Analysis by Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, Aug 22 (IPS) - Recent weeks have seen the worst fighting between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas since the latter's takeover of the Gaza Strip last summer. Hamas accuses the "treasonous faction" within Fatah -- which worked with U.S. military intelligence in last year's failed bid to destroy the resistance group -- of instigating the violence.
"Hamas's accusations are understandable," Abdelaziz Shadi, political science professor and coordinator of the Israeli studies programme at Cairo University told IPS. "Instability in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip would be in Fatah's interests.".....
"The situation has become so grave that partisans of Fatah actually fled to Israel for protection," said Shadi.
Following an appeal by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli authorities eventually took in the Fatah men -- but not before making them undress before television cameras.
"Israel publicly humiliated its own agents," Magdi Hussein, political analyst and secretary-general of Egypt's frozen Labour Party, told IPS. He described the episode as "more proof that cooperation with Israel can only lead to degradation and loss."......
While not mentioning Fatah by name, Hussein went on to blame the Gaza bombing on "Palestinian agents of Israel." Agents, he said, "whose close association with Israel was proven by the fact that they ultimately fled there for refuge."
"Israel's inability to remove Hamas from Gaza -- either by force of arms or by cutting it off from the rest of the world -- has prompted it to adopt indirect means of weakening Hamas," added Hussein. "Now it's using its agents inside Gaza to incite violence domestically."
Shadi, too, conceded that the Gaza bombing "might have been the beginning of an attempt to overthrow Hamas rule" in the Gaza Strip, noting the territory had also seen a handful of other, smaller blasts throughout July. "There are elements that would like to portray Hamas as incapable of maintaining security," he said.
It would not be the first attempt by elements of Fatah to strike out at Hamas in Gaza. In the summer of last year, Washington -- frustrated by Hamas's victory in 2006 legislative elections -- provided Fatah cadres with the arms and support to extirpate the Hamas leadership in Gaza. The plan was to be jointly coordinated by U.S. Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton and long-time Fatah strongman Mohamed Dahlan.
The so-called "Dayton Plan" was pre-empted, however, when Hamas -- after six days of heavy fighting in mid-June -- seized control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, Gaza's Hamas-run government has maintained relatively high levels of stability throughout the territory despite an internationally sanctioned embargo that has brought the strip's economy to the brink of ruin......."
"CAIRO, Aug 22 (IPS) - Recent weeks have seen the worst fighting between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas since the latter's takeover of the Gaza Strip last summer. Hamas accuses the "treasonous faction" within Fatah -- which worked with U.S. military intelligence in last year's failed bid to destroy the resistance group -- of instigating the violence.
"Hamas's accusations are understandable," Abdelaziz Shadi, political science professor and coordinator of the Israeli studies programme at Cairo University told IPS. "Instability in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip would be in Fatah's interests.".....
"The situation has become so grave that partisans of Fatah actually fled to Israel for protection," said Shadi.
Following an appeal by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli authorities eventually took in the Fatah men -- but not before making them undress before television cameras.
"Israel publicly humiliated its own agents," Magdi Hussein, political analyst and secretary-general of Egypt's frozen Labour Party, told IPS. He described the episode as "more proof that cooperation with Israel can only lead to degradation and loss."......
While not mentioning Fatah by name, Hussein went on to blame the Gaza bombing on "Palestinian agents of Israel." Agents, he said, "whose close association with Israel was proven by the fact that they ultimately fled there for refuge."
"Israel's inability to remove Hamas from Gaza -- either by force of arms or by cutting it off from the rest of the world -- has prompted it to adopt indirect means of weakening Hamas," added Hussein. "Now it's using its agents inside Gaza to incite violence domestically."
Shadi, too, conceded that the Gaza bombing "might have been the beginning of an attempt to overthrow Hamas rule" in the Gaza Strip, noting the territory had also seen a handful of other, smaller blasts throughout July. "There are elements that would like to portray Hamas as incapable of maintaining security," he said.
It would not be the first attempt by elements of Fatah to strike out at Hamas in Gaza. In the summer of last year, Washington -- frustrated by Hamas's victory in 2006 legislative elections -- provided Fatah cadres with the arms and support to extirpate the Hamas leadership in Gaza. The plan was to be jointly coordinated by U.S. Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton and long-time Fatah strongman Mohamed Dahlan.
The so-called "Dayton Plan" was pre-empted, however, when Hamas -- after six days of heavy fighting in mid-June -- seized control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, Gaza's Hamas-run government has maintained relatively high levels of stability throughout the territory despite an internationally sanctioned embargo that has brought the strip's economy to the brink of ruin......."
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