Gaza: the era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas' militia, told Hamas radio. "The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived."

And that doesn't look good. Justice and islamic rule means throwing people from 15 stock buildings, killing injured patients in a hospital, executing people while their wifes and children are looking on.  

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, heralded what he called Gaza's second liberation, after Israel's 2005 evacuation of the coastal strip.

I wonder if most Palestinians share this view. What is left of the hope after the Israeli settlers and the army left Gaza?           Don't tell me the Israelis wanted this. They wanted quiet, and, okay, also a good press. They didn't want qassams and they didn't want Hamastan. You don't always get what you want. If neither most Palestinians nor the Israelis wanted this, then who did??? Maybe we should look at Iran, one of the biggest weapons and money suppliers of Hamas, and staunchly opposed to a two-state solution.

_____________________________________

Last update - 15:20 14/06/2007  

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870763.html
Hamas takes control of security HQ in Gaza City

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies


Hamas fighters overran the key Preventative Security headquarters in Gaza City on Thursday, as part of what appeared to be a systematic offensive aimed at seizing control of the security mechanism across the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist group later called on Fatah fighters to surrender another key security installation in Gaza City within the hour. The call to give up the National Security compound was broadcast on Hamas radio.

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas' militia, told Hamas radio. "The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived."

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, heralded what he called Gaza's second liberation, after Israel's 2005 evacuation of the coastal strip.

Hamas gunmen broke through Fatah defenses at the compound in Gaza City on Thursday morning. They fired rocket-propelled grenades at the compound, provoking return fire from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard.

The rival factions have been engaged in bloody battles since Sunday, resulting in the deaths of at least 70 people. By noon Thursday, at least eight people had been killed. Al-Jazeera TV reported early Thursday afternoon that the death toll had climbed to at least 16.

Fatah officials said seven of their fighters were shot dead in the street outside Preventive Security building. A witness, Jihad Abu Ayad, said the men were being killed before their wives and children.

"They are executing them one by one," Abu Ayad said. "They are carrying one of them on their shoulders, putting him on a sand dune, turning him around and shooting."

Some of the Hamas fighters kneeled down outside the building, touching their foreheads to the ground in prayer. Others led Fatah fighters out of the building, some of them shirtless or in their underwear, holding their arms in the air. Several of the Fatah men flinched as the crack of gunfire split the air.

Abbas gives Fatah order to fight back
An aide to Abbas said earlier Thursday that the Fatah leader had issued the first orders to his elite guard to strike back against Hamas fighters.

Fatah forces had previously lashed out at Abbas, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight. Abbas' strongman in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, had been in Cairo for medical treatment. He returned to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday afternoon.

Numerically superior Fatah forces have been crumbling fast under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Hamas fighters.

"There will be no dialogue with Fatah, only the sword and the rifle," Nezar Rayyan, a senior Hamas official, told Hamas radio Thursday. "God willing, we will lead the Friday prayer in the president's office, and transform the [Gaza City] security complex into a big mosque."

Before dawn Thursday, Fatah fighters abandoned positions in central Gaza, then blew them up rather than turn them over as Hamas forces advanced.

Gaza hospitals were operating without water, electricity or blood units. Even holed up inside their homes, Gazans weren't able to escape fighting that turned so many apartment buildings into battlefields.

Angered by the rout of their comrades in the Gaza fighting, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank allied to Abbas have arrested large numbers of men from Hamas.

Abbas met Thursday with the decision-making bodies of the organization and the PLO, and was to make an important announcement later, aides said.

One aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because no decision had been made, said Abbas was considering dissolving the governing coalition with Hamas.

Earlier in the week, Fatah ministers suspended their activities in the government due to the Gaza violence, but stopped short of dismantling the partnership.

The unity government was formed in March in a bid to stem a previous round of violence, and in the hopes of easing the international boycott imposed in the wake of the Hamas election victory in January 2006. Neither aim was achieved.

The fighting continued despite an agreement Wednesday night by Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas of the need to bring an end to the fighting between their respective parties.