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They are not random crazies. Not at all.

Thanks to Tom Gross of NRO and Tom Carew for pointing me to this:

Hamas was not using a random hit list. Every Hamas patrol carried with it a laptop containing a list of Fatah operatives in Gaza, and an identity number and a star appeared next to each name. A red star meant the operative was to be executed and a blue one meant he was to be shot in the legs – a special, cruel tactic developed by Hamas, in which the shot is fired from the back of the knee so that the kneecap is shattered when the bullet exits the other side. A black star signaled arrest, and no star meant that the Fatah member was to be beaten and released. Hamas patrols took the list with them to hospitals, where they searched for wounded Fatah officials, some of whom they beat up and some of whom they abducted.

Aside from assassinating Fatah officials, Hamas also killed innocent Palestinians, with the intention of deterring the large clans from confronting the organization. Thus it was that 10 days ago, after an hours-long gun battle that ended with Hamas overpowering the Bakr clan from the Shati refugee camp – known as a large, well-armed and dangerous family that supports Fatah – the Hamas military wing removed all the family members from their compound and lined them up against a wall. Militants selected a 14-year-old girl, two women aged 19 and 75, and two elderly men, and shot them to death in cold blood to send a message to all the armed clans of Gaza. — Ha’aretz

Carew remarks that Hamas did not actually ‘develop’ the kneecapping technique; that honor belongs to the Provisional IRA, who incidentally also pioneered the car bomb which has been employed so often by Hezbollah.

Read the Ha’aretz quote again and tell me about how we need to ‘engage’ with Hamas (as my local newspaper did last week).

Technorati Tags: Hamas

Israel can probably prevent another Hamas coup, this time in the West Bank, because the IDF has much more freedom to operate there as well as good intelligence. Hamas is also weaker than in Gaza. But that assuredly does not mean that there is no danger from Hamas cells in the West Bank:

Hamas is planning to carry out suicide bombings in order to undermine the efforts by Israel and the West to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet yesterday. Diskin also warned that the impression that Fatah is powerful in the West Bank is only an illusion…

The Shin Bet head also warned that Fatah is a divided organization, and without a strong party it will be impossible for Abbas’ forces to prevent terrorism in the West Bank.

Military Intelligence chief Major General Amos Yadlin told the cabinet yesterday that during its takeover of the Gaza Strip, Hamas took control of Fatah arsenals and arms stockpiles there.

He also pointed out to the recent arrests of Hamas members by Fatah in the West Bank and described them as “not serious.” — Ha’aretz

It’s incumbent on Israel to be very, very cautious with regard to US proposals to arm Fatah against Hamas. Fatah has numerous armed militias under its umbrella, and arms given to one can easily end up in the hands of another — even apart from the risk of Hamas getting them.

For example, Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades have carried out many terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, sometimes in cooperation with other groups such as the Islamic Jihad, etc. The al-Aqsa Brigades were responsible for 126 Israeli deaths between 2001-2006! The suicide bombing that killed 3 in Eilat this year was a joint al-Aqsa/Islamic Jihad operation. And Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas is unable or unwilling to stop them.

From time to time it’s discovered, to everyone’s great shock, that members of the Palestinian Authority ‘security’ forces are also members of the al-Aqsa Brigades. So they don’t even need to bother to sell the weapons that the US provides!

Unfortunately, it looks like the US is ramping up pressure on this issue:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not ruling out the possibility of transferring military equipment, including armored vehicles and bulletproof vests, to the Palestinians, he said during a security consultation on Sunday.

“Decisions on this matter will be made according to the recommendations of Major-General Keith Dayton, who has been entrusted to build the Palestinian forces. Any recommendation by Dayton will be considered by the defense establishment. Only then will we decide,” Olmert said. — YNet

It seems to me that it’s the height of folly to give guns to your proven enemies — or to allow your allies to do so.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Fatah, Hamas, West Bank, al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Keith Dayton, terrorism

Hamas has released an audio tape on which kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit says that he is need of medical attention, and criticizes the Israeli government for its “lack of interest” in getting him released. There is no doubt that it is Shalit’s voice, and observers are almost certain that he is reading a statement that has been prepared for him by his captors.

Shalit has been in captivity for exactly one year today. By kidnapping him and holding him as a bargaining chip, Hamas is in violation of international law and its leaders are guilty of war crimes. This has been recognized by the B’Tselem human rights organization, which is noted for its severe criticism of Israel’s actions in the occupied territories:

International humanitarian law absolutely prohibits taking and holding a person by force in order to compel the enemy to meet certain demands, while threatening to harm or kill the person if the demands are not met. Furthermore, hostage-taking is considered a war crime and all those involved bear individual criminal liability.

Hamas, which de-facto controls the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip, bears the responsibility to act to release Shalit immediately and unconditionally. Until he is released, those holding him must grant him humane treatment and allow representatives of the ICRC to visit him.

This applies to kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston as well. Johnston, who has been in captivity since March 12 of this year, is apparently in the hands of an Islamic fundamentalist group, although he may have originally been kidnapped by a powerful armed Gaza clan for ransom. However, it is clearly Hamas’ responsibility to get him released.

In a horrifying development, Johnston has been shown in a video wearing an explosive belt, which his captors threaten to detonate if an attempt is made to rescue him by force. The warning is in part addressed to Hamas, perhaps as a way to deflect responsibility for his continued captivity.

I must also mention the continued captivity of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, kidnapped by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006, in the event that triggered last summer’s war. Unfortunately, unlike Shalit and Johnston, there has been no sign of life from them.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Shalit, Johnston, Hezbollah, Goldwasser, Regev

Recently I wrote an article called The One Voice Movement’s misleading numbers, in which I argued that the organization’s ‘process’ was in essence an attempt to promote a specific political point of view. Daniel Lubetzky, the movement’s founder unsurprisingly disagrees, and I am presenting his response here, exactly as I have received it — ed.

By Daniel Lubetzky

The process being described is part of a highly lauded citizen movement and process endorsed and supported by everyone from Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Palestinian President Abbas, moderates who recognize the need to engage Palestinian and Israeli citizens at the grassroots to think through these issues and work to achieve consensus on the key pillars for how to resolve this conflict.

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