Fatah militants launch 'Summer Storm' campaign and urge all factions to prepare martyrs

[oberliner]

Gaza - Ma'an – The Fatah-affiliated, Group of the Martyr Ayman Jouda, on Sunday declared that it has launched what it called the 'Summer Storm' campaign, to confront the Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the brigades said that the campaign will include guerrilla operations and launching projectiles at Israeli towns.

The statement called on all Palestinian factions to remain alert in order to "confront the Israeli forces".

The group also said that "the new slogan for our battle with the Israeli enemy at this stage will be the campaign of the Summer Storm; to confront Israeli arrogance, assassinations and violations, and to protect our people. We urge the other factions to prepare the martyrs to confront the expected attack on the Strip by the Zionist enemy".

The statement urged the Palestinian resistance fighters "to hit the Zionist enemy, intensify martyrdom operations and burn Ashkelon and Sderot."

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=21612

[The Magistrate]

1. The Problem With Talk Like This, Sir

Is that people who indulge in it cannot complain when others take it seriously.

The fact is that these people are powerless; their best efforts would have about as much effect on an Israeli military offensive as a BB gun against a charging elephant, and they can no more 'burn' Ashkelon and Sderot then they could fly to the moon on gossamer wings. But they will talk and posture, and puff themselves up like peacocks, and manage just enough to require an armed state to treat them as a potential threat. Their only achievement is the increased misery of their people, and put bluntly, that is so obvious and foregone a result of their self-indulgence that it is best to treat it as their stated purpose and fixed intent.

[oberliner]

2. How is it that Fatah is considered the more moderate party

When you have "Fatah-affiliated groups" making statements that are clearly anything but moderate?

One would think that the moderate leaders of Fatah would want to un-affiliate themselves with such folks.

What is the relationship, exactly, I wonder, between Mahmoud Abbas and groups like the one cited in the OP?

[The Magistrate]

3. 'Fatah Affiliated', Sir, Is A Slippery Phrase

It is hard to say what it means: it could indicate anything from some persons who are perhaps Fatah members acting on their own time to a body set up clandestinely by the leadership.

The unfortunate facts of political life in Arab Palestine dictate that one promising means of bidding for popular support is to posture as the greatest enemy of Israel. Fatah is just now coming under a majpor propaganda barrage from Hamas and others denouncing it as an Israeli pawn, puppet, stooge, etc., and promotion of a 'Fatah affiliated' fighting group is a natural enough reaction.

In this context, 'moderate' should mostly be read as 'secular', with overtones of 'talks might be possible'....