Violence takes Gaza to the brink
A series of deadly attacks this week could derail the fragile truce agreement between rival Palestinian factions and threatens to draw Israeli forces back in.
from the May 17, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Israel mulls sending in troops
With Sderot residents in bomb shelters and demanding to be evacuated, the pressure has been ratcheted up on the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order a broad offensive in Gaza – a move that many in Israel see as inevitable.
"Israel won't tolerate attacks on its citizens," said Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz in a statement. "Israel will not be a party to an internal Palestinian power struggle. We will respond visibly."
Hamas's cross-border rocket salvos were interpreted in Israel as a ploy to tempt the army to order troops into Gaza, which would focus the warring Palestinian militias' attention on a common enemy.
Gazan schools and businesses were closed as residents stayed indoors to keep out of the crossfire and avoid random roadblocks. And after a series of Egyptian-mediated truces between Hamas and Fatah were announced and immediately broken, many locals expect a new escalation of the fighting.
"Palestinian people feel that the acts of Gaza are a form of betrayal, to the noble cause, and are only bringing shame and dishonor upon all the people," read an editorial from the Jerusalem-based Al Quds newspaper.
The piece compared the Gaza calamity to Palestinian displacement during Israel's 1948 War of Independence. "With their acts, [the militants] are actually renewing the disasters of 1948, leaving all Palestinians inside the homeland and outside crying and demoralized."
Whether turmoil or calm reigns in the streets of Gaza is now in the hands of Hamas's military wing as well as independent militias, say analysts. Palestinian Authority officials like Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, have little ability to control the gunmen, they say.
Gaza has been weakened by an international economic boycott of the Hamas government, while Israel has further crippled the territory by limiting passage of civilians and commercial goods at Gaza's crossings.
Azzam al-Ahmad, a Fatah leader and deputy prime minister, said he expects Abbas to declare a state of emergency to end the violence.
"We need this state of emergency," al-Ahmad told reporters in Ramallah. He also called for dismantling Hamas's Executive Force, accusing it of supporting the military wing of Hamas in its raids against pro-Abbas forces.
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