The masked Arab youth opened his hand slowly to expose two bullets.
“These are waiting for anyone who harms our leaders,” he said, his eyes staring at the shells.
The 19-year-old youth is a member of al-Kassam, a secret military wing of Hamas, the fundamentalist Islamic movement now waging a bloody internal fight with its rival Fatah cadres that threatens to turn the Gaza Strip into a second Lebanon.
His bullets will be fired at any fellow Palestinian, especially a Fatah activist, who threatens or harms a Hamas boss.
For nearly three weeks, this bleak strip of land has been rocked by Wild West-style shootouts in the streets, beatings with clubs and axes, and gang fights involving up to 50 men. At least one person has been killed and more than 100 Palestinians injured. Many Gaza leaders have been threatened with assassination.
That’s breaking news from 1992. The article was “Gaza Strip Arabs wage bloody feud” by Bob Hepburn in the Toronto Star. Jul 16, 1992. pg. A.1. (For those who have access to ProQuest through your local library or other institution, the URL is:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=456425021&sid=4&Fmt=3&clientId=72171&RQT=309&VName=PQD ) I was looking for something else when I found it. Not much has changed, has it?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
Let’s wish them all the best of luck.
chsw