PA two-step
On Shabbat five Kassam rockets fell on Sderot. After the death of 7 members of a family on the Gaza beach last week, that the Hamas Government blamed on IDF shelling, there was a huge rocket barrage and then there were two days when only one rocket fell each day, supposedly because Hamas decided to continue its ceasefire. The hunger strikers in Sderot, outside the Minister of Defence Amir Peretz's home, thought the lull might be permanent, but the subsequent increase disabused them and they decided to continue their strike, even though Peretz asked them to stop. It is not clear whether or not Hamas is responsible for any of these launchings, but on Saturday night a group of Islamic Jihad terrorists were caught in their car near Beit Haniya and two were killed in an Israeli helicopter missile strike.
The rockets on Sderot have not killed anyone lately, but they have caused significant damage to factories, homes and schools, and have made life in Sderot for 20,000 people almost unbearable. Nevertheless, very few poeple are leaving the town and no-one is apparently selling their homes. Most people think that the IDF will come up with a solution, but so far the the Government prefers to sit back and threaten.
Olmert and Peretz at today's Cabinet meeting stated that they were satisfied by the IDF investigation that the IDF was not responsible for the incident on the beach and they will not support an international investigation. But, the PA is calling for an international investigation in order to blame Israel. There was a piece on the news that a German reporter was manipulated by the PA into trying to get him to write a false report about the event, but he refused. On the other hand, three British newspapers rejected the IDF investigation.
These actions are going on against the background of Hamas-Fatah negotiations in the PA to avert a major crisis between them. Since Hamas strongly opposes any referendum on the so-called Prisoner's Plan, believing that they would lose and be forced to resign, Pres. Abbas has apparently agreed to forgo the referendum if Hamas agrees to sign a document that merges their militia into the official Palestinian security forces under Abbas' control, and accept the implicit recognition of Israel within its pre-June 1967 borders.
No such Plan will be acceptable to Israel as it is, and several commentators have pointed out that this Plan falls far short of the Road Map plan that Abbas himself has signed (it gives the Palestinians the right to continue the 'armed struggle' in the "occupied territories" and the "right of return" for all refugees). Nevertheless, one can see this Plan as a means that Abbas is using to try to bring Hamas under his control.
Some have also pointed out that since this is clearly part of the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas, Abbas is using it to gain Fatah objectives, i.e. more power without in fact reforming his party. So that there has been no attempt on his part to clean house and remove any of the old-time corrupt politicians from Fatah (including many former Arafat cronies) that were partly the reason for the Fatah defeat in the first place. So Fatah is gaining by not being forced to reform and Hamas is gaining by being forced to become legitimate.
But, since they cannot legitimately obtain foreign funds, the Hamas Government has found an illegal way to do so, by smuggling cash through the Rafah Crossing from Egypt. Last week Hamas FM Sadeh was found to have smuggled m$20 (yes $20 million!) in several suitcases. The EU monitors of the crossing, set up in conjunction with Israel and Egypt, say that this contravenes the agreement, but Sadeh disagrees, he says that as a member of the Hamas Government he can bring anything he likes through the crossing, and this presumably includes smuggled arms.
The Olmert Government also started the process of consultations with the settler's council (Yesha) and the Peace Now group to decide how to resolve the issues of the so-called "illegal" settlements (actually they are technically not illegal, but rather "not approved"). This may result in a compromise in which some will be removed and others will be approved. This may be the first preliminary step towards Olmert's realignment plan.
The rockets on Sderot have not killed anyone lately, but they have caused significant damage to factories, homes and schools, and have made life in Sderot for 20,000 people almost unbearable. Nevertheless, very few poeple are leaving the town and no-one is apparently selling their homes. Most people think that the IDF will come up with a solution, but so far the the Government prefers to sit back and threaten.
Olmert and Peretz at today's Cabinet meeting stated that they were satisfied by the IDF investigation that the IDF was not responsible for the incident on the beach and they will not support an international investigation. But, the PA is calling for an international investigation in order to blame Israel. There was a piece on the news that a German reporter was manipulated by the PA into trying to get him to write a false report about the event, but he refused. On the other hand, three British newspapers rejected the IDF investigation.
These actions are going on against the background of Hamas-Fatah negotiations in the PA to avert a major crisis between them. Since Hamas strongly opposes any referendum on the so-called Prisoner's Plan, believing that they would lose and be forced to resign, Pres. Abbas has apparently agreed to forgo the referendum if Hamas agrees to sign a document that merges their militia into the official Palestinian security forces under Abbas' control, and accept the implicit recognition of Israel within its pre-June 1967 borders.
No such Plan will be acceptable to Israel as it is, and several commentators have pointed out that this Plan falls far short of the Road Map plan that Abbas himself has signed (it gives the Palestinians the right to continue the 'armed struggle' in the "occupied territories" and the "right of return" for all refugees). Nevertheless, one can see this Plan as a means that Abbas is using to try to bring Hamas under his control.
Some have also pointed out that since this is clearly part of the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas, Abbas is using it to gain Fatah objectives, i.e. more power without in fact reforming his party. So that there has been no attempt on his part to clean house and remove any of the old-time corrupt politicians from Fatah (including many former Arafat cronies) that were partly the reason for the Fatah defeat in the first place. So Fatah is gaining by not being forced to reform and Hamas is gaining by being forced to become legitimate.
But, since they cannot legitimately obtain foreign funds, the Hamas Government has found an illegal way to do so, by smuggling cash through the Rafah Crossing from Egypt. Last week Hamas FM Sadeh was found to have smuggled m$20 (yes $20 million!) in several suitcases. The EU monitors of the crossing, set up in conjunction with Israel and Egypt, say that this contravenes the agreement, but Sadeh disagrees, he says that as a member of the Hamas Government he can bring anything he likes through the crossing, and this presumably includes smuggled arms.
The Olmert Government also started the process of consultations with the settler's council (Yesha) and the Peace Now group to decide how to resolve the issues of the so-called "illegal" settlements (actually they are technically not illegal, but rather "not approved"). This may result in a compromise in which some will be removed and others will be approved. This may be the first preliminary step towards Olmert's realignment plan.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:15 PM
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