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Last update - 09:17 04/10/2006
Not an internal Palestinian matter
By Amira Hass

The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called "what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens."

These are the steps in the experiment: Imprison (since 1991); remove the prisoners' usual means of livelihood; seal off all outlets to the outside world, nearly hermetically; destroy existing means of livelihood by preventing the entry of raw materials and the marketing of goods and produce; prevent the regular entry of medicines and hospital supplies; do not bring in fresh food for weeks on end; prevent, for years, the entry of relatives, professionals, friends and others, and allow thousands of people - the sick, heads of families, professionals, children - to be stuck for weeks at the locked gates of the Gaza Strip's only entry/exit.

Steal hundreds of millions of dollars (customs and tax revenues collected by Israel that belong to the Palestinian treasury), so as to force the nonpayment of the already low salaries of most government employees for months; present the firing of homemade Qassam rockets as a strategic threat that can only be stopped by harming women, children and the old; fire on crowded residential neighborhoods from the air and the ground; destroy orchards, groves and fields.

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Dispatch planes to frighten the population with sonic booms; destroy the new power plant and force the residents of the closed-off Strip to live without electricity for most of the day for a period of four months, which will most likely turn into a full year - in other words, a year without refrigeration, electric fans, television, lights to study and read by; force them to get by without a regular supply of water, which is dependent on the electricity supply.

It is the good old Israeli experiment called "put them into a pressure cooker and see what happens," and this is one of the reasons why this is not an internal Palestinian matter.

The success of the experiment can be seen in the miasma of desperation that hangs over the Gaza Strip, and in the clan feuding that erupts almost daily there, even more than in the battles between Fatah and Hamas militants. One can only wonder that the feuding is not more frequent, and that some bonds of internal solidarity have been maintained, which saves people from hunger.

In contrast to the feuding between clans, Sunday's battles in Gaza and campaigns of destruction and intimidation, mainly in West Bank cities, were not the result of a momentary loss of control. They are generally viewed as battles between two militias, each of which represents one half of the population, but they were initiated by groups within Fatah to put a few more nails into the coffin of the elected leadership.

The security forces of the Palestinian Authority - in other words, of Fatah, or in still other words, the ones that Mahmoud Abbas is in charge of - are hiding behind the genuine distress and protests of public employees who have not been receiving regular salaries. And they are doing so despite the fact that everyone knows that the failure to pay salaries is not a managerial failure, but is above all due to Israeli policy. These forces were dispatched in order to sow organized anarchy, as taught in the school of Yasser Arafat.

And why is this, too, an Israeli matter? Because those who dispatched these militants have a shared interest with Israel in regressing to a situation in which the Palestinian leadership collaborates with the appearance of holding peace talks, while Israel continues its occupation and the international community sends hush money in the form of salaries for the Palestinian public sector.

And there is another reason why this is also an internal Israeli issue: Whatever the outcome, the Palestinian feuding and the risk of civil war directly affect about 20 percent of Israeli citizens, the Arabs. They affect the Arabs, and also those segments of the Israeli public that have not forgotten that Israel will remain the occupying and ruling force over the Palestinians as long as the goal of establishing a Palestinian state in all of the territories occupied in 1967 is not realized.
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  1.   How is it as Jews that we`ve come to this? 09:34  |  Bruno 04/10/06
  2.   Rice`s Visit 09:35  |  Rowan Berkeley 04/10/06
  3.   Bruno 09:49  |  Fletch 04/10/06
  4.   Yes, the Left has succeeded! 09:50  |  FOX 04/10/06
  5.   thank god! 09:53  |  PS 04/10/06
  6.   Thank you for a clear view 09:53  |  Brigitte Meier 04/10/06
  7.   Israel will hold responsible? 09:56  |  Boris 04/10/06
  8.   #1 well said 09:57  |  lebanese girl 04/10/06
  9.   Time to Stop Blaming Israel 09:58  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  10.   Vicious people gat what they deserve 10:06  |  Bob Kay 04/10/06
  11.   Vicious people gat what they deserve 10:07  |  Bob Kay 04/10/06
  12.   Amira Hass Inciting Hatred again with propaganda 10:08  |  Jabadini 04/10/06
  13.   Why no mention of Hamas and Meshal ? 10:08  |  Josh 04/10/06
  14.   Terry Brodsky 10:11  |  Fletch 04/10/06
  15.   Bravo Amira Hass , excellent article 10:11  |  fatima 04/10/06
  16.   Here`s a fresh idea: blame Israel! 10:12  |  TM (jewlicious.com) 04/10/06
  17.   Amira Hass Inciting Hatred again with propaganda II 10:13  |  Jabadini 04/10/06
  18.   Question as usual what have the pals done for peace 10:14  |  Jabadini 04/10/06
  19.   To Bridgette in MA 10:15  |  FOX 04/10/06
  20.   Terry Brodsky # 9 10:15  |  fatima 04/10/06
  21.   Treat the Palestinians like adults 10:15  |  Israel Israeli 04/10/06
  22.   Words to frustration. 10:15  |  Eckedin 04/10/06
  23.   RUNNING OUT OF STEAM 10:15  |  ron 04/10/06
  24.   Colonialst Amira... 10:17  |  Jack 04/10/06
  25.   Just can`t trust them with money 10:30  |  Ariel 04/10/06
  26.   Brava Amira Hass, Thanks 10:38  |  Clickright 04/10/06
  27.   CIVIL WAR a historical imperative 10:40  |  PROF HEAD 04/10/06
  28.   Good Job, Israel 10:43  |  shoshana 04/10/06
  29.   Thanks Amira 10:45  |  Ali 04/10/06
  30.   Amira Hass 10:48  |  Maureen S 04/10/06
  31.   Not An Article Written To Bring Peace 10:49  |  Anand 04/10/06
  32.   Ok, someone explain 10:49  |  Maral 04/10/06
  33.   @24 Jack and colonialist thinking 10:50  |  Jeroen 04/10/06
  34.   Reply to Fatima #20 11:01  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  35.   Reply to Fatima #20 11:01  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  36.   Reply to Fatima #20 11:01  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  37.   Reply to Fatima #20 11:01  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  38.   Reply to Fatima #20 11:01  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  39.   Reply to Fatima #20 11:01  |  Terry Brodsky 04/10/06
  40.   "Collective punishment", in brief 11:10  |  Maral 04/10/06
  41.   What if ? 11:17  |  kym 04/10/06
  42.   Experiments 11:17  |  sh 04/10/06
  43.   amira haas behaves likes the old jewish communists 11:17  |  zadok the priest 04/10/06
  44.   Hass will no matter what always accuse the Jews 11:18  |  Shalom Freedman 04/10/06
  45.   analogy with the jewish communists 11:19  |  zadok the priest 04/10/06
  46.   Prof Head 11:20  |  Walid 04/10/06
  47.   Prof Head 11:20  |  Walid 04/10/06
  48.   "these are the steps in the experiment" 11:22  |  zadok the priest 04/10/06
  49.   Bruno 11:23  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 04/10/06
  50.   ok amira let us say that there is no electricity 11:26  |  zadok the priest 04/10/06
  51.   "they tried to present the qassems as a strategic 11:30  |  zadok the priest 04/10/06
  52.   Jack 11:33  |  Walid 04/10/06
  53.   Stop blaming Israel I couldnt agree more! 11:33  |  Shira 04/10/06
  54.   The Pals could have more money if they 11:35  |  Dave 04/10/06
  55.   even 11:37  |  barosh 04/10/06
  56.   Israel Israeli 11:40  |  Walid 04/10/06
  57.   Fatima, Why don`t you blame your self. 11:40  |  Aby 04/10/06
  58.   FATIMA: Correct my confusion 11:40  |  Brant 04/10/06
  59.   They are killing themselves, we have clean hands 11:42  |  Vadim 04/10/06
  60.   What worked? 11:42  |  Salim 04/10/06
  61.   to Jack on colonialism 11:45  |  Wondering 04/10/06
  62.   Amira Hass and the truth 11:49  |  Marie 04/10/06
  63.   starving palestinians 11:49  |  nina 04/10/06
  64.   Weird Iranians! 11:54  |  Observer 04/10/06
  65.   ali why not just release gilead shalit? 11:58  |  shylock 04/10/06
  66.   amira hass 12:02  |  michel wandel 04/10/06
  67.   A COMPARISON BETWEEN MUHAMMED AND JESUS CHRIST 12:03  |  A Serious Seeker 04/10/06
  68.   Jabadini 12:03  |  Walid 04/10/06
  69.   It`s simply wrong 12:03  |  John of Jordan 04/10/06
  70.   IRAQ AS AN EXAMPLE 12:09  |  Marilyn 04/10/06
  71.   Self inflicted misery 12:10  |  Jack 04/10/06
  72.   What has Israel done for peace? 12:14  |  Marilyn 04/10/06
  73.   #32 Maral, you are contemplating the solution to 12:16  |  Virginia 04/10/06
  74.   Thank You Amira Hass for Saying the Truth 12:19  |  Karim 04/10/06
  75.   Amira move to Gaza and pick up arms fight like a Jew not a Pal!!! 12:23  |  arthur 04/10/06
  76.   amira moove to shderot you willlive the real life 12:24  |  avi 04/10/06
  77.   #32 Maral, you are contemplating the solution to 12:24  |  Virginia 04/10/06
  78.   "Good Job Israel" 12:28  |  Tony Price 04/10/06
  79.   Responsibility and Blame 12:32  |  Ronnie Wolman 04/10/06
  80.   palestians can do no wrong Israel can do no right 12:32  |  zionist forever 04/10/06
  81.   #21 - Want to do them a favor? Simply ask... 12:39  |  Virginia 04/10/06
  82.