Decision ‘08

The Palestinian Civil War

It’s getting drowned out by events in Iraq, of course, but there is a deadly struggle going on in the Palestinian territory right now between the radical Hamas and the relatively moderate Fatah:

Gunmen from the rival Hamas and Fatah movements battled in Gaza City for a third straight day on Sunday, firing mortars and grenades in clashes that killed seven people in the increasingly bloody power struggle over the Palestinian government.

The deaths, on Saturday, brought to 25 the number of Palestinians killed since Thursday, with at least 68 people wounded and efforts to forge a coalition government at a standstill.

The latest fighting, which began late Thursday after a Hamas figure was killed in a bombing, has been among the deadliest in nearly two months of clashes.

The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, and a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, both appealed for calm. But after a brief lull, fighting flared again.

In a clear jab at the moderate Abbas, Haniyeh criticized “troublemakers who are trying to veer away from the path of our people” by receiving “dirty American funding and arms.” The White House is seeking $85 million from Congress to help bolster Abbas’s forces.

There are those who say we should stay out of internal power struggles, but the above quote puts the lie to that: we do have a horse in this race, and it’s Abbas. There may never be peace between the Israelis and Palestinians in any event, but it’s a certainty peace will not come with Hamas in power…