| Revision as of 12:50, 17 August 2013 view sourceWickey-nl (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users7,037 edits Section back to background, to maintain timeline← Previous edit | Revision as of 15:00, 17 August 2013 view source Wickey-nl (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users7,037 edits US and Israeli involvement. Rewrite sectionTag: nowiki addedNext edit → | ||
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| ===US and Israeli involvement=== | ===US and Israeli involvement=== | ||
| Large part of the US aid to the Palestinian Authority aimed at improving the fighting ability of the Fatah-loyal ] (PG) to counter the strength of Hamas.<ref>, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 December 2006</ref> Israel allowed US training and delivery of light arms. The US insisted 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.<ref name=csm>, Christian Science Monitor, 25 May 2007</ref> | |||
| In November 2006, the US proposed the Quartet to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian security forces with additional guns and fighters, alarming other Western nations, who saw it as supporting one faction in a ''potential'' civil war. According to ], proposals included doubling the size of Abbas’s Presidential Guard and persuading Israel to allow thousands of rifles into Gaza. The US view was characterized by an observer as ''‘If there is going to be a fight, we might as well make sure the right person wins’''<ref>. Stephen Farrell, The Times, 18 November 2006</ref> | |||
| In December 2006, Egypt transfered a large quantity of arms and ammunition to PG in the Gaza Strip, with Israel's approval.<ref>, Haaretz, 28 December 2006</ref> | |||
| In January 2007, US officials expected to ask Congress for nearly $100 million in aid to help train and supply his expanding Presidential Guard. The Bush administration and Israel coordinated arms shipments to Abbas's forces from Egypt. | In January 2007, US officials expected to ask Congress for nearly $100 million in aid to help train and supply his expanding Presidential Guard. The Bush administration and Israel coordinated arms shipments to Abbas's forces from Egypt. | ||
| <ref name=Boston_Globe/> | |||
| <ref name=Boston_Globe/> In May 2007, US officials promised to continue funding a $84 million aid package aimed at improving the fighting ability of the Abbas Presidential Guard loyal to Fatah. Israel, too, allowed light arms to flow to members of the Presidential Guard. The US insisted 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.<ref>, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 May 2007</ref><ref name=Boston_Globe/><ref>, San Francisco Chronicle, December 14, 2006</ref><ref>, ''The Times'', November 18, 2006</ref><ref>, Haaretz, December 28, 2006</ref> | |||
| == The battle == | == The battle == | ||
Revision as of 15:00, 17 August 2013
| Battle of Gaza | |||||||||
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| Part of the Fatah–Hamas conflict | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Hamas | File:Fatah flag.jpg Fatah | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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120 combatants 39 civilians 2 UN personnel | |||||||||
| Blockade of the Gaza Strip |
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| Crossings |
| 2004 - 2009 |
| 2010 |
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| 2011 - present |
| Groups involved |
The Battle of Gaza (Template:Lang-ar) was a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah that took place between 10 and 15 June 2007 in the Gaza Strip. After winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, Hamas formed a Hamas dominated government headed by Ismail Haniya, followed by a national unity government with Fatah in March 2007. In June 2007 Hamas fighters took control of the Gaza Strip and removed Fatah officials. In the preceding periode, the US and Israel apparently strengthened Fatah's military power to topple Hamas. The ICRC estimated that at least 118 people were killed and more than 550 wounded during the fighting in the week up to June 15.
Background
Main article: Fatah-Hamas conflictThe conflict between Fatah and Hamas had been simmering since Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006.
Ahead the elections, Hamas dropped its 1988 call for the destruction of Israel but said that it had a "right to act to regain its rights and end the occupation by using all means, including armed resistance" as part of "national liberation". A Hamas candidate said that a final decision on whether to recognise Israel would be left to future generations.
Following the elections, the Quartet (United States, Russia, United Nations, and European Union) conditioned future foreign assistance to the PA on the future government's commitment to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements. Hamas has resisted such changes, leading to Quartet suspension of its foreign assistance program and Israel imposing economic sanctions. The US and Israel attempted to undermine Hamas and force it from power while strengthening President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah's position. Russia invited Hamas leaders to Moscow for talks that were intended "to move toward a situation in which Hamas is a legitimate and useful part of the Middle East peace process."
Several months after Hamas' 2006 election victory, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh sent a letter to US president Bush, in which he called on the "American government to have direct negotiations with the elected government", offered a longterm truce with Israel, while accepting a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and urged an end the international boycott, claiming that it would "encourage violence and chaos". The US government did not respond and maintained its boycott.
The major conflict in Gaza surfaced in December 2006 centered on Hamas executive force attempts to control Gaza instead of Fatah.
On 8 February 2007, Saudi-sponsored negotiations in Mecca produced agreement on a national unity government, signed by Abbas on behalf of Fatah and Khaled Mashal on behalf of Hamas. The new government was called on to achieve Palestinian national goals as approved by the Palestine National Council, the clauses of the Basic Law and the National Reconciliation Document (the "Prisoners' Document") as well as the decisions of the Arab summit.
On 17 March 2007, the Palestinian Legislative Council established a national unity government, with 83 representatives voting in favor and three against. Government ministers were sworn in by Abu Mazen, the chairman on the Palestinian Authority, at a ceremony held simultaneously in Gaza and Ramallah. In June that year, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip from the national unity government after forcing out Fatah.
US and Israeli involvement
Large part of the US aid to the Palestinian Authority aimed at improving the fighting ability of the Fatah-loyal Presidential Guard (PG) to counter the strength of Hamas. Israel allowed US training and delivery of light arms. The US insisted 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.
In November 2006, the US proposed the Quartet to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian security forces with additional guns and fighters, alarming other Western nations, who saw it as supporting one faction in a potential civil war. According to The Times, proposals included doubling the size of Abbas’s Presidential Guard and persuading Israel to allow thousands of rifles into Gaza. The US view was characterized by an observer as ‘If there is going to be a fight, we might as well make sure the right person wins’
In December 2006, Egypt transfered a large quantity of arms and ammunition to PG in the Gaza Strip, with Israel's approval.
In January 2007, US officials expected to ask Congress for nearly $100 million in aid to help train and supply his expanding Presidential Guard. The Bush administration and Israel coordinated arms shipments to Abbas's forces from Egypt.
The battle
After the re-ignition of the Fatah-Hamas conflict on 10 June 2007, Hamas militants seized several Fatah members and threw one of them, Mohammed Sweirki, an officer in the elite Palestinian Presidential Guard, off the top of the tallest building in Gaza, a 15-story apartment building. In retaliation, Fatah militants attacked and killed the imam of the city's Great Mosque, Mohammed al-Rifati. They also opened fire on the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Just before midnight, a Hamas militant was thrown off a 12-story building.
On 11 June, the residences of both Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader and the Palestinian Authority president, and of then-Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, were targeted with gun and shell fire.
On 12 June, Hamas began attacking posts held by their Fatah faction rivals. Hundreds of Hamas fighters had moved on the positions after giving their occupants two hours to leave. A major Fatah base in the northern town of Jabaliya fell to Hamas fighters, witnesses told AFP news agency. Heavy fighting also raged around the main Fatah headquarters in Gaza City, with Hamas militants attacking with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons.
On 13 June, Hamas seized the headquarters of the Fatah-controlled National Security Forces in northern Gaza. Gunmen fought for control of high-rise buildings serving as sniper positions and Hamas said it had bulldozed a Fatah outpost controlling Gaza's main north-south road. Also on that day, an explosion wrecked the Khan Younis headquarters of the Fatah-linked Preventive Security Service, killing five people.
On 14 June, Hamas gunmen completed the takeover of the central building of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service's headquarters in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas members took over vehicles and weapons in the compound, which was considered the Palestinian Authority's main symbol in the Strip. The Preventive Security Service cooperated with Israel in the past, and has been armed by the United States. It has been identified with Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who has become a figure hated by the Islamists in Gaza. The gunmen who entered the compound held a prayer there and waved a flag on the building's rooftop. At least 10 people were killed. Hamas TV broadcast a display of weapons inside the building, as well as jeeps, mortar shells and bulletproof vests seized in the compound, which according to Hamas, were smuggled to Fatah by Israel and the Americans in the past few months through the border with Egypt.
Hamas members held a prayer in the compound, which they referred to as the "heresy compound." Hamas also changed the name of the neighborhood where the building is located from "Tel al-Hawa" to "Tel al-Islam."
On the afternoon of 14 June, the Associated Press reported an explosion that rocked Gaza City. According to Fatah officials, security forces withdrew from their post and blew it up in order to not let Hamas take it over. The security forces afterwards repositioned to another location. Later on 14 June, Hamas also took control of the southern Gaza Strip city Rafah which lies near an already closed border crossing with Egypt, which is monitored by Israeli, Palestinian and European Union security forces. The EU staff had, at that time, already been relocated to the Israeli city of Ashkelon for safety reasons. On 14 June Abbas dissolved the Palestinian-Hamas unity government, on June 15, Hamas completed the control over Gaza.
Militairy coup
As a result of the battle, Hamas got complete control of Gaza. The pro-Fatah view is, that it was a plain military coup by Hamas. The pro-Hamas view is, that the US drew up a plan to arm Fatah cadres with the aim of forcefully removing Hamas from power in Gaza. According to the pro-Hamas view, Fatah fighters, led by strongman Mohammed Dahlan with logistical support from the US Central Intelligence Agency, were planning to carry out a bloody coup against Hamas. Then, Hamas pre-emptively took control over Gaza.
In an April 2008 article in Vanity Fair magazine, the journalist David Rose published confidential documents, apparently originating from the US State Department, which would prove that the United States collaborated with the Palestinian Authority and Israel to attempt the violent overthrow of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and that Hamas pre-empted the coup. The documents suggest that a government with Hamas should meet the demands of the Middle East Quartet, otherwise President Mahmoud Abbas should declare a state of emergency, which effectively would dissolve of the current unity government or the government should collapse by other means. Rose quotes former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief Middle East adviser David Wurmser, accusing the Bush administration of “engaging in a dirty war in an effort to provide a corrupt dictatorship with victory.” He believes that Hamas had no intention of taking Gaza until Fatah forced its hand. “It looks to me that what happened wasn’t so much a coup by Hamas but an attempted coup by Fatah that was pre-empted before it could happen”
Division of government
On 14 June 2007 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the current unity government and the declaration of a state of emergency. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya was dismissed, and Abbas ruled Gaza and the West Bank by presidential decree. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded by declaring that President Abbas' decision was "in practical terms...worthless", asserting that Mr. Haniya "remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president". Experts in Palestinian law and independent members of the PLC have questioned the legality of the Fayyad government. According to the Palestinian Basic Law, the President can dismiss the Prime Minister but the dismissed government continues to function as a caretaker government until a new government is formed and receives a vote of confidence from an absolute majority of the Palestinian Legislative Council. To date, the Hamas-majority PLC has yet to meet and confirm the Fayyad government.
As a result of the conflict, the territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority is de facto divided into two entities: the Hamas-controlled government of the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, governed by the Palestinian National Authority.
On 18 June key international powers, including the EU, US and Israel showed public support for the new administration without Hamas. The EU and US normalized the tie to the Palestinian National Authority and resumed direct aid. Israel announced it would return frozen tax revenue of about USD800m to the new administration.
Violations of international law
These attacks by both Hamas and Fatah constitute brutal assaults on the most fundamental humanitarian principles. The murder of civilians not engaged in hostilities and the willful killing of captives are war crimes, pure and simple.
— Sarah Leah Whitson,
Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch accused both sides with violations of international humanitarian law, in some cases amounting to war crimes. The accusations include the targeting and killing of civilians, public executions of political opponents and captives, throwing prisoners off high-rise apartment buildings, fighting in hospitals, and shooting from a jeep marked with "TV" insignias. The International Committee of the Red Cross has denounced attacks in and around two hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza strip.
During the fighting several incidents of looting took place: a crowd took furniture, wall tiles and personal belongings from the villa of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; the home of former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan was also looted: "An AFP correspondent witnessed dozens of Palestinians taking everything they could carry from Dahlan's villa – furniture, pot plants and even the kitchen sink, complete with plumbing fixtures such as taps,"; and at the Muntada, Abbas's seafront presidential compound, witnesses reported seeing Hamas fighters remove computers, documents and guns.
Aftermath
Blockade
After the takeover, Israel and Egypt began a blockade of the Gaza Strip. The border would not reopen until the breach of the Gaza-Egypt border in 2008.
Possible religious consequences
A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fouzi Barhoum, said earlier that Hamas was imposing Islamic law in Gaza but this was denied by exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza. "I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza." The sole Christian bookstore in Gaza was attacked and the owner murdered.
Weapons
Hamas has captured thousands of small arms and eight armored combat vehicles supplied by the United States, Egypt, and Jordan to the Palestinian Authority.
According to Muhammad Abdel-El of the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees, Hamas and its allies have captured quantities of foreign intelligence, including CIA files. Abu Abdullah of Hamas' "military wing", the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claims Hamas will make portions of the documents public, in a stated attempt to expose covert relations between the United States and "traitor" Arab countries.
While Hamas collected most of the 15,000 weapons registered to the former security forces, it failed to collect more than a fraction of the 400,000 weapons that are in the hands of various clans, and said that it would not touch weapons used for fighting Israel, only those that might be used against Hamas.
Notes
- Palestinian Center for Human Rights
- ^ Hamas battles for control of Gaza, BBC News Online, June 13, 2007.
- ^ Guardian, 15 June 2007, Hamas takes control of Gaza
- Gaza-Westbank – ICRC Bulletin No. 22 / 2007, AlertNet. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
- Chris McGreal, Hamas drops call for destruction of Israel from manifesto. The Guardian, 12 January 2006
- ^ Abbas outlaws Hamas's paramilitary Executive Force. Richard Boudreaux, The Boston Globe, 7 January 2007
- U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster.. New York Times, 14 February 2006. "recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements ... or face isolation and collapse."
- ^ Erlanger, Steven (February 18, 2006). "Hamas Leader Faults Israeli Sanction Plan". The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
- Haniyeh wrote the letter on 6 June 2006. In 2006 letter to Bush, Haniyeh offered compromise with Israel. Haaretz, 14 November 2008
- "The Palestinian National Unity Government". February 24, 2007. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
- U.S. training Fatah in anti-terror tactics, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 December 2006
- Israel, US, and Egypt back Fatah's fight against Hamas, Christian Science Monitor, 25 May 2007
- Diplomats fear US wants to arm Fatah for 'war on Hamas'. Stephen Farrell, The Times, 18 November 2006
- Israeli defense official: Fatah arms transfer bolsters forces of peace, Haaretz, 28 December 2006
- Haaretz/Associated Press, 10 June 2007, Palestinian gunmen target Haniyeh's home in Gaza. On web.archive.org
- Abraham Rabinovich, Deadly escalation in Fatah-Hamas feud. The Australian, 12 June 2007. On web.archive.org
- Hamas launches new Gaza attacks, BBC News Online, June 12, 2007.
- ^ A pyrrhic victory, The Guardian, June 16, 2007.
- ^ We'll execute Fatah leaders, Israel News, June 14, 2007.
- Update, cnn.com.
- http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1282
- This ‘Bombshell’ Took a Year Falling. Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, Inter Press Service, 2 April 2008
- 1. Talking points. US State Department, date unknown; 2. Plan B. US State Department, 2007; 3. An action plan for the Palestinian Presidency. US State Department, 2 March 2007
- ^ The Gaza Bombshell. David Rose, Vanity Fair, April 2008. Original without links.
- "Abbas Dissolves Palestinian Authority Government in Wake of Hamas-Fatah War". Fox News. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on June 16 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|archivedate=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - Levinson, Charles (June 14, 2007). "Abbas declares state of emergency in Gaza". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on June 18 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|archivedate=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - "Abbas sacks Hamas-led government". BBC News. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|archivedate=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Abrahams, Fred; Human Rights Watch (2008). Internal fight: Palestinian abuses in Gaza and the West Bank. Human Rights Watch. p. 14.
- Erlanger, Steven (June 13, 2007). "Hamas Forces Seize Control Over Much of Gaza". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
- "Key powers back Abbas government". BBC News. June 18, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
- ^ Gaza: Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes, Human Rights Watch, June 13, 2007.
- Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes, HRW via BBSNews, New York, June 14, 2007.
- Hospitals offer no safety in Gaza strip, ABC News, June 13, 2007.
- Crowd loots Gaza home of Arafat, Ali Waked and Reuters, June 16, 2007.
- ^ Hamas goes on Gaza looting spree, IOL, June 15, 2007.
- Hamas controls Gaza, says it will stay in power
- 'Christians must accept Islamic rule' – Israel News, Ynetnews
- Ormestad, Catrin (April 30, 2010). "'I know how to make you a Muslim' – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News". Haaretz. Israel. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
- Hamas seizes US-financed weapons, equipment, Middle East Newsline, June 14, 2007.
- "Few Gazans turn in weapons as Hamas deadline for arms collection expires". Haaretz. AP. June 21, 2007.
External links
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| All-Palestine | |
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