Palestinian Civil War?

[a_majoor]

At least this will take some pressure off the West in the short term, but the winner will emerge stronger and smarter through Darwinian selection. The comment that Egypt may weigh in on the side of Fatah is interesting, this is the first open sign that someone in the Islamic world is willing to challenge an Iranian proxy; and by extension, Iran.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2393751,00.html

The Sunday Times October 08, 2006

Palestinians teeter on edge of civil war
Uzi Mahnaimi, Ramallah
 
A BLUNT warning that the West Bank and Gaza are on the brink of civil war was issued this weekend by the head of Palestinian intelligence.

Brigadier-General Tawfik Tirawi predicted a bloody clash between Hamas, the Islamist movement headed by Ismail Haniyah, the Palestinian prime minister, and Fatah, its secular rival led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

“We are already at the beginning of a civil war, no doubt about it. They (Hamas) are accumulating weapons and a full-scale civil war can break out at any moment,” said Tirawi.

Abbas’s attempts to form a coalition between the two Palestinian groups collapsed last week after he insisted Hamas must recognise Israel and give up violence. Abbas believes recognising Israel is the only way to secure the release of millions of pounds of European Union and US aid frozen since Hamas won elections in January.

Tirawi believes Hamas will never accept the existence of Israel and said a violent showdown was inevitable. “No way can they agree. They are preparing for a war against us,” he said. Last week 12 people were killed as fighting between the two groups escalated.

According to Palestinian sources, Abbas has notified the US, Jordan and Egypt that he is preparing to take action against Hamas. Egypt has already indicated it would support him, the sources claim.

Tirawi is determined not to let Hamas ruin the faint chance of a peace agreement with Israel. While Hamas is believed to have 8,000 fighters, Fatah sources claim 20,000. Tirawi forecasts that the violence would begin in Gaza and spread to the West Bank.

Large quantities of weapons and ammunition have been smuggled from the Egyptian-controlled Sinai into the Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew from the area last year, according to Palestinian sources. Most of the arms are carried through dozens of tunnels, many controlled by Hamas.

Many of the weapons are believed to originate in the countries in the region that support Hamas, such as Iran and Syria. Egypt is trying to prevent the smuggling but has achieved only limited success, according to Israeli sources.

Tirawi rejected the possibility that by accumulating weapons Hamas is preparing for a war against Israel. The arsenal was to be used against Fatah, he insisted.

 

[bilton090]

  There not having fun with Israel anymore ? , so lets kill each other !  :evil:

 

[a_majoor]

Although this system of tunnels is aimed against Israel, there are fairly obvious implications during any struggles between Palistinian factions:

Gazans building 'underground city': Israeli army chief Tue Oct 24, 12:00 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Palestinian militants are constructing an "underground city" in the Gaza Strip to store weapons and attack Israeli forces in the future, army chief of staff Dan Halutz has been quoted as saying.

"The Palestinians are continuing digging an underground city in the Gaza Strip," said Halutz, who appeared before the parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee on Tuesday.

"They are constructing tunnels in the urban parts in order to confront our forces," a member of the committee quoted Halutz as saying.

The Israeli army has in recent weeks intensified its ground operation in the battered Palestinian territory, launched following the abduction of a serviceman by militants in a cross-border raid near Gaza on June 25.

The raid sparked a massive Israeli offensive which has left more than 250 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers dead in Gaza in four months.

Halutz was quoted as telling committee members that the army had discovered and destroyed 15 tunnels in the Gaza Strip during an operation along Gaza's border with Egypt, through which Israel claims large quantities of weapons are being smuggled.

 

[Lost_Warrior]

I never thought I would see the day Palistinians turn on eachother over the support of Israel..

 

[Spanky]

I never thought I would see the day Palistinians turn on eachother over the support of Israel..

If not support than t least a pragmatic acknowledgement that Israel is not going away.

 

[Trinity]

Wouldn't some sort of ground detonation weapon (bomb)
(i.e. MOAB but smaller) cause such earthquake like forces
to significantly weaken or destroy the tunnels?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Ordnance_Air_Blast

 

[a_majoor]

During WW II the method of dealing with especially hard or deeply buried targets was the "Tallboy" and "Grand Slam" "Earthquake" bombs.

Barnes Wallace realized that undermining a structure is more efficient than hammering it from above, so the "earthquake" bombs were large enough to reach high speeds after being dropped and penetrate deep below ground before detonating, creating a large cavity below the foundations.

Bridges, U boat pens and other strong or heavily protected targets were demolished using this technique, and since Western aircraft can fly at high altitude without too much danger of difficulty now, this technique can be revived (an F-15E can carry a bomb load similar to a WW II era B-17, and a B-52 could carry a huge penetrating weapon long distances). Given the desire for speed of reaction and the desire to take out very hard targets, an ICBM carrying a kinetic energy penetrator or conventional warhead theoretically allows you to strike a target anywhere on the globe in @ 30 min from launch.