Interview with Fatah and Hamas gunmen

al-Jazeera English: Fatah/Hamas Militants Interview

This is an interview al-Jazeera did with a member of the Hamas Executive Force, as well as a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs, a Fatah group. Both groups were involved in a recent shootout near a hospital.

The amount of insight into this conflict you get from a simple interview with both sides of lower level members is immense. I now understand the civil conflict in the West Bank and more specificly Gaza.

After reading the interview with the Fatah local commander towards the end of the interview, I can understand why there is conflict going on. Hamas sounds like they are pretty terrible neighbors, even to their fellow Palestinians, if they arent pro-Hamas.

The Fatah gunmen strike me as more of a homegrown, regular joe type of folk, where as the Hamas members seem quite indoctrinated and from a poorer area and thus not as intelligent sounding in the interview.

I can now understand why the U.S. is rumoured to be funding Fatah with guns and money etc, via Israel! Israel wants Fatah to be the most dominant party in the entire territories. And just 10 years ago, they felt that way about Fatah! That they needed to be killed and were terrorists and yada yada. Now theyre seen as the moderates. And sadly its true, they do take a moderate to left stance, where as Hamas is obviously taking a conservative right stance in their politics. Fatah seems to be people who have the best interests of Palestine at heart. This is because they didn't start this current conflict. Hamas does not have the political mandate to simply ignore Fatah completely in all decision and lawmaking affairs. When you do that, you end up with angry, armed young men.

The Palestinian Legislature does not accurately reflect the interests of the people, nor does it share the required level of power with the opposition party who still hold a sizable minority in the government, such as the Presidential position and approximately 40% or more of the lawmakers seats in their version of Parliament. Untl Hamas allows new elections to take place OR form a unity government with Fatah that recognizes Israel, this civil conflict doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon...

[edit on 1/28/2007 by runetang]

I can see where the members of Hamas are coming from though. Theres been 50 years of conflict, and the threat is still there that if they stop, they will be invaded. Whos to say if Israel get a moderate, Israeli funded power structure in Palestine, that they won't move on that weakness? This is similar to the troubles in Ireland, and how Sinn Fein are only now going into talks and the IRA has only just disarmed. In the short fall, the Fatah group would end a degree of the bloodshed, but with that area being such a flashpoint, furthered by the renewed bombing of the Lebanon border, it may be too soon for Palestine to roll over to Israel...