HAMAS V. FATAH

I WISH BOTH SIDES GOOD LUCK!!! KILL AS MANY OF YOUR ENEMIES AS YOU CAN!

Hamas, Fatah Backers Fight Over Elections.
HEBRON, West Bank - Hundreds of youths supporting the militant Hamas group clashed with backers of Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah party on Sunday, injuring at least nine people, during a Hamas campaign rally for student council elections.

The brawl erupted when several hundred Fatah supporters at Hebron University in the West Bank started shouting their own party’s slogans in the midst of a large Hamas rally. Harsh words erupted into a fight, sending photographers and cameramen at the scene running for cover. Student supporters of the militant Islamic Jihad intervened, acting as a buffer and eventually ending the fight.

Hospital officials said at least nine people were injured, including an Agence France Press photographer who received five stitches in the head. (ED. AN UNANTICIPATED BONUS!)

Hamas Election Bid Could Undermine Abbas - Ali Daraghmeh
Hamas, the major force behind a four-year suicide bombing campaign and sworn to the destruction of Israel, decided Saturday to run in the July 17 Palestinian parliamentary election, a move that threatens to undermine Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas, who is under intense Israeli and U.S. pressure to rein in Hamas and other militant groups, is trying to co-opt the groups, fearing a crackdown would lead to internal fighting. (AP/Washington Post)

See also Fatah Fears Parliamentary Elections - Karin LaubThe Palestinians' ruling Fatah movement, tainted by corruption and cronyism, is increasingly worried it will get trounced by political upstart Hamas in parliamentary elections. If Hamas wins control of parliament or even a large chunk of the seats, it could hamper Abbas' ability to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. (AP/Washington Post)

Meanwhile, according to HonestReporting, Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl doesn’t understand Israel's concerns about Hamas being allowed to run in upcoming Palestinian elections:

The United States also has to be prepared to set aside coercion as the primary instrument for combating groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas -- provided they observe their own cease-fires. Last week Bush administration officials suggested that they were considering such a shift in the case of Hezbollah, bending to European persuasion. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas already has adopted a political strategy for Hamas, which, encouragingly, announced on Saturday that it will participate in legislative elections later this year.

Both of these steps are deeply troubling to Israel, which remains unwilling to treat the Islamic groups as anything other than a mortal adversary and military target. In the short term, at least, the emergence of Arab democratic politics could look threatening to the Middle East's only established democracy. That is a paradox for which neither Israel nor the Bush administration appears to be prepared.

The only paradox is -- Nazi brownshirts notwithstanding -- how many political parties have military wings that terrorize innocent civilians?