Factional shooting at Gaza hospital

[oberliner]

A gun battle has erupted between Palestinian police loyal to Hamas and Fatah fighters at the main hospital in Gaza, killing one person and wounding eleven.

Witnesses and members of the rival factions said the fighting started at the entrance to the compound of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

The person killed in Tuesday's fighting was reported to be from the Hamas side. The victim has been identified as Ismail Abu al-Kheir.

A Fatah official told Al Jazeera that the ceasefire agreed on by the Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip was still holding, despite the latest bloodshed.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A9AC6AC0-2991-47A4-8714-4FC2C266DB6C.htm

[barb162]

1. "ceasefire ...was still holding" Interesting take on the situation

seeing how so much blood is being spilled in this civil war

[Englander]

3. More abuse of language.

*Again*

This isn't a civil war.

*This* is a civil war;


'FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Dec 19

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Following are security and other developments in Iraq as of 0730 GMT on Tuesday:

BAQUBA - A total of 12 bodies, including two women, were found in different parts of the religiously mixed city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - The bodies of four people were found on Monday in different parts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb in a popular market wounded four people in Zaafaraniya district in the southern outskirts of Baghdad, police said.

RASHEED - Three mortar rounds landed on a residential district killing one person and wounding three others on Monday in the town of Rasheed, just south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen including some wearing police uniforms stole at least 1.25 billion dinars ($875,000). A police source said the gunmen took the money from industry ministry employees who were picking up money for salaries from a bank. An interior ministry source said the gunmen stormed the bank itself and took as much as 2 billion dinars ($1.4 million).

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR927236.htm

[barb162]

5. wrong again, Englander, try again

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/civil+war
and

Palestinian civil war underway

No reason for elation: Palestinian infighting bad for Israel

Published: 12.15.06, 23:25

The Palestinians are not on the verge of a civil war. They're already embroiled in one: Since the beginning of this week, two judges and the three children of a senior security officer were murdered in the Gaza Strip. Fatah blames Hamas and members of the Popular Resistance Committees loyal to Hamas. Yet the Fatah is also doing its part.
snip

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3340143,00.html

[newyorican]

7. Yippie?

Hurray?

[barb162]

8. oh, you think this is a good thing?

[newyorican]

11. I think you got it...

...but if your radar is dysfunctional, no I don't think this is a good thing. However, I can say that and actually mean it.

[barb162]

27. Obviously your radar is dysfunctional because I think it is not a

good thing

[Englander]

29. So, why argue that there is a "civil war"?

Why abuse language, & provide a false reading of the situation, by trying to *prove* that there is
one, 'cos extremist rw sites (Arutz Sheva) say it's so? Why would anyone who "thinks it is not a
good thing", try to provide an argument that a "bad thing" is happening?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

13. .

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. .

[Violet_Crumble]

20. Can i ask for a translation in English? n/t

[tblue]

2. I'm so glad the fall of Saddam Hussein was followed by a "democratic domino" effect across

the Middle East.

[Eugene]

4. Five killed in tense Gaza, gunbattles rage (Reuters)

Five killed in tense Gaza, gunbattles rage
19 Dec 2006 13:12:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

-snip-

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Gunbattles raged between Hamas loyalists and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas's forces in Gaza City on Tuesday, killing at least three
people and reviving fears the strip could slip into civil war.

Hospital officials said the bodies of two security men loyal to Abbas's Fatah had
also been dumped in a street.

Fatah sources said the men were abducted hours earlier by a Hamas-led police unit
and "executed". A Hamas police spokesman denied the force had abducted or killed
anyone.

Internal Palestinian fighting, the worst in a decade, has escalated since Abbas
called for early elections on Saturday in an attempt to break a political deadlock
with the Hamas government. Hamas has accused Abbas of launching a "coup".

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19192750.htm

[Scurrilous]

6. Fatah and Hamas agree to pull gunmen off Gaza's streets

<snip>

"A top Palestinian security official said Tuesday that Hamas and Fatah officials had agreed to pull their armed men off the streets of Gaza City after more than a week of rampant street violence.

The two sides also agreed to form a joint operations room with the Fatah-led security forces to respond quickly to any outbreaks of violence, the official said.

The agreement was reached after intense mediation by Egypt, the official said. Violence on both sides has continued since a tenuous truce was announced on Sunday.

Under the current deal, only Palestinian police would be allowed to patrol the streets with weapons, the official said.

Over the past week, 14 Palestinians have been killed and dozens of others injured as rampant street fighting raged across Gaza."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/802985.html

[barb162]

9. New Fatah-Hamas Truce Accord, Analysts Skeptical

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=117777
New Fatah-Hamas Truce Accord, Analysts Skeptical
21:32 Dec 19, '06 / 28 Kislev 5767


(IsraelNN.com) Hamas and Fatah have reached a new truce agreement, with the help of Egyptian intermediaries, but analysts are skeptical if the truce will take place.

The latest effort to stop the escalating violence, which threatens to spread into other Middle East areas, calls for gunmen on both sides to withdraw from the streets and to accept the authority of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, which are loyal to Fatah.

Oded Granot, a commentator for Channel One's Mabat television news program, said there is little chance the truce will succeed in light of Tuesday night's speech by PA prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. He blamed the United States for policies that led to the latest violence and stated categorically that Hamas will try to topple PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

14. .

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[Behind the Aegis]

18. .

[Violet_Crumble]

19. You'll have to fill me in on this...

I'm not aware of any of this, so I'm all ears :)

[Englander]

21. Yeah, what's all this about?

Most likely an alternate version of reality, which would be consistent.

[Violet_Crumble]

23. I think it's Distraction Tactic #35,401 n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

24. .

[Violet_Crumble]

25. I'm still waiting for that English translation...

What on earth are you talking about?

[Violet_Crumble]

22. Why people use Arutz Sheva as a source is beyond comprehension...

It's a fucking extremist source that even many liberal pro-Israeli posters recognise as being totally lacking in credibility. It appeals to extremists and really doesn't pretend to do anything else but that...

[Englander]

28. Maybe that's the answer?

It appeals to extremists and really doesn't pretend to do anything else but that...

As to why anybody would happily use Arutz Sheva as a source?

[Violet_Crumble]

32. Yep, it is n/t

[Englander]

34. Yes, QED.

;)

[barb162]

33. No it's not the answer. It's not extremist. Now EI is extremist

(and also a vanity site) and a whole bunch of other rags of that ilk.

[Englander]

35. No, Arutz Sheva is an extremist, rw site -

that's something you've helped to prove by not providing any analysis or relevant comment beyond the
knee-jerky stuff, & by attempting to change the subject.

[barb162]

30. You speaking ex cathedra on that?

No it isn't extremist, plain and simple.

[Violet_Crumble]

31. I'd totally expect you to say it's not extremist....

:)

[Violet_Crumble]

26. Oberliner, that link isn't working for me...

Based on the little I could read, news of gun battles and factional fighting doesn't bode well....