Faction fights make mockery of peace as Hamas goes political

[gulfcoastliberal]

FIVE seconds inside Gaza and the Kalashnikovs are already into their death rattle. It is Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, but this is no celebration.
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In a semi-tribal society Gaza’s powerful clans — “the families” — compete with the militant groups Fatah and Hamas to extort their share of patronage, money and guns, or have been subsumed into them

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This is life in the 25-mile coastal strip that was meant to nurture the seedlings of a Palestinian state after disengagement, the now comatose Ariel Sharon’s last significant political act. But peace is a receding dream for most Gazans, amid a law and order crisis before parliamentary elections on January 25. The kidnapping of foreigners has halted investment and forced out most international aid workers. The United Nations has downgraded Gaza from level three to four (of five), ranking it alongside parts of Iraq.

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Last year more Palestinians were killed by internal feuds than by Israeli strikes, confirmed Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. “Most of the time the problem starts with the factions, not as family disputes,” he said. “But the families back the organisations they are loyal to, which means they fight each other as their proxies.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1984345,00.html

[Ian David]

1. Maybe the factions should start building walls between them? n/t

[pelsar]

2. oops...

“The Jews were better. At least they didn’t shoot us in cold blood.”

boy, doesnt that take the wind out of the "israelis kill indescriminatly" and all those other accusations of genocide, etc.....

just one more comment from the palestenains that israelis and the occupation was not the "evils of all evils"...