Hamas nearly wins control of Gaza
Fighting between Palestinian factions is dividing their turf and dashing statehood hopes.
from the June 14, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Repeating a call for a truce between the two groups, President Abbas indirectly threatened to pull his Fatah Party out of the Hamas-led unity government if fighting did not stop. On Tuesday, Fatah suspended its participation in the government, calling the fighting in Gaza a coup attempt.
"I don't blame any party. I blame those who point their guns at the faces of their brothers," Mr. Abbas told a joint news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah after a meeting with Holland Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen.
Palestinian self-rule
If Hamas consolidates its military control in the Gaza Strip, it would raise questions about the fate of Palestinian self-rule in the coastal strip of about 1.5 million people. The breakdown of central authority in Gaza has already left the Palestinian Authority (PA) with few functioning offices.
The Islamic militants will have to decide what type of rule to establish in Gaza and whether to consolidate the gain or push the fighting into the West Bank, where its militias are much weaker.
"If we see continued Hamas control over Gaza, we will be in a new paradigm," says Ron Pundak, director of the Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv and an architect of the Oslo Peace accords.
Israel, Egypt, the Arab League, and the international community will all need to recalibrate foreign policies to account for two different Palestinian entities, Mr. Pundak says. "In my mind, what we have to ask is how to prevent this from spreading into the West Bank and how to strengthen the counterrevolutionary forces – because this is a revolution."
"I would like to see Israel dealing differently with the Palestinian Authority and Abbas in the West Bank" by freeing up restrictions on Palestinian travel and releasing prisoners, he says.
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