PalArab press roundup Jan 8 2009

Islamic Jihad admitted that four of its members were killed today. These admissions have been rare.

Palestine Today refers to the Katyusha rockets shot from Lebanon this morning to Nahariya as being fired to "occupied territory."

When The Jerusalem Post, Yediot Aharonot and Arutz-7 reported on Hamas' policy to execute and injure Fatah members during this war, Hamas ignored it. But now that Ha'aretz' Amira Hass has written that between forty and eighty Fatah members have been executed, Hamas had to respond. So it forced a very scared Fatah leader in Gaza to deny that Hamas was killing and injuring Fatah members and their families.

Meanwhile, Firas Press goes into detail on one such instance, where a dedicated Fatah member who swore to continue in the ways of his martyred father in fighting Israel was ironically murdered by Hamas, which also shot the legs of his entire family.

Firas Press reminds us that, according to Hamas, PA President Mahmoud Abbas' term ends tomorrow, and Hamas will not recognize any Fatah member as his successor.

Palestine Today doesn't only love gruesome pictures of martyrs - they try really hard to find dead Israelis, too. But the best they could do was a photo essay showing grieving soldiers burying one of their friends, titling it "Zionist soldiers crying and screaming as they buried their dead."

A Firas Press writer strongly condemns Hamas for this war, blaming it for breaking the unity of Palestinian Arabs and acting selfishly as opposed to the interests of the people. The writer compares Hams to Hezbollah in Lebanon, also breaking from the Lebanese government to an adventure that was disastrous to the people of Lebanon.

(A UAE editorial also slams Hamas as "incompetent.")

Egypt's official Al-Ahram newspaper kept up the war of words between Hassan Nasrallah and Egypt, saying that while Egypt works quietly towards a truce in Gaza, Nasrallah is screaming from his underground hiding place that Gaza will be a graveyard for the Zionist invaders without doing anything to help. The writer sarcastically notes that Hezbollah is "bravely" confronting the occupation from their satellite channels. The editorial ended with a veiled threat towards Hezbollah, reminding them that they are still a group of fighters while Egypt has an entire army.