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| Israel-Palestine |
| Abbas fires Palestinian commanders |
| 2005-02-10 |
| Palestinians from the radical group Hamas fired dozens of mortar shells and rockets at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, less than two days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared a cease-fire against Israelis everywhere. Abbas, known popularly as Abu Mazen, moved swiftly to assert his authority late Thursday, firing 10 Palestinian security officials in Gaza, including three of the highest ranking officers in the strip: Abdul Razzeq Majaidah, the director of the Palestinian National Forces; Saib Ajez, the chief of the Palestinian police; and Maj. Gen. Omar, the top military coordination officer in Gaza. "And tomorrow, Abu Mazen is going to Gaza in order to begin taking steps on the ground. Rule of law and cessation of violence -- this is the key," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said. No one was injured and damage was minor in the early morning mortar barrages directed at several Jewish settlements in the area of Gush Katif in the southern Gaza Strip, according to an Israeli military spokeswoman. Twenty-two mortar shells and one homemade Qassam rocket landed in and around the settlements during the attacks, which were followed by an attack on Morag settlement later in the day, she said. Israeli army troops "returned fire toward the sources of the launches but did not identify a hit," the spokeswoman said. A statement by Hamas said 35 shells and 18 Qassam rockets were fired in the attacks, which the group said were in retaliation for the deaths of two Palestinians in Gaza: Fathi Abu Jazar, 22, who died early Thursday after reportedly being shot Wednesday by Israeli fire in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, and Hassan Alami, who died Wednesday, apparently when an explosive device he was working with blew up. The Israeli army spokeswoman said that Israeli troops fired "warning shots" Wednesday when they saw four "suspicious" men about 50 yards outside the security fence surrounding the Gush Katif settlement block, and that the men were seen running away. She said she did not know if the incident was connected to the death of Abu Jazar. In an unrelated incident in the center of Gaza City, gunmen reputedly aligned with a senior official in Abbas' Fatah political movement broke into Gaza's main prison and killed two men in retaliation for slaying the official's brother a month ago, Palestinian security sources said. The incidents highlighted the difficulties that Abbas faces in bringing law and order to the Gaza Strip, not only by restraining Palestinian militant groups and enforcing the cease-fire against Israelis, but also by taming elements of his own political party. Although Abbas declared a cease-fire against Israel at a summit meeting Tuesday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, powerful Palestinian groups -- most notably Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which is officially known as the Islamic Resistance Movement -- have not agreed to stop attacking Israeli targets. It is not clear whether Abbas and Palestinian Authority security forces have the power to impose a cease-fire on the groups, or whether Abbas will even try. Fearing intra-Palestinian clashes, he has said that he wants to negotiate a cease-fire among the various factions. "We have said that he does not have time, that he has to move beyond a cease-fire and the deployment of Palestinian security forces and take real steps" to disarm the groups and disband them, said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In the meantime, Gissin said, Israel would restrain its own response. "We are not taking any steps, we are waiting for them to initiate efforts, but we made it very clear that they need to take action immediately because time is running out on them, not on us," he said. "This is a very fragile situation, and he has to act." Gissin said that Israel expressed its concern about the situation Thursday to senior officials of the United States and Egypt, which have been encouraging a warming trend in Israeli-Palestinian relations. He accused Iran and the radical Lebanese group Hezbollah of trying to destabilize Abbas's government and scuttle the new leader's attempts to end the Palestinians' four-year-old uprising against Israel, in which more than 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians have been killed. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 but is it gonna be similar to when they "take prisoners" and release them soon after? Will these guys be rehired? |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-02-10 4:17:56 PM |
| #1 And tomorrow, Abu Mazen is going to Gaza in order to begin taking steps on the ground. Rule of law and cessation of violence -- this is the key he can definitely talk the talk. This LOOKS like walking the walk, but I will wait for Israeli reaction as to whether he really fired the right people, and what the successors do. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-02-10 4:02:55 PM |