For many Gaza residents, the chilling point of no return in the struggle between Hamas and Fatah came when some clerics started issuing religious edicts on the radio telling Palestinians it was okay to fight one another.Two months after ruling Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction formed a unity government, any goodwill that existed between the long-time rivals has been replaced with anger and fear. Many Gazans have little faith in the latest ceasefire agreed on Saturday and some openly question whether the factions will ever be able to reconcile their differences, let alone stop the current round of fighting. Even Gazans who have endured years of bloody conflict with Israel were shocked by the extraordinary flashes of brutality exhibited by Hamas and Fatah gunmen over the last nine days of street fighting.
Both sides have accused each other of committing atrocities, including summary executions of the injured and torture. Some dead bodies were found mutilated. It is taboo in the Muslim faith to fight a fellow Muslim. Killing a fellow Muslim, many religious Palestinians believe, means eternal damnation.| That is why all these fatwas are being issued, you empty-headed, taqiyya-spouting Rooters "reporter". |
| That does it. Ima have to fill my *bathtub* with popcorn... |
| Hint: the only people Hamas hates more than Jooos is everybody else. |
Fatah's al-Shabab radio accused Hamas of summary killings, dubbing its Executive Force the "black militia" and accusing the group of acting in Iranian interests.
Mustafa, who lives in Gaza City, said the intervention of religious leaders on both sides marked "a very grave" escalation. "I view myself as a good Muslim but I disagree with these edicts. They are only meant to fuel hatred among the fighters," he said.