This story is archived
Gaza lurches towards civil war as leaders lose control of gunmen battling on street »
Posted by: Karina 2 years, 7 months agoGaza was on the brink of civil war last night as violent clashes between Palestinian factions spiralled out of control.
Read Full Story at timesonline.co.uk »
Submitted By:
Karina
Karina Longworth blogs about film at Spout.com. She co-founded the film blog Cinematical in March 2005, whilst simultaneously completing an MA in Cinema Studies ...
This Story is Archived and Commenting is Closed
Comments: 151
-
ra2t0n1
May 17, 2007, 10:27 a.m.Isn't it great that we've taken the fight 110% to Iraq so we are stretched to thin to deal with other foreign crisis that have probably even more importance to US interest and Middle East stability?
-
LuisR
May 17, 2007, 10:28 a.m.The Palestinians have no on to blame but themselves. One 1 side, the Fatah faction wants to co-exist with Israel, ableit begrudgingly. On the the other side, Hamas wants to see all of Israel eradicated so that they can create another islamist state in the Middle East.
Which side to you think should recieve the world's attention? IMHO: Definitely NOT Hamas!
-
Edmar14
May 17, 2007, 11:32 a.m.Is it a genetic defect or just plain cultural stupidity that makes these people kill themselves and any chance at having a peaceful, prosperous state of their own. Israel has given them every opportunity to create a state based on peace and what do they do- Arafat refuses Israel's offer to give back most of the captured territories for peace, Israel withdraws unilaterally from Gaza and they get rockets fired at them in return. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and continues to fire the rockets at Israeli cities, and now, Hamas and Fatah are killing each other. Einstein once said that insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over again and expecting different results each time. Considering all that is happening in the Moslem world, killing each other with such ferocity, the term insanity is a compliment.
-
joeblowe
May 17, 2007, 11:35 a.m.Those whacky Middle Easterners! Always coming up with some way to stay in the news. I wonder if ANY of them has the slightest clue what they are fighting over? If anything. It's not like there is any OIL in those areas, so why would we give a damn? I don't. How about you?
-
Ruggaboo
May 17, 2007, 11:43 a.m.Let these damn animals continue to kill themselves, it is all they know how to do. A culture built on barbaric seventh century religions being upheld by a bunch of thugs in ski masks. I bet on Saturday night they go hang out at the local weapons cache to wax their AK-47's.
Best quote in the story that tells the tale:
"The message is the Palestinians cannot rule themselves. This fighting will only end if a third party takes over."
Bring somebody in fast to run these damn monkeys, The Islamic murder cults have again shown their colors.
Too bad our homegrown Terror tubbies and appeasement monkeys will keep trying to make Islam into some grand institution.
-
-
nostalgia
May 17, 2007, 4:37 p.m."The Carter Center has monitored all 3 Palestinian elections. They have all been honest, fair & peaceful with the results accepted by winners & losers."
"Hamas wishes to consolidate its political gains, maintain domestic order & stability & refrain from any contacts with Israel. It will be a tragedy for the Palestinians if they promote or condone terrorism."
"Any rejectionist policies of Hamas will be overcome by an overall Arab commitment to restrain further violence & to promote the well-being of the Palestinian people"
Jimmy Carter March 09, 2006
-
OnlyTheTruth
May 17, 2007, 5:12 p.m.I have maintained for years that peace-keepers are needed in Palestine. A number of countries, both Arab and Europe, have offered such help. We have consistently blocked such action as it would "violate Israeli sovereignty". In other words, such help would conflict with Israeli hegemony over Palestine's affairs.
-
agentX
May 17, 2007, 5:45 p.m.Didn't the Iraq Study Group warn about the dangers of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict affecting Iraq in their report?
If so, that would mean we're going to have to do something to stop the violence. We can't send troops there, seeing as now we don't really have any to spare (see Greensburg, KS).
Will the Israelis send in their own? Not likely, not after their losses sustained in the Hezbollah war.
-
b4thewind
May 17, 2007, 5:57 p.m.A good book to read on the subject -
The truth about Camp David : the untold story about the collapse of the Middle East peace process
Swisher, Clayton E
-
SonOfTheMask
May 17, 2007, 6:42 p.m.A mess. An ugly, dangerous, bloody mess. Hope is slipping away for any rational course of action. Assuming of course, that there ever was a rational course of action.
-
NelsonR
May 17, 2007, 7:56 p.m.The U.S. should act like an enabler and not bipartisan.
It's in the Palestinian court to resolve their own issues as the Sunni's an Shia's must face. All western nations should allow the arabs to determine their own fate and idiom they choose to follow. America should stay out of the politics of any region and quit "Meddling". We are not the world authority on governing or the power that are.
All my conclusions are based upon one premise, America should not put their noses where they do not belong, simple.
-
ades
May 17, 2007, 8:16 p.m.What in the name of all that's good and holy is wrong with the people of the Middle East? Now, I'm perfectly aware that those doing the fighting and killing make up a small minority, but even so...
You would think at some point they would say "you know, I don't want my children growing up in war torn poverty and neither do you, so let's just knock this 5hit off and get on with life."
-
blinkers
May 17, 2007, 9:40 p.m.Pity the poor Palestinians, led by corrupt and/or fractured leadership for generations. Even a unity/coalition government cannot bring the factions together or unite the various armed groups who roam free, murdering at will. It is still one masked gunman or another who presents the "face" of Palestine.
With each further day of unrest, the chances for an independent and "free" Palestine, recede further into an already distant future. Pity the poor Palestinians.
-
Trichronon
May 17, 2007, 9:55 p.m.I don't understand what the panic is all about. We have a society that has been in an armed struggle for the last 70 or so years (going back to the time the Zionists first began to take action to re-establish Israel); Hamas has just demonstrated that Israel can no longer act with impunity in military actions in the region - and its earlier rise to political power demonstrated that Fatah needed to stem corruption; there have been peaceful elections involving accommodations on both sides towards more realistic politics.
However, the tendency will be to use force where force has worked before. This will bounce around, the hot-heads will kill each other off, and cooler heads will eventually prevail.
This is a social process, not disimilar from those that occurred in Europe in the beginning of the 20th century. Race has nothing to do with it. Stick with it, people - AND WILL SOMEBODY TELL US WHICH PALESTINIANS ARE STANDING UP FOR PEACE?
-
cherev
May 17, 2007, 10:02 p.m.As long as they're killing each other, I'm pretty pleased. They'll be less terrorists to murder others in the future.
-
ningyo
May 17, 2007, 10:24 p.m.palestine is a make believe country created by the make believe UN--its been used as an international punching bag a promo piece fro every tin pot middle east dictator and country since the 50's--egypt has the most culpability--they should absorb palestine..DESTROY hamas and plo remnants..and start over--a heavy hand here is the only soloution--a tragic soloution for residents but the only real answer
-
truthiness
May 17, 2007, 10:52 p.m.today I read in the paper that Hamas attempted to ambush Fatah and accidently ambushed one of their own crews. fkn keystone cops of terrorism.
the article suggested returning the west bank to Jordan and gaza to egypt, as it was after the war of independence and before the 67(?) war. that seems like a good plan. let see them blame zionism for their inability to self govern then.
-
Edmar14
May 17, 2007, 11:16 p.m.In all actuality, Palestine was never a country. In order to be a country, you have to have a recognized autonomous government which the area called Palestine never had since the destruction of Israel by the Romans 2000 years ago. Since then, the area has been conquered and reconquered by the Romans,Moslems, Crusaders, etc. The last conqueror being the Ottoman Turks which lost the region after WWI. The newly formed League of Nations gave the mandate of control to the British until that ended with the creation of both Jordan and what is today Israel. Palestine actually ceased to exist altogether after the creation of the state of Israel and the ensuing war that followed. The West Bank was swallowed up by Jordan, the Gaza by Egypt. Israel took all of the pre 1967 area, and there was nothing left to be called Palestine. Even Syria captured and annexed the Golan Heights. Palestine never had an autonomous government of its own at any time in the last 2000 years (abreviated history)
-
aceofspades1
May 17, 2007, 11:30 p.m.Hamas. Fatah. Shiites., Sunnis -- why don't we leave these men of peace alone & let them kill each other without any loss of life on our side - they seem all to willing to meet Allah on their own terms - won't it be funny when they get there & find jerry Falwell beat em to hell
-
aceofspades1
May 17, 2007, 11:36 p.m.Hamas & Fatah killing each other is not useless killing - everyone of them killed means one less suicide bomber to murder innocents
-
royal-m
May 17, 2007, 11:49 p.m.This is an inevitable result of the growth of nationalism and national identity. This part of the world is slightly behind the rest of the world in this regard, still having an indentity that is more based on tribe, ethnicity, religion and loyalty to a leader. Every nation in Europe and North America went through the same growing pains...Remember our civl war killed 600,000 of our people at a time when the population of the entire nation was only slightly larger than some of our larger states today...France had one, England, Mexico, even Japan as stable as it is had there growing pains as a nation
The real tragedy here is that the power brokers are killing innocent people. It will end when loyalty to nation and its institutions become more important than clan or tribe.
-
royal-m
May 17, 2007, 11:52 p.m.as to fault..As much as I dislike this admin I don't think you ca hand this one on GWB...We may have been in more of a position to bring economic pressure and incentives but it still would have happened
-
aceofspades1
May 17, 2007, 11:59 p.m.truthiness - the only thing I can say to you is - get real - 1800 years of the religion of peace killing each other is not going to be solved with running water & a clean house
-
truthiness
May 18, 2007, 12:05 a.m.1800 yrs ago was c. 200ce
muhammed was born circa 570ce
so I guess you are refering to christianity?
3 examples
100 yrs war
nazis killing catholics
kkk killing catholics
religion of peace love and forgiveness
The first 142 comments are shown. Show all 151 comments »
Submit a Story
Advertisement
