“Only The Sword And The Rifle.”
Well, Hamas has wasted no time at all in declaring where they stand - they will not negotiate with Abbas or Fatah in any way, shape or form. And they are dancing on the desk formerly occupied by Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza. They plan on doing all their talking with the sword and the rifle.
Triumphant Hamas fighters are planning to celebrate their final Gaza victory with Friday prayers today in the captured presidential compound of the routed secular President.
The pledge came from a leading preacher as the Islamist forces overran the last strongholds of their rivals.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President and Fatah leader, declared a state of emergency last night and dissolved the Hamas-led Government. He said that he would call new elections “as soon as the situation allows”.
The President cut an increasingly weak figure, however, and such orders appeared simply to acknowledge the realities of the unfolding chaos.
“There will be no dialogue with Fatah, only the sword and the rifle,” declared Nezar Rayyan, a top Hamas leader, on the Islamist movement’s radio station as Fatah broadcasters were bombed off the air.
Oh, and about those earlier reports of Hamas atrocities, including the execution of captives? Fatah gunmen are pledging payback (as I rather suspected they would.)
Fatah leaders, fearing the fighting was about to spread to the West Bank, ordered their militias there to start arresting Hamas members, although some rank-and-file Fatah gunmen said that they would go even further and kill their rivals if they caught them.
As ugly as it is already, it will get uglier. This is the direct result of the enablers in the West who choose to blame everything on Israel and refuse to hold the Palestinians responsible for there atrocities. Get that, Jimmy Carter? You helped legitimize Yasser Arafat and his terrorist state; this is the payoff for all your help. Proud of yourself?
War, World news | Gaius Thursday, 14 June , 2007
Other Links to this Post
-
Blue Crab Boulevard » Laying Down Smoke — Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 7:05 am
By Former Republican, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 5:03 am
Executions? Looks like you’re wrong again. Hamas has declared an amnesty for Fatah leaders. http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20070615/46720ec0_3ca6_1552620070615-779188073
Jimmy Carter’s responsible for what the Palestinians have done? Hardly. Israel has been in de facto control of the West Bank and Gaza ever since the 1967 war, until very recently. To the extent that anyone is responsible for what the Palestinians have become, besides the Palestinians themselves, it is the Israelis.
I do think Jimmy Carter bears significant responsibility for the peace between Egypt and Israel, which has lasted 27 years now and counting. He induced Israel to follow a policy of appeasement toward Egypt, giving up the Sinai in return for Egypt’s promise of good behavior. Has worked fine so far. Sometimes appeasement is the right policy.
By Gaius, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 5:50 am
Oh?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3412813,00.html
Hamas’ media outlets threatened to reach Fatah and the PA’s official radio and telelvision stations, and provided the names of senior Fatah officials they planned to execute. “We will reach you,” Hamas members told the Fatah leaders.
And the article you link states Hamas would free “leaders” of Fatah. How many troops from that group lived?
Carter - and people who try to gloss over the Palestinian behavior - have brought this about by failing to hold them accountable for their atrocities.
By ajacksonian, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 6:01 am
Was it only 18 months or so ago that I wished Hamas good luck in their new found majority in Palestine? Why yes it was!
Have they sorted out their priorities yet?
Why, no, no they haven’t.
Where they warned about a Civil War if they did not amend their ways?
Why yes, yes they were.
Dear, me!
Oh, and Egypt plays nice due to $2 billion in US aid per year. If we end that a whopping chunk of the Egyptian budget disappears and fun times would not be had by them. That is not appeasement.
That is a bribe with the Sugar Daddy giving fair warning to play nice or face social revolution once the cash goes away. Jordan gets much the same deal.
By Former Republican, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 10:06 am
Gaius, you are simply wrong. According to the Wall Street Journal online:
“Earlier Friday, Hamas announced it had arrested 10 of the most senior Fatah leaders in the strip, including the commanders of Mr. Abbas’s own elite guard unit and the chief of the National Security force. However, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeideh later declared an amnesty for all Fatah leaders, and several Fatah leaders, including spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, were released shortly afterwards”
If you demonize people you dislike, you’ll have trouble predicting what they’ll do.
By Former Republican, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 10:09 am
Ajacksonian, are you really serious that the U.S. agreement to bribe Egypt with U.S. aid is not appeasement? Would you prefer to call it protection money? Israel gave up the Sinai, and in return Egypt gave a paper promise to be good. If that isn’t appeasement, the word has no meaning. No one knew at the time, except possibly the Egyptians, that they would in fact honor their word.
By Gaius, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 10:42 am
No I’m not. I don’t believe Hamas has anything approaching credibility with any of their pronouncements. You on the other hand give them full credence.
How many ceasefires have they declared? How many died as a result of each one?
By Former Republican, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 3:51 pm
Gaius, I got a bit too strident. I apologize. You run a very civilized site and I should behave accordingly.
By Former Republican, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 9:13 pm
Gaius, I don’t give credence to what Hamas says, or anyone else for that matter. I look at what they do. Hamas is not in fact executing Fatah captives. It is letting them go. You said things are going to get uglier. Maybe you will turn out to be right. But so far, they haven’t.
By Gaius, Friday, 15 June , 2007 @ 9:37 pm
< ?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> < !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
New AP headline: Hamas gives amnesty; killings persist
Things are going to get worse for the residents of Gaza. Bet on it.