Hamas crackdown on Tamarod group reflects panic, analysts say

[oberliner]

GAZA CITY — The homemade YouTube video features four masked men in matching T-shirts, standing like soldiers as one reads a statement lambasting Hamas for killing civilians and calling for the overthrow of the Gaza Strip's Islamist government.

They call their new Palestinian youth group Tamarod Gaza — using the Arabic word for "rebellion" — after the similarly named Egyptian protest movement that helped bring down Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and Hamas' mentor, the Muslim Brotherhood.

When the brief amateurish video appeared this week, many Gazans laughed it off as a joke, noting that the would-be rebels looked like teenagers blowing off steam.

Hamas, however, didn't find it as amusing. On Tuesday, its security forces arrested four young men in Gaza who they said had produced the piece, accusing them of collaborating with Egypt and Hamas' longtime Palestinian rival, Fatah, in the West Bank.

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-hamas-gaza-egypt-20130822,0,6906630.story

[bemildred]

1. I'd say that's a real threat at this point. nt