Hamas gunmen seize Palestinian president's office

[mawilson 2,133]

More like one state, a state of chaos and confusion where only Lebanon loses.

What does Lebanon have to do with Gaza?

[isleta521 5]

oops,

my bad!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Black ski masks in the sun? That can't be good.

That might fry the brain. Which would explain a lot...

[mawilson 2,133]

Pathetic.

Hamas' rule over Gaza begins with pillaging

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An uncertain new era of fractured Palestinian rule began Friday

as Hamas forces celebrated their decisive military victory over vanquished Fatah rivals

with a mix of pillaging and mercy.

Curious Hamas militants took turns playing with a fixed, but empty, anti-aircraft position

outside the ransacked Gaza City office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,

Fatah's leading figure. Nearby, armed militants fought over who should cart away one of

the last television sets from the president's office.

...

The pledges of mercy and law and order came as Hamas followers looted and burned key

Fatah homes and buildings.

Hundreds of Palestinians stood on the beach as swirls of black smoke rose from a row of

ocean-view villas owned by prominent Fatah figures.

Hamas militants stood guard over abandoned Fatah armored personnel carriers and dashed

away with coveted ammunition and weapons.

Masked Hamas militants picked through the ravaged presidential compound, and residents

loaded cars, flatbed trucks and donkey carts with office chairs, televisions, batteries and

anything else they could scavenge.

Shattered and torn pictures of Abbas lay on the ground as photographs of revered Palestinian

leader Yasser Arafat were propped up on chairs.

Shattered porcelain plates littered the dining room, and half-filled cups of coffee sat on

abandoned desks.

Across town, scores of young men flooded into the abandoned home of Mohammed Dahlan,

the reviled Fatah leader blamed for fanning the flames of discontent between the rival parties.

In a scene reminiscent of the Palestinian scavenging of Jewish settlements after Israel pulled out

of the Gaza Strip in late 2005, men and boys stripped Dahlan's home to its frame. Boys tossed

clay tiles from the roof and set the wood ceiling ablaze. Groups of men tore electrical coils from

the walls as others dug up 25-foot-tall palm trees.

...

Source

[GaryC 7]

And these people think they are ready to govern themselves?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I wonder why they wear masks too. I don't think it's a muslim thing at all.

My "fanatical muslims..." was speculation on the reason (and I admitted, it was rather stretched); more likely, as Gupt suggests, they know they're going to be targetted (by Israel)--though this can backfire if you have ultra-nationalists ordering the targetting (it would be like a VHP leader ordering the shelling of Pak-side Kashmir villages--worries about "collateral damage" will only be those of retaliation by survivors)

So....Iran is backing Hamas by sending them weapons via Egypt (so I read a little while back)............does this mean Iran will essentially come into play here by taking control or is that not even a possibility? The politics over there are so confusing.

I'm not sure Iran would want to take control, as Hamas is vast-majority Sunni (does it even have Shia or Sufi members?) while Iran is vast-majority (95%) Shia; however, it doesn't mean it won't stoke the trouble.

It is analogous to insurgency in Sindh: India stokes it, but isn't going to actually take control--since the Sindhi insurgents are largely post-Partition Muslim Sindhis with no love for India.

[mawilson 2,133]

And these people think they are ready to govern themselves?

I don't really care what they think -- what's scary is that most of the rest of the world

(excluding the U.S.) believes that these barbarians deserve a state.

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

And these people think they are ready to govern themselves?

I don't really care what they think -- what's scary is that most of the rest of the world

(excluding the U.S.) believes that these barbarians deserve a state.

they can't even organize a trip to the bathroom. they'll be starving soon.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Pathetic.

Hamas' rule over Gaza begins with pillaging

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An uncertain new era of fractured Palestinian rule began Friday

as Hamas forces celebrated their decisive military victory over vanquished Fatah rivals

with a mix of pillaging and mercy.

Curious Hamas militants took turns playing with a fixed, but empty, anti-aircraft position

outside the ransacked Gaza City office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,

Fatah's leading figure. Nearby, armed militants fought over who should cart away one of

the last television sets from the president's office.

...

The pledges of mercy and law and order came as Hamas followers looted and burned key

Fatah homes and buildings.

Hundreds of Palestinians stood on the beach as swirls of black smoke rose from a row of

ocean-view villas owned by prominent Fatah figures.

Hamas militants stood guard over abandoned Fatah armored personnel carriers and dashed

away with coveted ammunition and weapons.

Masked Hamas militants picked through the ravaged presidential compound, and residents

loaded cars, flatbed trucks and donkey carts with office chairs, televisions, batteries and

anything else they could scavenge.

Shattered and torn pictures of Abbas lay on the ground as photographs of revered Palestinian

leader Yasser Arafat were propped up on chairs.

Shattered porcelain plates littered the dining room, and half-filled cups of coffee sat on

abandoned desks.

Across town, scores of young men flooded into the abandoned home of Mohammed Dahlan,

the reviled Fatah leader blamed for fanning the flames of discontent between the rival parties.

In a scene reminiscent of the Palestinian scavenging of Jewish settlements after Israel pulled out

of the Gaza Strip in late 2005, men and boys stripped Dahlan's home to its frame. Boys tossed

clay tiles from the roof and set the wood ceiling ablaze. Groups of men tore electrical coils from

the walls as others dug up 25-foot-tall palm trees.

...

Source

Reminiscent of Taliban's rule over Afghanistan when cassettes (even of Islamic chants) were siezed and then "flagpoled" (basically, they would make a banner from the magnetic strips of siezed cassettes and fly it publicly)--or a slightly earlier rule by Gulbudin Hekmatyar (who bombarded Kabul while he was PM of Afghanistan).

Of course, that's about as high as religious-fanatical goondas can reach!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Hamas bans masks for Gaza gunmen

In their first order since seizing control of the Gaza Strip, Hamas Islamists banned gunmen from wearing masks - unless they are shooting at Israel.

The masks have become commonplace in the Gaza Strip during weeks of factional fighting between the ruling Hamas movement and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

Both sides wore the masks to hide their identities.

“A decision was taken last night to prevent (people from wearing) masks,” Khaled Abu Hilal, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, said.

Hamas made one exception, for militants carrying out cross-border attacks on Israel.

“Wearing masks should only be near the borders and in fighting the Zionist enemy, not in the streets and near people's homes,” Abu Hilal said.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...5005961,00.html

[mawilson 2,133]

In their first order since seizing control of the Gaza Strip, Hamas Islamists banned gunmen from wearing masks - unless they are shooting at Israel.

Awww. These guys are so sweet.

And soon they'll be so dead, as soon as they "start shooting at Israel."

[GaryC 7]

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

And these people think they are ready to govern themselves?

I don't really care what they think -- what's scary is that most of the rest of the world

(excluding the U.S.) believes that these barbarians deserve a state.

they can't even organize a trip to the bathroom. they'll be starving soon.

here's why they'll starve

[mawilson 2,133]

here's why they'll starve

Nice pictures, Rich.

I remember just days before the Gaza evacuation, a greenhouse deal was signed, selling the green

houses for about $14 million to an international fund foundation which in turn was going to transfer

the structures to the Palestinians. The foundation was mostly privately funded, including a personal

$500,000 donation by James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank president.

So this is what happened to them. Niiiice.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

here's why they'll starve

Nice pictures, Rich.

I remember just days before the Gaza evacuation, a greenhouse deal was signed, selling the green

houses for about $14 million to an international fund foundation which in turn was going to transfer

the structures to the Palestinians. The foundation was mostly privately funded, including a personal

$500,000 donation by James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank president.

So this is what happened to them. Niiiice.

That'll by a lot of shovels