Palestinian Civil War Reignites

Gaza remained tense on Tuesday after a night of clashes between Hamas and Fatah gunmen.

Seven Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded in the clashes late Monday and early Tuesday, said Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, director of the emergency medical service in Gaza. He said 25 had been wounded by gunfire, and the rest had been beaten.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, Ehab al-Ghsein, blamed Fatah for the violence, saying it started when Fatah supporters shot at worshipers leaving a mosque in Khan Yunis, killing a local Hamas leader, Mahmoud Abu Taha, and a 10-year-old boy.

The clashes spread to Beit Lahiya, in the north, Gaza City and other areas, as Fatah marked its 43rd anniversary.

The rocket war takes a breather for just a moment as the various terrorist groups operating in Gaza decide to go after each other yet again. Fatah and Hamas have been battling on and off since the elections in 2005 swept Hamas into power and domination over Gaza.

2007 was the year of rockets and mortar attacks, which while they did not result in large numbers of Israeli deaths, were significant nonetheless for the disruption to Israeli communities within range of the rockets and mortars, especially Sderot.

A new report by Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency indicated a decline in attacks on Israelis in 2007, saying the number of casualties from them was the lowest since the outbreak of the intifada in 2000. According to the Shin Bet figures published Tuesday in the Israeli news media, 13 Israelis were killed in attacks in 2007 — seven civilians and six soldiers. In 2006, 24 Israelis were killed, and in 2002, at the height of the intifada, 426.

A total of 1,263 Qassam rockets and 1,511 mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza in 2007, the report said.

One kassam landed near Ashkelon today, so the tally already grows for 2008. There are nearly 7.5 attacks per day, but because there aren't sigificant Israeli casualties, the attacks go virtually unremarked upon except when Israel carries out reprisals. The number of Israeli casualties are down because Israel constructed the security barrier, which has made it extremely difficult for terrorists to launch suicide bomb attacks, and checkpoints have thwarted other attacks. Thus, the terrorists have resorted to the rocket war instead.

Meanwhile, Egypt is allowing nearly 1,000 Palestinians to enter Gaza, despite Israeli warnings about the security situation and failure to screen those individuals for weapons and materials needed to continue the Palestinian war against Israel.