Posted on 06/12/2006 11:36:19 PM PDT by MadIvan
HUNDREDS of Palestinian security forces loyal to the president, Mahmoud Abbas, went on a violent rampage against the Hamas-led government last night, riddling the Ramallah parliament and cabinet buildings with bullets in revenge for attacks by Hamas gunmen.
The security men shot out the windows of the parliament before storming the cabinet complex, where they smashed furniture, destroyed computers and scattered documents. Dozens of gunmen from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a pro-Fatah militia, joined the security men.
No casualties were reported, but one building was set on fire.
The rampage followed an attack in Gaza early yesterday by Hamas gunmen on a Preventive Security installation. That set off day-long clashes that left two people dead and 14 wounded.
"Every time they touch one of ours in Gaza, we will get ten of theirs in the West Bank," said a member of the Preventive Security force, which is loyal to Mr Abbas's Fatah movement.
The violence came as Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, said after talks with Tony Blair in London yesterday that his country would make "every possible effort" to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. However, he said his country was prepared to act unilaterally if negotiations proved impossible.
Mr Blair appeared for the first time to voice understanding for Israel's plan to withdraw from remote West Bank settlements while retaining larger ones, without Palestinian agreement.
"I don't want to go down any other path than a negotiated settlement," the Prime Minister said. "But the reality is that this thing has got to be moved forward by negotiations or we are in a stalemate that Israel is necessarily and realistically going to want to unlock."
Asked whether he advocated Israeli negotiations with the radical Hamas movement, Mr Blair said: "You can only negotiate with people who accept your existence and stop violence."
Mr Olmert said Israel was seeking negotiations according to the international peace blueprint known as the road map but that the Palestinians' failure to meet their commitments might make this impossible.
He added that any unilateral Israeli annexation would "leave a very large contiguous territory for a state to be formed by the Palestinians".
Even as he spoke, an Israeli government agency offered for sale 54 plots of land for the construction of homes near Ariel, a West Bank settlement 12 miles inside occupied territory that Mr Olmert has pledged will remain part of Israel. That violates the road map's call for a freeze of Israeli settlement construction.
In Israel, Tzahi Hanegbi, a prominent politician from Mr Olmert's Kadima party, upped the stakes by warning Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, that he could face assassination, just like Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdul-Aziz Rantissi in 2004, should suicide bombings against Israel resume.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Palestinians on a rampage? That's like seagulls on a box of french fries.
Anybody wired for sound and video?
Heaven forfend that some journalist will ask a U.S. official if perhaps it is time for the U.S. to withdraw from Palestine...
Because all violence in the Middle East is driven by increased proximity to U.S. military.
let them exterminate eachother....nice, do us all a favor.
Figure out how you can blame this on Jews Israel.
too bad we did not let saddam take out iran when he had the chance.
won't make that same mistake again.
hamas v. fatah - sounds like a great movie title, kind of like jason v. freddie.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Anyone who thinks this population of ex-Jordanians and ex-Egyptians who raise their children to be mass murderers deserve a country which to spread mass murder needs to have his head examined. Nothing but grief and killing for the world from them. Why don't the vast, rich Arab countries absorb them? These countries expelled all their Jews, even though they'd lived there as long as anyone - thousands of years. These Arab Palestinians thrive on bloodshed; they get hundreds of billions and spend it all on guns and bombs.
Actually, it confirms what I witnessed with all Arabs in some quarrel: a lot of yelling, rolling of the eyes, clasping for (often nonexistent) weapons... well, some stubbing from time to time as well, but only backstabbing.
Road Map to Peace: Whoever fires the last shot wins.
Bump
Ain't it great when a plan comes together.
Allahu fubar ping!
---------------------------
Palestinian on Palestinian crime.
This reminds me of Moby Dick, when they capture the first whale and lash it to the side of the ship. Soon the sharks come and start ripping bites out of the carcass causing it to bleed and attracting even more sharks. They become so mad with blood lust that they start biting chunks out of one another until the water is filled with blood, pieces of whale meat and dead sharks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.