Gazans trapped in 'ghost town'

[oberliner]

Gaza was turned into a virtual ghost town with residents hiding in fear as Hamas and Fatah fighters battled in the worst violence to date since they agreed to share power.

Shopkeepers closed their stores and schoolchildren and university students stayed home as the fighting continued.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from buildings that had been set on fire and the Islamic University was attacked with mortars.

Virtually all Gaza's residents have been penned indoors for more two days now.

The few shopkeepers who did elect to stay open said they were harassed by armed men and forced to close shop.

Abu Mohammad El-Khodary owns a small supermarket in the Remal neighbourhood of the City, one of the most heavily affected areas in Wednesday's fighting.

"I don't understand what are they fighting over - the trash piling up in the streets?" he chided, in reference to the piles of accumulated rubbish that remain uncollected amid a week-long municipality protest.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/00EDC05C-AE07-43A0-9A7B-6E4723F6F876.htm

[bemildred]

1. Sounds like Iraq. nt

[Igel]

2. Doesn't it?

Clan against clan, Islamist vs secularist, mix in some common thuggery indistinguishable from what the other groups do, stir in some general ME xenophobia and "Christophobia" ... Add some Iranian and Wahhabi support to taste. Only thing missing are Shi'ites and any true ethnic divisions.

Bodes badly; once such feuds get out of control it's hard to rein them in without stomping on everybody. Of course, given the right conditions the xenophobia and group-honor thing could kick in, at least short term.

Killing Israelis would give them time to work out their differences amicably.

[bemildred]

3. So you don't think it's Hamas vs Fatah like the story says?

It looks like a proxy war to me. Not unlike Somalia either, or a lot of other places. While I'm sure you could find some of these fellows that would be happy to kill some Israelis, I don't think that has much to do with it at this point. It's overcrowding and starvation and lack of any government services and various outsiders taking sides and arming and supporting one side or the other. And there isn't really any straightforward road out of it, once you get to this situation. The real danger is that it can spread, or metastasize, or however you want to name it, when conditions are right elsewhere. Hosni in Egypt seems fairly worked up about it, Pakistan looks about ready to blow, and the Saudis will be in deep doodoo when all those experienced jihadis come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, it's not a pretty picture.