 Hamas vowed on Saturday to bring the "dangerous" situation on the streets of Gaza under control as the Islamist faction faced its first internal crisis after only three days in government. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh vowed to end the security chaos "using law and order" and by "withdrawing armed civilians from the street to end this dangerous situation," he told journalists in Gaza City.
| Funny, up until they won the election they were against taking the guns away from the hard boyz. Wonder what changed their minds, if any... |
| Because it isn't their flavor of hard boyz? |
The declarations came after clashes between gunmen and supporters of moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday left three people dead and 36 wounded. "There is an escalation against the Palestinian people aimed at breaking them and the government," Haniyeh said. "We ask all the countries in the world to assume their responsibility and face this escalation against our people," he said, adding that his internationally boycotted Cabinet had met late into Friday night to monitor the situation.
| What's the rest of the world have to do with it? If you're a government, it's your responsibility to control your streets... |
"The dominant [gun] culture of the Palestinian street over the past few years needs some time to change to a culture of protecting order, discipline and the law," Haniyeh said.
"How much time?"
"I'm guessin' about 700 years." |
Friday's violence erupted after the commander of the Popular Resistance Committees was killed in a car bombing in central Gaza City that the group blamed on Abbas' security chiefs in collusion with Israel.
| That's the guy Islamic Jihad rocketed Israel in revenge for. |
But Samir Masharawi, a local leader from Abbas' Fateh faction that lost January's elections to Hamas but still largely retains control of the security services, said the onus was on Hamas to act. "When we feel that the government is starting to work for all the Palestinian people and not just for one faction or party then we will cooperate to end the presence of weapons on the street," he told journalists.
 | Somehow, I doubt that's gonna happen. They're all way too fond of hopping out of pickup trucks and waving guns. Impresses the hell out of the girlies, y'know... |
The Palestinian parliament issued an appeal for calm and blamed Israel for the attack, though it did not present any evidence.
| "They dunnit! We know they dunnit!" |
Israel has denied any involvement in the assassination.
"We appeal to the Palestinian people for calm and self-control," Palestinian Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Ahmed Bahar said. "Less than 48 hours after the new Palestinian government began work, the Zionist occupying forces have continued their daily crimes ... and assassinated the commander of the Resistance Committees," Bahar said.
| ... using a car bomb instead of an Apache or a tank. |
Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said his ministry was trying to defuse the crisis in Gaza, while highlighting the difference between renegade gunmen and "the resistance." The ministry "makes a distinction between the arms of the resistance which we know who they're aimed at and the arms of chaos and crime and destabilisation. We have made contact with the concerned parties on the ground to dissipate the crisis... and are continuing our work to defuse the crisis."
| "Y'see, the resistance is noble fellows who belong to our party. The renegade gunmen don't belong to our party." |
Israeli artillery, meanwhile, bombarded a unilaterally declared no-go zone in the northern Gaza Strip after Palestinians fired three rockets at Israel on Friday night, with fighter bombers hitting targets in Gaza City. Four more rockets were fired on Saturday afternoon without causing any casualties, the army said, while the air force dropped propaganda pamphlets in Arabic on the territory. "If the launching of rockets continues the military response will be increasingly tough," the pamphlets warned in the name of the Israeli military.
"You guys are so gonna get it!"
"We wudn't doin' nuthin'!" |
The faction Islamic Jihad said, in a statement sent to AFP, that it had launched three rockets at the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon. A Katyusha rocket was fired from Gaza at southern Israel for the first time on Tuesday. Although it caused no injuries, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said it was "a serious development which demanded a strong and decisive reaction."
| Katyushas — actually Katyusha's descedants — come from outside Paleostine. They're not locally manufactured. |
Israel believes the Katyusha rocket was one of a batch smuggled into the Gaza Strip over its border with Egypt, a defence ministry spokesman said. The Russian-manufactured Katyusha rockets can cause much more damage and have a greater range and accuracy than the makeshift rockets normally fired by fighters based in the Palestinian territory.
| Though not much more accuracy. In combat, they're normally fired in salvos of a dozen or more... |
The US State Department announced on Friday that Washington had suspended all contact with the Hamas-led government until it renounced violence and recognised Israel, but would maintain contact with the Palestinian Authority's representative in Washington. Despite being behind the majority of suicide bombings during the five-year-old Intifada, or uprising, Hamas has not carried out any attacks since it announced a temporary truce early last year.
| They're letting the al-Aqsa Martyrs take care of that chore. |
The diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East — the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — was to meet in Amman on Sunday to discuss international aid for the Palestinian territories. The quartet has also called on Hamas to renounce violence and its call for the destruction of the Israeli state, warning that international aid is at risk. |