GAZAN MAJORITY BACKED HAMAS OVER FATAH

Past and Present in Gaza by Khaled Abu Toameh (Contentions)

What happened in June in the Gaza Strip was not only a Hamas "coup" against Fatah. Hamas managed to overrun the coastal area thanks to the backing of a majority of the Gaza Strip's 1.3 million residents. Otherwise, how can one explain the fact that fewer than 15,000 Hamas militiamen succeeded in defeating the more than 50,000 gunmen and policemen belonging to Fatah?

That Hamas managed this shouldn't come as a surprise. Fatah has a long history of alienating its natural bases of support through incompetence, greed, and brutality, beginning in Jordan more than 40 years ago. The late King Hussein made the mistake of allowing Fatah chieftain Yasir Arafat to establish what was more or less a Palestinian state inside the Hashemite Kingdom more. Then, Arafat established several armed militias in Jordan and consistently sought to undermine King Hussein's regime. Fed up with the increasing state of anarchy and lawlessness, the king finally ordered his troops to eliminate Arafat's multiple militias. The result was a bloodbath that claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians in what has become known in Palestinian history as Black September. Arafat eventually managed to escape Jordan disguised as a woman.
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