Hamas takes full control of Gaza

[Xaccers]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6755299.stm

The relative calm followed scenes of violence on Thursday as Hamas fighters seized remaining Fatah positions including the headquarters of Fatah's Preventative Security force and the presidential compound in Gaza City.

Fatah fighters were seen being led away, stripped to the waist, their fate unknown

Now the direct killing of Palestinians has practically ended, the next stage will be the slow starvation of Gaza due to Hamas' policies.
I just hope the violence doesn't spread to the West Bank.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Now the direct killing of Palestinians has practically ended, the next stage will be the slow starvation of Gaza due to Hamas' policies.

They were already starving, perhaps that's why Hamas got into power in the first place?

A study carried out by Johns Hopkins University (USA) and Al-Quds University (in Jerusalem) for CARE International in late 2002 revealed very high levels of dietary deficiency among the Palestinian population. The study found that 17.5% of children aged 6–59 months suffered from chronic malnutrition. 53% of women of reproductive age and 44% of children were found to be anemic

[Xaccers]

Sorry, should have said "the next stage will be to continue the slow* starvation of Gaza due to Hamas' policies"


*not as slow under the PA, at least with them a tiny bit of the aid actually got to the people (the rest going to Switzerland)

The Palestinians really have to learn how to share land/power. It keeps screwing them over

[BBKing]

Now the direct killing of Palestinians has practically ended, the next stage will be the slow starvation of Gaza due to Hamas' policies.
I just hope the violence doesn't spread to the West Bank.

Er, we're deliberately starving them, aren't we? In revenge for them daring to vote for someone we don't like, aid was cut off. We're also, of course, helping Fatah fighters, in our normal wonderful democratic way. Send no food, just guns, that'll sort out the starvation and violence, no sweat. Er.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...700419_pf.html

Did I forget to mention that Hamas started from an Israeli idea gone horribly wrong (to give Arafat a headache, I suspect)? See Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, US support for IRA, death squads, those recent nutters in Lebanon etc. It's never a good idea to arm lunatics with a grievance, but we never learn. Shame, really, forty years ago Israel used to be quite a bright place. Ruthless, but bright.

* (We being USA/UK/Israel, in this case, with the EU helping out)

[Xaccers]

Oh hang on, sorry, I forgot, it's wrong not to support a country who's goverment states that another nation and it's nationals should be wiped from the face of the earth, oh how silly of me to forget that.
It's sooo wrong not to give money to that same government when that money will be used to fund attacks on said nation and nationals which should be wiped off the face of the earth rather than it all going to people who actually need it.
Shame on the international community for not wanting to fund the destruction of Israel and the Israeli people, not just their government, but every Israeli man woman and child. Nasty nasty international community.

I find it interesting that you condemn the military action taken to remove Saddam, yet don't make such comments regarding this action to remove Fatah.

I do wonder if the split will remain, resulting in a Palestinian Replublic in the West Bank, and a Islamic Palestinian state in occupied Gaza (occupied by Palestinians, after all, it's Egyptian land).

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

I find it interesting that you condemn the military action taken to remove Saddam, yet don't make such comments regarding this action to remove Fatah.

Like myself he probably missed the memo about Fatah having WMD.

Maybe it will be in Israel favour anyway, if they are fighting each other then they are not blowing up buses. The Palestinians constantly undermine the ability for them to gain their own state its not even worth bothering about anymore.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

Like myself he probably missed the memo about Fatah having WMD.

Ah, so it's ok for Fatah to be removed by force because they don't have WMD's, but it's not ok to remove Saddam by force because he didn't have WMD's?
Interesting.

No one in their right mind, no matter what side they supported, could suggest that Fatah being removed was a good thing since they were actually ones trying to make progress in the area. Now we're struck again!

The only way anyone outside of Hamas could support Hamas is simply because their world view rotates around the idea that: America = Bad. Anything thats bad for America's stance is by defalut the right thing to do.

But those people are morons and should be ignored on account of being morons.

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Ah, so it's ok for Fatah to be removed by force because they don't have WMD's, but it's not ok to remove Saddam by force because he didn't have WMD's?
Interesting.

No, you've missed the point and are jumping to conclusions. You drew an analogy between two scenarios - both of which are uniquely identifiable in that one was carried out on the (incorrect) premise that one party had WMD and the other wasn't.

[marky]

Call me when they have killed each other

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

No, you've missed the point and are jumping to conclusions. You drew an analogy between two scenarios - both of which are uniquely identifiable in that one was carried out on the (incorrect) premise that one party had WMD and the other wasn't.

I'm still lost.
It sounds like you're saying removing Saddam was bad because we thought he had WMD's and he didn't, but the removal of Fatah by force isn't worth condemning because they didn't have WMDs?