Gaza War

[MTAFFI]

I did see today that rockets attacks are continuing from Gaza, and Israel has stated that no Hamas leader is safe from reprisal. Put together with the situation in Lebanon today, looks like a peace process is further away than ever.

I honestly dont think there will ever be peace there, what a shame

 

[Muezzin]

In my absence, this thread seems to have gone so far off-topic that it needs to be closed, at least temporarily. I'll see if I can salvage it and consider re-opening it.

EDIT: Okay, I've deleted all the off-topic posts I could find on this thread. If there any remaining, please do use the report function to speeden their deletion. I'll re-open this thread, but if it again goes astray it will have to be locked permanently.

 

[Sami Zaatari]

you can think that garbage all you want but no one forced the palestinians to do anything. The palestinians rioted over the imigration of Jews, when Israel was declared a state, the Palestinians left, at their own free will, they were not forced from the land. They left because they knew of the Arab neighbors upcoming assault. What they didnt know is that Israel would defeat all of the aggressors, what they didnt know is that because of their actions and because of their blatant racism they wouldnt be coming back. Whos fault is that? They have spent 40 years fighting for something that they lost, fair and square. What Muslims must face is that Israel is not their land, it is the Jews land now, and whoever else lives there, they can fight and launch rockets until the end of time and it will solve nothing. They lost the land and they wont get it back. Even though I am tempted to push my opinion on one side or the other, I wont because really it doesnt matter who did more or less, both sides are wrong in what they are doing today, peace will never be attained by either side at the going rate today.

since you know nothing of palestine i need to educate you, my grandparents were FORCED out, infact villagers even remained to defend the town from the israelis. israelis came in and demolished everything. so dont come here spreading your lies which you have been fed by your zionist pals. they didnt leave at free will.

and we will get the land back dont worry, God is in on our side, palestine will be returned to the Muslims one day.

 

[Talha777]

Insha Allah

 

[Keltoi]

since you know nothing of palestine i need to educate you, my grandparents were FORCED out, infact villagers even remained to defend the town from the israelis. israelis came in and demolished everything. so dont come here spreading your lies which you have been fed by your zionist pals. they didnt leave at free will.

and we will get the land back dont worry, God is in on our side, palestine will be returned to the Muslims one day.

"God is on our side"....+o(

Anyway, the situation in Gaza is about a power grab. Who is going to control the Palestinian government, Fatah or Hamas. Just a general question to everybody interested....

Who do you believe to be the better representative of the Palestinian people? Hamas or Fatah? Why? Which party is more likely to bring peace to the Palestinians?

 

[rav]

since you know nothing of palestine i need to educate you, my grandparents were FORCED out, infact villagers even remained to defend the town from the israelis. israelis came in and demolished everything. so dont come here spreading your lies which you have been fed by your zionist pals. they didnt leave at free will.

and we will get the land back dont worry, God is in on our side, palestine will be returned to the Muslims one day.

Shalom (Peace),

Of course there were instances in which terrorists on the Israeli side commited atrocities, however, these were groups that were not connected to the actual state of Israel. It is like when a non-Muslim compares Al-Queda to mainstream Islam when there is no relation. Anyone who was killed should be compensated, but such splinter groups were not under the control of any goverment. They acted as they did. Now, may I ask you if you are familiar with a book called "The Arab" written by The Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Edward Atiyah? If so, can you explain why he wrote:

This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic Arabic press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to reenter and retake possession of their country.​

Another question I ask is why John Bagot Glubb, the commander of Jordan's Arab Legion, said:

"Villages were frequently abandoned even before they were threatened by the progress of war" (London Daily Mail, August 12, 1948).​

Can you also explain to me the activities of the "Arab Emergence Committee", and why such an ad-hoc body was created?

I would love to hear your own words. Thank you in advance.

 

[Sami Zaatari]

Shalom (Peace),

Of course there were instances in which terrorists on the Israeli side commited atrocities, however, these were groups that were not connected to the actual state of Israel. It is like when a non-Muslim compares Al-Queda to mainstream Islam when there is no relation. Anyone who was killed should be compensated, but such splinter groups were not under the control of any goverment. They acted as they did. Now, may I ask you if you are familiar with a book called "The Arab" written by The Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Edward Atiyah? If so, can you explain why he wrote:

This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic Arabic press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to reenter and retake possession of their country.​

Another question I ask is why John Bagot Glubb, the commander of Jordan's Arab Legion, said:

"Villages were frequently abandoned even before they were threatened by the progress of war" (London Daily Mail, August 12, 1948).​

Can you also explain to me the activities of the "Arab Emergence Committee", and why such an ad-hoc body was created?

I would love to hear your own words. Thank you in advance.

hi, now yes many palestinians left their land because of arab political liars in egypt, jordan, and syria who made empty rhetoric, but at the same time not all of them did, many stayed behind such as my familly.

and dont get me wrong, i am no fan of arab goverments, they will get whats comming to them for their corruption and power hungry trips. they only used and use the palestinian issue to save their own positions and stoke up popular support, whenever their in trouble they just scream we will free palestine! to save their own political backsides.

 

[Sami Zaatari]

also dont forget, during the 'civil' war in lebanon, syrian troops came in and started bombing and fighting the palestinians! so the syrian goverment could really care less about the palestinians, they just care for their own power in the region. no palestinian trusts any neighboring goverment, the only country i would say the palestinians actually trust are the united arab emirates, the UAE have been the most generous to the palestinians, and were the ones who made this peace propasal which you see today, that all arab countries will accept israel if they grant a palestinian state in the pre 67 borders.

 

[rav]

Shalom,

Thank you Sami. I think we all know that know one has really done much for the Palestinian people as a whole at all. Israel has just made things worse by allowing extremist settlers who have powerful and rich backers in United States Evangelic Christian circles to continue to settle, and the Arabs have only used the Palestinians to their own needs as well.

Hopefully both sides will regain their abilities of thought, and we may actually see a development in the peace process which will allow Jews and Arabs to live side by side in a two state solution, because currently, all that happens is Israel and the Arab world are sitting around, while the Palestinians continue to suffer, and the longer extremists like Hamas and Settlers try to destroy the peace process, the longer the Palestinians will sit around in refugee camps, and continue to suffer.

 

[islamirama]

also dont forget, during the 'civil' war in lebanon, syrian troops came in and started bombing and fighting the palestinians! so the syrian goverment could really care less about the palestinians, they just care for their own power in the region. no palestinian trusts any neighboring goverment, the only country i would say the palestinians actually trust are the united arab emirates, the UAE have been the most generous to the palestinians, and were the ones who made this peace propasal which you see today, that all arab countries will accept israel if they grant a palestinian state in the pre 67 borders.

I think saddam had done a lot for the palestinians. He gave them political, financial and military support when possible. No arab leader spoke up but him about their situation. They regard him as a hero.

 

[Talha777]

Saddam didn't do much for Palestine, and what little he did do was in an attempt to gain support and popularity, especially among Palestinians, who prior to the first Gulf war were more inclined to Iran. I think the one Muslim country which has served the Palestinians the most is Islamic Iran. The countries which have backstabbed Palestine are Jordan and Egypt.

 

[Gangster No.1]

I think that we inshallah shall have what is ours the mashij al aqsa, for definatley, allah knows best how

 

[Skywalker]

Speaking of corruption, here's a nice little site that attempts to estimate the level of corruption in many countries. I was interested to see that Egypt is seen as one of the most corrupt countries on the list!

http://www.globalintegrity.org/reports/2006/egypt/index.cfm

 

[ACC]

Saddam didn't do much for Palestine, and what little he did do was in an attempt to gain support and popularity, especially among Palestinians, who prior to the first Gulf war were more inclined to Iran. I think the one Muslim country which has served the Palestinians the most is Islamic Iran. The countries which have backstabbed Palestine are Jordan and Egypt.

Wow, I actually agree with this.

Most of the middle eastern countries have been using the palestinians to their own gain. Then again, which country doesnt use someone else to their own benefit?

 

[Zman]

/Peace To All

Israel, US, and Egypt Back Fatah's Fight Against Hamas

The Bush Administration Has Spent Most Of Its $84 Million In Aid To Palestinians To Train An Elite Corps Of Fatah-Loyal Fighters.

By Dan Murphy
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor,
And Joshua Mitnick
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
From The May 25, 2007 Edition
CSMonitor

Cairo and Tel Aviv - Senior US officials in Washington on Wednesday promised ongoing military support for secular Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas amid his power struggle with Islamist Hamas as part of an $84 million aid package largely aimed at improving the fighting ability of an elite corps of loyalists from his Fatah Party.

Israel, too, is making overtures to Mr. Abbas, reported the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday, allowing light arms to flow to members of his Presidential Guard and saying that it would allow some of the US training of his forces to take place in the West Bank.

That policy puts the US and Israel on a highly unusual course in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: Four-square support for Fatah to contain, if not defeat, the growing power of Hamas, which won the Palestinian Authority's (PA) last election.

But whether the effort will succeed is far from certain, and some analysts say there are risks to that course, chief among them the possibility of further fueling the internal Palestinian conflict, leading to deeper despair in the occupied territories and a PA less able to make the compromises on peace with Israel than it is today.

"They want to see Hamas removed from office and see Fatah in control of everything, and [the military assistance program] should be seen as part and parcel of that approach," says Mouin Rabbani, of the International Crisis Group (ICG), reached in Amman, Jordan.

"If you want to reach a stable and durable Palestinian settlement you can't do that by empowering one faction at the expense of the other, since you very much guarantee that the other faction, which is being marginalized, will seek to undermine any peace agreement."

In the West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli troops arrested more than 30 top Hamas officials in a renewed offensive against the group after a spike in rocket fire on southern Israel. Among those apprehended was Palestinian Education Minister Nasser Shaer.

The US insists that all of its aid to the Presidential Guard is "nonlethal," consisting of training, uniforms, and supplies, as well as paying for better infrastructure at Gaza's borders.

Regional analysts and Palestinian officials say the rifles being provided to the guards are being provided by other Arab states with close ties to the US.

And supporters of the program say the US has little choice but to back Abbas as the best hope for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

"As a soldier, I believe there's a point when inaction, a wait-and-see attitude, is no longer an option," said Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, who is overseeing the program, in testimony to a congressional subcommittee Wednesday.

"The situation has gotten to be quite dire in Gaza, we have a situation of lawlessness and outright chaos," he said. "This chaotic situation is why the [US] is focused on [helping] the legal, legitimate security forces in our effort to reestablish law and order."

Abbas now finds himself engaged in an elaborate, multiparty dance involving Hamas, the US, and the Israelis.

He has been quietly urging Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, of Hamas, to stop rocket fire at Israel by the Islamic militants, something that has won him praise from the Americans and Israelis. But gunmen from his Fatah movement have also engaged in a series of battles with Hamas militants in recent weeks, killing at least 50. The two sides have reached a tenuous truce.

Last week, when that fighting veered towards open warfare between the Palestinian factions, Israel allowed about 500 Fatah loyalists to cross back over the Rafah crossing into Gaza from Egypt, where they were receiving US training, an unusual move for Israel, which seeks to strictly limit the movement of fighting-age men through the Gaza border with Egypt.

These men have been widely reported to be members of the Presidential Guard, though a source who works in Israel says they may have been from another Palestinian unit. In his testimony, General Dayton referred to the men as "soldiers" and members of the National Security Service.

Dayton said that by chance, as the freshly trained men crossed into Gaza, that crossing was attacked by Hamas.

"Training does pay off and the Hamas attack was repulsed and the Rafah crossing is under the control of the Palestinian Presidential Guard today," he said.

The return of the 500 troops followed a Hamas attack on another camp for Abbas's Presidential Guard near the Karni crossing with Israel on May 14 that left eight dead. The US is paying for training of the guardsman at the camp, though in that case the Dutch are actually doing the work.

That attack was a "wake-up call" to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas on the need to do more to strengthen forces loyal to the Palestinian president, says Gershon Baskin, codirector of the independent Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem.

"If Abbas's forces aren't strengthened with weapons, technical training, and money, Gaza is lost. That's the bottom line. Do the Americans and the Israelis want to write off Gaza to the Islamic fundamentalists?"

But the impression shared by many in Gaza that the US is helping Fatah in its power struggle with Hamas, rather than simply strengthening border security, could lead to a spiral of violence, some in Gaza warn.

"Palestinians believe the American support to Abbas is to take out Hamas rather than help secure the border crossings," says Omar Shaban, a political expert in Gaza who once worked as an adviser to Abbas.

The US has to "present it in a way that they are helping the PA and not the president's office," he said. Otherwise, "it puts more oil on the fire. There is a big fear within Hamas that these weapons will be used against them, which makes them take the initiative to get more weapons and to protect themselves … you are promoting the competition between the Fatah generals and Hamas."

While the US says that is not part of its goal, it will be difficult to convince Hamas supporters otherwise.

"All of the support by the US administration of the Presidential Guard has made a real crisis between the Hamas and the Presidential Guard," says Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza.

He accused the US of promoting sectarian strife across the Middle East to protect Israel.

"The new Middle East is dependant upon splitting the people into two sides," he says.

Mr. Baskin said that while the Israeli military establishment was at first leery of allowing shipments of arms to forces loyal to Abbas, the prevailing view among Israel's generals is that a direct military confrontation inside Gaza with Hamas is inevitable, so some generals believe it's worth arming Abbas first.

Whether a Palestinian civil war is good or bad for Israel, he said the military is split.

For Egypt, which is backing the US effort along with other secular authoritarian Arab states, anything that may weaken Hamas may be viewed as a positive. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most popular opposition movement, and currently hundreds of Brotherhood members are in Egyptian jails as political prisoners.

"We can not accept the point of view that the US and Egypt are trying to push this situation in Gaza to civil war, or to cause violence among Palestinian factions. Only pro-Hamas, pro-Muslim brotherhood people believe that," says Emad Gad, a political scientist at the Al Ahram Center for Strategic and International studies, which is partially funded by the Egyptian government.

"The Egyptian regime here is trying to minimize the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and any success for the Hamas government means more support for the Brotherhood in Egypt, so the Egyptian regime has to seek to minimize their role."

Mr. Gad says Egypt would also like to see the Mecca Agreement of earlier this year, which was brokered by Saudi Arabia and saw Hamas and Fatah enter into a unity government, fall by the wayside, since it legitimizes Hamas, a movement he says that stands in the way of "regional cooperation and an eventual settlement."

The internal Palestinian fighting has helped bolster the position of Fatah members like Mohammed Dahlan, who heads the Palestinian National Security Council. Mr. Dahlan, who has spent five years in prison for alleged terrorism against Israel, has considerable armed support in Gaza and his supporters have sought to destabilize Palestinian governments when he's been sidelined in the past.

Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0525/p07s02-wome.html

 

[MTAFFI]

17 killed in Palestinian infighting By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 10 minutes ago



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Rival gunmen exchanged fire at two Gaza hospitals on Monday and Cabinet ministers fled their weekly meeting after the government headquarters was caught in the crossfire of a brutal day of infighting that killed 17 Palestinians.

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The battles came a day after two militants from the rival Hamas and Fatah factions were dragged onto high-rise rooftops and thrown to their death in a power struggle that appears to be rapidly descending into all-out confrontation.

After sundown Monday, gunmen, apparently from Hamas, laid siege to the house of Jamal Abu al-Jediyan, the senior Fatah official in northern Gaza. They then dragged him outside and killed him, security officials said. Medics said he was hit by 45 bullets.

Al-Jediyan was a top aide to Gaza Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan and al-Jediyan's brother was also killed, apparently in the same shootout.

Fatah spokesman Maher Mikdad harshly denounced the killing and threatened revenge.

"What is this, if not a war," he said.

Fatah called on its members to target all Hamas political and military leaders.

The bloodiest clashes of the day took place in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Fatah and Hamas gunmen exchanged fire near Beit Hanoun Hospital, killing a Hamas supporter. The battle then moved to the hospital, where three men from a Fatah-allied clan were shot dead.

At Gaza's largest hospital, Shifa, combatants fired mortars, grenades and assault rifles.

Two other Palestinians were killed in battles late Monday night in northern Gaza, security and hospital officials said. Later, Hamas said one of its men, who was kidnapped earlier, was found dead in a Gaza street.

Early Tuesday, three women and a child were killed when Hamas militants attacked the home of a senior Fatah security official with mortars and grenades, security officials said. The gunmen seized Hassan Abu Rabie and killed his 14-year-old son and three other women in the house, hospital officials said.

Also, Fatah gunmen stormed the house of a Hamas lawmaker and burned it to the ground.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah gunmen kidnapped a Hamas activist and torched the car of a local Hamas politician, Hamas officials said.

Monday's deaths brought to more than 80 the number of Palestinians killed since the latest round of infighting erupted in May. The violence overshadowed attempts to revive Israeli-Palestinian contacts.

Appeals for calm by the leaders of the two rival camps, President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, went unheeded. Repeated attempts to secure a cease-fire have failed.

Haniyeh himself was apparently the target of an attack early on Monday when militants, apparently from the rival Fatah, fired at his home. No one was reported hurt in the incident.

Last week, Abbas called off a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; aides said he did not want to hold talks unless he could be assured of concrete results.

Monday's fighting marred the first day of matriculation exams for thousands of high school students in Gaza. Gunfire could be heard throughout Gaza City during the day.

"This is shameful for our people," Abbas, a moderate who has repeatedly condemned the violence, said during a visit to a West Bank school. "I call on everyone to stop this immediately, not only because of the examinations, but also for our people to live a normal life."

About 90 minutes into the weekly Cabinet meeting, shots hit the Gaza City building where the ministers had gathered.

Mohammed Madhoun, an aide to Haniyeh, said the building was apparently caught in the crossfire between rival Fatah and Hamas forces perched on nearby rooftops.

"The ministers are gone and the shooting is indiscriminate," he said shortly after the incident.

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a violent power struggle since Hamas defeated Fatah in January 2006 legislative elections, ending four decades of Fatah rule.

Hamas brought Fatah into its government in March in an effort to quell the internal strife, but the fighting reignited in mid-May over an unresolved dispute over who controls the powerful security forces.

The fighting took a grisly turn on Sunday, when Hamas militants kidnapped a member of Abbas' elite presidential guard, took him to the roof of a 15-story apartment building and threw him to his death.

That set off skirmishes throughout the city, including gun battles and shelling. Fatah militants surrounded the house of a Hamas mosque preacher, Mohammed al-Rifati, and killed him.

"They came up the stairs and broke open the door," said the preacher's 14-year-old son, Hamzeh. "He opened the door. He said, 'What do you want?' ... They held him and they shot him in the leg. He began screaming and blood was on the floor ... They put him on a mattress and took him."

And just before midnight, a Hamas activist was thrown off the 12th floor of a building and killed, security officials said, in an apparent retaliation for the earlier killing of the Fatah man.

The deadly infighting has overlapped with new clashes between Israel and Palestinian militants who have been firing rockets at southern Israeli communities bordering Gaza.

Early Monday, Palestinian militants fired five rockets into southern Israel, the army said. There were no injuries, but high school students in the battered border town of Sderot were moved to towns out of rocket range to take their final exams.

I noticed the Palestinians are back at it with each other again, lets hope they come to some sort of peace deal again soon

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

 

[Sami Zaatari]

well fatah are traitors anyway, they sold the ppl out, so although a major civil fight isnt good, it is for the best, take the traitors fatah out of gaza. fatah are your typical corrupt tyranical backstabbing arab regime you see all over the mid-east. all they want is power, and money.

 

[Skywalker]

well fatah are traitors anyway, they sold the ppl out, so although a major civil fight isnt good, it is for the best, take the traitors fatah out of gaza. fatah are your typical corrupt tyranical backstabbing arab regime you see all over the mid-east. all they want is power, and money.

Could you provide some facts or evidence to support your opinion(s)? To label someone a traitor is a huge thing, and should not be taken lightly, nor should the word 'traitor' be used lightly.

I noticed Hamas aren't very pro-progess either. When questioned about some of their actions on Hard Talk on BBC, one of the Hamas representatives couldn't answer a single question directly.

I think Palestinians need to understand that they currently don't have the power to topple Israel. Once they understand that, things can change for the better. In my opinion anyways.

 

[Gangster No.1]

Could you provide some facts or evidence to support your opinion(s)? To label someone a traitor is a huge thing, and should not be taken lightly, nor should the word 'traitor' be used lightly.

I noticed Hamas aren't very pro-progess either. When questioned about some of their actions on Hard Talk on BBC, one of the Hamas representatives couldn't answer a single question directly.

I think Palestinians need to understand that they currently don't have the power to topple Israel. Once they understand that, things can change for the better. In my opinion anyways.

The view we need 2 look at from where we are sitting is;

remember our mission, to justify our land in palestain/israel, and do what it needs to be done to get OUR land back!

Therefore:

the muslims there are still and will always fight untill the final blood of a muslim remains, to honour islam, and themselves, jihad is ALLOWED, and will always be used whenever, because that is our land, and we are permissable to fight for our own land!

my point is from your quote, I think Palestinians need to understand that they currently don't have the power to topple Israel. Once they understand that, things can change for the better. In my opinion anyways.[/QUOTE]


However i totally disagree.

Allah tells us to defend our lands, amongest our wealth, honour, familly.

How can ou expect us to stand down?

ALLAH HU AKBAR!
ALLAH WILL HELP US INSHLAH.

 

[MTAFFI]

Hamas captures Fatah positions By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer
53 minutes ago



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas fighters on Tuesday captured several positions from the rival Fatah movement and threatened to step up the offensive after a rocket-propelled grenade hit the home of the Hamas prime minister. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused his Hamas rivals of staging a coup.

There were no injuries in the early-morning attack on Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's home — the second in two days. But the attack underscored the increasingly ruthless nature of the fighting, which has killed 18 people in recent days. Exasperated Egyptian mediators said the bitter rivals turned down an appeal to meet for truce talks.

Heavy gun battles erupted in several locations, in what security officials described as a Hamas assault on positions of the Fatah-allied security forces.

Hamas-affiliated radio stations said the group took control of security installations in northern and central Gaza, as well as the southern town of Khan Younis.

Hamas also demanded that Fatah-allied security forces abandon their positions, threatening to attack those who remained in their posts.

"The warning which we have given you to surrender has ended, and we will attack this position of Zionist collaborators," Hamas warned over a mosque loudspeaker in Gaza City, shortly before taking up positions near the headquarters of the pro-Fatah Preventive Security Service. Later, there were heavy exchanges of fire.

In the West Bank, where Fatah forces are much stronger, Fatah gunmen threatened to retaliate by killing Hamas leaders. The deputy transportation minister of Hamas was seized by Fatah gunmen, Hamas said. There was no word on his condition.

Col. Nasser Khaldi, a Fatah commander in southern Gaza, confirmed his men were on the defensive. Khaldi said Abbas, the leader of Fatah, must give orders now to fight back.

"There is a weakness of our leaders," he said. "Hamas is just taking over our positions. There are no orders."

In the southern town of Khan Younis, streets were deserted. A member of the Fatah-allied forces there said that Hamas took several smaller Fatah positions, but that the main compound holding three branches was still under Fatah control. The officer said Hamas has taken over a building next to the compound. "Our orders are to defend ourselves if they come, but not to attack," he said.

Abbas was meeting with Fatah leaders at his headquarters in the West Bank to discuss the next steps. He accused Hamas of trying to seize control of Gaza by force and appealed for a new cease-fire. Earlier, four mortar shells hit his Gaza City compound, but caused no injuries.

"Some Hamas political and military leaders are planning to stage a coup, ... thinking they will be able to control Gaza by force," Abbas' office said in a statement.

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a violent power struggle since Hamas defeated Fatah in January 2006 legislative elections, ending four decades of Fatah rule.

The sides agreed to share power in an uneasy coalition three months ago, but put off key disputes, including wrangling over control of the security forces. Most of the forces are dominated by Fatah loyalists, while Hamas has formed its own militia over the past year in addition to the thousands of gunmen at its command.

In all, 18 Palestinians have been killed in two days in the latest spike of violence, which has grown increasingly brutal. Some people were shot at close range in street executions, others in shootouts that turned hospitals into battle grounds, while others were thrown from rooftops. Residents huddled indoors, and university exams were canceled.

Each group used Web sites and text messages to call for the execution of the other side's military and political leaders. Both sides described the fighting as all-out civil war. In all, more than 80 people have been killed since mid-May, most of them militants.

The head of the Egyptian mediation team, Lt. Col. Burhan Hamad, said neither side responded to his call to hold truce talks Tuesday.

"It seems they don't want to come. We must make them ashamed of themselves. They have killed all hope. They have killed the future," said Hamad, who brokered several previous short-lived cease-fires.

Hamad said both sides were about equal in firepower. "Neither can have a decisive victory," he said. "To be decisive, they need weapons that neither side has."

He said he would call civilians out into the streets to protest if the two rivals did not agree to stand down.

Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Hamas militia, brushed aside the latest truce efforts. "It's all talk. It's not serious," he said.

On Tuesday morning, a gun battle erupted at the European Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Hamas gunmen controlling the rooftop traded fire with Fatah-allied security forces posted nearby. Fifteen children attending a kindergarten in the line of fire were rushed into the main building of the hospital, funded largely by European donations.

Earlier in the day, a rocket-propelled grenade hit Haniyeh's home in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. His son, Abdel Salam, said a grenade hit the side of the house, damaging it, while the family was inside.

A Hamas Web site described the incident as an assassination attempt by Fatah. "They crossed all the red lines," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Elsewhere, a member of the Hamas military wing was kidnapped and executed by Fatah gunmen. The dead man was identified as a cousin of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader Israel assassinated in 2004.

Separately, Hamas gunmen attacked the home of a senior Fatah security official with mortars and grenades, killing his 14-year-old son and three women in the house, security officials said. Other Fatah gunmen stormed the house of a Hamas lawmaker and burned it to the ground.

The fighting also spilled into the West Bank, with Palestinian security forces seizing two employees of the Hamas-linked Al Aqsa TV station in the city of Ramallah and confiscating equipment. Fatah gunmen said Hamas leaders in the West Bank, a Fatah stronghold, would be targeted if Hamas doesn't halt its attacks in Gaza.

The latest fighting disrupted final exams for university and high school students. The three Gaza universities called off final exams set for Tuesday. High schools were trying to move test centers to areas out of the range of fire, said Mohammed Abu Shkeir, the deputy minister of education

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

This seems to be getting pretty bad again, I hope for peace for the Palestinians