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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Hamas/Fatah truce update

Just because the Western media hasn't been reporting any fighting between Hamas and Fatah doesn't mean that they are playing happily together:
Ramallah - Ma'an - The Fatah movement warned on Tuesday that several "atrocities" had taken place in the Gaza Strip in order to gain "extra time". Since Sunday, there have been four violent assaults on various civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, the Fatah spokesperson, Jamal Nazzal, said, adding that the perpetrators have all been either the pro-Hamas Executive Force or still-unidentified armed men. Fatah has condemned all the attacks.

In one incident, 200 armed men, allegedly from the Executive Force, took control of a farm belonging to Ishaq Hassan. 20 of his family members were forced out of their homes and his 15-dunum farm, located in the Al-Mughraqa neighbourhood close to the evacuated Israeli settlement of Netsarim in the central Gaza Strip, was set ablaze.

In a separate incident, unidentified gunmen stole a car belonging to Palestine TV in Gaza City and brutally beat the car's occupants. The car was reportedly transporting Palestine TV employees in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in central Gaza City on Tuesday.

A day before, three unarmed Fatah members were also attacked by unknown gunmen in Gaza City.

Fatah also condemned the recent attack on "The Youth House for Culture and Arts" in the northern Gaza Strip where a children's library containing 7,000 books was set ablaze. The library was reportedly attacked because it was "contradictory to Palestinian traditions". In this regard, Nazzal added that the offices of dozens of publications and websites have been closed down in the Gaza Strip following frequent threats by the Executive Force against employees, particularly women.
This must be the PalArab definition of "peace."

Which is something to keep in mind when people talk about the "peace process."