Ghosts of Gaza

JABALYA, Gaza Strip, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Officially, Mahmoud Jnaid does not exist. The 25-year-old Palestinian almost made that a reality earlier this month when he doused himself with petrol and tried to set himself alight.

Jnaid is one of about 54,000 displaced Palestinians who returned to Gaza and the West Bank from abroad after an interim peace accord in 1993, but still have no identity cards because Israel refuses to approve them. Following years of silence, they recently started holding weekly protests in Hamas-run Gaza to demand the documents, which they need to travel as well as for daily basics like opening a bank account or getting a driving licence.

"I am Mr Nobody," said Jnaid, who, at one of the protests, doused himself in petrol and tried to set himself alight before onlookers overpowered him.

"When I poured the petrol on my body I felt life was the same as death," he said as he sat next to his wife and children.

Four dead in Fatah-Hamas clashes

AFP- Four Palestinians were killed overnight in the deadlist bout of infighting between Fatah and Hamas loyalists since the Islamist movement captured the Gaza Strip in mid-June, medics said Thursday.

Paramilitaries in Hamas's self-styled police Executive Force armed with anti-tank missiles exchanged fire with members of a powerful Gaza clan, the majority of which supports political rivals Fatah, witnesses said.

Trouble broke out in Gaza City when the Executive Force stopped a Palestinian Authority vehicle carrying former police officer Adel Hellis.

Three Hellis relatives and an Executive Force officer were subsequently killed, said an official at the Hamas-run health ministry, Maawia Hassanin.

Another 30 people were wounded, including one critically, said medical officials, revising up an earlier toll of three dead and 22 wounded.

Witnesses said the Executive Force blew up Adel Hellis' home but that the former police officer, who stopped work after Hamas routed Fatah in a bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip four months ago, was not hurt.

The clashes lasted about eight hours but ended before daybreak under a truce mediated by armed group, the Popular Resistance Committees.

Most of the Hellis clan are loyal to Fatah, the secular political party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Its loyalists were routed by Hamas in the mid-June take over following months of political rivalry and sporadic violence.

Welcoming Eid in Gaza

An isolated Gaza Strip marked its first Eid al-Fitr on Friday since Hamas wrested control in a bloody takeover as the Islamists warned against Palestinian concessions at an upcoming US summit.

Scores of Palestinians were killed earlier this year in clashes between the hardline Islamist movement and their moderate secular Fatah rivals before Hamas seized complete control of the impoverished territory in June.

Addressing a packed football stadium in the heart of Gaza City, the head of the sacked Hamas government urged Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas not to give in to Israeli demands at a US-sponsored meeting expected next month...

My friend Rami was killed

The last time I saw Rami we were at the beach near Gaza City. A group of us were in the water and I was trying to force Rami under water. Rami was a big man, weighing at least twice what I do, needless to say, I did not manage to get him to budge. When he in turn came after me all I could do to protect myself from suffocating under him was flee. Eventually I was able to sneak up on him under water and pull his legs out from under him and then escape again.

There are around 3000 Christians living in Gaza today. Rami was the office director of the Teacher’s bookstore, a Christian bookstore in downtown Gaza City. The store sells Christian books and offers computer and language lessons, which are attended by Palestinians from across the Gaza Strip. When I would visit the place on occasion Rami was always there on his swivel chair cracking jokes. Few people entered that did not already know him. Gaza can be a place of sadness, Rami always reminded me much more of the mentality of Egyptians laughing and joking no matter how depressing life becomes.

On Saturday afternoon Rami closed his shop as he always did at 4:30. He had told his brother that three days earlier he had sensed he was being followed home after work but had not made much of it. Two hours after closing up he called his wife and told her with much uncertainty that he hoped to be home in two hours and not to worry. He was not able to say where he was or why he was there. Rami never came home. Friends and family searched for him until late into the night. At 5:30am on Sunday morning his body was found beaten, a bullet through his head, another through his chest. His wallet, ID and watch were gone.

No one has made any statements, no group has taken responsibility. This is the first time in Gaza’s recent history for a Christian to be kidnapped and killed. Sadly, such incidents do occur in revenge killings usually of political nature but never with religious causes. In Gaza, Muslims and Christians live and die side by side, sharing every element of the Israeli occupation and containment that has been a reality there since most people alive today remember. Rami had no political or factional involvement, nor was his family implicated in any family feuds. Rami’s boss was quoted in the Independent saying "We don't know who was behind the killing or why. Was it for money, or was it because he was selling Bibles?"

The heart of the matter is the fact that Gaza is a place overrun with violence. Readers of this blog have followed the complexities of the makeup of Gaza’s social and political makeup, I will not repeat again what I have so often before. Violence here has deep roots in injustice and occupation, but beyond this every individual, every political grouping, every community makes the choice of projecting their experience outward and returning violence for violence. Gaza is deeply entrenched in violence. In Gaza victims of bloodshed often themselves become shedders of blood. Rami experienced the harshness of occupation, the limitation of curfews, Israeli military incursions, civilian targeted sonic booms, restrictions on travel beyond the 365km2 confines of the Gaza Strip and the strife of civil war.

Rami chose to respond to violence with laughter, love and peace. The strength to live such a life is what I hope for Rami’s killers, it is what I hope for every Palestinian living and born into the living hell of Gaza today.

Hamas spokesman Hamad calls for Palestinian Reconciliation

Increasing division has been part and partial of the Palestinian street ever since parliamentary elections held there January of 2006. This social fragmentation came to a head in the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid June. The division has been played out in increasingly critical media coverage by both Hamas and Fatah of the other parties actions and policies. Hamas member and spokesman of the deposed government Ghazi Hamad Sunday called for efforts to bridge this growing divide.


"The Palestinian arena witnesses an unprecedented state of division domestically, and the beginning of a dangerous phenomenon, which threatens to demolish the social tissue and the political future of the Palestinian people, leading them away from their ambitions for liberty and independence. This was the result of the dominance of the culture of partiality, in light of the absence of cooperation and mutual respect which can guarantee development.

There have developed recently dangerous behaviour and practices in Palestinian society, leading to more division through fuelling the inclination to narrow-mindedness and extremism, in addition to intolerance. The language of agreement has been replaced with one of spitefulness, which widened the gap and increased the tension.

This education of partiality and anarchism, and the use of force and violence to deal with any domestic troubles threaten the emergence of very dangerous repercussions in the Palestinian ability to counter the occupation or to maintain the steadfastness and strength of the Palestinian society.

If this situation continues, occupation will have the opportunity to achieve its goals and fuel more division in Palestinian society. On the other hand, the Palestinians will lose their spirit, and their nationalist dedication will also weaken as antagonism and division will prevail. The image of the Palestinians in the world will also be distorted and they will lose much of the solidarity and support they have achieved over the years of struggle against occupation.

It has become urgent more than ever to devote all the true and faithful Palestinian efforts to fight the state of division in Palestinian society as that is much more important than any political solutions or suggestions."

At Rafah: Hamas- Al-Quaeda trade

According to Palestinian news service Ma'an reported the following incident Sunday.

"A secret deal was struck between Hamas and the Egyptian intelligence to allow 85 people stranded for 4 months on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to enter the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources told Ma'an on Monday.

The majority of those who crossed the border under the deal were Hamas political and military leaders, according to the sources.

Under the deal an Al-Qaeda leader hiding in Gaza, who was accused of being involved in attacks on tourists in the southern Egyptian city of Assiut, was handed over to the Egyptians."

This is a significant incident that communicates in action rather than merely in word the clear distinction that exist between Hamas and Al-Quaeda. The exchange also points to the careful relationship Egypt's governing regime is walking in regards their relationship with Hamas. Although their security representatives left the Gaza Strip in mid-June, dialogue remains ongoing.

A Haaretz Report added these details,

"Egypt's Interior Ministry confirmed that they had agreed with Hamas to transport the people across the border. It gave no explanation.

Israel, which opposed the return of some of the Palestinians, said it was unaware of an Egypt-Hamas agreement. Egypt told Israel that about 28 Palestinians, including senior Hamas figures, broke through the Egypt-Gaza fence, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said.

But the crossing appeared to be organized with Egyptian cooperation, witnesses said. The Palestinians were transported to the Egyptian side of the border in Egyptian buses, allowed across by Hamas security and then met at a Hamas security in included a prominent Hamas lawmaker, Mushir al-Masri, and Hamas loyalists sent for training in Muslim countries before the militant Islamic group's Gaza takeover, witnesses said.

They did not speak to journalists at the scene. During the crossing, Hamas security officials tried to keep the operation a secret, confiscating film from photographers and cameramen alerted to the scene."

JPost: Israel seeks again to rid itself of Gaza

This report from the Jerusalem Post points to two things. First, Israel's continued attempt to wash its hands of the chaos of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, what justifies Israel internationally even to such a statement is the Hamas takeover there in mid-June. Thus, second, as this blog has posited in the past, Israeli dreams have actually been vastly aided by the Hamas takeover of Gaza. Today this becomes even more evident.

"A day after the cabinet defined the Gaza Strip as "hostile territory," The Jerusalem Post learned Thursday that the IDF is working on a proposal that calls for a "complete disengagement" from the Gaza Strip - involving the closure of all border crossings with Israel and the transfer of all responsibility over the Palestinian territory to Egypt.

The proposal, defense officials said, was recently raised by Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky during a series of meetings within the defense establishment.

While Israel removed its military positions and settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005, it has maintained a certain level of responsibility for the Palestinian population there, including coordinating the Gaza-based activities of humanitarian organizations such as UNRWA, the World Bank and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

According to the proposal, which officials stressed was in its early stages, Israel would completely disconnect from Gaza by closing off the Erez, Karni, Sufa and Kerem Shalom crossings and instead directing humanitarian organizations to work with Egypt."

UN: warning to Israel over Gaza

GAZA STRIP - The UN has urged Israel to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip as an "enemy entity", warning that cutting vital services would violate international law.

The Israeli move to cut off the power, water and fuel supplies on which Gaza is almost entirely dependent was backed by the United States on Wednesday.

The Israeli prime minister's office said Ehud Olmert's security cabinet had approved the "enemy entity" classification and there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity".

The move is seen as retaliation for Palestinian rocket fire.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said Wednesday's declaration intended to interrupt essential services could exacerbate the Palestinians' difficult conditions.

"Such a step would be contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law," he said on Wednesday.

Yousef Krauss- A dreary Ramadan descends on Gaza

GAZA CITY (AFP) — On a normal Ramadan evening Kazem's ice cream shop in Gaza City would be packed, with a mob of people pressing towards the counter and cars jamming the street outside.

But on the first weekend of this year's Muslim holy month no more than a dozen people were waiting and the street in front was clear. Weary Gazans had broken the fast, said their final daily prayers and decided to stay indoors.

"Because of all the problems between Fatah and Hamas the people are at home, afraid," said Faris Kafarna, 25, as he walked past Kazem's on his way home.

Fatah Plants Bomb in Gaza

AZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas forces on Sunday said they discovered a bomb next the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City and accused the rival Fatah movement of planting the device.

Islam Shahwan, spokesman for Hamas' paramilitary Executive Force, said the 33-pound bomb was defused after it was discovered at about 5 a.m.

"It's a dangerous escalation," he said. "We believe that some elements in Fatah, based in Ramallah, are behind this and other attacks," he said. No arrests were made.

And this, within the Animal Farm,

Raji Sourani, PCHR Director, told a 7-member British parliamentary delegation visiting the Center’s office in Gaza that Israel’s policy of hermetic closure of Gaza allowing only food in has transformed Gaza’s 365 square kilometer area into an animal farm. He added that this closure transforms 1.6 million people in Gaza into a nation of beggars by only allowing food products to enter. Sourani stated that the US and Europe are parties to the crime against the Gaza Strip and its population by their consent and silence towards this policy.