“Although Fatah has supported a two-nation solution since the 1980s, Hamas has refused to acknowledge the Jewish country’s right to exist. One wants to solve the conflict through negotiations, the other isn’t willing to rule out terrorism as a last resort. Fatah politicians routinely condemn suicide bombings, but Hamas sees such attacks as resistance and self-defense.”

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,417914,00.html

‘A different nation’
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

RAMALLAH – The telephone in the senior Fatah official’s office in Ramallah began ringing incessantly shortly after 1 P.M. yesterday. His people in Gaza wanted advice on what to do. Hamas gunmen were surrounding their headquarters, the gunfights were growing fiercer. Should they surrender to Hamas, they asked, or continue fighting to the death?

The senior official replied cautiously. “You’re in charge,” he said. “Do what you think is best.”

At one point, the Gazan commander wanted to talk to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ask his permission to surrender, since they had run out of munitions. But Abbas was busy meeting with the PLO leadership in Ramallah.

A few minutes later, another phone call came from Gaza. This time, the official realized it was over. “If you give in, don’t let them take the weapons. Put all rockets and guns in the basement. Burn all the floors and then the basement and cars. When you surrender, don’t agree to undress,” he ordered his Gazan subordinate.

When his dead and wounded exceeded his remaining fighters, the Gazan commander surrendered.

The fate of Fatah’s other headquarters in the strip was similar. At noon, Hamas conquered Gaza’s Preventive Security headquarters, which symbolized Fatah’s corruption. But the Hamas group that took it over is already making Gazans miss the days of the corrupt PA, and even the Israeli occupation.

“They’re using the same methods as the Israelis, and even worse,” a senior Palestinian source said. “They declare an area a closed military zone and shoot anyone who goes out into the street. Hamasniks strip Fatah men they capture, humiliate and beat them. They go from door to door with lists to hunt down Fatah people and execute them.”