Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Elder of Ziyon
Mahmoud Abbas will extend his presidency by an additional year without elections, after consulting with legal experts who agreed that it is all fine and dandy. He also threatened to pursue legal actions against Hamas for terrorism, bringing Hamas to the Hague if necessary.
Hamas, meanwhile, declared all of Abbas' decrees to be null and void retroactive to July 3rd saying that the Palestinian Legislative Council has not approved any of them. Hamas is attempting to create its own alternative or successor to the PLC.
Members of the Al-Qaeda inspired Jaysh al Ummah group is calling on Hamas to release their leader, Abu Hafss, arrested last week. Reuters thinks that Hamas arrested him after they got some "exclusive" photos of their training in Gaza (this picture is from a second round of photos.) However, Hamas clearly gives Jaysh al-Ummah as much room in "crowded" Gaza as they need for training.
Israel is planning to build a joint Israel-Arab industrial zone in the northern West Bank to employ some 10,000 Palestinian Arabs and 2,000 Israelis. It will be funded by the US and EU to the tune of some $200 million and will ultimately end up exactly like Erez did in Gaza.
Egypt killed two more Sudanese trying to get into Israel.
UPDATE: A PalArab man was shot and killed as he was demonstrating against a water shortage in a camp north of Bethlehem. The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 159.
