Palestinians at war as blood feuds follow Israeli pullout

[gulfcoastliberal]

Law and order has collapsed in Gaza ahead of elections this month. Powerful clans, suddenly without a common enemy to unite them, are killing each other and seeking to sweep aside the heirs of Arafat, condemned as weak and corrupt.

The war came to Beit Hanoun like this. Hussein al-Kafarna was driving his wealthy uncle's Mitsubishi four-wheel drive on 3 November last year when a donkey-cart driver from the rival al-Masri family crashed into him.

Enraged, Hussein went to the al-Masris to demand compensation. In the argument that followed he fired his pistol twice into the air and then used it to club the cart driver's head. Nine people were killed and dozens more injured in the ensuing violence as the families - the Capulets and Montagues of Gaza - went to war.

Neutral residents of the families' battleground fled as scores of gunmen fought running battles between the al-Kafarna neighbourhoods and the adjoining al-Masri areas, barricading streets and strafing Beit Hanoun from atop its water tower and taller buildings.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,16937,1686897,00.html?gusrc=rss

[stray cat]

1. But doesn't freedom solve everything?

Seriously, good luck to the people there - sometimes almost any form of law and order is better than a complete lack of it for keeping groups from killing each other.