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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Sucks to be a Paleo, v456,892: Activists accuse Hamas of deadly revenge

2007-07-10

Just the ~~high~~, I mean ~~low~~, oh hell. AS Charles Johnson says "let's give these people a country"
Adham Mustafa's family found his mutilated body at the morgue two days after Hamas captured the pro-Fatah security official. Tarek Asfour says Hamas gunmen banged nails into his legs until he revealed where he hid his weapons. Salama Barbakh was seized trying to flee to Egypt, dragged back to his Gaza hometown and killed.

Hamas promised amnesty for its vanquished Fatah rivals in the Gaza Strip, which the Islamic militant group violently seized last month. But since then, at least nine Fatah loyalists have been killed and 20 others arrested, according to local human rights workers, raising fears Hamas is gradually imposing authoritarian rule by silencing critics.

Hamas lied? They're implementing totalitarian rule based on Sharia and thuggery? Gee, stop the presses.

"Either there's law, or there's no law," said Issam Younis, the head of the independent Gaza-based human rights group Mezan, which posted the names of the dead on its Web site.
Oh, Irony lives! Paleostinian law?
Hamas says it restored calm to Gaza and insists the amnesty is holding, though it acknowledges there have been exceptions. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said it took time for the pardon pledge to trickle down to local commanders."The decision of a general amnesty needed several days to be implemented, and now it's very clear that there is complete quiet and commitment of Hamas members to this decision," he said.

Last month, another Hamas spokesman, Islam Shahwan, said the group's Executive Force, which polices Gaza, had a secret list with the names of Fatah loyalists marked for death for their roles in killing Hamas activists. He said they would not be granted trials if caught. Abu Zuhri said Hamas is reviewing those cases, and they would not necessarily be executed.

Some say Hamas could not use the existing ~~but worthless~~ judicial system even if it wanted to. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who set up a moderate government in the West Bank without Hamas after the Gaza takeover, has barred judges, prosecutors and police from cooperating with the coastal strip's new rulers. Those ignoring the ban aren't paid.

Paleostine has judges and prosecutors? Who knew?

Hamas has complained of a campaign against its followers in the West Bank, where it says security forces and Fatah gunmen have seized 336 Hamas supporters in the past month and beaten some of them. One Hamas activist was killed and one critically wounded in a Fatah attack.

After rubbing out Fatah in Gaza, Hamas is complaining about the same in the West Bank. Do they know that the word 'chutzpah' isn't an Arabic one?

In Gaza, 19-year-old Mustafa was captured by Hamas on the last day of fighting. A forensics report from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said he was killed June 15, hours after the amnesty was announced. The report said he was shot at least seven times. A homemade video of Mustafa's corpse showed his left eye was missing, as well as a chunk of flesh under his right arm.
Mohammedeans and movie cameras. is there a greater love?

"How do you know that's Mustafa's missing eye?"
"It's brown."
"Oh, hokay."

His family had been assured by Hamas that Mustafa would be freed.

Instead, his relatives found his body at the morgue two days after his capture.

Was that enough time for Dr. Quincy to see to him?

Abu Zuhri declined to comment on the case.
"I can say no more!"
On the day the amnesty was announced, Fatah fighter Salama Barbakh tried to escape to Egypt. At the border, he was grabbed by Hamas gunmen, shot in the legs and taken back to his hometown of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to relatives and human rights activists. He was taken to the house of Wasfi Shahwan, a Hamas supporter whom Barbakh had allegedly killed more than a year ago.

"Hi Salami! Remember me?"
"Oh my Allan! It's you! You was supposed to be dead!"
"Guess again, oh legless one!"

At the house, Barbakh was shot to death, and his body was then stabbed and stomped on. Hamas claimed responsibility.

You bet they did, you always sign a message like that.

In the village of Abassan, Fatah loyalist Tarek Asfour lay on a bed outside his home. Darkened bruises covered his body, and bandages were placed over 10 wounds on his legs, each a quarter-inch deep. Those were the spots where Hamas interrogators banged nails into him, he said.

Don't let Andrew Sullivan hear about that.

He said he was seized by Hamas gunmen on June 29 and taken to an abandoned house. Hamas interrogators hit him with a large stick, then with a hammer on his joints, all the time asking him questions about his participation in the fighting, where he hid his weapons, and the whereabouts of his brother, a senior Fatah leader.

"He won't tell us anything about Sonny, boss."
"Hit him again."
"Hokay." [THUMP]
"Owwwwww ...."

"Hit and ask, hit and ask," he recounted. "I kept saying no, no, no, screaming and crying, I was afraid any admission would kill me. I thought I was a dead man."

I thought you were too.

When they received no answers, "they pulled my legs up and told me, 'we will put these nails in your legs,'" Asfour said. Ten nails later, Asfour revealed where he hid his weapons.

There, see? That wasn't so bad, was it?

In some cases, local Hamas commanders have worked out amnesty deals. In the northern town Beit Lahiya, local Hamas leaders organized a "forgiveness festival" for four Fatah members, declaring in front of thousands that they had been forgiven.
'We have forgiven these martyrs to allen"

[BANG] "You're forgiven!"

Posted by:Brett

#3 By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer

Date line Gaza Strip. This may all be true, or it may be that overactive Middle Eastern imagination. We know how good AP is about checking sources when a horror story is involved.

Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-10 20:20

#2 Hamas gunmen banged nails into his legs until he revealed where he hid his weapons.

Jee, torture does work and quickly too.

Posted by: ed 2007-07-10 19:21

#1 Back when the Hamas-Fatah shooting war began, just for amusement purposes, I sent an e-mail to the International Solidarity Movement (of "St. Pancake" fame) asking them what they were doing to stop the Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence. I was polite, brief, and to the point.

I figured since they had so many of these "peace teams" and "human shields" in-country, they'd be doing something, right? Particularly if they're actually interested in, you know, peace and stuff, and not just a bunch of anti-Semitic whackjobs working to facilitate the Palestinian goon-ocracy.

I awaited their reply with baited breath.

No response. Nothing.

Surprise meter reads "off-scale low."

Posted by: Mike 2007-07-10 18:33

00:00