GAZA STRIP: Several Killed, Many More Wounded After Hamas Fires On Arafat Rally

Monday, November 12, 2007
The International Herald Tribune brings us this story today and it starts off like this... At least six Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were wounded here Monday when a mass rally marking the third anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the longtime Palestinian leader, ended in fighting between the rival factions of Hamas and Fatah... Doctors at two Gaza hospitals said all of the dead and most of the wounded were Fatah supporters who had been participating in the rally... Tens of thousands of Gaza residents had turned out to commemorate Arafat, the founder of the Fatah movement, in the largest show of support for the mainstream Palestinian organization since the Islamic group Hamas seized control of the territory in June...
Read the rest at link below...
Rally for Arafat turns deadly in Gaza
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>>> Israelinsider.com has this take...
Hamas marks Arafat yahrzeit by firing into Fatah crowd in Gaza, killing 7
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>>> YNETNews.com had this report late today... As Hamas and Fatah point fingers at one another, many Gazans expect a sleepless night as fears of mass arrests sweep city following clashes at Fatah rally Monday. Calling incident a 'heinous crime,' Abbas declares day of mourning...
Calm restored in Gaza; Fatah supporters fear arrests

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7 killed in clashes at Arafat rally in Gaza (RAW)

About Video: Rated Mature - Seven, possibly more, people died when gunfire erupted in Gaza City on Monday as hundreds of thousands gathered to mark the death of Yasser Arafat in the biggest rally organized by the Fatah party since its ouster by Hamas.
Video/Info posted on LiveLeak by smeblee

Hamas Wakes Up To Grim Reality Over Gaza Victory

NewsScotsman.com has this article today that goes in part like this... While Syria has played a major role in offering support to Hamas, it is Iran - with its supply of weapons and offers of training to Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza and the West Bank - that is the mastermind behind the military rise of these groups. "Just like Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel will now have Iran-by-proxy ruling Gaza," said [Dr.] Ganor...
Read this article in full HERE

State of Emergency Declared in Gaza

* State of Emergency Declared in Gaza *

The Palestinian Government has been dissolved and a state of emergency declared in Gaza as fighting continues between Fatah and Hamas.
Short write-up and Video posted on LiveLeak by smeblee

Gaza Civil War - Hamas on Fatah - Thursday, June 14, 2007

Gaza Civil War - Hamas on Fatah
Hamas Takeover Creates another Iranian-Backed State
Will This War Become a Wider Regional Conflict?
Thursday, June 14, 2007

* IsraelNationalNews.com is reporting today, in part, this... While Fatah was "busy stealing public monies," Amidror feels, [Former IDF Intelligence Deputy Chief Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror], Hamas was getting stronger militarily. Hamas is now set to take over Gaza, "turning Gaza into Hamastan like Hizbullah in Lebanon, with Iranian and Al-Qaeda elements. We will have a full-fledged terrorist state on our borders. This will affect not only Sderot, but soon Kiryat Gat and Ashdod as well, and in the long run, rockets will even be directed at Haifa." Like Yaalon, Amidror too blames the Disengagement: "Israel's irresponsible departure from Gaza enabled Hamas to get stronger with tremendous quantities of explosives, weapons, training, money and more."...
Read the full story HERE

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* Middle-East-Online.com has this report today that starts off like this... Hamas fighters opened fire on the overall Palestinian security headquarters for the Gaza Strip on Thursday and demanded its surrender, the Islamist movement's television broadcast...
Read the rest of the story at link below...
Hamas Captures Gaza Strip Security HQ

* YNETnews.com has this take on the story and it goes in part like this... Hamas members held a prayer in the compound, which they referred to as the "heresy compound." Hamas also changed the name of the neighborhood where the building is located from "Tel al-Hawa" to "Tel al-Islam."... Hamas' media outlets threatened to reach Fatah and the PA's official radio and television stations, and provided the names of senior Fatah officials they planned to execute. "We will reach you," Hamas members told the Fatah leaders...
Read the rest below...
Hamas TV: We'll execute Fatah leaders
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* TheAustralian.News.com.au website has a good news article on all this Gaza mess today and it goes in part like this... "MAA fii fitna, maa fii fitna," as Palestinians used to say - no civil war, no civil war - confident that internal rivalries would not explode into full-blown internecine strife. It is a cry now uttered with increasing desperation and decreasing credibility... The sandbags are up in Gaza, even on Unity Street, protecting Palestinian gunman against Palestinian gunman. There isn't an Israeli in sight... Whether this round of bloodletting amounts to a civil war is for historians to argue over... But it is certainly a sign of how fragmented and dysfunctional this society has become...
Read the rest of this news article at link below...
Fight rages in Strip without Israeli in sight

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UPDATE: 1:30pm CDT
* FoxNews.com is reporting... President Mahmoud Abbas will dissolve the Palestinian Authority's government Thursday after fighting between rival parties Hamas and Fatah consumed the Gaza Strip and was expected to call for a state of emergency, sources close to Abbas confirmed to FOX News...
Read this story in full below...
Abbas to Dissolve Palestinian Authority Government in Wake of Hamas-Fatah War

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UPDATE: 3:15pm CDT
* YNETnews.com has another report this afternoon that goes in part like this... After overtaking the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security headquarters in Gaza City on Thursday afternoon, Hamas fighters report they have seized tens of thousands of highly valuable intelligence documents, including correspondence between the PA and others, including the CIA, regarding security issues.
Read this report in full at link below...
Hamas seizes PA intelligence materials, says Israeli tactics exposed

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UPDATE: Friday, June 15, 2007
11:30am CDT
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* YNETnews.com has this report this morning on the new Palestinian PM and it starts off like this... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad, a Western-backed independent deputy, on Friday to serve as prime minister of an emergency government in what Hamas said amounted to a coup... Hamas declared that Fayyad’s appointment “contradicts all Palestinian laws” and represents a “revolt against the constitution”... Abbas’ office said Friday that the new Palestinian government would be sworn in later in the day, but followed it minutes later with an announcement that the event had been postponed. There was no immediate explanation for the confusion.
Read the rest HERE
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* IsraelInsider.com has this report that starts off like this... Deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, dismissed from his position by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, rejected the decision Thursday to dissolve the PA coalition government and declared that his government would continue in power. At a late-night press conference, he said, "The Hamas' presence in the government is the decision of the Palestinian people. Unilateral decisions, made without cooperation or coordination, do not suit the current situation. Therefore, the present government will continue operating and will not give up its position and responsibility towards the Palestinian people," he said.
Read the story at link below...
Haniyeh: Abbas has no authority to dissolve government
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* JPOST.com is reporting... A proposed multinational force deployed along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt must be willing to fight Hamas to stop weapons smuggling in the area, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Friday... Livni said Israel was not interested in any proposal involving a monitoring force for the Philadelphi corridor where, she said, Hamas used tunnels to bring in weapons...
Read the rest at link below...
'Multinational force must fight Hamas'

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More to come as news breaks...
AubreyJ.........

Palestinian Infighting Opens Door for Jihadists

TheTRUMPET.com website has a great read today that starts off like this... A terrorist attack carried out by religious extremists on an elementary school in the Gaza Strip May 6 marks a new level in the violence engulfing the Palestinian territory. Israel’s backyard has become home to a growing jihadist presence quite apart from Hamas...
Read the story in full HERE