Reality in Gaza

After so many years of denying reality and a slavish devotion to all things Palestinian, the New York Times today realizes it can no longer deny the fact that unity in Gaza is a myth.

JERUSALEM, May 15 -- A third day of deadly clashes between Hamas and Fatah fighters suggests that the Palestinian unity government, put together under Saudi auspices at the end of March, is something of a fiction.

It never got off to a serious start, and as this week's resignation of the independent interior minister, Hani al-Qawasmeh, made clear, the leaders of the fighting men were never prepared to listen to one authority anyway.

The continuing battle between Fatah and Hamas for power in Gaza also makes the likelihood of substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ever more distant.

Try not to snicker too much, but here's yet another in a long line of stories of how Abbas and Hamas have agreed to stop the fighting.

Really, who is AFP fooling with this nonsense?

Meanwhile, Carl in Jerusalem notes the IDF struck Hamas headquarters near Rafah today.

Perhaps now the New York Times can get back to blaming the Israelis for all the problems.