Israel launches attack on Gaza, Fatah runs wild in West Bank

On June 20, Israel launched its first major attacks in Gaza since Hamas took over the territory last week. Israeli troops killed four Palestinian fighters and aircraft struck launch sites in northern Gaza after militants fired at least one makeshift rocket at the town of Sderot. Israeli officials said two Hamas fighters and two other militants were killed in a clash near the Kissufim border crossing in Gaza after Israeli tanks and troops had pushed into the coastal enclave in a search for wanted Palestinian gunmen. The latest violence came amid fresh moves to prop up Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas following the rupture between his group Fatah and Hamas. The West and Israel have rushed to recognize the emergency government set up by Abbas after he quickly dissolved the Hamas-led coalition. Fatah has so far rejected a fresh agreement with its rival and appears to be preparing for new elections. Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said the movement wants to hold talks with Fatah to heal the widening divisions between the Palestinian territories. He said that Hamas believes negotiations with Fatah are the only way out. However, Zuhri dismissed Abbas's emergency government established in the West Bank as illegitimate and suggested Hamas would not be willing to take part in fresh elections. Zuhri said: "There is no law allowing the president to call early elections. There was an election a short time ago. Hamas won. He has to respect that." Though Hamas won majority power over the Palestinian territories in elections that were widely recognized as free and democratic, the US and Israel have refused to deal with the radical Islamic movement. Since Hamas's victory, the US and Israel have made serious moves to divide Palestinians by freezing crucial economic aid and bolstering the comparatively weak Fatah movement with weapons and training. In the wake of Hamas's takeover of Gaza, the US and Israel have seized on the opportunity to further this division to isolate Hamas. For much of the last week, Fatah gunmen in black masks have ruled the streets in Nablus, abducting rivals, looting or burning their property, and intimidating elected officials inside the Hamas-run City Hall. Demoralized by Hamas' military defeat of their comrades in the Gaza Strip, the gunmen are sowing retribution across the West Bank. "We have seen chaos here before, but this is different. The police have lost control," said Hafez Shaheen, a Hamas municipal legislator who has abandoned his City Hall office in Nablus, the largest West Bank city and epicenter of the violence. "People are afraid for their lives." US and Israeli officials, stung by the Islamic movement's takeover in Gaza, have begun to treat the two Palestinian territories as separate entities. They are squeezing Gaza, and have pledged to spend money and diplomatic effort on the West Bank, in hope of turning it into a model new Palestine that can make peace with Israel. Most of the attacks have been carried out by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a decentralized Fatah militia that is nominally loyal to Abbas but acts beyond his control. Like Hamas, it is branded by Israel and the US State Department as a terrorist organization. The victims of the rampage apparently are unarmed Hamas sympathizers or members of the radical Islamic group, which enjoys wide popular support in the largely secular West Bank as an alternative to the corrupt rule of the secular Fatah. Hamas won the mayoral race in Nablus and at least a share of municipal power in five other West Bank cities in elections in 2004 and 2005. In January 2006 voters ended Fatah's control of the legislature for the West Bank and Gaza. The West cut off aid because Hamas does not recognize Israel or previous accords, and has not renounced violence. The boycott cost the movement some of its popularity, but it still has deep roots in civil society and remains in charge of Nablus' municipal affairs. "Hamas has a power base and popular backing here," said Taysir Nasrallah, a member of Fatah's leadership council from Nablus. "You can't erase that with a decree." Nablus already is a battleground for three contending forces. The Israeli army raids the city of 180,000 people almost nightly in search of Fatah and Hamas militants. In the last week, masked gunmen have arrested or kidnapped 120 Hamas activists across the West Bank. In Nablus, Fatah gunmen have burned or looted 12 businesses and dozens of offices of Hamas politicians and civic organizations, officials said. Meanwhile, Egypt has moved forcefully to isolate Hamas, calling a regional summit next week including the Israelis and Palestinians–and shunning contacts with the militant group after its takeover of Gaza. More than seeking peace with Israel, Egypt and other US Arab allies are seeking to prevent the new power of Islamic radicals in Gaza from strengthening fundamentalists on their own soil. Egypt in particular has much to lose. A strong Hamas ruling Gaza, on Egypt's border, could encourage the Muslim Brotherhood, the most powerful and popular political challenger to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government. It could also foment Islamic militants that Egypt has battled for decades to put down.