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January 04, 2009
A Broken Hands Policy
Hamas is breaking hands and shooting feet of Fatah supporters in Gaza. The Hamas government has placed dozens of Fatah members under house arrest out of fear that they might exploit the current IDF operation to regain control of the Gaza Strip.It looks like Hamas has a two front war on its hands. Or maybe three or four. And what ever happened to that national unity government between Fatah and Hamas we used to hear so much about? Haven't they heard that a house divided will not stand? In addition having to guard their own people reduces their fighting strength. Meanwhile, sources close to Hamas revealed over the weekend that the movement had "executed" more than 35 Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel and were being held in various Hamas security installations.Civilization has at last come to Gaza in the form of more blood feuds. This has got to end badly. For all concerned. It appears to me that the real dynamic is "last man left standing". If Fatah stays out of the fight it will gain strength. If Hamas does not fight they will lose face. If they do fight they will lose fighters. A win-win for Fatah. Cross Posted at Power and Control posted by Simon on 01.04.09 at 09:03 AM
Comments
To be fair, I suppose the quality of press coverage may owe more to the constraints imposed by current circumstances, than choice. JM Hanes · January 4, 2009 02:04 PM The media is helpless here. Combatants will lie about anything in war. Yes, the chaos and fog of war gives Hamas cover to just kill rivals and opponents. It gives Fatah the same chance. They can also supply target information to Israeli forces. No doubt double agents also are at work. e.g. A Hamas agent poses as a Fatah and misleads the Israelis in a way that hurts Fatah not Hamas. No news agency is going to figure it all out. At best the media can know a little about the true motives and reliability of contacts. Major world intelligence agencies err often. The media does too. K · January 5, 2009 12:55 AM Post a comment
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"And what ever happened to that national unity government between Fatah and Hamas we used to hear so much about?"
Don't you remember the Hamas killing spree that followed closely on their win at the Gaza polls? I'm amazed that there were any Fatah "activists" left to kill. Especially in Jabalya (assuming that's an alternate spelling of Jabaliya), which was Nizar Rayan HQ -- "refugee camp" being a euphemism for armed camp financed with international aid.
Hamas must be going nuts trying to identify the informers in their midst, because clearly the Israelis have had accurate, very specific, inside intel. Smashed hands will keep folks off computers for the immediate future, no? Cutting off Hydra heads will be increasingly harder for Israel, with Hamas leadership, and presumably Isreali contacts as well, dispersed and disguised.
I would think that watching what Israel does with its ground forces would tell informed observers quite a lot, although as usual, the press seems to be confining themselves to passing along what "sources" tell them. If Israel has only knocked out 1/3 of the Gaza tunnels so far, it suggests to me that they couldn't pinpoint the other 2/3's with enough accuracy to take them out by air, or confirm their destruction. Could ground operations be critically important in that critical and essential regard?
It's also interesting that despite internal divisions, the Israelis have apparently opted to finish the job this time around. The folks who have been spending their time naively speculating about Israelis taking advantage of the "window in time" before the inauguration to make a move on Iran, have been looking in the wrong direction. Ironically, in its own way, Gaza represents the most clear and present kind of threat that Iran really poses in the region.