Reality Overtakes the Illusion of Unity in Gaza

[oberliner]

JERUSALEM, May 15 — A third day of deadly clashes between Hamas and Fatah fighters suggests that the Palestinian unity government, put together under Saudi auspices at the end of March, is something of a fiction.

It never got off to a serious start, and as this week’s resignation of the independent interior minister, Hani al-Qawasmeh, made clear, the leaders of the fighting men were never prepared to listen to one authority anyway.

The continuing battle between Fatah and Hamas for power in Gaza also makes the likelihood of substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ever more distant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/world/middleeast/16mideast.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[maddezmom]

1. CNNI has live shots of journalists trapped in a building

just reported that they were being fired upon.

[barb162]

2. There is no "unity" government .

Pictures tell a thousand words.
CNN is doing a fair amount of live coverage; lots of shooting and street battles. As they are doing live coverage, you can hear the shooting in the background.