Hamas Continues Its Governing Strategy By Shooting Into Crowds

The last we looked in on Gaza, Hamas complained about the increasing “terrorism” of open protests in the territory they took by force earlier this year. Today they apparently devised their own solution to this threat to peace in the Palestinian area — by shooting into a crowd, killing six and wounding 130 in the ensuing stampede:

Six people were killed after Hamas-controlled police opened fire on a Fatah rally in Gaza City today in some of the worst violence seen since the Islamist movement took control of the Gaza Strip five months ago. ….
But the sight of a yelling mob waving posters depicting the Fatah founder and shouting insults against Hamas was always going to risk provoking the heavily armed members of Hamas’s “executive force” who were recently renamed as police.
At one point the crowd began to shout “Shi’ite, Shi’ite” as an insult against Hamas which enjoys strong links with the Shia Islamic republic in Iran. Palestinians belong to the rival Sunni sect of Islam.
It is not clear if they were fired on first from inside the crowd but it is known that six members of the crowd died and at least 130 were wounded, mostly from injuries suffered in the resulting stampede.

Hamas has proven effective at putting the tactics it used to seize control of Gaza into its governance. After naming their terrorist squads the official police department of Gaza, it used them to kill civilians and start a riot. Hamas has effectively turned Gaza into a terrorist nation, only instead of terrorizing Israelis exclusively, they have to focus on terrorizing Gazans in order to maintain their deathgrip on power.
This latest atrocity has apparently scotched any efforts at reconciliation. Fatah has declared that it will not negotiate with Hamas to restore Palestinian unity. In language that can only be called ironic, they called Hamas “killers and coup-makers … who do not believe in dialogue but only understand the language of blood and murder.”
And Fatah, with its terrorist arm Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, differs in which respect? It’s easy to point to Fatah as the victim here and feel that the world should protest their treatment, and we should — but we should also remember that Fatah has a long history of attacking civilians in its own greed for power. We will try to negotiate with the least extreme of the political movements in the territories, but it’s not as if anyone in the mix follows the precepts of Mohandas Gandhi. Fatah is just the least worst option at the moment.

14 thoughts on “Hamas Continues Its Governing Strategy By Shooting Into Crowds”

  1. The Palestnians are, as Jimmuh Carter likes to point out in a different context, getting exactly the government they deserve.

  2. It’s hard to feel too much sympathy for the Palestinians. They elected Hamas, a terrorist group, and been cursed with getting what they asked for. Hunter has it exactly right: They have the government they deserve. And until a significant number of them deserve something better, they won’t get it. They won’t be as fortunate as the Iraqis to have the Americans come in and liberate them from their oppressors.

  3. These are how arabs bargain.
    While Tony Blair “suggests” to Israel “that they take on chance on peace.” Piss.
    And, Condi? Syria balked at coming to Annapolis. So she sweetened the deal, and promises Assad, that the disussion of syria getting back the Golan, is now on the table.
    While over in Israel, to quote yesterday’s Jerusalem Post article, “Olmert can count on the fingers of one hand the benefits Israel will be getting from the Americans at Annapolis. While he still has his thumb left over; so he can suck it.”
    Bush may bet another state’s politician “needing to head to elections: Israel. Plus, of course, Pakistan. Where Musharraf faces real Islamist terror.
    And, in Irak? Bush never sold Maliki on his plan! So the surge was to help the sunnis. Who are on their way “out.” Anyway. As Maliki and Iran are working TOGETHER. Both hate the American troops. “Who sre winning something in Irak.” The booby-trap prize, perhaps?
    It takes more than military men “holding their own” among savages, for America to gain a single thing, here. As our economy is heading into the crapper.
    In case you didn’t notice. Or you have no friends drowning under mortgage debt. With banks in terrible trouble. And, those who save “dinars” … have walked away from dollars. Always precursors to real trouble.
    I feel for Israel. Bush is NOT a good friend! He’s there for the Saud’s. And, he’s blind to everything else.
    And, he’s selling the American military down the river. Because, yes. People think highly of our troops. It’s Bush that stinks. And, it’s Bush whose been using his shovel to dig this far.
    While up at Drudge, an interesting statistuc pops up on Ron Paul. And, New Hampshire. He’s polling at 7%. That’s not bots. Those are people who are attempting to make a “statement.” Which is more interesting that “politics as usual.” In my book.
    What price, Condi? Let’s not forget to ask.

  4. Q: And Fatah, with its terrorist arm Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, differs in which respect?
    A: They have the support of the U.S. Secretary of State and also received weapons from the U.S.

  5. Games you will NOT being seeing soon: Parker Brothers–Diplomacy!–a game for the whole family, and then for what’s left of the family.

  6. A tiny quibble: 6 dead and 130 wounded doesn’t hack it, the 4:1 wounded-to-killed ratio is very dependable. So 6 dead, 24 wounded works and 26 dead, 130 wounded works, but not 6 vs. 130.
    Or at least, take the numbers with a grain of salt.

  7. I think the three state solution makes some sense. The Gaza strip can be Hamasland and the West bank can be Fatahville. That way there is no need for a transit corridor across Israel. Israel can wall these animals off and let them fight it out until they either finally get tired of blood or they kill each other. Either way works for me. For all practical purposes they already have three states why not make it official. If any rockets come across the wall, Israel lobs the same number back. Tit for tat.

  8. Palestinians are getting the society they deserve, since they have a record of applauding political murder. Now you have the irony of one group of terrorists firing on another group of terrorists at a ceremony to honor a terrorist. You can’t make this stuff up. On a positive note, at least Palestinians are free under Islam and no longer under occupation.

  9. Hmm, same pattern of behavior as aQ in Iraq.
    We’ll see how log it take for the Palestinians to get well and truly sick of their terrorist governors.

  10. The fact that hamas is evil should IN NO WAY provide any endorsement of fatah and is NOT A REASON to make deals with fatah.
    Fatah is also a mass-murdering gang.
    We should have no dealings with either, except to destroy their ability to murder, terrorize, and kidnap.

  11. Actually, Person From Porlock, the amazing part would be the 6 killed. You can easily get more than a 4:1 ratio of wounded-to-killed when there’s a stampeded, but it’s a miracle when someone gets killed by notoriously poor Arab marksmanship. Pointing an AK-47 in the air and firing it on full auto while wailing “Allahu akbar!” doesn’t hit many targets.

  12. Okay. It’s not nice to shoot into crowds.
    But if you think about it, the crowds are full of savages.
    And, Hamas wants something that the Fatah criminals, have.
    In other words? Fatah calls for a peaceful demonstration. Behind the scenes, there must be trucks full of clean clothes and shoes. Because you’ve never seen these “crowd scenes” with people in yesterday’s clothes. Or wearing a ripped pair of pants.
    So, part of what is going on … is going on for TV.
    And, Hamas found a way to dampen “enthusiasm.”
    What if it works?
    To say nothing of “shooting off AK-47’s. Ya know the rule, don’t cha? That which goes UP … comes down.
    Even nickels. (Which fits an old joke about how a rabbi figured out all the donated money was his. Because he threw the money up in the air. So, God could take his share.)
    This is just another way of doing the life cycle.
    A better question is why are their so many jobless people? You’d think, since this has been going on for decades, somebody would have come along and promised “jobs.” And, gotten these bums off the streets.
    Then? For crowd scenes you’d have to have hidden cameras around water coolers.
    By the way, do the Fatah’s get virgins if they’re killed my Ham’ah sandwiches?

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