threw out a random claim that Israel fired an artillery shell that just happened to kill five kids. Nice try. Inventing atrocities committed by Israel is what Hamas does.

Olmert says that they would not interfere in Gaza, but I think that Israel will eventually get sucked back in - if only by having to engage in air strikes and artillery strikes against Hamas targets trying to attack Israel.