Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Israel Targets Hamas' West Bank Activities

ATFP submitted this article which is indicative of the degree to which Fatah is on the back foot in the West Bank. The irony is that this is precisely the sort of strategy on which Hamas thrives. How the Israeli government can consistently be so incompetent is incomprehensible. Do they want to see Hamas predominate? Just keep on this way and build the martyr syndrome and they will drive Fatah out of existence single handed.

Israeli military forces say they are shutting down Hamas-affiliated institutions in the West Bank, including schools, health centers and charities. Israeli officials say Hamas, the more militant of the two main Palestinian Arab factions, is spreading its control from Gaza to the West Bank, where popular support for it over the more moderate Fatah faction is enabling Hamas to take over not just Islamic institutions but civilian infrastructure as well, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Monday. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the Israeli military is fighting "a rearguard battle" by targeting Hamas-controlled institutions in an attempt to cut off funding sources for terrorist activities. A military source said the move is also meant as a bid to stem Hamas' rising popularity and keep it from wresting control from the Palestinian Authority. "They have knowledge, funds and skilled people, much more so than Fatah," the source told Haaretz.

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