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Abbas hustled from a previous assassination attempt by Hamas soon after taking office. He has stayed away from Gaza reportedly due to warning of a plot to kill him.
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| By israelinsider staff May 19, 2007 |
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The UK Daily Telegraph reports that Israel is considering giving military support to the Palestinian Fatah faction in its power struggle with the Hamas Islamic faction.
Even though Fatah, the movement long led by Yasser Arafat and current leader Mahmoud Abbas, has a long record of attacks against Israel and remains on record as calling for the extinction of Israel, the Jewish state is, the Telegraph reports, "coming round to embracing the movement as a more pragmatic bulwark against Hamas, which they believe receives military aid from Iran."
"We believe that time is working against the moderates," said a member of the Israeli cabinet yesterday. "Time is of the essence when it comes to the influence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip -- to sit and do nothing, not even while we're being attacked but afterward, is something we cannot afford."
The week's third attempt at a ceasefire, declared on Wednesday with Egyptian help, appears to have calmed the cauldron of street fighting, but sporadic gun battles were reported outside a government building and at the Islamic University in Gaza yesterday.
Israeli continued its air strikes over the weekend, with Palestinian authorities reporting 17 dead in 10 separate strikes since Wednesday morning. Nearly all have been targeting Hamas -- cars carrying terrorists enroute to or fleeing rocket attacks -- and military compounds. Some civilians have been killed in the strikes. Israeli tanks and artillery have been moved into position outside and in some locations just within the northern border of Gaza.
Israel's military action was in response to rocket attacks against Sderot and other Israeli towns and villages around Gaza. Nearly 110 rockets have been launched at Israel in the last five days, injuring eight, one seriously.
Israel sees the outnumbered Hamas forces as inflicting heavy casualties on the larger and more well-funded forces of Abbas. "The bottom line of the confrontations is, you can see most of the casualties are from Fatah," an Israel military source told the Telegraph.
Assistance to Fatah-loyal security services in Gaza is not new, and military trainers from the US, EU and UN have worked closely with Fatah soldiers guarding crossing points and also Abbas himself. 500 policemen who had been training in Egypt were permitted to return through the Rafah crossing point nto Gaza, with Israeli approval.
But there are fears that Israeli interference to bolster Fatah may backfire. "Practically, what they do strengthens Hamas, because they are attacking Hamas and they are the occupying force," said the Palestinian information minister, Mustafa Barghouti. "This makes Hamas more popular on the Palestinian street," he said. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, postponed plans to travel to Gaza for a second day, reportedly due to Israeli intelligence warnings of a possible assassination plot. |
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