In the on-going Israeli and Palestinian conflict, it has been agreed that a two-state solution is the end goal; that is, the Israeli state living side-by-side a Palestinian state in peace. Unfortunately, this weekend, a two-state "solution" has just imposed, but it's not what we were expecting.
The Palestinian government has two main factions. First we have Fatah which is considered the moderate party who are backed by the Western powers, Jordan, and Egypt. They are the ones who ultimately want to negotiate peace with Israel. The other faction is Hamas which consists of radical extremists who are backed by Iran and Syria. Hamas believes in the destruction of the Israeli state, and it does not recognize Israel's right to exist.
If we look at the following map, Fatah is most powerful in the West Bank, while Hamas is most powerful in the Gaza Strip.
This weekend, Hamas launched a massive campaign against Fatah in the Gaza Strip, and in 3 days, they control everything there. We have witnessed the birth of a terrorist state. What I find most disturbing is the sheer brutality that Hamas has committed against their fellow Palestinians.
From the National Post article entitled, "
Hamas and Fatah have killed the Palestinian state."
Hamas looked set to complete its conquest of the entire Gaza Strip. "Muhammad Swairki, 28, a cook for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard, was thrown to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story apartment building in Gaza City on Sunday."
"Muhammad al-Ra'fati, a Hamas supporter and mosque preacher, was thrown from a Gaza City high-rise apartment building."
"Fatah gunmen began firing mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City."
"Hamas gunmen attacked the home of a Fatah security official with mortars and grenades, killing his 14-year-old son and three women inside, security officials said. Other Fatah gunmen stormed the house of a Hamas lawmaker and burned it down."
"Jamal Abu Jadian, a top Fatah commander, fled his home in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday evening dressed as a woman to avoid dozens of Hamas militiamen who had attacked it. When he arrived at a hospital a few hundred meters away from his house, he was discovered by a group of Hamas gunmen, who took turns shooting him in the head with automatic rifles. They literally blew his head off with more than 40 bullets,' said a doctor at Kamal Udwan Hospital."
Hamas has now completed its conquest of Gaza. The last Fatah fighters were captured and then machine-gunned to death in front of their wives and children. The Fatah compound in Gaza City will be turned into a mosque; Gaza itself into an Islamic state.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has struck back against Hamas in the West Bank, where Hamas is weak and Mr. Abbas's Fatah is stronger.
On Wednesday, Mr. Abbas declared a state of emergency. His forces have raided Hamas offices in Ramallah and Nablus and arrested some 1,500 Hamas activists. Mr. Abbas is now appealing for more American and Western military and economic aid. And he has requested an international police force for Gaza.
Good luck with that last request. Gaza looks like an Arabic Somalia, a beachfront Fallujah. No Western government will volunteer to deploy forces into such an environment.
But if Mr. Abbas is refused troops, he will certainly now receive massive new infusions of money. The big idea sweeping Western capitals is that Fatah must learn to compete with Hamas as a provider of social services. Over the years, billions of dollars of aid have been donated to the Palestinian Authority. In 2006, the Palestinians collected more Western aid per capita than any other people on earth: US$300 per year, as compared to US$44 for sub-Saharan Africa.
Much of that money has been stolen or wasted.
Even worse, because UN relief agencies have allowed themselves to be penetrated and captured by Hamas, much of the Western aid has ended up reinforcing exactly the people we supposedly want to defeat.
It's not very realistic to imagine that Fatah can suddenly change its ways and learn to run aid programs honestly. Fatah is a criminal gang, and it inevitably acts like one.
Hamas has also captured a number of armoured military vehicles, intelligence files, bulletproof vests, and weapons, all meant to aid Fatah. What terrorist army do you know of that controls armoured units? What's next? Hamas capturing some jet fighters?