Behind the new Palestinian 'civil war'

[luke]

[web]https://leninology.blogspot.com/2007/05/ ... l-war.html[/web]

[Mandy]

good find.

[til661]

nice one luke

I really like that site, it's got some really incisive articles.

[luke]

"JERUSALEM, May 17 -- Israel this week allowed the Palestinian party Fatah to bring into the Gaza Strip as many as 500 fresh troops trained under a U.S.-coordinated program to counter Hamas, the radical Islamic movement that won Palestinian parliamentary elections last year."
...
"The forces belong to units loyal to the elected Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate Fatah leader whom the Bush administration and Israel have sought to strengthen militarily and politically. A spokeswoman for the European Union Border Assistance Mission at Rafah, where the fighters crossed into Gaza from Egypt, said their entry Tuesday was approved by Israel."
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"The troops' deployment illustrates the increasingly partisan role that Israel and the Bush administration are taking in the volatile Palestinian political situation. The effort to fortify the armed opposition to Hamas, which the United States and Israel categorize as a terrorist organization, follows attempts to isolate the radical Islamic movement internationally and cut off its sources of financial aid."
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"The Bush administration recently approved $40 million to train the Palestinian Presidential Guard, a force of about 4,000 troops under Abbas's direct control,, but both Israel and the United States, each deeply unpopular among Arabs in the region, have been trying to avoid the perception of taking sides in a conflict that this week in Gaza has resembled a nascent civil war."
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"The troops were trained by Egyptian authorities under a program coordinated by Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, a special U.S. envoy to the region who has been working to improve security in Gaza and the West Bank..."
" State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dayton had not yet begun his phase of training Fatah forces because the funding was only recently approved. He said none of the troops who arrived in Gaza this week were trained with U.S. funds.

Although it is under Abbas's authority, the Presidential Guard is run by Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah lawmaker who has worked closely with several U.S. administrations. Abbas named Dahlan his national security adviser after Hamas and Fatah agreed in February to establish a power-sharing government.

The appointment infuriated Hamas leaders, who despise Dahlan for the crackdown he carried out against them as head of the Preventive Security branch following the 1993 Oslo accords. Hamas opposed the agreement, which created the Palestinian Authority."
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"Israeli officials said the forces, whom one Israeli Defense Ministry official called "Dayton's guys," were trained in Egypt and numbered between 400 and 500 men."
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"Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the E.U. Border Assistance Mission deployed at Rafah as part of the turnover agreement, said the men arrived in several buses. "We had been informed they were arriving," Telleria said. "But this was coordinated between Israel and the Palestinian government. All we did was monitor the crossing."

[Salim201]

they constantly interfere with the irrationalities of middle eastern politics, and don't expect any blowback! the americans deserve to know why they are despised by middle easterns, muslims and south americans. 9/11 was actually long over due given the historical record of US intervention in that region.. (obviously not excusing it!)

[Mandy]

mmm.... 9/11 was "at least" assisted by insiders to further the pro-war agenda.

[Salim201]

while it wouldn't be unprecedented, i would lean more to the contingency of aquiescence, rather than an inside job.. "it is clear the US authorities did little or nothing to pre-empt the events of 9/11". really good article by michael meacher that covers the 'pearl harbor' scenario..

[major.tom]

Cynicism aside, this report still shocked me when I heard it on Democracy Now a few days ago. I'm distressed and disheartened by the terrible events in Palestine and the actions of the U.S. (in funding Fetah) and Israel (in assisting Fetah and conducting air strikes against Hamas) are shameful, if not illegal.

I can only pray that the factions give up their thirst for power (such as it is) and focus on the larger issue of the occupation, which can only be defeated through solidarity.

[Mandy]

Remembering "Hamas" is the elected government .. the US, Israel and Europe are complicit in a coup attempt.

George said he is covering on Palestine on tonight's show.

[Mandy]

Article below is interesting : https://www.uruknet.de/?p=m32973&hd=&size=1&l=e

[web]https://www.uruknet.de/?p=m32973&hd=&size=1&l=e[/web]