Following election triumph, Fatah sets out to 'liberate' Gaza

[Behind the Aegis]

BETHLEHEM - At the start of the week, a member of Iz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, died in the Palestinian Authority's Juneid Prison, in Nablus. The circumstances of Fadi Hamadneh's death are unclear, with PA officials claiming he committed suicide, and Hamas claiming he was tortured to death by PA security operatives. In response to the charges, the spokesman of the Palestinian security services, Adnan Damiri, said that Hamas, which has executed hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip, has no right to talk about torture or the violation of human rights.

Hamas tried to stir up a major media response to Hamadneh's death but the organization could not steal the thunder from the Fatah convention in Bethlehem. The Islamic organization that rules in Gaza cannot draw encouragement from the developments surrounding the Fatah gathering. It failed in its attempt to keep Fatah delegates in the Strip from voting, and Fatah's status on the Palestinian street is only expected to rise.

The secular-nationalist Fatah movement pulled off a 2,260-delegate convention, including elections that changed its leadership, with only limited hiccups. The newly elected members of the Fatah Central Committee - who include Mohammed Dahlan, Hussein al-Sheikh, Tawfik Tirawi, Saeb Erekat and Nabil Sha'ath - share a firm approach toward Hamas. Perhaps the only one of their number who has repeatedly called for rapprochement with Hamas is Jibril Rajoub, whose brother Naif is a leading member of Hamas detained in Israel.

The gulf between the two organizations is only widening. One candidate for the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Ziad Abu Ayin, did not hesitate to voice threats against Hamas. "We will not negotiate endlessly with Hamas," he told Haaretz on Tuesday. "Hamas has turned 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip into hostages. The Fatah leadership must decide how to free these hostages, whether through negotiations or combat. Yes, combat. But everyone must accept this decision, they cannot be allowed to continue to control the lives of the Gazans. Hamas defeated Fatah in the elections because of the chaos within Fatah. But now, after Fatah has unified its ranks, it's a new Fatah. The old Fatah is gone and Hamas is about to be defeated," Abu Ayin said.



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[Betsy Ross]

1. Thanks for posting.

Shabbat Shalom.

[JonQ]

2. Liberate

yeah, that's the ticket.