Palestinian Civil War Begins Next Round

Fatah is busy trying to infiltrate Gaza so that they can go after Hamas. This necessarily means that Israel is giving tacit approval to the border infiltrations, and I'm concerned that Fatah has no interest in peace with Israel once they deal with Hamas. Fatah says that Israel committed to removing roadblocks in the West Bank. There's good reason to be skeptical. Where is Fatah's commitment to not conduct terrorism against Israel and to peacefully coexist? Have they removed all references to destroying Israel in their charter?

The reasons for the infiltrations are clear. Hamas is cracking down on the Fatah that are left in Gaza, and are working to consolidate their grip on Gaza. 32 Fatah thugs have been arrested in Gaza so far, and some were beaten.

Hamas militiamen detained 32 Fatah supporters across Gaza, half of them after breaking up a bachelor’s party and beating guests with clubs and chairs, Fatah officials and witnesses said Saturday. Ten people were hurt.

After taking control of Gaza by force in June, Hamas had promised amnesty to Fatah loyalists and it was not immediately clear whether the arrests late Friday and early Saturday signaled the start a crackdown on Fatah or were isolated incidents.

In the northern town of Beit Hanoun, 15 Fatah supporters were arrested, Fatah said, after Hamas security men broke up a bachelor’s party for a Fatah loyalist on Friday.

Other Fatah, members of the al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, were beaten before being released.

Fatah also claims that Hamas attempted to assassinate one of their senior thugs in the West Bank, which could spark another round in the Palestinian civil war. There have been several clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters in Gaza.

Hamas has been arresting Fatah thugs, which has brought about demonstrations against Hamas.

The AP wants to call the resumption of violence in a serious way between Fatah and Hamas a ruckus. A ruckus? Are you kidding me? Bloody crackdowns and violence isn't a ruckus. It's round two of the Palestinian civil war. We simply got a pregnant pause between rounds.

Meanwhile, the rockets continue to fly from Gaza. And yet, Hamas is claiming that there is a prisoner swap deal in the works to release Gilad Shalit.

Hamas official Osama al-Mazini said in an interview to the organization's website before the Egyptian security envoy left the Gaza Strip that real progress was made in negotiations to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

"The Egyptians had reached an extremely advanced stage and all that was left was the execution of the deal, the steps and criteria of which the occupation (Israel) agreed. It included 1,400 prisoners of all factions, including 400 women and children of Arab countries and Israeli-Arabs," al Mazini said.

The insanity continues among the Israeli government who believes that these prisoner swaps and concessions are improving Israel's security posture or ability to deal with the terrorist threat going forward. The prisoner swaps only encourage Hamas, PIJ and other terrorists to take Israelis hostages, in order to obtain more concessions.

Hamas knows that if Israel refuses to accept these kinds of deals, they look bad in the international media, and that it would lead to other countries putting pressure on Israel to make concessions. This happens all the time. The problem is that the Israeli leadership appears so weak right now that they're grasping at straws to maintain their hold on power.

It doesn't hurt Hamas that you have terrorist sympathizers and Palestinian supporters flinging baseless accusations and Nazi epitaphs every other sentence. The mere mention of the Nazi references in such abundance invoked Godwin's Law - an automatic loss of the argument, but propaganda such as this is rampant and prevalent in many parts of the world and its infectious nature provides a convenient excuse for ongoing violence against Israel. Gaza: The Auschwitz of our Times.

Similarly, Israel is now incarcerating nearly a million and a half helpless Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into a hell similar in nature to the Warsaw Ghetto. The Gaza concentration camp is not only fitted with a wall, but also with every conceivable tool of repression, such as electric fences and watch towers manned by Gestapo-like trigger-happy Jewish soldiers who shoot first and ask questions later.

Moreover, thousands of Israeli soldiers, are surrounding Gaza in a hermetic manner, shooting and killing any Palestinian trying to escape, e.g. enter Israel to search for work or even food.

Even Palestinian kids playing soccer near the hateful fences, are routinely riddled with bullets or reduced into pieces of human flesh by the "most moral army in the world."

As a result of these genocidal designs, Gazans in the thousands are dying of malnutrition and illness resulting from anemia. Moreover, Children in great numbers are surviving on a meager and totally inadequate diet consisting mainly of bread and tea.

That's right - those Palestinians are innocents. Just ignore the terrorist attacks or the fact that the moment Israel completely withdrew from Gaza, the rocket attacks started in earnest and instead of using the opportunity to build a productive society, they started a war with Israel. And this guy thinks that Israel doesn't have a right to protect itself either.

It's one series of smears and baseless accusations after another. Yet, this is what passes for news on Google. It's also symptomatic of a worldview that ignores all that the Palestinians have done to get themselves into this situation. It ignores all the facts and circumstances, and plays up the fairness of Israel's absolute right to defend itself against terrorists. Hamas' repeated declarations of seeking to destroy Israel - enshrined in their charter - are ignored. The plight of Palestinians in Gaza is blamed on Israel, when the reality is that if Hamas and Fatah had not chosen a path of war, a security fence would not be necessary. Those roadblocks and fences would not be necessary had the terrorists not chosen to attack Israeli civilians with suicide bombers, car bombs, and spree killers. The fence would not be needed if the rocket attacks didn't occur every day.