Palestinians Awake To Grim Realities of Own Creation

Palestinians continue to show their love to Yasir Arafat and his lasting legacy. They not only looted his home, but they took his Nobel Prize, his uniforms, pictures, papers, items given by foreign governments, and everything else in the villa. In fact, they took everything - whether it was attached to the house or not.

It is quite fitting that the terrorist and kleptocrat had his villa looted.

It's also fitting that Israel, long demonized by Hamas, Fatah, and all the Arab countries, is now a safe haven from the thugs terrorizing everyone in Gaza. When the Gazans weren't fleeing Gaza to Egypt (and now being sent back to Gaza by Egypt - ouch, that's gonna leave a mark), they were running as fast as they could to Israel. Carl in Jerusalem has more.


You would think that the Palestinians would realize just how bad things are with either Fatah or Hamas. And some are already sorry for realizing that picking a violent, nihlist, and unrestrained terrorist group to lead your government was a bad idea. Now, they don't want to live under the conditions they themselves created. Welcome to the Taliban upon the Med.

Fatah, meanwhile has sworn in its new emergency government and claims that it has outlawed the Hamas militias. Funny thing about that - all the militias were supposed to be outlawed when the unity government was formed all those many months ago and that the PA would remain the sole legitimate force. That never happened, of course, and Hamas thugs were able to retain their weapons, as did Fatah's own thugs.

If you think the Fatah-Hamas civil war is over, you'd be mistaken. It will continue as Haniyeh has ruled out governing Gaza on its own. He's going to go after Fatah in the West Bank. With Fatah already setting up the PA without Hamas, and Hamas arranging its own 'government,' this is going to get mighty interesting. And Israel will be stuck in the middle - jokers to the left and clowns to the right, except both are loaded for bear.

Recognizing the PA as the legitimate government makes little sense, but that's what the US and others are doing if Hamas is not included. I think that's a real bad mistake as there's no reason to trust Fatah and Fatah's performance in Gaza shows that they're unable to hold the line against Hamas. More to the point, Fatah is a terrorist organization just like Hamas and they're more than willing to engage in the same depravities.

Hot Air notes the emerging diplomatic stance - it's a three state solution. I have already registered my opinion on the matter - I have a real bad feeling about it.

And if you had a bad feeling about all the above, consider that a report indicates Israel is willing to lift the economic ban on Hamas to secure the release of Gilad Shalit. I sure as heck hope not. Hamas needs to be choked off economically and militarily. Nothing should get in or out of Gaza, lest terrorists manage to get through into Israel where they would be able to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians.

Olmert vows to cooperate with Abbas. Why? Abbas hasn't been able to live up to any of his obligations, and there's no reason to think he'll be any more successful now than when the PA had both Gaza and the West Bank. He's inept, corrupt, and lacks support within the Palestinian community, let alone his own organization.

Indeed, Hamas thugs killed two Fatah thugs in Nablus on the West Bank.

The NY Times notes the pitfalls of following a policy of recognizing Fatah while putting the squeeze on Hamas. In fact, Israel is looking into going after Hamas full bore in Gaza. Netenyahu opposes ground ops in Gaza at this time. I concur. Let the UAVs and satellites gather intel on all the Hamas terrorists running around without their masks at this time and figure out the Hamas organizational structure to where they can start airstrikes against Hamas thugs.

UPDATE:
The looting of Arafat's villa has generated quite a bit of commentary, especially the part about the taking of Arafat's Nobel Prize. Don Surber rounds up most of the reaction, while memeorandum picks up the rest. It really is quite ironic that a terrorist who stole so much in life - and was rewarded for it, had that award stolen by his more violent progeny.

UPDATE:
Fatah thugs didn't have their heart in the fight with Hamas in Gaza because they didn't trust their leadership and saw the Fatah leaders running to Ramallah, leaving the thugs to fend for themselves. We see this time and again. The terrorist leadership talks the talk, but runs away at the first sign of trouble. Fatah lost in Gaza because the Palestinians don't trust them to do things any better than Hamas. Indeed, that was one of the motivating factors in Hamas gaining traction in the last elections. It wasn't all because the Palestinians bought into the Hamas Islamist agenda, but because they were tired of Fatah's kleptocracy.

UPDATE:
Expect Israel to be blamed for gas shortages in Gaza shortly. There are already lines forming to get gas at gas stations in Gaza, and an Israeli gas company has stated it would not send gas to Gaza. We'll see how long that lasts before the usual suspects start complaining that the Israelis are engaging in collective punishment against Israel or that they're depriving Palestinians of their human rights.

I need only remind you that the Palestinian terrorists would think nothing of killing Israeli civilians in every manner imaginable, including yet more katuysha rocket attacks today. Yet, the usual suspects would demand Israel provide Israel's mortal enemies with the means to continue their fight against Israel. What's ominous about today's rocket attacks is that they came from South Lebanon and hit the Northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. What that means is that UNIFIL failed in its obligations - fancy that.

The Israelis are trying to figure out whether it was Fatah al Islam that fired the rockets or whether it was Hizbullah.

Does it matter? Well, yes. If it was Hizbullah, then the Second Hizbullah War may be underway before the end of the month. If it was Fatah al Islam, then the Palestinian civil war is trying to get Israel embroiled in a multifront fight, including Lebanon.

BBC journalist Alan Johnston's captors, the al Qaeda linked Army of Islam, has said that Hamas contacted them over his release. They claim that Hamas threatened them. Sure they did. My guess is that Hamas warned that Army of Islam shouldn't mess up this situation for Hamas and that if we play our cards right, we'll get a nice tidy ransom, Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli jails, and economic sanctions lifted. It's also reported that Johnston may be released today.

Despite Abbas creating a new PA government, there are those within the PA parliament saying that only a Hamas government is legal. Heh. Terrorists dickering with terrorists over the legalities of who gets to speak for the lot of them.

UPDATE:
Hizbullah denies any involvement in today's rocket attacks against Kiryat Shmona from South Lebanon. Israel is caught in the middle of a Palestinian civil war, and opening up another front in the conflict doesn't help matters one bit. It also gives Iran an opening to continue its war against Israel and the Sunni Muslims in the region. Hot Air and Meryl Yourish questions the accuracy and veracity of the story claiming that Israel is planning a major offensive against Hamas in Gaza. I think Israel is looking at all its options, including doing nothing, limited ground invasion, airstrikes, or a combined major assault. Any military would be engaging in this kind of planning, but I don't see Israel doing much at this point other than continuing the embargo.

UPDATE:
Is Abbas behind the oil being cut off? That's what this report claims:

While in Gaza, Israel says it will help Abbas' Fatah party regain control of government.

Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh says Israel has no intentions of launching a full-blown offensive against the territory, that it is only there as a "preventive nature."

"There are sectors where it's better that it is us who is present rather than others," said Sneh.

Israel's Dor Alon petroleum company, which is the only supplier of petrol to Gaza, has stopped shipments and some in the international community fear that it will only escalate humanitarian suffering.

Israel insists that it was Abbas' government that requested fuel shipments be cut off.

Thursday night, Israel shut down all border activity into Gaza after Hamas militants stormed Palestinian government facilities, either killing forcing Fatah party loyalists to flee.

President Abbas on Friday decreed the coalition government between Hamas and the Fatah party to no longer exist, removing from political power all Hamas members and appointing new cabinet leaders in their wake. Hamas has since rejected Abbas' decree, saying it "reflects the precipitate manner in which Palestinian officials in Ramallah are acting."

The Palestinian government has said that "anyone whose ties with these groups are proven will be punished in accordance with the law under the state of emergency."

At the same time, Israeli troops have entered Gaza, but not in large numbers indicating a major offensive.

I told you it was bound to happen: human rights groups pushing Israel to accept refugees from Gaza. Others are saying that Israel will cause a Gaza disaster. Nonsense. Hamas and Fatah are causing the disaster in Gaza. They're the ones throwing their enemies off rooftops and engaging in assassinations and murder in the streets, not Israel.

UPDATE:
Israel considers the rocket fire from Lebanon to be a breach of the ceasefire agreement under UN SCR 1701. No kidding. It's also a failure of UNIFIL to do its job. This attack comes only days after UNIFIL claimed that they were sure that Hizbullah had not regrouped and rearmed and that they were busy disarming the various militias in South Lebanon as per 1701.

UNRWA is having problems feeding the 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza. The UNRWA has been having problems keeping the thugs and terrorists out of the refugee camps too, but that wasn't so much of a problem until Hamas and Fatah decided to turn Gaza into a shooting gallery - and took aim at UN workers. UNRWA has been a lasting failure, cementing Palestinian notions that they cannot get on with their lives or resettle elsewhere in the region - perpetuating the notion that if they commit sufficient violence, they'll get Israel to capitulate and give in to Palestinian demands for a right to return.

The NYT, meanwhile, claims to find reasons why Hamas and Fatah need to get their acts together and work together. If the goal is killing Jews, those two terrorist groups are united. The problem is the timeframe for the slaughter. Hamas wants it sooner rather than later.

There are significant reasons why Gaza is a hell hole, and the West Bank is significantly improved. Hamas and Fatah have never provided any infrastructure in Gaza, and Gaza has been far more radicalized than the West Bank. Proximity to Israeli centers of economic growth also plays a role, as does Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which offer jobs to Palestinians living in the territories.

Finally, so much for the release of Alan Johnston. Army of Islam is threatening to behead him.

A spokesman for The Army of Islam, identified as Abu Khattab, told Al-Jazeera that there was no deal to release BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, and "if the situation gets more complicated concerning us and our group, then we will ingrate ourselves to Allah by slaying this journalist."