Gaza elections Jan 25th

AZZenny · January 8th, 2006, 09:12 PM

Hamas Runs for Election Vowing Never to Talk to Israel or Disarm

DEBKAfile Special Report

January 8, 2006, 5:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Hamas campaigners, confident of a strong showing in the Jan 25 elections for the Palestinian legislative council, announced in Gaza City Sunday, Jan. 8, that, if elected, they will put an end to any Palestinian talks with Israel. Negotiations with the Zionist entity will only take place through the barrel of a gun, said the man topping the Hamas list, Ismail Haniya.

Hamas Gaza leader Mahmoud al-Zahar dismissed European threats to cut off funds if the terrorist group enters Palestinian government. If they do, he said, “We have our sources* in the Arab and Muslim world.” None of the West Bank local councils captured by Hamas is short of funds, he boasted.
(*i.e., Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and possibly Russia, as well as wealthy Muslim individuals elsewhere in the Middle East, Europe, and USA. 'The Palestinians' have been promised about $3 Billion in international aide a year for the next decade to develop Palestinian infrastructure. US and EU are apparently having second thoughts... Hunh. Ya think?)

According to the last opinion polls, the gap between Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah and the Hamas challenger has further shrunk to 6-8%.This means that the Islamic terrorists who have vowed to destroy Israel have a good chance of winning the election in 17 days’ time. Even from second place, they can form a coalition government, set up an alternative administration to Fatah, or create an opposition bloc in parliament able to immobilize any government in which they are not partners.

Sunday, Jan 8, at the first regular cabinet meeting in Jerusalem led by acting prime minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz said he was confident the Palestinian poll would be delayed for fear of a Hamas victory. Mahmoud Abbas and fellow Fatah leader, the jailed Marwan Barghouti, have also admitted they would prefer a postponement.

However, according to political sources, this option is not theirs for the asking. It is solidly blocked by US president George W. Bush, who refuses to hear of any poll rescheduling in the Palestinian areas, just as he did in Iraq. To hold the Palestinians to the date – even at the price of a terrorist win - he sent US military coordinator Maj-Gen Keith Dayton post haste to the region Friday, Jan. 6. Monday, the general will receive reinforcements from Washington in the form of deputy national security adviser Elliot Abrams and undersecretary of state David Welch. In the first week of Ariel Sharon’s absence from the prime minister’s office, the Israeli government is seen pinning its hopes on an illusion.

(However,one of Dayton's colleagues said late yesterday that Gaza has degenerated into a completely lawless and criminal environment, with no evidence of any formal functioning government or police system. I'm not seeing why Bush is so set on the date. But wait... I'm expecting logic and reason. D'Oh! Wait -- VOTE= democracy! I got it now!)

Over the weekend, when all Israeli eyes were fixed on Hadassah Ain Karem Hospital for the latest medical bulletins on Sharon’s condition, dangerous developments unfolded in the Palestinian arena practically unnoticed.

1. Mahoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) succumbed to the Fatah-al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades revolt against his administration in Rafah, the strategic border town divided between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israeli intelligence regards this successful rebellion as the beginning of a revolt against Abbas’s authority that threatens to engulf other Gazan cities as well as the West Bank.

2. In Khan Younes, 7 terrorist factions set up a local vigilante militia to enforce order in the South Gazan region that was formerly the site of Israeli Gush Katif. Calling themselves a police force, they have displaced the Palestinian Authority, driving another nail into the coffin of Abu Mazen’s rule and security control of the Gaza Strip.

3. An increasing number of independent candidates running for office are turning to Hamas for patronage and campaign funding.

4.Counter-terror sources reveal that 10 radical Jihad Islami leaders have passed through the Rafah crossing to Egypt on their way to the Saudi hajj city of Mecca. According to those sources, the group is rendezvousing there with Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders of Tehran’s terrorist cells.

Despite international guarantees, the Rafah crossing has deteriorated into a mainline transit hub whose main function is to ease terrorist movements between the Palestinian Gaza Strip, Sinai, Damascus and Tehran.

(Several Egyptian border guards were killed trying to prevent a militant uprising at the crossing this week; and the European 'monitors' took refuge for a day last week in Israel because it wasn't safe for them at the crossing. No word on whether the security cameras ever got operational... Good work, Condeeee.)

The Israeli government, handicapped by Ariel Sharon’s abrupt disappearance, has not got around to addressing any of these grave developments.