Hamas Excited At Chance To Oust Fatah From Gaza Again

Gaza City, August 19 – With the emerging ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions apparently calling for Fatah to assume control of border crossings and other vital interests instead of Hamas, the leader of the latter movement are voicing anticipation of a repeat of 2007, when they defeated Fatah in a brief civil war and asserted complete control over the territory.

International mediators have been working to coax Israel and a collection of Palestinian armed groups toward an agreement to officially end the recent round of hostilities that has left nearly 2,000 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis dead. To allay Israeli concerns that leaving Hamas capable of rearming means inevitably repeating the violence in the next few years, a key Israeli demand has been to grant control over imports and crossings to Hamas rival Fatah, which has at least nominally committed itself to settling grievances with Israel through non-violent means. The demand that the Gaza Strip be demilitarized, however, was dropped, leading Hamas to start planning for a second takeover of Gaza, and an eventual recurrence of rocket fire and other attacks on Israel.

“This gives us something to work towards,” said Ismail Haniyeh, a Gaza-based Hamas leader. “Fatah has demonstrated that it is no match for our capabilities or motivation, so while relinquishing control of the border crossings to them is annoying, it is obviously only a temporary measure, considering all that we still have at our disposal.” Israeli strikes and ground incursions saw the depletion of Hamas’s rocket arsenal by three quarters, but weapons such as RPGs, guns, and ammunition, which remain in significant numbers, should prove more than enough to overcome the demoralized, weakened Fatah personnel who have somehow managed to remain free and unmolested during seven years of Hamas rule. By comparison, while Hamas lost as many as a thousand low-level fighters to IDF fire and its own misfires, the organization’s command structure remained largely intact.

It remains unclear how Fatah intends to keep its hold on the positions and roles it is being granted in the Gaza Strip as part of the the agreement when it can barely govern the West Bank, where its presence and authority are visible. Only a fortuitous Israeli sweep that arrested nearly 100 Hamas fighters there last month prevented a series of terrorist attacks on Israel and a coup in the West Bank to depose Fatah there as well. Its membership, however, is nevertheless excited for the coming intra-Palestinian conflict, if only to make use of the training they originally received for the purpose of killing Israeli civilians and soldiers.

“We’re not going to just roll over and let it happen when Hamas attacks,” said Muhammad Dahlan,  Fatah chief in Gaza. “That’s more a Netanyahu thing.”