Palestinian Civil War Flares Up Again

Yet another bogus ceasefire ends leaving Fatah and Hamas wounded strewn about in Gaza. The latest fighting resulted in one dead and 17 injured.

Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for the shootout near the southern town of Rafah, outside a house belonging to Fatah supporters. Clashes were still going on 12 hours later, with a rocket-propelled grenade hitting that house, and gunmen from both sides lobbing explosives at the homes of rival group officials.

Meanwhile, roadblocks divided two main Rafah neighborhoods into factional enclaves, and armed men from Hamas and Fatah took up positions on rooftops in the areas under their control.

Medics said at least 17 people were wounded in gun battles since the morning, two in serious condition.

The Islamic group Hamas and the more moderate Fatah have been battling for power in the chaotic coastal territory for over a year in fierce bursts of violence that end in brittle truces, only to erupt again. More than 50 Palestinians died in the last round of fighting, which began in mid-May.

Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for the Rafah battle, which broke out around a house belonging to Fatah supporters. The fighting continued after that incident, with masked Hamas men surrounding four other homes belonging to Fatah officials, a security official in Rafah said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

And into this fighting someone has the bright idea of Israel supplying Fatah with guns and ammo? Sorry, but I cannot support this; as soon as the fighting lets up between Fatah and Hamas, those weapons will just as quickly be turned on Israelis. We've already seen weapons that were supposed to be used for Palestinian security be coopted by Palestinian terrorists of both Hamas and Fatah for use on each other and against Israelis.

I would suggest a total arms embargo against the Palestinians. No guns. No ammo. Nothing. Let them use up whatever weapons they've already got on hand and interdict whatever else the terrorists try to bring into Gaza or West Bank areas.

UPDATE:
Confederate Yankee fleshes out the bit in the various articles highlighting today's violence being the first major incident since the ceasefire was instituted three weeks ago. All those many layers of editorial oversight and yet they don't even bother to read their own news reports from a few days ago showing how Fatah and Hamas were busy shooting at each others in significant numbers.