If they can overcome the squabbling about who gets to be named ministers [see “Disputes over portfolios delay announcement of Palestinian unification until Monday” in the Jerusalem Post], a Palestinian Arab “unity” government is about to be announced.
So says the PA’s president Mahmoud Abbas according to several reports today. “Unity” means a regime which unites the Abbas Fatah and PLO groups with the outlawed terrorist organization, Hamas.
“The formation of the government would be the most significant step yet toward ending a crippling seven-year-old Palestinian political split. However, it is also bound to increase friction between Abbas and Israel’s hard-line government. Abbas said Saturday that he would respond to any Israeli punitive measures, such as withholding the monthly transfer of some $100 million in taxes and customs Israel collects on behalf of his Palestinian Authority. The funds are vital to keeping the self-rule government afloat… “We say (the government) is going to recognize Israel, denounce violence and recognize the international agreements,” he said, echoing the international community’s conditions for dealing with Hamas. “This is a technocrat government. It has nothing to do with Fatah, Hamas or any factions.” [National Post, today]
That’s for Monday.
Meanwhile it’s early Sunday morning [June 1] here in Israel, and the news from the south of our country at this hour is focused on more immediate matters. A rocket, originating in the terrorism-addicted Gaza Strip which is controlled by Hamas, has just been fired into Israel [IDF Tweet], seeking – as always – ordinary Israeli civilian victims.
Times of Israel says
The rocket fell in a field and caused neither casualties nor damage. It was the first rocket attack in a week. Over 100 projectiles fired by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, have crashed into Israel since the start of 2014, according to military data.
A report from Gaza tonight says there was another rocket fired at Israel on Saturday. (There’s no coverage of this anywhere in the mainstream media, not even in Israel.) And as happens very often, this one failed to make it over the fence and crashed, presumably exploding, somewhere on the Hamas-controlled side.
Don’t hang around waiting for word of injuries from the Hamas regime because, when it’s self-inflicted, Arab-on-Arab, the reporting is rare. We should discuss why (and maybe how) in greater detail another time.
This screen shot below comes from GANSO, a European-funded website that provides information for aid workers and other NGO-employed individuals working or living in Gaza.
If the text in the screen shot is not clear enough for you, here’s part of what appears in the GANSO “Incident Alerts” entry for Saturday May 31:
Pal. ops [that’s their euphemistic name for Palestinian Arab jihadist practitioners of terror] attempted to fire one rocket from Deir Al Balah, MA; the rocket dropped short [we call failed rocket attacks of this kind “Fell Shorts“; they occur regularly on the Gazan side]
and this as well
Over the past 2 days, 1 Pal. was injured due to mishandling of a hand grenade in N of Beit Lahiya, NG.
Living under the jackboot of the Hamas terrorists makes accidents like this “mishandling” of a grenade a common environmental hazard. Look carefully and you will see that the same GANSO “Incident Alerts” page records three deaths among Gazan Arabs in the past week alone from self-inflicted injuries connected with their own explosives. One of them is probably the deceased Islamic Jihad terrorist we mentioned in “27-May-14: What They Don’t Tell You, Chapter 94“ And who knows what additional personal injuries and/or property damage were caused to unwitting neighbours in those same incidents? Not you, and not us because they’re almost never reported. It’s something to keep in mind when the Gazan Arabs and those in the media who are sustained by their mantras speak again, as they have for years, of Gaza being among the most densely populated places on earth (in reality, it’s nothing near that). It’s extraordinary how little media attention such acts of self-inflicted damage get. And how little awareness there is of the price paid by Gazan Arabs because of the jihadists’ reckless disregard of the welfare of their own clansmen and family.