Palestinians Threatening To Abrogate Oslo Accords and Other Arrangements With Israel

The Palestinians, particularly Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas, is once again threatening to abrogate the Oslo Accords and the successor security arragements made with Israel so as to curry favor with Hamas as Fatah and Hamas try to reconcile their longstanding differences.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, member of the Fatah Central Committee and one of the Palestinian Authority negotiators with Israel, was quoted Sunday as saying that the Palestinians may cancel the agreements signed between the PLO and Israel.

Meanwhile, some PLO and Fatah leaders have privately criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for agreeing to incorporate Hamas into the PLO.

At least three senior officials in Ramallah have voiced strong reservations over the decision, a Fatah official told The Jerusalem Post. He said that those who were opposed to the move were worried that Hamas would replace Fatah as the dominant party in the PLO.

One official was quoted as saying that Abbas was paving the way for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to take control not only over the PLO, but the entire West Bank as well.

Shtayyeh's comments were published by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.

This was not the first time that a senior PA official had talked about the possibility of abrogating the Oslo Accords.

The comments came less than 48 hours after Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed to join a temporary leadership of the PLO that would prepare for new elections for the organization's two key bodies - the Palestine National Council and Executive Committee.

In response to a question about Israeli settlements, Shtayyeh said: "If Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists that there is no difference between the settlement of Abu Ghneim [Har Homa] and Tel Aviv, we won't distinguish between Ramallah and Jaffa."

The Palestinian Authority hasn't held elections since 2005, when Hamas and Fatah split the vote and ending up fighting a civil war that left Hamas in full control over Gaza while Fatah maintained civil administrative control over the West Bank. The Palestinians continue their attempts to revise history by claiming that Oslo didn't recognize Palestinian rights to territories, but they continue to avoid recognizing Israel's rights to territories, including historic claims to Jerusalem that extend back hundreds and thousands of years.

Hamas is not ruling out running in elections that may be held in 2012. They think that they might win in a landslide. That may be wishful thinking on their part considering that Hamas has shown an inability to do anything other than carry out attacks against Israel and find reason to blame Israel for all that ails the Palestinians. It can't do anything constructive. While Fatah remains open to concerns about corruption, Palestinians living in areas controlled by Fatah are able to move about more freely and have far more economic opportunities than those in Gaza. It doesn't seem likely that people living in the West Bank would consider voting for Hamas, unless they're looking for a more violent confrontation with Israel and an end to the peace process.

Yet, Hamas must think that they've got support to make such claims. Indeed, looking back at the 2006 election results, and one sees that Fatah maintained support only in a few select West Bank cities, while Hamas generated support elsewhere. That dynamic isn't likely to change even though the economic situation is worse now in Gaza than before the elections.

Despite the worsened economic conditions, Hamas wears that with a badge of pride - all in the cause of fighting Israel's existence and undermining Israel's right to exist at every opportunity. They portray the fight and the lack of economic opportunity as sacrifices that must be made in the fight against the Zionists.

Hamas celebrates a 3-year anniversary since the start of Operation Cast Lead, when Israel went after the Palestinian terror group after hundreds of rockets and mortars slammed into Israeli cities and towns. They refer to Israeli war crimes and genocide, even though by Hamas' own admission the vast majority of those killed were Hamas terrorists. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of civilians killed were not purposefully attacked by Israel, but were rather used by Hamas as human shields so as to inflate the body count and inflame Palestinian passions against Israel. At the same time, Palestinians look the other way as those Hamas rocket and mortar attacks were themselves war crimes as they purposefully targeted civilians so as to maximize the body count. To Hamas, there are no Israeli civilians - all are worthy targets.

Dropping the Pretense of Peace

The Palestinians claim that they've had a breakthrough on their reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. To do so, they're ignoring key issues and hoping that the rest of the world do the same.

That means that they want everyone to ignore the fact that Hamas has no intention of recognizing Israel's right to exist all while demanding more concessions from Israel towards a "peace" deal.

International mediators should drop their demand that the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers recognize Israel, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday, just hours before his Western-backed government was to sign a reconciliation deal with Hamas.

The accord, to be inked in Cairo, would end a four-year rift between the bitter rivals and pave the way for a joint caretaker government ahead of national elections next year.

Israel has denounced the plan for Abbas' Fatah movement to join forces with Hamas because of the militant group's long history of deadly attacks against Israeli targets, and has equated the deal with a renunciation of peacemaking.

Like the United States and the European Union, Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization and says it will not negotiate with a future Palestinian government that includes the Iranian-backed group.

It's not clear whether Western powers would deal with the new government that is to emerge from the unity deal. They've said they are waiting to see its composition.

The Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., the E.U., United Nations and Russia — has long demanded that Hamas renounce violence and recognize the principle of Israel's right to exist.

Hamas has no intention of making peace with Israel. It's antithetical to Hamas' very existence. These tenets are part of the Hamas charter - the call to destroy Israel begins in just the second paragraph:

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

The terror group was founded on the principles that Israel must be destroyed and that Israel's destruction is a religious and political obligation among Palestinians. Hamas went to war with Fatah after the 2006 elections over how the two terror groups diverged in their means towards a Palestinian state and Israel.

The whole reconciliation is based on an understanding that a caretaker government would handle affairs until new elections are carried out. Perhaps everyone should put any kind of talk of a peace process on hold to see what kind of outcome those elections bring. After all, the last elections showed that Fatah was incapable of handing over power in an election and Hamas was incapable of dominating in the West Bank.

What Does Presumed Hamas-Fatah Reconciliation Mean For Peace Process?

Egyptian news sources are indicating that Hamas and Fatah have managed to overcome their ideological differences and are paving the way for holding new elections and power-sharing. The plan involves creating a caretaker government and then holding elections that are long overdue.

Hamas and Fatah engaged in a civil war following Israel's Gaza disengagement. Hamas threw Fatah out of Gaza and left Fatah maintaining a tenuous hold on the West Bank with the backing of Israel, while Hamas consolidated its power in Gaza.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, which means that the "reconciliation" would necessarily affect any supposed peace process with Israel. With one party to the peace process refusing to accept the existence of the other, peace is simply impossible.

For its part, Fatah has asserted that it would unilaterally declare a Palestinian state and petition the UN for acceptance.

I can therefore only conclude that this will once again mean that Hamas and Fatah are going to fully coordinate in their triangle offense of terror against Israel. As they've done in the past, they'll use terror attacks to further their ideological goal of eliminating Israel and establishing a Palestinian state on all the land west of the Jordan River all while denying Israel and its Jewish population any rights to any territory - including access to Jewish holy sites that are situated in disputed territory.

The Timing of It All

It is indeed quite curious why President Obama is rushing headlong into yet another attempt to create a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

While some might think that it's unheard of a President engaging in Arab-Israel relations this early in their presidencies, President Clinton was able to take advantage of the Oslo talks in 1993, which had begun in the wake of the Madrid talks under President Bush in the previous administration.

The problem here is that there's nothing to discuss. The Palestinians are split in two camps - Hamas, which engages in an ongoing war against Israel and the current hudna is in place so as to allow Hamas to regroup and rearm in Gaza, while Fatah operates out of the West Bank and whose residents remain under Palestinian civil administrative control, just as they've been since 1993's Oslo Accords and the succession of documents, like the Gaza-Jericho Accords, the Wye Accords, and various other agreements expanding Palestinian civil administrative control on the West Bank. Fatah can't speak for all Palestinians, and Hamas has a point about the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority.

Until the Palestinians themselves can figure out what they want - and that it includes a true two-state solution with a Jewish state of Israel peacefully coexisting alongside a Palestinian state (or as many commenters will point out - another Palestinian state with Jordan being the first), Israel can do nothing except sit and watch and hope that the terrorists don't get itchy trigger fingers, as they always seem to do.

More to the point, Fatah can't operate in Gaza because Hamas threw them out in a civil war, and the tensions between the two terror groups remains to this day, spilling into open bloodshed on a periodic basis.

All the while, Israel awaits a true partner in peace, who is willing to provide concessions instead of demanding Israel make still more concessions before rejecting them out of hand without so much as a counter proposal, just as Abbas did last week.

So, for anyone to claim that serious progress is possible is engaging in nothing more than wishful thinking. It's pseudoreality, where the diplomats attempt to substitute their own reality for the facts as they are. A real sustained peace process requires that both sides engage in concessions, and none have been forthcoming from the Palestinians.

After all, this is who Israel has to negotiate with when dealing with the Gazans.

Then, there's the whole notion that the peace process hinges on Palestinians and Israelis coming to a peace deal. There's nothing stopping Israel's Arab neighbors from making their own peace deals. Jordan did it. Egypt did it. What does it take for anyone else in the region to do it?

There is nothing stopping these regimes from doing so, except the fact that these regimes have sustained themselves for generations on anti-Israel hatred, and to turnaround and make a peace deal now would show just how empty and vacuous these regimes truly are. It would mean that these regimes, like Saudi Arabia or the UAE or Kuwait or Iraq have to accept the region as it is - not as they have wished it to be for generations - a region without a Jewish state in Israel. It would mean treating those displaced persons from the Arab-Israeli wars as citizens of their states, instead of pawns in a war against Israel. Surely, there's enough oil money to go around and provide incentives for this to happen, but the obstacles - the Islamists and long ingrained beliefs in Israel's destruction - would not allow it come to pass.

Fatah and Hamas Duke It Out Again

When they're not busy plotting to kill Israelis, they're looking at whacking each other. Fatah and Hamas fought again today, and the end result is six more dead Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority forces clashed with Hamas militants in the West Bank early Sunday, leaving six dead, in the bloodiest such encounter in two years.

The violence came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assured President Obama in Washington that his troops were imposing order on the area. In Gaza, Hamas reacted by arresting Fatah activists and hinting of further revenge.

The clashes and threats show that Fatah, which dominates in the West Bank, and Hamas, which runs Gaza, remain in a tense standoff, and that the Palestinian unity needed for creation of a state is far off. Both sides said unity talks mediated by Egypt were imperiled.

A spokesman for Mr. Abbas’s West Bank forces told a news conference in Ramallah that a patrol in the city of Qalqilya had come under fire Saturday night from a house, leading to a curfew and hours-long negotiations. A grenade was thrown from the house killing three security officers, the house was stormed, two Hamas militiamen, including the city commander, were killed along with the owner of the house, a bystander.

He said weapons and documents were found on the men and added that Palestinian Authority forces had found similar caches in recent months, including inside a mosque. Some 200 Hamas-affiliated men were in jail in the West Bank awaiting trial, he said but insisted they were charged with specific violations, not for Hamas affiliation.

“In the last two years, we have proved our ability to impose law and order,” the spokesman, Adnan Dameiri, told the news conference. “We will continue our campaign to dismantle armed groups.”

Hamas doesn't consider Fatah the legitimate government of the Palestinian people, and they're not going to sit back while their thugs are incarcerated by Fatah. There will be payback.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 15

Hamas continues launching rockets into Israel and more Israelis have been injured as a result.

The last UN resolution didn't go anywhere because Hamas refused to accept a ceasefire and Israel continued to defend itself from terror attacks, so the UN is again working on another ceasefire resolution. This time, they're thinking that they should put the Palestinian Authority (PA) back in charge.

That's a curious situation. Fatah is nominally in charge of the PA, but that's only because Hamas refuses to recognize the PA since Hamas won elections and Fatah refused to turn over power to them. It's been a power struggle ever since, and the Palestinian civil war ensued with Hamas taking control of Gaza and throwing Fatah from rooftops.

What the UN really means is that they're looking for some kind of way to put Fatah in charge of Gaza, and that is a marginal improvement over Hamas. Fatah has managed to keep violence against Israel down in the West Bank, but they too seek Israel's destruction. More importantly, Fatah lacks legitimacy in the eyes of Gazans, who feel that not only is Fatah corrupt, but that they're collaborators with Israel. It would be an uphill battle for Fatah to gain the trust of Gazans, who still think that Hamas is their best option.

That's truly a sad situation for those Palestinians who just want peace and quiet. Their leaders are genocidal ideologues who seek Israel's destruction and can't accept Israel's destruction. They refuse to negotiate with Israel on anything other than hudnas allowing Hamas time to regroup and rearm for the next phase of their long term war against Israel.

A ceasefire isn't going to stabilize the situation. Victory by Israel will. I keep saying this but it bears repeating. Hamas will not stop its war against Israel until Israel is destroyed. They will continue engaging in a cycle of violence until such time that Israel's will to defend itself has been worn away by media and diplomats who prevent Israel from responding to attacks. It has repeatedly happened over the past six months, where diplomats will excuse the rocket fire from Hamas as isolated incidents. Hundreds of rocket attacks during the so-called ceasefire are isolated incidents? That's not a ceasefire. That's a war, and only when Israel responds with force to put Hamas' capabilities to attack Israel out of business does the world respond with horror.

Diplomats still don't get it. They think that Israel should turn the other cheek and take Hamas rocket attacks without responding. That's the word from none other than Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. He's got his audiences to deal with - Iraqis who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but his own government doesn't tolerate terrorists operating inside Iraq either.

Hamas rejects international observers in Gaza. That makes sense. Why show the world what the terrorists are doing in violating international law at every turn. They're busy engaging in war crimes by using human shields, operating without uniforms so as to mingle with civilians, using schools (even UNRWA operated ones), UNRWA refugee camps, hospitals, and residences to carry out attacks against Israel. Hamas wanted to turn the urban areas of Gaza into a warzone with the express purpose of maximizing casualties among civilians.

Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorists attempted to bomb a group of Jewish families in the Israeli city of Lod.

Shortly after 9:00 p.m., Jewish families living in the neighborhood heard a loud explosion. Residents went out to see what had caused the blast and saw that one bomb had been set off in a courtyard and that a second bomb had not yet exploded. Police were called in and safely defused the second bomb.

Neither bomb caused injury, but a child who was playing near the scene of the attack was badly frightened, local Jews said.

Police initially reported that the attack had targeted a known criminal and was apparently criminally motivated. However, by Friday morning police released a second statement, reporting that the attack was apparently “motivated by nationalism” -- in other words, that the attackers targeted Jews simply because they hate Jews.

The attackers managed to flee the scene and have not yet been arrested. Officers said Friday that they were working with Arab and Muslim contacts in the city in an attempt to locate the terrorists.

The media continues its old tricks, claiming that Israel rebuffs peace efforts, when in fact Israel says that there's no way that Hamas will ever agree to any of them, and Hamas agrees - and Hamas proves Israel's point by carrying out still more attacks on Israel.

Noah Pollack makes an argument that I've been making as well (HT: Israellycool). Ceasefires delay peace. They certainly aren't a substitute, and Hamas considers ceasefires to be hudnas in any event. That's why Israel's victory is absolutely necessary in this conflict.

UPDATE:
The media's mendacity continues. They'll call flares dropped by Israeli aircraft to protect themselves against surface to air missiles weapons systems. They're defensive in nature, but that gets ignored. That's the AP for you.

Hizbullah continues its support of Hamas by parading kids thoroughly indoctrinated in the lessons of jihad.

UPDATE:
Reports in the Guardian claiming that sources within the Obama Administration are urging low level clandestine contacts with Hamas are untrue, according to a new report from the Jersualem Post.

The Obama spokesperson was responding to an article in Britain's Guardian daily on Friday, which asserted that three people with knowledge of discussions held in the Obama camp said that while the president-elect will not approve direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, his advisers are urging him to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, in light of the growing recognition in Washington that ostracizing the terror group is counter-productive policy.

"The president elect's repeated statements [about not dealing with Hamas] are accurate," Anderson said. "This unsourced story is not."

Let's hope that the Jerusalem Post report is accurate.

The Simmering Palestinian Civil War

Hamas claims that they discovered a bomb planted by Fatah outside the home of one of their senior terrorists in Khan Younis.

Meanwhile, Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas hints that he's not going to step down when his term is over; he's citing that election law requires that the election for Parliament and President occur concurrently. Hamas isn't going to take that kindly, as they consider themselves to be the ones who should have the power, not Fatah.

Fatah Preparing to Reignite Palestinian Civil War?

The IDF notes that Fatah is preparing for a major offensive against Hamas in the West Bank. That's a bland way of stating the obvious - that Fatah believes that it is ready to take on Hamas in the West Bank and isn't willing to cede power to Hamas once Abbas' term in office is up. They don't want to turn over the reins of power to Hamas, which would actually completely and utterly derail any talks with Israel over concessions.

Abbas's presidential term is scheduled to end on January 9, and the IDF Central Command is preparing for the possibility that Hamas will try to take advantage of political instability in Ramallah to take over West Bank towns and cities.

In the absence of elections or a compromise with Hamas, according to the Palestinian Authority constitution, Abbas will be replaced by the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Abdel Aziz Dweik, a member of Hamas who has been in an Israeli prison since August 2006.

Fatah has tried desperately to get a deal done with Israel, even though it continues to make asinine claims and demands on Israel to withdraw and redivide Jerusalem. If it can't make a deal by the end of the year, a deal would be practically impossible should Hamas take over since Israel has no intention of dealing with that terrorist group. Fatah at least talks the talk, which is more than sufficient for the diplomats.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians continue to attempt terrorist attacks against Israel. Yet, because we don't get daily reports of kassam attacks on Sderot or other Israeli areas near Gaza, we're to believe that the hudna is in effect?

Hamas Announces Strategy

Since they're not happy with controlling Gaza and running the local economy into the ground, the terrorists of Hamas are looking to repeat their success by doing the same to the West Bank by taking on Fatah in Fatah's backyard.

A senior Gaza Hamas official warned Tuesday that his Islamic terrorist group could overrun the West Bank, just as it took over Gaza, if provoked by its rivals in Fatah.

Abu Zuhri, told The Associated Press that Fatah should expect "an uprising" against them if they continued a crackdown against Hamas there.

I suspect that if the Hamas thugs do attack, Fatah would likely crumble pretty quickly unless the Israeli intervene on their behalf and bolster the Fatah thugs. However, Hamas has repeatedly played up the fact that Fatah has been coopted by Israel and doesn't have the Palestinians' interests in mind.

I do not believe that Fatah could defeat Hamas in a straight up fight, even on their home turf. Fatah turning to Israel for help actually plays into Hamas' hands. Israel, however, cannot let Hamas gain a foothold in the West Bank, which is why it continues to conduct operations there.

Palestinian Double Play

The Palestinian civil war continues as Hamas engages in an ongoing battle with Fatah affiliated thugs. At least nine people have been killed, and dozens wounded. Survivors of the Fatah affiliated clan sought to escape to Israel, and Israel eventually allowed dozens entry to Israel.

Those who were injured were treated by Israeli doctors.

The IDF then sent the Fatah thugs back to Gaza.

Expect Fatah and the PA to complain bitterly about this, because Fatah and the PA apparently had a deal with Israel that Israel would send these Fatah thugs to the West Bank instead of Gaza.

Hamas gets another crack at these Fatah thugs, arresting a bunch of them after they've returned.

These terrorist groups are desperate to try and suck Israel into their civil war, that they'll pull stunts like this. They know that Israel is far more humane to their people than their fellow Palestinians are. They repeatedly use that knowledge to their advantage, and Israel's leadership has not understood this fully.

Israel sent these terrorists back to Gaza, and it makes Israel look like the bad guy, even though having sent them on to the West Bank would simply have strengthened the Fatah terrorists there. Israel could not appear to refuse to admit these terrorists for medical treatment because again Israel would look like the bad guy.

Israel consistently gets played by the terrorists at every turn, even when the terrorists are busy fighting each other. It's the Palestinian double play.

UPDATE:
The media appears to think that the most serious problem right now is that Hamas is busy shaving the mustaches of Fatah thugs. You have got to be kidding me. Hamas has been killing and torturing Fatah aligned thugs in Gaza, and this is what Fox and others think important?

UPDATE:
It would appear that instead of Israel acting on its own to return those thugs back to Gaza, they were returned to Gaza as per a request from Abbas at Fatah HQ. Those thugs aren't liking this situation one bit, since they're complaining that Hamas will threaten them with torture and death.

The answer was that the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, had asked Israel to return the men to Gaza, even though they are supposedly members of his own Fatah faction.

A spokesman for Mr Abbas said it was a bid to discourage internal immigration.

Another man who said he was too frightened to give his name said it would be a disaster if they went back to Gaza.

"They will cut us to pieces. We know they are going to kill us," he said.

Ahead of the news that the returned men were already being detained by Hamas, the militant group, which runs the Gaza Strip, said it would arrest and investigate them.

It said those innocent of any crime would be released. Hamas promised the men would be treated well.

But recovering fugitive Shada Hilles had little doubt about what that investigation would mean for him.

"Either they will torture me, or they will kill me," he said.

There's another option - they'll torture him, then kill him. Hamas has been known to do that as well.

Gazan Arms Race

Well, Fatah and Hamas are at it again in Gaza. Hamas wants to retain supremacy in Gaza, and Fatah is doing its best (which isn't saying much) to undermine Hamas control. Hamas attempted to go after one of the thuggish clans in Gaza, and got itself into a major gun battle with Fatah thugs.

Three dead and more than 35 injured. Several more Fatah thugs were captured as they were trying to escape dressed as women.

That's a pretty common tactic when you demand that women wear the hijab and burkha so that they're completely covered.

The level of confrontation between Hamas and Fatah has significantly increased in the past two weeks, and that bodes poorly for the Palestinians who have chosen to support both terrorist groups - Fatah and Hamas.

Islamic Jihad says that it's trying to mediate between Fatah and Hamas - to get the two terror groups to stop fighting each other and keep their eye on the prize - fighting Israel.

This should remove any doubts over what would happen in a Palestinian country. The terrorist group factions would all fight each other for power and control, when they weren't busy trying to fight Israel. Peace simply cannot be achieved under such conditions.

Tit For Tat

A day after a bunch of Hamas terrorists were blown up by explosives in Gaza and Hamas responded by rounding up a bunch of Fatah terrorists, it's curious that Fatah has returned the favor, by rounding up a bunch of Hamas terrorists in the West Bank. At least 35 were rounded up by Fatah this time.

Coincidence? I think not.

This is how Fatah and Hamas talk to each other. They "arrest" members of the other terror group and make demands. Sometimes, those "arrested" members get released in short order. Other times, they're released off the rooftop of a tall building or otherwise die in custody.

Hamas, when not fighting Israel or Fatah, is busy trying to exert control over Gaza by thwarting rival terrorist groups as well. They're busy fighting with an al Qaeda aligned group, but that's only because Hamas wants Gaza for itself and doesn't want to share with another Islamist group.

At the same time, Egypt is trying to once again attempt to reconcile Hamas and Fatah over their control of the Palestinian Authority.

Resuming the Palestinian Civil War

Five Hamas thugs and a young girl died in an explosion in Gaza, and Hamas promptly rounded up 120 Fatah thugs in response. This is only the latest in a series of "mysterious" explosions in Gaza that have sent thugs to the morgue.

I can't say that I'm shocked or surprised by any of these developments.

Hamas and Fatah are no closer to sharing power now than they were months ago when they were routinely trying to kill each other as Hamas took over Gaza from Fatah.

Now, Gaza is firmly in Hamas control, but those mysterious explosions keep happening.

Friday's blast next to a car used by the armed wing of Hamas killed three gunmen and the girl, and two others later died of their wounds in hospital, Gaza's ruling Palestinian Islamist group and medical officials said.

The blast, the third of its kind in a day, marked one of the biggest flare-ups in internal Gaza violence since Hamas routed the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah faction to seize control of the territory a year ago.

Abbas, finding his authority limited to the occupied West Bank, split with Hamas and revived peace efforts with Israel. He recently sought reconciliation with his Islamist rivals but they have balked at his precondition that they give up Gaza.

Hamas's armed wing issued a statement blaming "members of the fugitive party"—a derogatory term for Fatah—for Friday night's blast at a major junction outside Gaza City. Fatah denied involvement and said it was part of Hamas infighting.

Internal violence = Palestinian civil war

UPDATE:
Leading Hamas thug Haniyeh is busy calling Fatah terrorists traitors for not going after Israel hard and fast. Well, Fatah is considered the moderate terrorist group among this bunch.

Also, it appears that Hamas terrorists got annoyed because Fatah terrorists cheered at the Hamas casualties. Well, I consider it just desserts. Now Hamas knows how Israelis feel every day when Hamas, Fatah and their offshoots are busy trying to kill Israelis.

Hamas operatives were incensed by Fatah's blatant displays of joy after the blast, particularly in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority's official television network broadcast footage of the explosion's aftermath set to victory medleys and odes to Fatah, as well as songs condemning dictators and criminals. Hamas understands the broadcast as an official admission of guilt by its rival faction.

Sources in Gaza believe that the recent developments would irrevocably impact on the already volatile relationship between Hamas and the few in Gaza who remain loyal to Fatah.

Fatah Thinks Dialogue With Hamas Will Improve Situation

Once again, terrorists are providing cover for terrorists. Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas is suggesting that the only way to improve the situation in Gaza is for Fatah to engage in talks with Hamas.

"Only dialogue between Fatah and Hamas will lead to improvement in Gaza," Abbas told the Al-Jazeera news network following his meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Egyptian General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo.

The three men discussed recent developments in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and the renewal of contact between quarreling Palestinian factions.

Abbas arrived in Cairo late Sunday night, and met with Mubarak to provide an update on the status of talks between the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and the Hamas leadership, and to discuss with the Egyptian leader the cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

His visit to Egypt followed a stopover in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia on Sunday, where the PA president spoke with Saudi King Abdullah on ways of ending the Fatah-Hamas dispute, and offered a briefing on the latest developments surrounding the peace process with Israel.

Officials in Ramallah said over the weekend that Abbas was planning to visit several other Arab countries in the coming days in a bid to win their backing for his latest initiative to end the Fatah-Hamas power struggle.

Sorry, but Abbas gets it completely wrong.

The only way to improve the situation in Gaza is for Hamas to stop its war against Israel. Only then will Israel have any reason to lift the closures and restrictions designed to improve Israel's security against terrorist infiltrations. Fatah and Hamas have a common cause, and perhaps Abbas thinks that Hamas has been weakened to the point where they'll consider Abbas' position, but the various terrorist groups have waged an on again/off-again civil war, that has included tossing their opponents off rooftops.

The rocket attacks continue unabated even as Israel has discovered still more launchers. Meanwhile, terrorists have been stopped with pipe bombs at Israeli checkpoints,

The key detail to remember while the terrorists talk is that they have a common goal in the destruction of Israel, but differ on how to accomplish the goal. Fatah has decided to take the money and run while engaging in "diplomacy", while Hamas has engaged in a destructive rocket war that has caused the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The situation in Gaza may help explain why Abbas is slightly more popular these days than Hamas' Haniyeh, whose destructive war has caused such misery in Gaza.

Diplomat Dunces

The Russians think that they can build on the progress of Annapolis and somehow get Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria. Fat chance of that happening. There wasn't any progress as a result of Annapolis, unless you want to count Hamas deciding that Gaza should have an open border with Egypt and invaded Egypt en masse.

Why would Israel engage in diplomacy with Syria, which harbors terror masters from Hamas and Hizbullah, and who supplies both groups with equipment, personnel, and assistance, not to mention is a destabilizing presence in Lebanon and thwarts Lebanese sovereignty at every turn.

This is nothing more than a misdirection play in order to give Hamas more time to regroup and rearm itself in Gaza. It's nice to see that some Israelis are similarly distrustful of anything coming out of Syria, but I also expect Olmert to be pushing backchannel negotiations with Assad and his cronies as well.

Once again, we're witnessing the psuedoreality in which the diplomats reside. The reality is quite different. Yet more kassams slammed into Israel today.

At the same time, a Yemeni effort to get Hamas and Fatah talking again has failed. Go figure. The reason for its failure is simple; Hamas would have had to give up control of Gaza. There's absolutely no reason for it to do so - it crushed Fatah there, and would likely destroy Fatah entirely but for the Israeli security presence in the West Bank.

Fenced

While Egypt continues to struggle to shut down the border, and there are even reports that Egypt is shutting the Sinai off from the rest of Egypt to prevent further infiltration of Gazan thugs into the country (several thousand already detained?), Hamas continues its war effort against Israel. Egypt may be restricting vehicle traffic for now, but anyone can cross the border on foot.

Israel and Egypt supposedly also have met in secret about the security situation, but one has to wonder just how secret such a meeting was if it's blared on the pages of the Jerusalem Post. Egypt is blaming Israel for creating the crisis. Nice way to show solidarity with your Arab brothers, but those same Arab brothers are wholly responsible given that they initiated a war against Israel and Israel has no obligation to provide power to the very enemy that seeks Israel's destruction.

Fatah and Hamas are busy fighting for control over the border. That's what I've predicted and we may yet see another outbreak of the Palestinian civil war. They simply can't help themselves. Fatah knows that if Hamas controls the border, they'll be able to resupply with weapons and equipment far too easily and Hamas knows that if Fatah controls the border that they will have a more difficult time resupplying in their war effort. It's a power play.

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Commission also continues its propaganda war against Israel, reviving the old canard that Zionism is racism. Ignored is the fact that wherever the Palestinians have dominion - and that would be Gaza and parts of the West Bank ceded to the Palestinians under the Oslo Accords and the Gaza-Jericho Accords, Wye, and Taba, those areas are now Jew-free. That's what the Palestinians seek for all of Israel.

Of course, Israel's own fifth column had no problem going to Jordan to pay their respects for Palestinian terrorist George Habash who died earlier this week. Some in the Knesset would like to see charges brought. I doubt it would happen, but it's nice to see that some people can tell the difference between good and evil. Habash was responsible for the death of hundreds of Israelis and together with Arafat, brought about modern terrorism.

Rantings of a Sandmonkey wonders how exactly the poor Gazans could spend $480 million in two weeks' time. Good question. He also notes that the Egyptian government is purposefully cutting off the supply of goods to Sinai to choke off any further interest in Palestinians crossing the border. Of course, that means that Egyptians living in Sinai are suffering as a result.

Fences Make Good Neighbors: Hamas Doesn't Want Them

Hamas continues its efforts to completely obliterate internationally recognized borders - the border between Egypt and Gaza. Egyptian security forces continue to take casualties in skirmishes with Gazans who try to force their way into Egypt. Egypt is busy complaining about the ongoing violence at the border. Welcome to Israel's world. Now, multiply the violence tenfold and you begin to get the idea of what Israel has been dealing with.

The terrorists continue their rocket war with Israel, and thankfully no casualties were inflicted by the Palestinians in the attacks.

As I've predicted in the past, Egypt is now trying to push its own diplomatic efforts after watching the Saudis proffer their own last week. They want to mediate between Hamas and Fatah. The Palestinian civil war continues to simmer as both sides are unwilling and incapable of conceding on basic issues.

Jordanians rally in support of Gazans. Iran did the same thing last week. Well, considering that this is a manufactured crisis, and the media was a willing accomplice in this, what do you expect? The mullahs bring out their gullible followers and stage protests for even more media attention.

As for the United Nations, well, nothing new there. Libya blocked the latest diplomatic statement that would have condemned both Israel's withholding of gas and fuel to Gaza while deploring the incessant rocket attacks. Libya was holding out that the statement opposing the rocket attacks would be dropped.

UPDATE:
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Rosemary's Thoughts, 123beta, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Pursuing Holiness, A Newt One- The Truth Surge, Nuke Gingrich, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Wolf Pangloss, A Newt One, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and OTB Sports, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Authorized Talks

Once again, the pseudorealists and diplomats think that Abbas is any position to negotiate with Olmert. Abbas and Olmert have authorized new talks.

Abbas is hoping that a charade by creating a West Bank Palestinian parliament will change matters. It will not. Nor will new elections, which are sure to be contested by Hamas who will most assuredly call them illegitimate should Hamas not win them.

The PLO Central Council, which met in Ramallah on Sunday, is expected to vote to dissolve the current Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC], which is dominated by Hamas. The council is also scheduled to call for early parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories.

However, it's unclear how such elections would take place in the Gaza Strip, which is entirely controlled by Hamas.

Several Fatah officials have also called to dissolve the PLC, which has been paralyzed since Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip in June.

The move is set to deepen divisions among the Palestinians and further consolidate the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is also likely to hamper efforts by some Arab countries to patch up the differences between Fatah and Hamas.

Carl in Jerusalem calls this the two reichlet solution - that Hamas and Fatah will each control their own Jew-free zone in the territories, and each bent on destroying Israel on their own timetables. The only thing that gets in the way is that Hamas and Fatah cannot tolerate the other, and it is quite likely that the Palestinian civil war will get in the way.

Meanwhile, the IAF continues going after the Palestinian terrorists responsible for firing rockets at Israel, killing two terrorists. The airstrike happened to be right outside Hamas leader Haniyeh's home. I doubt that he got the point of the airstrike.

The terrorists continue firing rockets and mortars at Israel, and it is only by luck that more Israelis aren't injured or killed. It certainly isn't from lack of trying. Where any other country would face this kind of daily attack, they would not respond by negotiating with a terrorist entity, but declare war on it and seek to eliminate the threat militarily. Israel is not capable or able to do so because of international pressure to limit Israel's military response, and Israel's political leaders are so beholden to a peace process that lacks a partner for peace that they enable terrorists to continue attacking Israel by their failure to prosecute the war launched by the terrorists against Israel.

The Palestinians continue doing whatever they can to obtain weapons and equipment, including hiding explosives among humanitarian aid shipments.

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.

Icy Relations

Relations between Hamas and Fatah remain icy - Hamas kidnapped a top Fatah thug in Gaza (Palestinian civil war round x?).

Then, at a funeral for other terrorists, someone lobbed a pipe bomb in to the crowd, killing 3 and wounding 30 more.

The Palestinian terrorists again fired kassam rockets at Israel.

Israel's measured response is apparently based on the threat that if Israel goes into Gaza to root out the very terrorists that are trying to kill still more Israelis with their incessant kassam rocket and mortar attacks, Hamas would kill Gilad Shalit.

Fatah's got big problems given that so many of its thugs turned around and joined up with Hamas in Gaza during the last round of the Palestinian civil war. Throwing money at the problem isn't going to solve it.

These are the terrorists with whom Israel is supposed to make peace?

UPDATE:
One Israeli woman was injured as that kassam rocket landed near an Israeli synogogue in Sderot.

UPDATE:
And again. Another kassam rocket hit Israel, damaging a kibbutz factory in the Negev but thankfully no injuries.

Israel continues to get hit with rocket after rocket, and the big media outlets ignore it to focus instead on the complaints by the Palestinians over how Israel is considering construction of housing in Jerusalem. Boo hoo. Palestinian terrorists are busy trying to kill Israelis, and the Israeli government treats it like a minor irritant and not an ongoing threat to Israel's national security. The Israeli government thinks that Fatah is a partner in peace even as Fatah thugs are involved in the attacks.