The following is a compilation of news and observations regarding the situation in Gaza one year after the Hamas takeover of the area.
Jerusalem Post:
One Year After “Coup,” Hamas Still Favored.
by Khaled Abu Toameh
June 15, 2008
Although Hamas’s violent seizure of the entire Gaza Strip in June 2007 has had catastrophic repercussions for the 1.5 million Palestinians living there, there is no reason to believe that the Islamist movement’s rule is on its way to vanishing.
On the contrary; Hamas appears to be as strong and popular as ever with residents of the Gaza Strip. Various public opinion polls published in recent weeks have even shown that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is more popular than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Of course there have also been polls that showed the exact opposite. For the rest of this article: Click here
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Haaretz:
Officials: Abbas envoys to brief Gaza Fatah men on Hamas talks
By Reuters
June 16, 2008
Envoys from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement will visit the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to brief Fatah members there on his bid to cement reconciliation with its rival Hamas, a Fatah leader in the West Bank said.
Hikmat Zeid told Reuters on Monday that the delegation would be the first mission by representatives of the secular and Western-backed faction to Gaza since Hamas took over the territory a year ago in a violent confrontation with Fatah forces that triggered a schism with Abbas. For the rest of this article: Click here
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Al-Jazeera:
Disunity worsens Gaza plight
June 17, 2008
One year after Hamas, the Palestinian movement, seized control of the Gaza Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, leaders say Palestinian unity remains an elusive dream.
Ghazi Hamad, a senior aide to Ismail Haniya, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, has acknowledged that the infighting has damaged the Palestinian cause. “This is a catastrophe, a disaster. We have to go back to national unity,” Hamad said on Saturday. For the rest of this article: Click here
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The New York Times:
A Year Reshapes Hamas and Gaza
By Ethan Bronner
June 15, 2008
GAZA – Cursing God in public here – a fairly common event in this benighted and besieged strip of Palestinian land – can now lead to prison. So can kissing in public. A judge ruled last week that a bank could not collect its contracted interest on a 10-year-old loan because Islam forbids charging interest.
One year ago, gunmen from Hamas, an Islamist anti-Israel group, took over Gaza, shooting some of their more secular Fatah rivals in the knees and tossing one off a building. Israel and the West imposed a blockade, hoping to squeeze the new rulers from power. Yet today Hamas has spread its authority across all aspects of life, including the judiciary. It is fully in charge. Gazans have not, as Israel and the United States hoped, risen up against it. For the rest of this article: Click here
