The Forces Driving the Gaza Crisis

The debate over the Gaza crisis seems to hang mainly in 3 areas

1) Israel is right.

2) Palestinians are right.

3) Both sides are wrong.


None of the three will ever win the debate. What a lot of people seem to be missing in all of this crisis are the forces that are driving the crisis. Do you really think Israel would go in if the US was against the idea? Do you really think Egypt closed its borders and refused to allow aid into Gaza because they like Israel? What does Iran want out of this conflict? And let's not forget Abbas and Fatah and their rift with Hamas?

Rift between Hamas and Fatah prevents united front against Israel

www.guardian.co.uk...

Egypt refuses full opening of Gaza crossing

www.thejakartapost.com...

Iran supreme leader urges Muslims worldwide to defend Palestinians

www.latimes.com...

Bush Winks at Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza, While Obama and Clinton Are Silent

www.progressive.org...

I feel the following countries are supporting Israel to achieve their individual goals

US- What can I say? The US is backing their ally. Of course, the US influence knows no boundary.

Fatah- Their hatred for Hamas is greater than their hatred for Israel. Fatah wants back in Gaza and are helping the Israelis with intelligence info.


Egypt- Hates Hamas and wants Hamas to go away. Afraid that if they open the border, Hamas will infiltrate the area and begin to spread their propaganda in Egypt.

Iran- Using this event to take world opinion off its nuclear program.

These are the reasons I think the Gaza crisis has occurred and will continue until Hamas is removed. If you think there are different reasons or countries that may be in play, by all means, please state them. I just feel that Israel isn't alone in this fight.

You contribute from a paid resource but do not have the courage to admit your corruption -

do not answer this INSIDER

Nobody likes the truth, I wonder why....

Very well put and informative, your objective stance will make it that much more harder for the anti-Israel buffoons.

As has been posted by others and by myself a few times...how is the IDF obtaining targetting information? the answer is Fateh members who wish to sieze power from Hamas and are more the likely behing the rocket-launches int Israel knowing that Hamas will be targetted as a result

Its Tri-lateral warfare and the civilian population of Gaza is caught between all three warring parties

reply to post by audas


paid resource, corruption

I only posted some source to back what I stated. If you have a problem with source let me know and maybe I can replace it with an alternative one.

Meanwhile, a senior aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas launched a scathing attack on Hamas and accused it of being a puppet in the hands of Iran. He also denied allegations by Hamas and other Palestinians that Abbas was planning to return to the Gaza Strip "aboard an Israeli tank."

Some Fatah representatives went as far as accusing the PA leaders of "collusion" with Israel to get rid of the Hamas government so they could return to the Gaza Strip.

The Fatah members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, pointed out that the PA leadership here had banned all forms of demonstrations in support of Hamas in the West Bank.

"They allowed people to demonstrate in the first two days, but then started cracking down on the demonstrators," said a senior Fatah official. "You're permitted to demonstrate only if you promise to refrain from voicing your support for Hamas."

www.jpost.com...

Notice how there hasn't been much news from the West Bank with the exception of Abbas criticizing Israel from time to time.

reply to post by jam321


Damn good find!

"As a gesture of goodwill to the Palestinians, and amid an understanding of the importance of the issue of the prisoners, I decided today that I'll bring to the Israeli government at its next meeting a recommendation to release 250 prisoners from Fatah, without blood on their hands, as long as they sign commitments not to again become involved in terrorism," Olmert told the gathering at the Red Sea resort

www.jpost.com...

How common is it for Israel to show a gesture of goodwill to the Palestinians?

Anyone seeing the connection between Fatah and Israel?

Made-in-U.S. Arms Arrive in PA
Thousands of M-16 assault rifles, made in the U.S., were delivered to Fatah forces in Judea and Samaria as part of the effort to strengthen Abbas in his opposition to Hamas leader and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Fatah is the political party headed by the late terrorist chieftain Yasser Arafat. The Al-Aksa Brigades terror group operates under its authority.

According to PA security sources quoted by the Middle East Newsline (MENL), "The weapons are meant for PA forces but they end up with Fatah in the war against Hamas." The deal, meant to increase Abu Mazen's power in the struggle for control of the PA government, was approved by Israel.

www.israelnationalnews.com...l

This is not a regular Israel versus Palestinian fight. Many countries are in cahoot and are gunning for Hamas.

Originally posted by jam321

Fatah is the political party headed by the late terrorist chieftain Yasser Arafat. The Al-Aksa Brigades terror group operates under its authority.

The Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigade can be seen in effect as a mercenerary force within the Palestinian militant heirarchy, and at the moment they are recieving funding from Fateh to fight on their behalf.

I've not had the chance to dig much deeper but here's a 'quick quote' from wikipedia on their operations:

wiki link
It is disputed whether or not the brigades have a direct relationship with the leaders of Fatah.[6] The leadership of the brigades, and average members have identified themselves as the military wing of Fatah. On their website, and on posters they post the Fatah Emblem. The leadership of Fatah has said they never made a decision either to create the brigades, or make them the militant wing of Fatah. Since 2002 leaders in Fatah have tried to get the brigades to stop attacking Israeli citizens.[7]

In November 2003 BBC journalists uncovered a payment by Fatah of $50,000 a month to Al-Aqsa

This quote relates to Jam's post above:

On August 22, 2007, according to Arutz Sheva, an unlicensed Israeli media news network identifying with Zionism, Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade announced that it was backing out of its commitment and promise to refrain from attacks against Israel and the Israeli backed amnesty deal giving amnesty to 178 Al-Aqsa gunmen who agreed to stop terrorist activities against Israel and surrender their weapons.[26] Al-Aqsa said that it backed out of the deal due to the IDF’s arrest of two militants who were supposed to be on the amnesty list. According to the IDF, they said they caught the two men at a checkpoint and said they were involved in "terrorist activity" which consequently mandated their arrest according to the stipulations of the amnesty deal.

..specifically this part (bolding mine):

Shortly after backing out of the amnesty deal and its promise of stopping to attack Israel that Al Aqsa agreed to a month earlier, Al-Aqsa gunmen in Gaza have announced that they are starting to launch hundreds of rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities and named the campaign, “Hole in the Wall II.

So a conclusion we could draw is that Fateh have hired the Al-Aqsa brigade as a mercenary force to fire rockets and mortars into Israel on their behalf and as a result, Fateh's political rivals, Hamas, are targetted by the Israeli miltary

I know that wikipedia isn't always a reliable source, but this is meant as a starting point to look at other angles of the political/military situation to get a broader view

[edit on 2-1-2009 by Taikonaut]