June 15, 2007

Hamas fighters cemented their bloody capture of the Gaza Strip

Hamas fighters cemented their bloody capture of the Gaza Strip on Friday, creating an Islamic enclave on Israel's doorstep and further dashing prospects for peace and Palestinian statehood. Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas named a new prime minister for his emergency cabinet after his secular Fatah forces were routed by the Islamists in the impoverished territory in the culmination of days of deadly gunbattles. The dramatic developments have effectively split the Palestinians into two geographically divided and separately ruled entities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Hamas, an Islamist group branded a terror outfit by Israel and the West, overran Gaza hours after Abbas sacked the Hamas-led unity government and declared a state of emergency in a bid to avert all-out civil war. Sporadic gunfire rattled across the impoverished strip, sealed off from the outside world by Israel, as looters took to the streets, masked Hamas gunmen grabbed the spoils of war from fallen Fatah bastions and scores of Abbas loyalists fled to Egypt. Hamas's action, which has made Palestinian aspirations of an independent state an ever more distant dream, was branded a "military coup" by Abbas and triggered alarm in Israel and among world leaders.

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