Obama's First Phone Call As President Went To???

Fatah leader and current alleged Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was the first person supposedly called by the dear leader. That is Abbas on the right in the picture above shaking the hand of the current Hamas leader Haniyeh. The difference between these two is that Haniyeh wants Israel wiped off the map now and Abbas is willing to take the slow death by a thousand cuts approach to wiping Israel off the map.

Strange choice to say the least. Couldn't he find an ally? What does this mean for Israel? I think it is pretty clear who's side he will take in future matters related to the Palestine/Israel problems.

He did call President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud Olmert,Prime Minister of Israel, and King Abdullah of Jordan. Think Middle East issues are at the top of his foreign relations list?

How long before we see more pictures of Nancy Pelosi sitting down with the chinless ophthalmologist Assad in Syria?

Never Enough Money for Terrorists: Pali Conference Plans to Raise $1.5 Billion

When it comes to shaking down the dummies of the world for money, nobody does it quite like the Palis.

Not content with the $7.4 billion recently pledged to them, now the terror goons have a conference planned for next month where they hope to raise another $1.5 billion.

Surely, it will all go to peaceful purposes and to feed the malnourished children who throw rocks and march with weapons all day.

A Palestinian-hosted investment conference plans to raise $600 million for the Gaza Strip but delay projects in the territory while Hamas remains in control, organisers said on Wednesday.

"In Gaza, it is very difficult to do business now," said Hassan Abu Libdeh, chief executive officer of the Palestine Investment Conference opening in the West Bank city of Bethlehem next month.

"We want to show those participating that Gaza has a legacy ... what's happening in Gaza now is of a temporary nature," he said, referring to its takeover by Hamas in fighting against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction in June.

Abu Libdeh told reporters $900 million of the $1.5 billion expected to be raised by the conference would be spent on projects in the occupied West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem.

The other $600 million will be designated for the Gaza Strip where 1.5 million Palestinians live, many of them in poverty.

"We will remind the participants of the Gaza economy and the future of the Gaza economy ... and show some of the projects that will be available once things change," Abu Libdeh said.

Abu Libdeh said many of the planned "mega-projects" the conference hopes to promote would be slated for the Gaza Strip and 100 investors from the territory would attend the gathering.

Under pressure from the United States, which wants to see a deal on Palestinian statehood by year's end, Israel said this week it would ease access to Bethlehem for the conference.

Abu Libdeh said 1,200 foreign and Arab investors would also attend the May 21-23 meeting. Asked if Israel was invited to the conference, he said: "The whole world is invited."

Without Israel, they'd have collapsed already. They give more than enough, especially in lives.

One of the companies supporting this sham is Cisco Systems.

'At Cisco we are excited that businesses and government leaders in Palestine are increasingly appreciating the correlation between productivity, GDP growth and the need to build out the information technology infrastructure to position their economies, businesses and jobs for the future,' said Yvon Le Roux, Cisco's vice president for Africa and Levant Region.

What nonsense.

Confirmed: Reuters Uses Terrorists as Official News Sources

We've long seen dubious reporting from Reuters, Associated Press and AFP, but this item from Reuters removes all doubt about their cozy relationship with the terrorist monsters.

Palestinian militant killed in Gaza - militants

A Palestinian guerrilla was shot and killed on Friday in the northern Gaza Strip near the border with Israel, a militant group said.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said one of its gunmen was killed in a clash with Israeli forces. However, an Israeli army spokesman said its troops had not fired any shots in the area.

I guess using "medics" as a source is no longer reliable.

The dead man had earlier been identified by medical staff as a farmer.

Reminds me of an incident a couple weeks back when an Israeli airstrike took out some alleged picnicking bankers. Reuters and AFP were also using "doctors" as sources and couldn't quite keep their stories straight.

Keep in mind the duplicity of these news outlets the next time they rush to show pictures of children killed in IDF airstrikes.

Hamas is using them as human shields.

Just disgusting.

Is the UN going to condemn that?

Why Don't I Believe Him?

Another lying sack of Palestinian fecal matter pretends to be cracking down on the terror goons and Reuters laps it up as fact.

The top Palestinian security official said on Saturday his government was dismantling militant groups, including those connected to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

"There is no al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades any more," Interior Minister Abdel-Razak al-Yahya told Voice of Palestine radio, referring to the group linked to Fatah.

Just in the nick of time.

Yahya vowed to exert broader security control a day after Palestinian militants killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers who were hiking near the West Bank city of Hebron. Two militants were also killed in the gun battle.

Israel arrested at least five Palestinians in the Hebron area following the shooting, the army said.

If only we threw a few more billion at them sooner, the crackdown would have spared the lives of the Israeli soldiers.

Even the Al-Aqsa thugs aren't buying this BS.

A unit of al-Aqsa issued a statement in the Gaza Strip accusing Yahya of being a "collaborator" who follows "American and Zionist masters".

A splinter group of al-Aqsa in Gaza -- along with the Islamic Jihad militant group -- claimed responsibility for Friday's shooting attack near Hebron.

Such are the travails on the road to peace.

New al-Zawahiri Recording Released

This cat never shuts up.

A new al Qaeda communique featuring Al-Qaeda's number-two man was released on the internet Friday morning.

References to last month's peace conference in Annapolis indicate the recording is recent. The message, in Arabic, has not yet been fully translated, but early analysis indicates it contains fulminations about Mideast leaders' positions expressed at the late November event.

Experts have authenticated the tape and confirmed the voice belongs to Zawahiri. It was released by As Sahab, the terror group's propaganda operation.

The recording – audio over a still photomontage showing images of Zawahiri, Bush and Middle Eastern leaders – is 20 minutes, two seconds long.

More from SITE.

Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the second in command of Al-Qaeda, speaks in regard to the Annapolis peace conference, in a 20:02 minute audio speech issued by As-Sahab, the multimedia arm of Al-Qaeda, to jihadist forums today, Friday, December 14, 2007. In this speech, titled, “Annapolis - The Treason”, Zawahiri observes this conference, held in Annapolis, Maryland on November 27, 2007, as another instance of the “Zionist-Crusade” against Palestine, and also representative of Palestinian leaders’ betrayal of Palestinians in sacrificing what he believes are integral parts of Islamic land. Here he criticizes Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and all attendees of the conference, and assures Palestinians that their brothers, the Mujahideen, will never abandon them. Zawahiri calls upon all Muslims and Palestinians, invoking the words of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in reminding that Jihad is ultimately to liberate Jerusalem, and urging them to come to Jihad, support Palestine and establish the Islamic Caliphate.

The speech also calls to dismiss all previous conferences and accords, such as Oslo, Madrid, Camp David and Sharm el Sheikh, and questions why the Mufti of Saudi Arabia sat idle as these happened. Additionally, he calls upon soldiers in the Egyptian army to not support the enemy campaign to force Palestinians into a ghetto in Gaza between Egypt and Israel.

Shocker: Palis Skeptical of Annapolis Summit

Naturally, it's Israel's fault. Short of Israel just letting themselves be overrun by the terror gangs, one can't envision the Palestinians being happy about any outcome.

Most Palestinians are sceptical Tuesday's Annapolis peace conference can speed the creation of a state of their own but many still hope it may lead to improvements in living conditions and security.

Officials and analysts said the attendance of fellow Arabs including Saudi Arabia and Syria at the talks near Washington would also bolster Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas and help isolate his militant domestic opponents like Hamas.

"The Palestinians are under no illusion that the peace process to be launched at Annapolis will lead to much progress on the peace front because Israel has not shown seriousness in reaching agreement until now," said analyst Abdel-Majod Sweilem.

"But there is a belief the year that will follow Annapolis, during which negotiations will take place, may lead to some kind of temporary halt to the deterioration in the economy and internal security."

Chief among aspirations for Palestinian voters are economic growth and freedom of movement, both of which they see hampered by Israeli security measures. They also want to see Israel meet commitments to stop Jewish settlement and confiscating land.

By the same token, Hamas and other opponents who have condemned Abbas for even talking to Israel, stand to make political gains at his expense if Israel fails to take steps to improve daily life immediately after Annapolis, analysts say.

"If people don't feel the difference after Annapolis, the opposition will be given ammunition against Abbas' policies," analyst Ali Jarbawi said.

But he doubted Hamas had the strength to seize power in the larger, Israeli-occupied West Bank as it did in the Gaza Strip in June: "I don't believe they will have enough ammunition to change the status quo in the West Bank as they did in Gaza. Abbas' legitimacy is intact because there is no alternative."

Israel has been the one bending over backward to accomodate these people and like we said, nothing they say or do will ever satisfy their enemies.

Israel Matzav has more on Annapolis.

More Free Money for Palis

They just never learn.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair plans to announce on Monday projects designed to bolster the Palestinian economy, including one in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Western and Palestinian officials said.

The announcement by the former British prime minister comes a week ahead of a U.S.-sponsored peace conference meant to launch long-stalled talks on Palestinian statehood and bolster President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

Western and Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity on Sunday, said the projects were meant to quickly create jobs and boost economic activity.

Western officials said the decision to include a sewage project in Gaza was part of a new outreach effort to the coastal strip's 1.5 million residents.

Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction still dominates the occupied West Bank, wants to regain control of Gaza but it is unclear how he will be able to do so.

Israel has tightened its economic and military cordon around Gaza since June and has escalated threats to invade the territory in response to Palestinian rocket fire.

"From our point of view, this is a humanitarian question," Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said of the Gaza sewage project.

Dror said Israel's only concern was that certain types of metal piping could be used by militants to fashion rockets. Dror said alternative types of piping could be used.

I'm sure this will just endear everyone to the peaceful Palestinians.

How About Pre-1948 Borders?

You know this beast doesn't even want to recognize Israel and now he's playing games again with this nonsense about going back to pre-1967 borders. Why not just go back to the borders before Israel existed? How about going back to 1367? Nothing will satisfy these people until Israel ceases to exists, so why bother "negotiating" with people who want you dead?

I say too damn bad. Your people got their asses handed to them, so sit down and shut up.

The sad thing is, Ehud Olmert keeps dancing with this terror honcho and continues to make concessions.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Abbas' claim comes as Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams are trying to hammer out a joint vision for a future peace deal in time for a U.S.-hosted conference next month.

With Israel seeking to retain parts of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Abbas' comments appeared to set the stage for tough negotiations, which are expected to include complicated arrangements such as land swaps and shared control over holy sites.

In a television interview, Abbas said the Palestinians want to establish a state on 6,205 square kilometers (2,400 square miles) of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was the first time he has given a precise number for the amount of land he is seeking.

"We have 6,205 square kilometers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," Abbas told Palestine TV. "We want it as it is."

Israel Suicide Watch

You really must wonder what the thought process is here.

Prisoners released include members of Hamas, Jihad

Ziad Abu Ayn, director of prisoner affairs in the Palestinian Authority said Friday that among the 255 prisoners released are 30 members of Hamas and two members of the Islamic Jihad.

The Palestinian Authority, he told Ynet, does not distinguish between prisoners: "they are all our prisoners, all our sons." The PA, he added, is proud of the fact that prisoners affiliated with Hamas and Jihad are among the released.

Ayn's words are the first official statement made regarding the prisoners' affiliations. So far, the majority of prisoners were believed to be of Fatah, with about 15 percents of them of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democtaric Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

The prisoners, who left Ketziot prison in the early hours of Friday morning, have made there way to the Bitunia checkpoint, where – once over on the Palestinian side - they are to be greeted by top Palestinian officials, including president Mahmoud Abbas.

According to the guidelines approved earlier in the week by a special Israeli governmental committee headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the prisoners release [sic] do not have any "blood on their hands".

Give them time.

Israel to Release 250 Pali Terrorists

No doubt they'll all return to their Pali hellhole and become fine, upstanding citizens.

And I'm 12 feet tall and made out of cheddar cheese.

Israeli Cabinet OKs prisoner release

JERUSALEM - The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, officials said, in the government's latest gesture of support for moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle against the Hamas militant group.

However, the officials said Israel had still not finalized the list of prisoners to be freed or the timing of the release. Palestinian officials said they were disappointed Israel was not coordinating the release with them.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to the prisoner release at a June 25 summit with Abbas as part of Israel's strategy of bolstering the Palestinian leader following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip last month.

Israel also has transferred more than $100 million in frozen tax funds to Abbas, and pledged to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Oh, Now It's a Civil War

A Hamas fighter speaks on the phone as he sits inside the personal meeting hall of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after they captured his headquarters in Gaza June 15, 2007. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

So Hamas has run roughshod on Fatah, leaving a bloody trail and posing for Reuters photographers. Now, finally, they've come around to calling it a civil war.

GAZA (Reuters) - Western powers rallied behind Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday after Hamas Islamists routed his forces in the Gaza Strip and began imposing a new order in the enclave after days of bloody civil war.

Despite his mandate effectively being reduced to the West Bank, Abbas named a new prime minister after firing the Hamas-led government and declaring a state of emergency.

The United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia -- the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- gave a "clear message of support" to Abbas.

Why do we continue to waste our time?

And in This Corner...

Palestinian militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, speak during a news conference in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 15, 2007. In the West Bank, Fatah militants torched Hamas offices and warned of more reprisals if comrades were harmed in Gaza. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

Now is it just me, or does Reuters have some really good access?

A Hamas fighter looks at a mirror inside the personal bathroom of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters after they captured the premises in Gaza June 15, 2007. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

UPDATE: Just a Grunt has an interesting observation.

The disturbing part is those dangerous clowns are holding M16A2 rifles. Standard issue of the US. It used to be the bad guys only had AK47's which made target identification a whole lot easier. Guess they put some of that UN, EU and American Humanatarian to good use. Are you looking State Department or is your head still so far up your fourth point of contact that no light is shining?

Pali Civil War Claims Two UN Workers

Surely the media will find a way to blame this on Israel.

Two Palestinian employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were shot dead in the Gaza Strip and the agency said on Wednesday it was suspending most of its operations due to the internal fighting.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said one of the employees was shot in the abdomen on Tuesday and died on Wednesday. The other employee was shot in the head on Wednesday.

Gunness said they are the first UN employees killed in Gaza since internal fighting erupted between Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction last year.

Gunness said they appeared to have been caught in the crossfire and not targeted because of their work for the UN Agency, which provides services to Palestinian refugees.

“In view of increased threats to our staff, UNRWA has no choice but to scale back its operations in Gaza with immediate effect,” Gunness said. He said the agency was temporarily suspending all but emergency medical and food programs.

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

Hamas: We Own Northern Gaza

Palestinian boys inspect the burnt house of senior Fatah leader Jamal Abu al-Jedian after fighting between Hamas and Fatah militants in the northern Gaza Strip June 12, 2007. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The Palestinian civil war continues unabated, as the terror gang Hamas now boasts ownership of northern Gaza.

Hamas launched a full-scale attack Tuesday afternoon against Fatah security bases and positions in Gaza, and succeeded in taking over a number of them, Israel Radio reported.

Hamas-affiliated television said that the organization overtook the entire northern section of the Gaza Strip, the report stated.

Israel Radio also reported that a top Fatah military official sent a message to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stating that security forces were holding their ground, but calling on the Fatah leader to order an end to the current policy of restraint, allowing troops to return fire.

Wait though, they're still waiting to decide the fate of the oddly-named unity government. Stop snickering.

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas gunmen stormed a Fatah security headquarters in Gaza City on Tuesday, moving Palestinians closer to civil war, minutes after a deadline from the Islamist group to its rival to quit key strongholds expired.

President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction said its Central Committee would meet at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) to decide whether to remain in the unity government it formed with Hamas in March in a bid to stop internal violence and ease Western sanctions.

In an ultimatum verging on a declaration of war, Hamas's armed wing had given Fatah until 1100 GMT to evacuate the military intelligence, presidential guard, national security and preventive security headquarters in Gaza City.

Civil War Continues in Gaza

The Palestinian civil war continues, and things really heated up today.

Masked gunmen from rival Palestinian factions streamed onto the streets to fight their most intense battles in weeks on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, with the weekend toll rising to six dead and 59 wounded.

Among the victims was a pro-Hamas Islamic cleric pulled from his home and shot several times in the street after a guard from the rival Fatah movement was shot and thrown to his death from a high building in Gaza City, officials said.

Witnesses said masked gunmen from both Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah set up roadblocks and barriers to stop cars and check identification papers, and abducted rival supporters from vehicles and houses.

Main roads were paralysed by the fighting. Shops and businesses closed early.

The latest round of fighting, the worst since an Egyptian-brokered truce was declared in mid-May, began on Saturday night in the town of Rafah, where hundreds of rival gunmen took up positions on street corners and rooftops.

Hamas and Fatah pounded each other with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns in Rafah, said witnesses who took shelter indoors as the rivals fought block by block.

Three men from Fatah and two from Hamas were killed in all, including the cleric of a main mosque in Gaza City, and a member of President Mahmoud Abbas's elite Force 17, hospital officials said.

A sixth man was brought to a Gaza City hospital on Sunday night with his hands and legs tied and a gunshot wound to the head, the officials said. Relatives identified this victim to Reuters as a relative of a senior Hamas executive force officer.

No wonder they're all depressed.

Will We Ever Learn?

We pour money into the Palestinian rathole and this is what we get. Terrorists using our own weapons to kill Israelis.

Arrested militant doubled as officer in Abbas' US-backed security detail

A long-wanted terrorist chief captured this week by Israeli forces was trained by the US, served in a senior capacity on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' US-backed security detail, and was a ranking member of a team that received and distributed American arms shipments the past two years, the WND has learned.

Khaled Shawish, an officer in Abbas' Force 17 presidential guards, was arrested Sunday by undercover Israeli police forces following scores of shooting attacks Shawish is suspected of carrying out.

Shawish doubled as the Ramallah chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group. He previously boasted of involvement in a West Bank shooting attack in December 2000 that killed Israeli ultranationalist leader Benjamin Kahane and Kahane's wife, Talya.

The Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party, took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror group for every suicide bombing in Israel the past two years and for multiple deadly shootings and rocket attacks.

After the Kahane murder, Shawish was extended refuge by Arafat to live in the late PLO leader's Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata.

Israel Continues Defending Itself While Palis Feud

Updated with fresh car swarm photos and caption (Hat tip: Alouette).

Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a car driven by Hamas militants after it was hit in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Friday, May 25, 2007. Israeli missile strikes hit a succession of militant targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing two, while Hamas fired rockets toward Israel as Palestinian factions met to discuss a possible truce. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Keep it up.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli missiles pounded the Gaza Strip on Friday, one of which hit near the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, as Palestinian factions argued among themselves over whether to stop firing rockets into Israel.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the secular Fatah group was due to meet officials from Haniyeh's Hamas Islamist movement later to hear its formal response to Abbas's call for an end to Hamas rocket attacks as a prelude to a wider ceasefire with Israel.

But though street fighting between Fatah and Hamas has died down since a flare-up two weeks ago that killed some 50 people, tension remains high between the partners in the two-month-old Palestinian unity government and Hamas officials have already dismissed Abbas's call and vowed to continue firing rockets.

Abbas called the rocket attacks "pointless" and "needless."

After a barrage of seven Israeli air strikes overnight against positions in Gaza used by Hamas and another group, Islamic Jihad, a senior Hamas figure again condemned Abbas's call for conciliatory moves toward Israel and several more improvised rockets struck Israel from the coastal enclave:

"Abbas hates rockets just like we hate the Jews," Nizar Rayyan told reporters during a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip.

More recently this evening, the Israelis took out another mobile weapons lab.

GAZA, May 25 (Reuters) - Israel's air force bombed a van in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing at least two people, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the air strike in Gaza City's Sejaiya neighbourhood, an Islamist stronghold.

No car swarm photos available yet.

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.

Fatah-Linked Commander Shot Dead

A quagmire in Gaza.

A militant commander affiliated with Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement was shot dead on Sunday, in the most serious attack since Abbas launched a new security plan aimed at calming a wave of violence in the Gaza Strip last week.

Fatah quickly blamed the rival Hamas group, its partner in the Palestinian government, and the dead man's comrades vowed revenge. Hamas denied involvement.

In another sign of the prevailing lawlessness in the coastal strip, three employees of the Gaza electrical company were shot and seriously wounded while driving in a company car in Gaza City, hospital officials and Palestinian security officials said. The employees were out collecting unpaid bills.

The dead militant was identified as 32-year-old Baha Abu Jarad of the pro-Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. He was shot while driving through the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, and later died of his wounds, hospital officials said. Fatah issued a statement accusing Hamas of the shooting. In a separate message, the Al Aqsa group said it had identified the killers as two local Hamas activists.