Hamas, Clan Rivalries, and Alan Johnston's Dangerous Predicament

[barb162]

June 25, 2007
'NOT ENOUGH ROOM IN GAZA'
Hamas, Clan Rivalries, and Alan Johnston's Dangerous Predicament
By Ulrike Putz in the Gaza Strip

BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been held prisoner in Gaza for 105 days, kidnapped by a militia hostile to Hamas. Liberating Johnston would improve Hamas' image. But an offensive could also cost Johnston his life.


For a week in Gaza City, there was calm. The occasional car horn blared. The waves of the Mediterranean crashed on the shore. Every now and then the cry of a muezzin would pierce through the hum of everyday life. Until Sunday. Then, once again, volleys of machine gun fire hammered through the streets along with the dull thuds of grenade launchers and mortars.

A family feud was underway: the Deraui clan against the Dagmoush clan. Having lost two sons to their rivals, the Derauis were assaulting the Sabra neighborhood, where the Dagmoushes had dug in behind sandbags and barricades. But there was more to it than just that. The skirmishes were the prelude to the liberation-by-force of kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston (more...), who has been held by the Dagmoush-controlled Army of Islam for three months, according to people familiar with Gaza City.
snip
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,490602,00.html

[razzleberry]

1. this is very sad

time for the threat of collective punishment

my suggetion is, the UK threaten to flatten
every house owned by members of the Dagmoush,
if Johnston is killed.

[barb162]

2. Yes it is

as it looks like there will be more a lot more killing if this reporter is correct.

These gangs are huge, much larger than I had thought.