Hamas Controls Most of Gaza Strip, Rejects Any EU or UN Intervention, Death Toll 60

Abbas orders guard to strike back 

Thursday June 14, 2007 12:28 by Nicholas Bowen - IMEMC News news at imemc dot org

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time Thursday ordered his elite presidential guard to strike back against Hamas fighters bent on besieging his Gaza City compound.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Previously, Abbas had told the guard to maintain a defensive posture at his house and office in Gaza.

Abbas was in the West Bank town of Ramallah when he handed down the order.

Hamas, having wrested control of nearly all of the Gaza Strip, focused its firepower Thursday on Fateh's security and political command centers in Gaza City.

Aides to Abbas, who is aligned with Fateh, said he would announce an important decision Thursday regarding the bloodshed and the future of the Palestinian government, in which the two factions share power.

The aides declined to comment on speculation he would announce the dismantling of the ruling coalition or declare a state of emergency that would give him sweeping powers.

Hamas rejects proposal to send international force to Gaza

Thursday June 14, 2007 12:00 by Nicholas Bowen - IMEMC News

The Hamas movement rejected Thursday a proposal to send an international force to the Gaza Strip, where fierce internecine fighting has claimed 70 lives in the past week, and said it would regard such troops as an occupying army.

"Hamas is against the deployment of any international force at this time," spokesman Sami Abu Zukri said. The movement would regard the international force as an "occupying army" and would deal with it accordingly.

On Thursday morning Hamas continued its attacks on the last remaining Fateh strongholds in Gaza City, shelling the Preventive Security headquarters and the main building of the general intelligence service.

Clashes in the southern Strip town of Khan Younis also claimed one life, Palestinians said.

Hamas seized control of nearly all of Gaza on Wednesday, as its armed wing systematically overpowered Fateh security compounds throughout the Strip.

EU and UN ponder involvement in Gaza 

Thursday June 14, 2007 11:34 by Vasilena Todorova - IMEMC News

The European Union may send forces as a part of a multinational peacekeeping operation in Gaza. The logistics of any deployment are yet to be discussed by participating countries, the EU’s foreign policy chief said on Wednesday.

"If we are asked, of course we will consider that possibility," Javier Solana told reporters in Brussels about collaborating with other states to stabilize Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on Tuesday for an international military presence at the Gaza-Egypt border to seize any support for Hamas coming from the south. Egypt, which is responsible for border crossing in the area, would not easily accept a foreign army at its door, said Solana. Already there are about 70 EU personnel monitoring the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt.

Other talks of “international presence” in the region have been raised by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at an informal meeting with UN Security Council members on Tuesday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had requested UN support in a telephone call earlier that day, said Ki-moon.

"This is an idea for which we need to explore the possibilities," Ban said. "I have yet to discuss more in detail with the countries concerned." Countries need to agree on the location and mission of peacekeepers and other planning before finalizing their decision to send troops, said the Secretary-General.

Leaders agree to calm Gaza, in the West Bank Fateh threatens Hamas 

Thursday June 14, 2007 11:21 by By Ghassan Bannoura & Ali Samoudi - IMEMC News ghassanb at imemc dot org

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of Fateh and prime minister Isma'el Hanyiah of Hamas have agreed to calm the rising infighting in the Gaza strip. According to Palestinian media sources, the agreement was reached after the two men discussed the situation over the phone Wednesday night.

On Thursday Fateh's Al-Aqsa brigades and the Hamas movement in the northern West Bank city of Jenin issued a statement recognizing the illegality of the Hamas movement and saying it is forbidden for anyone to deal with it.

This statement came during a big demonstration organized late Wednesday night, in which scores of Fateh fighters and activists took to the streets in Jenin city. The protesters attacked and took over Hamas run schools and NGOs, while witnesses stated that Fatah activists raised Fateh flags over them.

Leaders of the Fatah movement organized a press conference afterwards, during which Zakaria Al Zubaidy, the leader of Al-Aqsa brigades, stated that the Hamas movement is an illegal one and that his brigades will continue to take over Hamas offices and organizations all over the West Bank until the Hamas fighters in Gaza agree to a ceasefire. Al-Zubaidy also added that Hamas activists have been warned that if any of them resume activity in the west Bank they will face punishment.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported on Thursday that security forces allied to Fateh have implemented a wide scale kidnapping campaign targeting Hamas activists in the West Bank. Fou'ad Kokaly, Palestinian legislator of Fateh in the West Bank, told IMEMC during a phone interview that no such thing was done by the Palestinian authority security forces.

Kokaly also said that what had happened in Jenin was an attempt by Fateh to force Hamas in the West Bank to commit to the truce that was achieved by Palestinian president Abbas and Prime Minister Hanyiah yesterday.

In a separate statement to IMEMC the Hamas leader in Gaza Isma'el Radwan said on Wednesday that Hamas forces controlled most of the Gaza strip and that so-called "Fateh rebels" were surrounded in several security compounds: "There is nearly total control on the Gaza strip and the headquarters of those mercenaries who are serving the Zionist enemy and function based on American agenda and Dayson Plan."

Rawdan added that his movement is not at war with Fatah but with those rebels that Fateh cannot control anymore.

The past four days of Hamas-Fateh infighting, which some commentators have called a civil war, have so far claimed the lives of more than 60 Palestinians.

Political analyst, Talal Okel, says that any agreement must deal with the core issues in order to end the internal Palestinian conflict: "Without a real solution to the core issue of the conflict, the situation will remain as it is."

Okel told IMEMC that those issues "are related to two facts, one is that Hamas and Fateh have two different political programs, and second the power struggle between these two rival parties started when Hamas was not part of the Palestinian Authority and moved into the Palestinian Authority when Hamas became the Authority."

 

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