This morning three children were killed in the Gaza strip. The incident sounds mysterious. This was not a stray IDF artillery shoot, but "unknown gunmen" who did kill exactly those they wanted to kill.
We will have to go back a bit to set this murder into context.
In 2005 the Palestinians had a presidential election. Mahmoud Abbas was a Fatah candidate as was Marwan Barghouti, who at that time was imprisoned by Israel. Both had about equal chances. After pressure, Marwan Barghouti, who polled at least equal to Abbas, retracted his candidacy.
Hamas, the second relevent party, boycotted the election. There were several other candidates from smaller parties. Abbas did win the election, heavily obstructed by Israel, with 62% of the votes. Some of the circumstances looked dubious, but the result was respected.
In January 2006, the parliament elections took place. Hamas won 74 of the 132 seats and offered Fatah to form a coalition government. Fatah concided defeat and choosed not to take part in the government.
Israel, with support of the EU and the the U.S., launched a "destabilization plan". It cut off tax funds owned to the new Palestinian Hamas government and all help payments were stopped.
In May some reports pointed to the arming of Abbas’ Fatah by the EU, the U.S. and some Arabian U.S. client states. BBC reported:
Israel says it will allow security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to be supplied with weapons from third countries.
Another report said:
While European Union countries like Spain would provide non-lethal equipment, senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said that Egypt and Jordan were pledging guns and ammunition.
Western countries want to ensure Abbas emerges victorious in any power struggle with the militant group Hamas, which now controls the Palestinian government.
Diplomats said Abbas’s presidential guard, once fully expanded and equipped, could be deployed to hunt down militants that Hamas won’t rein in and to step in if fighting breaks out among Palestinian factions.
In July some 1,000 to 3,000 M16 guns and millions of bullets were delivered to Abbas’ Fatah groups.
Over the summer there was a lot of pressure on Hamas to form a "unity government" with Fatah. In effect, Hamas would have to surrened their election victory to get the collective punishment stopped. Hamas would also have to reject its basic principal stance versus Israel. So far it rejected and the negotiations are ongoing, but seem to be near breakdown.
Meanwhile the Gaza ghetto gets suffocated and there were reports of civil unrest over unpayed government wages.
A month ago new reports about U.S. support for additional weapon for Abbas’ Fatah surfaced. This time the Europeans took a stand against the proposal:
Fatah officials have asked for more than 1,000 reinforcements from the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Badr Brigades, in exile in Jordan.
One Western official said that non-American quartet members emerged from one meeting convinced that the US wanted President Abbas to dismiss the Hamas Government, and to use his security forces to “confront Hamas politically and militarily, having confronted it economically”.
“There was effectively a stand-off. As far as we are concerned, what the Americans are proposing to do is back one side in an emerging civil war,” said a western official familiar with the discussions.
The U.S. procedes undeterred:
The United States would also support letting about 1,000 members of the Badr Brigade, a Fatah-dominated force based in Jordan, into Palestinian territories to reinforce Abbas’s guard.
"The decision would have to be made by the governments of Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians. But the idea is a logical one both militarily and politically," Dayton said.
U.S. plans call for expanding the force initially to around 4,700 members, up from 3,500 today. But Palestinian officials estimated the force could eventually grow to 10,000 members. The U.S. programme includes funds for training the force.
At the same time, Hamas is also building up forces, but given the strict boarder closing, it is doubtable that it can get hands on a significant numbers of weapons.
Like in Iraq and Lebanon, the U.S. is involved in formenting a civil war. Here undoubtedly supporting one side with weapons against the elected government.
Abbas is now trying to dismiss the Hamas government and to call for new elections but this appears to be obviously illegal and unsuccessful.
It is in this context today’s murder in the Gaza strip has to be seen:
Unidentified gunmen killed three sons of a Palestinian intelligence official loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Monday, firing at a car as it dropped the boys at school, police and hospital officials said.
…
The car taking the children to school was peppered with bullet holes and blood stains covered the seats. Two school bags, one green and the other blue, lay inside.Several other schools line the street, which was crowded with children at the time of the shooting.
Residents said the gunmen fled with Hamas policemen in pursuit.
Killing the children of a Fatah "intelligence official", i.e. of an officer of Abbas’ U.S. funded atah army, is a level of violence that was not seen before in Gaza or the West Bank.
Someone may just have tried to start a huge clash, if not a civil war here.
Who could that be?