Happy Anniversary! Hamas Warns of New Infitada

Hey, here's a good idea. Let's give them more money. After all, they're interested in peace, right?

Celebrating anniversary, Hamas warns of Intifada

Hamas threatened to launch a new uprising against Israel on Saturday when hundreds of thousands of Islamist supporters rallied in Gaza City to mark the group's 20th anniversary.

"Our people are capable of launching a third and a fourth intifada until the dawn of victory rises up," said Khaled Meshaal, the group's exiled leader, in a speech recorded on Friday at his base in Damascus.

The central square in Gaza City was awash with green flags and dozens of armed, masked men from the group's military wing patrolled in a crowd estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000.

Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said the movement was growing more popular because of its stance against the United States and Israel.

"Today is the day of Jihad, resistance and uprising," Haniyeh said.

"Those who remain committed to the constant rights of their people, those who make an enemy of America and the Zionist occupation (Israel) gain popularity. This is Hamas."

Founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by Israel in a 2004 air strike, the group has a charter that calls for the elimination of the Jewish state.

As far as I'm concerned. Israel needs to vanquish these cavemen.

The sooner the better.

Carnage in Gaza; Media Refuses to Call it Civil War

Maybe when nobody is left standing will they admit the obvious.

Bloody day in Gaza raises civil war fears

GAZA, June 12 (Reuters) - In what looked ever more like civil war, the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas battled supporters of the Islamist prime minister across Gaza on Tuesday, the bloodiest day of factional fighting in months.

At least 27 people were killed and 70 wounded, hospital officials said, taking to 47 the number of dead in the coastal enclave since Saturday. Early on Tuesday, the Gaza homes of both Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas were fired on.

The largest force loyal to Abbas, who is favoured by Western powers, was ordered onto the streets to defeat what his secular Fatah group called a "bloody coup" by Hamas Islamists after Hamas gunmen stormed Fatah bases in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas later appeared to have control of one major Fatah base in the north and casualty data suggested it had the upper hand more widely. Fatah leaders threatened to quit a three-month-old unity government with Hamas if there was no immediate truce.

The European Union said there was an imminent risk of civil war if fighting went on, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged support for Abbas's efforts "to restore law and order".

Haniyeh and Abbas both called for restraint and talks but, as each side accused the other of siding with their Israeli adversaries, there was little sign of fighters paying heed.

The head of an Egyptian delegation in Gaza that saw its latest truce shot down on Monday, urged civilians to rally on Wednesday morning to show support for a new ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, an arch-foe of Hamas, said for the first time that "serious consideration" must be given to posting international peacekeepers in Gaza, from which Israel withdrew troops and Jewish settlers two years ago.

"If the Gaza Strip ultimately falls to Hamas, this will be of great regional significance," he said, but added Israel could not enter Gaza to fight Hamas to help Abbas's "pragmatists".

Breathtakingly disingenuous.

The Jerusalem Post is a bit clearer in its assessment.

Gaza on verge of becoming Hamastan