After Gaza blast Hamas imprison 200 Fatah man in 'Gaza's Guantanamo'

by korzac | July 27, 2008 at 01:21 am | 235 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

Facts and opinion.

07.26.08

The bomb blasts events between Hamas and Fatah In Gaza, reveal a 'Gaza's Guantanamo' prison, a suggestive name, innocent passersby killed by the Fatah bombs including an 8 year girl, and perhaps violation of human rights by both sides.

The Hamas government in Gaza convened on Saturday for an emergency meeting following the unexplained car blast that killed five of the group's operatives and a 6-year old girl. In response to the explosion, Hamas security forces launched a broad arrest operation and have so far taken a reported 200 Fatah operatives into custody to the prison facility known as 'Gaza's Guantanamo'.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh instructed Gaza authorities to "track down the parties involved in the horrible crime committed yesterday," and warned that "those responsible for the blast will be brought to justice, to stand as an example for all those thinking of spilling Palestinian blood." He called for immediate action to keep the situation from deteriorating into anarchy.

Hamas security forces also stormed the offices of the Fatah-run WAFA news agency in Gaza on Saturday, and Fatah sources said computers and files were confiscated.

The Hamas government said that the blast was intended to disrupt the peace and security Gaza's residents have been enjoying for the past several months. Hamas also fingered the 'traitorous faction' as being behind the plot - using a common Hamas epithet for the rival Fatah

The following 'passage' reminds me of the arguments against Israel when so called 'innocents' where injured:

At least 19 other Palestinians were hurt, medical officials said, many of them passersby on their way to the beach.

Here are more details:

The blast went off underneath a car parked near a crowded Gaza City beach on Friday evening, Hamas officials said. At the time, a group of Hamas activists was picnicking on the beach, Hamas said. The blast shattered the windows of the white sedan and damaged its doors.

Three Hamas members and the girl were killed immediately. Two more Hamas activists died of injuries Saturday and 15 people were wounded, according to a statement by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

And what has a Gaza human rights group to say:

A Gaza-based human rights group reported Hamas security officials arrested at least 160 Fatah loyalists, and some 40 institutions connected to the group were raided. Fatah leaders said more than 200 of its people were rounded up, including its top leader in Gaza, Ahmad Nasser.

Here are more details on the arrested:

The offices of independent lawmaker Ziad Abu Amr and of Zakariya al-Agha, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, were among those targeted. Another senior Fatah leader, Abdel Rahman Hamad, fled his home amid concerns he would be arrested, his family said.

In one attempted arrest, Hamas police fired four rocket-propelled grenades at the home of a local Fatah leader and briefly exchanged fire with his guards, witnesses said. Police then searched the house, but didn't find the wanted man, Mohammed Aweidat.

An unknown offshoot of the Fatah movement, calling itself the "Awda Brigades" claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to reporters. But the claim could not be verified independently.

And finally what has the Hamas to say, I quote:

.." 'The Fatah movement is behind this reprehensible crime,' senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya told a crowd of thousands of supporters and other senior leaders at a funeral for those killed.

'Those who carried out this crime are making war on God, on the security of Gaza, and on the resistance,' he said. 'They will not be released after six months but will be hanged from the gallows and shot.'

Thousands of supporters marched through the streets on their way to the funeral, carrying the bodies on stretchers draped with green Hamas flags, firing guns into the air and vowing revenge."..see more.