- Fraught relations brings Gaza to the brink
Fraught relations brings Gaza to the brink
by Omar Karmi
It was a tense week in the Gaza Strip, which teetered on the brink of serious internal fighting with PA forces clashing repeatedly with Hamas leaving two dead and several injured, even while the Strip was threatened by a full-scale Israeli invasion.
On July 14, Palestinian security forces opened fire at a group of Hamas members on their way back from firing mortars at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
The mortars had been launched, according to Hamas, in reaction to Israeli incursions into the West Bank on July 13 and 14 that had left two dead – one a Palestinian Authority police man in Tulkarm and one an Islamic Jihad leader in Nablus – seriously wounded a second policeman and saw the arrests of a dozen members of Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The Israeli incursions came after a suicide bombing in Netanya, claimed by Islamic Jihad, killed five Israelis.
The PA acted after one the mortar attacks on July 14 – one claimed by the Fateh-affiliated Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, however, and not Hamas – killed an Israeli woman. Five Hamas members were wounded in the confrontation, and Hamas immediately made clear it would not refrain from responding. Later that night, Hamas members attacked the headquarters of the national security services in Gaza City, and on July 15, a gunfight between PA forces and Hamas members in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, resulted in the killing of two teenage bystanders and injuries to dozens on either side. Hamas rebuffed the PA forces and set fire to an armored personnel car.
To muddy matters further, the Israeli army launched a number of incursions into the West Bank and revived its assassination policy. On July 13, Israeli forces raided the house of a British citizen in Nablus and killed a local Islamic Jihad leader. On July 14, Israel killed seven Hamas men in air strikes and a follow-up raid in Gaza and the West Bank. Another Palestinian was shot and killed by soldiers after a stone throwing incident. In addition, there were air strikes at numerous locations in Gaza, and dozens of people were seized and arrested by the Israeli army across the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on July 16 threatened a full-scale invasion of the Strip and amassed troops on the borders of the Strip. On July 17, Israel assassinated another Hamas leader in southern Gaza and Hamas responded by firing several lobbies of mortars at Israeli targets in and around the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas will not stand handcuffed against this new crime,” Hamas Spokesman Mushir Al Masri warned on July 17 after the assassination.
But the group was also facing serious pressure from the PA to desist. In a speech on July 16, President Mahmoud Abbas said the ceasefire agreement was in the best interest of the Palestinians.
“I call upon all the Palestinian factions and forces to renew and to declare their commitment to what we had agreed upon, to respect the Authority... and to obey the truce,” he said. “We are not going to allow anyone to gamble with our national cause.”
An Egyptian delegation headed by intelligence deputy Mustafa Behairy, meanwhile, arrived in the Strip to mediate between the PA and Hamas. After three days of straight talks, agreement to end hostilities was finally reached on July 19.
“We agreed to withdraw all armed forces from the streets of northern Gaza,” local Hamas leader Mizar Rayyan said.
”The movements have agreed to stop all clashes and violence and end all armed presence and all issues that may lead to tension between the two sides,” senior Fateh leader and cabinet minister Sufian Abu Zaida said at a joint news conference with Rayyan at midnight on July 17.
”Nothing is better than our unity against our enemy (Israel),” said Rayyan.
Despite the agreement, fresh but limited clashes broke out almost immediately on the morning of July 20.
Sharon also faced internal strife. Thousands of opponents of his Gaza withdrawal plan from all over Israel on July 17 started a march meant to bring 100,000 people on the Gaza settlements. Israel last week banned non-residents from entering the Gaza settlements, due to be evacuated next month, and the march was organized to defy the order.
Thousands of Israeli police and soldiers were deployed to prevent the demonstrators from reaching their destination in Gaza, and the Israeli authorities prevented busses from leaving depots and erected checkpoints across southern Gaza. Demonstrators were heard to complain that they were “being treated like Palestinians”.
By July 20, demonstrators, who had been holed up in the southern Israeli village of Kfar Maimon and allowed out in only one direction, away from Gaza, started filing home, but a hardcore remained and vowed to march on Gaza July 20.
Settler leader Bentzi Lieberman told Israel Army Radio on June 20 that the bulk of the demonstrators would leave the area before Friday evening, and that only a “nucleus” of a few hundred demonstrators would remain as a "forward base" of protest activities.
”The struggle is continuing,” Lieberman said. “We are certainly leaving a nucleus for various operational activities which will take place in the future. The remainder of the people will go to build up strength, they will go to their Sabbath meals, and they will wait for our call.”
Sharon has staked much credibility on not backing down and implementing his withdrawal plan, and on June 20 he was bolstered when the Israeli parliament voted down a motion to delay the Gaza withdrawal.
“I was happy with the results. In today's vote, I saw a real expression of democracy. It was proven that the government, the Knesset and the public support the disengagement,” he said after the vote. -Published July 20, 2005©Palestine Report
by Omar Karmi
It was a tense week in the Gaza Strip, which teetered on the brink of serious internal fighting with PA forces clashing repeatedly with Hamas leaving two dead and several injured, even while the Strip was threatened by a full-scale Israeli invasion.
On July 14, Palestinian security forces opened fire at a group of Hamas members on their way back from firing mortars at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
The mortars had been launched, according to Hamas, in reaction to Israeli incursions into the West Bank on July 13 and 14 that had left two dead – one a Palestinian Authority police man in Tulkarm and one an Islamic Jihad leader in Nablus – seriously wounded a second policeman and saw the arrests of a dozen members of Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The Israeli incursions came after a suicide bombing in Netanya, claimed by Islamic Jihad, killed five Israelis.
The PA acted after one the mortar attacks on July 14 – one claimed by the Fateh-affiliated Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, however, and not Hamas – killed an Israeli woman. Five Hamas members were wounded in the confrontation, and Hamas immediately made clear it would not refrain from responding. Later that night, Hamas members attacked the headquarters of the national security services in Gaza City, and on July 15, a gunfight between PA forces and Hamas members in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, resulted in the killing of two teenage bystanders and injuries to dozens on either side. Hamas rebuffed the PA forces and set fire to an armored personnel car.
To muddy matters further, the Israeli army launched a number of incursions into the West Bank and revived its assassination policy. On July 13, Israeli forces raided the house of a British citizen in Nablus and killed a local Islamic Jihad leader. On July 14, Israel killed seven Hamas men in air strikes and a follow-up raid in Gaza and the West Bank. Another Palestinian was shot and killed by soldiers after a stone throwing incident. In addition, there were air strikes at numerous locations in Gaza, and dozens of people were seized and arrested by the Israeli army across the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on July 16 threatened a full-scale invasion of the Strip and amassed troops on the borders of the Strip. On July 17, Israel assassinated another Hamas leader in southern Gaza and Hamas responded by firing several lobbies of mortars at Israeli targets in and around the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas will not stand handcuffed against this new crime,” Hamas Spokesman Mushir Al Masri warned on July 17 after the assassination.
But the group was also facing serious pressure from the PA to desist. In a speech on July 16, President Mahmoud Abbas said the ceasefire agreement was in the best interest of the Palestinians.
“I call upon all the Palestinian factions and forces to renew and to declare their commitment to what we had agreed upon, to respect the Authority... and to obey the truce,” he said. “We are not going to allow anyone to gamble with our national cause.”
An Egyptian delegation headed by intelligence deputy Mustafa Behairy, meanwhile, arrived in the Strip to mediate between the PA and Hamas. After three days of straight talks, agreement to end hostilities was finally reached on July 19.
“We agreed to withdraw all armed forces from the streets of northern Gaza,” local Hamas leader Mizar Rayyan said.
”The movements have agreed to stop all clashes and violence and end all armed presence and all issues that may lead to tension between the two sides,” senior Fateh leader and cabinet minister Sufian Abu Zaida said at a joint news conference with Rayyan at midnight on July 17.
”Nothing is better than our unity against our enemy (Israel),” said Rayyan.
Despite the agreement, fresh but limited clashes broke out almost immediately on the morning of July 20.
Sharon also faced internal strife. Thousands of opponents of his Gaza withdrawal plan from all over Israel on July 17 started a march meant to bring 100,000 people on the Gaza settlements. Israel last week banned non-residents from entering the Gaza settlements, due to be evacuated next month, and the march was organized to defy the order.
Thousands of Israeli police and soldiers were deployed to prevent the demonstrators from reaching their destination in Gaza, and the Israeli authorities prevented busses from leaving depots and erected checkpoints across southern Gaza. Demonstrators were heard to complain that they were “being treated like Palestinians”.
By July 20, demonstrators, who had been holed up in the southern Israeli village of Kfar Maimon and allowed out in only one direction, away from Gaza, started filing home, but a hardcore remained and vowed to march on Gaza July 20.
Settler leader Bentzi Lieberman told Israel Army Radio on June 20 that the bulk of the demonstrators would leave the area before Friday evening, and that only a “nucleus” of a few hundred demonstrators would remain as a "forward base" of protest activities.
”The struggle is continuing,” Lieberman said. “We are certainly leaving a nucleus for various operational activities which will take place in the future. The remainder of the people will go to build up strength, they will go to their Sabbath meals, and they will wait for our call.”
Sharon has staked much credibility on not backing down and implementing his withdrawal plan, and on June 20 he was bolstered when the Israeli parliament voted down a motion to delay the Gaza withdrawal.
“I was happy with the results. In today's vote, I saw a real expression of democracy. It was proven that the government, the Knesset and the public support the disengagement,” he said after the vote. -Published July 20, 2005©Palestine Report
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