Lights! Camera! Action!

Abbas knows you can't have an unothurized army running lose aposed to government.those suppoting this kind of action will end up answering for the actons of the milshia.

Sharon, with the help of Livni, gave Gaza to Hamas & Iran. The corrupt fools of Fatah are challenging a reality that is irreversible.

That's who's really responsible for the Kassam attacks. He has security forces, well armed & by our stupidity well financed. He uses them to keep his thieves in power but never to stop terrorism.

Looks like the civil war is going to get worse. Oh well, better they kill each other than try killing us. Why can't the Palistinians ever get it right, they did the same thing in Lebanon. They have to much anger, to many guns and no idea what it is to talk without shooting the person they disagree with

I think it is going to be a civil war. the important thing here is that Hamas will prevail which is not a very exciting conclusion. no one can face Hamas any more!

everyone holds gun. WE LOOK FOR PEACE WITH GUNS. It is strange. It is anormal. It is wrong. what would you do, if I put gun down ? would you kill me ? than go ahead kill me. I refuce to hold gun. I am refucing to kill you. MAN DOESNT LOSE ANYTHING IF MAN REJECT, DENY TO KILL. is that too much for real world. Is loyalty in just Movies ? BOTH SİDES ARE AFRAID. ONE MUST PUT THE GUNS DOWN FIRST. I would do that. what is life ? isnt it simple ? who we are ? just created ones. we are not God. so we can also lose. but we can also have un-expected win with rejecting to kill. SO, LETS START TO REFUCE TO HOLD GUN. a simple start

as the terrorists say, "resist by EVERY MEANS possible". guns are but one of many of their options.

Hamas and Fatah should either unite or both should be forced to leave the government by the Palestinian people.. blaming one another will get you nowhere.. if you couldn't tolerate one another then go to hell both of you!!

Hey Lynne. Long time since our last chat. I don't think that Hamas and Fatah need to unite, per se. I mean, every nation has a party in power and party who opposes their principles. However, if they do want to function as a real state, then they need to find a way to disagree without fire guns at each other every which way. They also need to have one, accountable armed force with the exclusion of all others. The problem is, who will comprise this force and how will one guarantee that it won't target political rivals? Given the current climate of political assassination and counter-assassination, it would basically be a massacre of whichever side was not given control of the miltiary force. Also, how would one side take control of or establish such a force without resorting to violence, given the current situation? The very nature of having only one armed force is that it checks other armed militias with the knowledge that it can subdue them; the only way to prove that it has the power to do that is through armed conflict. Also, how would ordinary Palestinians force such violent groups out without using armed force themselves? It seems that there is no other way to get one, truly leading group in the territories without some sort of armed civil conflict in which someone emerges as top dog. Given the current reality on the ground, can you think of another way? How's the new school going?

Hello Noa :).. how are you??? I have responded to your last post but maybe the article had cycled before you read it.. you're right.. what you brought up is the core of this problem.. I insist that if both sides insist on fighting for power while their country is in the current condition then both do not deserve to be in power!! I have become now more convinced than ever that Palestinians should choose a government away from both Fatah and Hamas!! I don't think that choosing one of them will help.. I also hold the International community responsible for this chaos.. Hamas faced so much pressure from all over the world when they got to government.. I don't think they were even given a chance to reveal their political agenda.. I think that if Hamas wasn't pressured financially and by Israel's kidnapping of its members who are part of the government things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand in the first place.. you'll tell me that Hamas were boycotted because they are a terrorist organisation and they refuse to recognise Israel.. but I think that a political Hamas would be a lot easier to deal with than Hamas the militia.. don't you think so?? anyway, it's no use now to say if this and that had happened anymore.. the damage was done and Fatah and Hamas are now fighting.. so I think now both sides should be pressured by the international community to stop the fighting.. I see Bush's stand from this a very negative one which will only lead to further chaos (since he is promising to aid Fatah with millions!!).. both sides should be treated alike and held responsible for their acts.. my classes will be starting on the 28th of January.. so I'm still at home :)

I think that a third party option would be good, but who would they be and how would they be able to take control over the government? If they didn't attempt it by armed coup (which would only exacerbate the violence), then they would most likely be gunned down, either by Fatah or Hamas. How would you suggest that the international community intervene to stop the fighting? It's a very thin line, because, at a certain stage, external powers are accused of occuption or creation of a puppet government. I think that, historically, aiding through financial donations has proven to be disastrous because the money stays with and strengthens the strong. I don't think it would be helpful to Israel to deal with a political Hamas since the political side still refuses to negotiate with Israel. Also, they are closely linked (intertwined, one might say) with their militia. For example, look at the way that they have to consult Khaled Mashaal (the same man who helped plans scores of terror attacks) on their political plans and standpoints. As such, I see no meaningful difference between political and militant Hamas. If you could come up with a way for Hamas to negotiate (or, as aforementioned, to get out of the gov't), then there would be hope for the situation. For now, they go by their charter, which states that the Jewish state should be annihilated because of its Jewish essence, and it's a bit hard for me to negotiate with that. How nice for you to still be at home. In contrast, I have an econ exam tomorrow (insert vomiting noises here).

third party--this is the question that I find difficult to answer.. I believe that there is a majority among Palestinians who support niether Hamas nor Fatah.. there should be a moderate third party that is silenced amidst this chaos.. after all.. I think most Palestinians have come to the realisation that they are not living normal lives.. they want to live normal peaceful everyday lives.. so I think that most Palestinians would now go for a stable government that would lead them to peace.. of course they are the same people who have chosen Haniyeh from Hamas as a PM and Abbas(from Fatah) as the president.. this is because they weren't given many other choices.. knowing that the leadership of Fatah had gotten them nowhere for about half a century..while at least Hamas was doing something and is seen as more organised tha the corrupt Fatah.. whether or not we agree with its methods in fighting it gave most Palestinians the feeling that it is sacrificing for their land.. so this is why I think Palestinians chose Hamas.. due to the constant clashes between Fatah and Hamas I think support for both parties has deteriorated.. there are other Palestinian organisations that happen to fall somewhere in between Fatah and Hamas.. take for examle Barghouti's Al-Mustaqbal party.. they do have popularity among Palestinians and I think they could be somewhere between Hamas and Fatah.. regarding the international community intervening-- what I'm suggestin is UN forces.. or maybe boycotting BOTH Fatah and Hamas until they form a unity government... getting Hamas to negotiate-- that would be difficult to achieve but I see it as the only option.. perhaps I'm being very optimistic but I think that if through a serious mediator Hamas might relent to negotiations.. I don't see why they wouldn't.. if it helps in stabilizing the region then they should go for it.. I do feel helpless regarding this.. I couldn't find a solution to Hamas.. assassinations and arrests will not work.. niether are negotiations working.. let's just pray for the latter.. poor you.. an econo..BLEKH.. exam is would make anyones life miserable!! LOL!! Good Luck :)

Firstly, I agree with the fact that both Hamas and Fatah have (rightly) lost public support, because of their bad behavior. However, do you think that a moderate third party could take over in a bloodless manner? I think the majority of Palestinians (especially the moderates seeking change) are silent because they're terrified, and, frankly, I can't blame them for being terrified. I also worry that, if a moderate party had to resort to violence to take over, it might change their nature and force them to become less moderate. Secondly, the problem with UN forces is that they rarely have any military power so it's very difficult for them to enforce anything. In Rwanda, for example, the mandate of the UN soldiers (courtesy of Kofi Annan) created a situation where they basically sat there and watched Rwandans get massacred. I just don't see how there'd be much more of an exception if they were used in the territories, since they'd probably have a similarly useless mandate. Your idea on boycotting both parties might work, but is also problematic, since it, again, makes the passage of aid money more difficult, and also, implicitly helps Hamas, since they receive more goods/arms illegally. Basically, what I'm saying is that I most support your praying option. :) In reality, it's sad, not funny, that some sort of miracle seems to be the most realistic option for regional peace at the moment.

oh!! you're right.. I agree with what you said although it gets my hopes down for a solution to the Palestinian internel conflict and gradually with their conflict with Israel.. but I think that if Hamas was recieving large amounts of illegal money they wouldn't have been put so much under pressure when they were boycotted.. what I fear is not that.. I'm more worried that if both parties are boycotted only the Palestinian people will pay the price.. while both parties will get more busy in fighting while blaming one another!! yes, pray Noa.. you pray in Hebrew while I'll pray in Arabic.. :) how was your ecoblekh exam today??

Hey Lynne, I think that the presence of large sums of illegal money is evidenced by the acquisition of more advanced missiles/weapons systems in the territories by groups such as Hamas, which has been documented for months. I think that the internal pressure on Hamas regarding finances came because they weren't paying government workers, but notice that the unpaid workers were mostly Fatah-affiliated. I believe that this is largely the result of a) general corruption/embezzlement b) shunting of funds from humanitarian to militant purposes and c) use of money allocation as a political tactic to hurt members of another party. This is an indication of a very frustrating phenomenon, which is rampant in the PA: the misallocation of funds. Even post-boycott of the Hamas gov't, the Palestinians received half a billion in aid in 2006 from the EU alone. Palestinians still receive over 1,100 USD per capita annually in international aid from the EU and UN. (I know this seems like very little, but compare it to 5 USD per capita received annually in Darfur). The problem is that most of that money is just not making it to the average Palestinian. They are, literally, paying the price for the sins of the current Hamas and Fatah leadership. I think a HUGELY important issue is to find some mechanism to monitor the foreign aid money and ENSURE that it arrives at the right hands, and for the right uses. I personally don't understand how such a mechanism wasn't established (or even attempted) by the international community out of sheer embarrassment after the whole Suha Arafat fiasco. Such corruption and deliberate mismanagement of funds frustrates me so much on a theoretical level that I can't even imagine how much it must enrage the average Palestinian, who has to suffer from it daily. One idea I had was to send in aid workers to actually build hospitals and schools, instead of transferring money and assuming that it would go towards hospitals and schools, but such an idea becomes a problem when there are constant exchanges of fire between internal factions, since governments become loath to send in their foreign aid workers. Consequently, I have no suggestion for how to monitor funds in the current, volatile situation. Again, frustrating. Regarding the exam, Ynet restricts me from using expletives, so let's just say it was 'really not so fun' :)