Gunmen kill PA official's sons at Gaza City school

[Behind the Aegis]

Unidentified gunmen killed three sons of a Palestinian intelligence chief loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Monday after shooting at a car dropping the children off at school, police and hospital officials said.

The attack, in which an adult bystander was also killed, came a day after gunmen shot at the interior minister's convoy in Gaza amid growing tension between the governing Hamas movement and Abbas's Fatah faction.

Interior Minister Saeed Seyam, a senior Hamas leader, was unharmed in that incident.

Police said two other children were wounded in Monday's attack. The intelligence chief, Baha Balousha, was not in the car when it was attacked.


more...

[seriousstan]

1. It is Israel's fault that the children are dead.

These are normally peaceful people.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Did you forget the sarcasm tag? n/t

[seriousstan]

3. God, how far have we sunk that that would need a tag?

I can only hope it was obvious.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Good to hear.

Take a spin around I/P and you'll see why I asked. :)

[pelsar]

5. jesus h christ!

three of his kids dead......going after the children

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Yrs is the only post in this thread that isn't a silly cheap shot at other posters...

Yeah, it looks like the kids were gone after on purpose as the car was dropping them off at school when it happened. That's really terrible...

[Englander]

7. Not just cheap shots, Vi.

But also using the death of children as an excuse to make cheap shots, or to somehow, god knows how,
to find humour in this horrific incident.

[Douglas Carpenter]

8. what I find sad is the not--too-settle implications that Palestinians

are some sort of intrinsic violent prone barbarians....

everyone knows that Gaza is a very, very dangerous place. but one, regardless of their political persuasions, can still have sympathy and empathy for those lives trapped in that environment; especially the lives of children

[Rageneau]

9. I'm confused. Who did this shooting?

Is there some Palestinian terror group that is opposed to the PA? Like Hamas? But what do they gain from killing one kids belonging to their own people?

Or is it possible that the people who did this shooting were NOT Palestinians?

[pelsar]

12. you dont know much about the conflict...

do you....

[newyorican]

13. Rather than snide...

...not so intelligent responses:

No, we don't know who did the shooting. No group has taken "credit" for this act.

It is not known, at this time, if they were Palestinians or not.

[Eugene]

10. Armed mourners storm Gaza parliament compound (Reuters)

Armed mourners storm Gaza parliament compound
11 Dec 2006 10:03:30 GMT
Source: Reuters

GAZA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Mourners firing automatic weapons stormed into the compound
of the Palestinian parliament in Gaza on Monday during a funeral procession for three
boys who were earlier shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

Witnesses said the mourners fired at the building. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.

Gunmen killed the boys, all sons of a senior Palestinian intelligence official loyal to
President Mahmoud Abbas, as the children were being dropping at their school in Gaza.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11724712.htm

[cali]

11. This is so sad,

and the cutsy flip remarks are totally inappropriate. The three boys were between the age of 6 and 10. It happened outside of their school. Many, many children witnessed it. The children of Gaza are suffering severe trauma. This is yet another heinous event that adds to that suffering. Curses on those who would do this. Prayers for the children.

[Phx_Dem]

14. What a horrible crime

I hope the PA can find the perpetrators.

[Eugene]

15. Threat of Palestinian Civil War Looms (AP)

Threat of Palestinian Civil War Looms


Monday December 11, 2006 9:46 PM

AP Photo JRL160

By MARK LAVIE

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - By threatening to ignite a Palestinian civil war, the killing
of three children in the Gaza Strip on Monday has jeopardized Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's efforts to restart long-stalled peace talks. As the
violence intensified, Palestinians moved further away from their hoped-for
national unity government - seen as a precondition for renewed negotiations
with Israel. Olmert is offering the Palestinians far-reaching concessions and a
state of their own if they choose the path of peace talks.

"It's one of those situations where all Israel can do is wait it out," said Shmuel
Sandler, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv.

The apparent target of the drive-by shooting in Gaza City was Baha Balousheh,
a top Palestinian security officer and Fatah loyalist. He blamed the rival Hamas,
although the Islamic movement denied responsibility and denounced the killings.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6273835,00.html

[idontwantaname]

16. Monday, December 11, 2006

Monday, December 11, 2006
Gaza mourns victims of unknown assailants

It began at about 7am: Continous machine gun banter,, dozens of rounds in a row, and only one street down from our house. More infighting, we assumed, or maybe disgruntled security forces. But it didn't stop. We opened the local radio and learned that 3 children had been killed-sons of an intelligence official, Colonel Baha Balousha, loyal to Mahmoud Abbas's Fateh party.

They were shot dead in a car outside their school in Gaza on Monday, spilling pools of blood along the street.

Balousha, along with Mohammad Dahalan, is known as one of the figures involved in a then Fateh-run PA crackdown against and torture of Hamas members a decade ago, and he has been at odds with Hamas for some time. Hamas denied responsiblity and called the crime gruesome.

Fatah supporters blocked off main roads in the city with burning tyres, and others called for a general strike, shooting at stores who refused to close shop.

They stormed the parliment and called for the Hamas-run government's immediate resignation, shooting wildly into the air throughout the city and making scathing insults against Hamas leaders.

Tensions were running very high and threatened to spill over into the streets-everybody wanted someone to blame and for Fateh, that someone was Hamas.

Hamas withdrew its forces to avoid confronation, and later at night in a show of solidarity, representatives of all the factions, including Hamas, joined forces with Fateh in a candelight vigil against violence and criminality in front of the father's house.

Everyone is mourning and searching for answers and of course for the assailants. No one can comprehend who would commit such a brutal act-which people seem to think was intentional (the targetting of the children) given the time and location. Others say the intended target wasthe father. But mostly, everybody wants a solution.

Today's sad events have triggered widespread fear and uncertainty. The tension is palpable in the air and threatens to boil over at any time. As the florist down the street told me, "I used to say before I was afraid of what is coming. But now, I am REALLy afraid. No body knows what's going to happen next."

http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/