ISRAEL STRIKES AT TARGETS IN GAZA, KILLING SIX
Six militants, most of them from Hamas, were reported killed in separate attacks by the IDF in Gaza this morning. Israeli troops clashed with militants near the Kissifum border crossing in Gaza, leaving two Hamas militants and two militants from another group dead, while near the embattled Israeli town of Sderot the Israeli Air Force struck at Qassam rocket installations leaving at least two Hamas militants dead. The stikes come only a few weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that there was nothing that could be done about Hamas rocket strikes and highlight the aggressive posture that incoming Defense Minister and Labor Party leader Ehud Barak has taken on Hamas.
At the same time, Barak has authorized the relaxation of border controls to allow thousands of refugees to escape Gaza. Foreign diplomats, journalists, aid workers and Gazans aligned with Fatah are among those who are fleeing the Strip after Hamas’s violent takeover last week.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office confirmed that he would be meeting with embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sometime next week. The right-wing Israel Insider reported that Olmert intends to relax checkpoint controls in the West Bank as an offering to Abbas.
Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri condemned Western and unnamed Arab leaders for attempting to “blackmail” the Palestinian people into accepting Fatah control as Hamas and Fatah continued to trade barbs and evidence of internal division in both groups mounted. A Fatah spokesperson took the strongest line yet on Fatah-Hamas negotiations, saying that there would be no negotiations because Hamas had broken the law. Former Foreign Minister and Hamas member Mahmoud Zahar blamed Fatah for spreading anarchy to the West Bank by attacking and imprisoning Hamas militants there and ominously warned that Hamas would be compelled to “take measures to defend our representatives” in the West Bank. He also voiced support for factions of Fatah opposed to the current leadership, pointedly referring to Mahmoud Dahlan, the ousted security czar and Hamas opponent, and not Mahmoud Abbas, as exemplifying the leadership faction.
Fatah is rent by internal dissension following its collapse in Gaza. A series of articles in the British Daily Telegraph detail feelings of betrayal by Fatah loyalists still in Gaza. Charles Levinson, reporting from Gaza City, says that “Fatah loyalists widely suspect a political decision was made early on in Ramallah to surrender the Gaza Strip to Hamas.” Fatah security commanders were absent and the political leadership escaped to the West Bank and Egypt while Fatah militants were left leaderless and unable to coordinate opposition to the Hamas offensive.
At the very best, key constituencies within Fatah were either unable or unwilling to mobilize their supporters to resist Hamas. Fatah has become increasingly divided between Abbas, Dahlan and others who support cooperation with the organization. Significant Fatah leaders like Jibril Rajoub, who has been eyed as a potential successor to Dahlan as security czar, Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian legislator associated with the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade, and Ahmed Hilis a high-ranking Fatah official in Gaza are all strong proponents of unity talks with Hamas. Barghouti orchestrated the Mecca powersharing accord. Coincidentally, Jerusalem Post reports that a former Fatah activist in Gaza, Abu Hila, has declared the formation of a new political party Fatah al-Yasser, named for Yasser Arafat, which is aligned with Hamas. It is unclear whether this new formation will get much support from Gazans, but it underscores the fragility of Abbas’s leadership.
Hamas faces its own problems. The organization’s political leadership under dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, has made conciliatory gestures toward Israel, Fatah and the international community. Haniyah has said he will work for the release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston and has made overtures to Fatah to restart the unity government. There have been persistent reports that Hamas is interested in renewing its hudna (truce) with Israel. At the same time, however, there have been persistent reports of attacks against Gazan Christians and efforts by Hamas-linked militants to impose Sharia law and it is unclear whether the Qassam attacks or the recent clash with Israeli troops were authorized. The al-Qaeda linked Army of Islam has steadfastly refused to negotiate for Mr. Johnston’s release, or for that of kidnapped Israeli soldier Galid Shalit.
BARAK IMPERILS BIBI’S PREMIERSHIP
Until last week it appeared that former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (‘Bibi’) Netanyahu was well on his way to being Premier again. Netanyahu, the leader of the conservative Likud party and a foreign policy hawk, has gotten out to a big lead over Kadima leader and current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Labor leader Amir Peretz.
But new polls in Israel show incoming Defense Minister and Labor Party leader Ehud Barak in a dead heat with Netanyahu, a major change. Barak replaces discredited Defense Minister Amir Peretz and gives Labor a solid candidate for the Prime Ministership argues the liberal Ha’aretz newspaper.
Netanyahu has been a major hawk, staunchly rejecting the Oslo Process as wrongheaded and rejecting Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement policy. Ha’aretz columnist Mazal Mualem says that Netanyahu has been running an “I told you so campaign,” pointing to the Lebanon situation, Gaza and the chaos in the West Bank as evidence that he was right when he opposed withdrawal from Lebanon and Disengagement. But Mualem argues that with Barak in charge at the Defense Ministry and apparently ready to take action against Hamas in Gaza, Netanyahu will have to develop a more detailed approach.
EGYPT ELECTIONS ARE A JOKE
The reformist Al Ahram magazine dismissed Egypt’s Shura Council elections held over the past week. The ruling National Democratic Party stands to win at least 68 of the body’s 88 seats.
The magazine quotes the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights as saying that turnout for the election was barely 6 percent of elligable voters. Al Jazeera and international human rights and civil society organizations have all said that the government harrassed opposition candidates and mobilized security forces to prevent supporters of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood from reaching polling places during balloting.
ISRAEL BRACES FOR GAY PRIDE PARADE
Police in Tel Aviv and around the country are bracing for violence by Orthodox and Hasidic protesters when the nation’s largest Gay Pride parade takes place later this week. Ha’aretz and YNet News reported that Tel Aviv police were undergoing extensive training for riot control in preparation for violence by religious groups.
The fears come despite an appeal from United Torah Judaism, the country’s largest organization representing Orthodox, Hasidic and Haredi Jews, to remain off the streets and to avoid demonstrations in favor of prayer. Police arrested 12 Orthodox Jews, eight of them teenagers, who were throwing rocks at cars last night in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Bnai Brak according to YNET.
