The number of Palestinians killed in fierce fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip over the weekend rose to 25 on Saturday night, with dozens more wounded in the clashes…
A public opinion poll published Saturday showed that more than half of Palestinians believe that a civil war has begun. — Jerusalem Post
It’s not clear if either Fatah or Hamas has an actual plan, or if the fighting is primarily fueled by by each side getting revenge for previous killings. it’s hard to see how the cause of Palestinian ‘moderation’, which the US and Israel are supposedly supporting can be helped by continued fighting, which will lead to the ascendancy of the more violent elements on both sides.
MEMRI has translated an interesting article by Dr. Mamoun Fandy who argues that the conflict between Fatah and Hamas is “a struggle over who will capture Palestine as a symbol – the Muslim Brotherhood, as represented by Hamas, or the nationalists, as represented by Fatah…[before] the incitement was nationalist [in character], while today – after the Muslim Brotherhood has conquered a significant part of the symbolic Palestine – the incitement has become Islamist”.
We see a similar struggle between nationalistic and Islamic forces throughout the Muslim world: in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Syria, etc.
From the point of view of Israel and the West the Islamists are a much more dangerous enemy — not prepared to compromise, willing to use suicide as a tactic, and possessed with a powerful ideology for recruitment.
Technorati Tags: Hamas, Fatah, Nationalism, Islamism
