Palestinian Split Poses a Policy Quandary for U.S.

This NY Times News Analysis discusses the idea that Israel and the US may consider dealing with Fatah and Hamas controlled areas as two separate entities.

JERUSALEM, June 16 — With the two Palestinian territories increasingly isolated from each other by a week of brutal warfare between rival factions, Israel and the United States seem agreed on a policy to treat them as separate entities to support Fatah in the West Bank and squeeze Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The idea is to concentrate Western efforts and money on the occupied West Bank, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction control, in an effort to make it the shining model of a new Palestine that will somehow bring Gaza, and the radical Islamic group Hamas, to terms.

As Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, who arrives in the United States on Sunday to meet with American officials, said, a Fatah government, shorn of Hamas, “can be a new opening.”

After the failure of the Palestinian unity government, Mr. Olmert said in an interview with The New York Times, “I suggest we look at things in a much more realistic manner and with less self-deceit.”

But like all seemingly elegant solutions in this region, this one has many pitfalls. It is entirely unclear whether Hamas would sit still during such an effort, whether Mr. Abbas would be willing to ignore the 1.5 million residents of Gaza or whether the separation strategy would gain the crucial support of the Arab world.

Photo of the Day

Fatah gunmen attacking Hamas offices in Nablus today.

Palestinian President Dissolves Government

Things continue to get worse in the Middle East as Palestine continues an all-out civil war between Hamas and Fatah. Just another reason why we need to remove ourselves from this region.

JERUSALEM, June 14 — The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, dissolved the unity government today, dismissing the prime minister, Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and announced the establishment of a temporary emergency government until new elections can be held.

Mr. Abbas, who belongs to Fatah, also declared a state of emergency in measures that were announced by his aides in Ramallah and Gaza.

The decisions were taken as Mr. Abbas faced the further collapse of his power as fierce clashes continued and Hamas fighters took over the headquarters of Fatah’s Preventive Security forces and the military intelligence building in Gaza City.

Today’s assaults on Fatah put Hamas close to full control of Gaza. Only the presidential compound of Mr. Abbas and the Suraya headquarters of the National Security Forces, the Palestinian army, remained under Fatah’s control. But Hamas had surrounded Al Suraya, calling on the occupants to surrender, and the compound was under attack today.

Mr. Abbas came under pressure from within Fatah and from some of his other allies to suspend participation in the so-called unity government with Hamas, which began in March, and to declare a state of emergency.

Palestinian Leaders Targeted in Rising Violence

Things are beginning to really break down in Palestine as fighting grows towards a civil war.

JERUSALEM, June 12 — Gunmen of Hamas and Fatah, ignoring pleas from Egypt and from the Palestinian president, sharply escalated their fight for supremacy in Gaza today, with Hamas taking over much of the northern Gaza Strip.

Both sides accused the other of attempting a coup in what increasingly began to look like a civil war. Hamas demanded that security forces loyal to the rival Fatah movement abandon their positions in northern and central Gaza, while Fatah’s leaders met in the West Bank to decide whether to pull out of the national unity government and even the legislature in protest.

The unity government, negotiated in March under Saudi auspices, put Fatah ministers into a Hamas-led government in an effort to secure renewed international aid and recognition and to stop already serious fighting between the two factions.

But the new government has failed to achieve either goal, and it appeared to many in Gaza that the gunmen were not listening to their political leaders. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, is considered under increasing pressure to abandon the unity government he championed and once again try to order new elections, which Hamas has said it will oppose by any means.

“Tonight we may find ourselves at the beginning of a civil war,” said Talal Okal, a Gazan political scientist. “It’s not a civil war yet, but it is going in that direction. Maybe today or tomorrow. If Abbas decides to move his security forces onto the attack, and not to only defend, we’ll find ourselves in a much wider cycle.”