Battle of Gaza (2007)

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Battle of Gaza
Part of the Fatah–Hamas conflict
Date June 7–15, 2007 Location Gaza Strip Result Hamas victory Territorial changes Hamas takes over the Gaza Strip
Belligerents
Hamas	Fatah
Casualties and losses
120 combatants 41 non-combatants[1] including 2 UN personnel[2]

The Battle of Gaza (Arabic: معركة غزّة‎) was a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah that took place between June 7 and 15, 2007 in the Gaza Strip. It resulted in Hamas remaining in control of the Gaza Strip after forcing out Fatah. The ICRC estimated that at least 118 people were killed and more than 550 wounded during the fighting in the week up to June 15.^[3]

Contents 1 Background 2 Attacks 2.1 Violations of international law 3 Aftermath 3.1 Political consequences 3.2 Religious consequences 3.3 Military consequences 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Background

Conflict between Fatah and Hamas had been simmering since Hamas won the legislature elections in January 2006. Upon taking power, Hamas offered Israel a one-year extension of the truce that was in force, but announced they would refuse to honor past agreements between the Palestinian Government and Israel, and as a result the US, Israel and the EU cut off aid to Hamas.^[4] The U.S. and Israel attempted to undermine Hamas^[5] while strengthening President Mahmoud Abbas's position and forcing Hamas from power. The U.S., Egypt, and Israel also armed and trained Fatah for a possible war with Hamas.^[6][7][8][9]

The major conflict in Gaza surfaced in December 2006 and was centred on Hamas executive force attempts to control Gaza instead of the Palestinian police.^[10] In the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair the writer David Rose published an article, based on internal US documents, suggesting that the United States collaborated with the Palestinian Authority and Israel to attempt a coup on Hamas, and Hamas pre-empted the coup.^[11]

[edit] Attacks

After the re-ignition of the Fatah-Hamas conflict on June 10, Hamas militants seized several Fatah members and threw one of them, Mohammed Sweirki, an officer in the elite Palestinian Presidential Guard, off the top of the tallest building in Gaza, a 15-story apartment building. In retaliation, Fatah militants attacked and killed the imam of the city's Great Mosque, Mohammed al-Rifati. They also opened fire on the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Just before midnight, a Hamas militant was thrown off a 12-story building.^[12]

On June 11, the residences of both Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah's leader and the Palestinian Authority president, and of then-Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, were targeted with gun and shell fire.^[13]

On June 12, Hamas began attacking posts held by their Fatah faction rivals. Hundreds of Hamas fighters had moved on the positions after giving their occupants two hours to leave.^{[citation needed]} A major Fatah base in the northern town of Jabaliya fell to Hamas fighters, witnesses told AFP news agency. Heavy fighting also raged around the main Fatah headquarters in Gaza City, with Hamas militants attacking with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons.^[13]

On June 13, Hamas seized the headquarters of the Fatah-controlled National Security Forces in northern Gaza. Gunmen fought for control of high-rise buildings serving as sniper positions and Hamas said it had bulldozed a Fatah outpost controlling Gaza's main north-south road. Also on that day, an explosion wrecked the Khan Younis headquarters of the Fatah-linked Preventive Security Service, killing five people.^[2]

On June 14, Hamas gunmen completed the takeover of the central building of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service's headquarters in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas members took over vehicles and weapons in the compound, which was considered the Palestinian Authority's main symbol in the Strip. The Preventive Security Service cooperated with Israel in the past, and has been armed by the United States.^[14] It is identified with Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who has become a hated figure by the Islamists in Gaza.^[14] The gunmen who entered the compound held a prayer there and waved a flag on the building's rooftop. At least 10 people were killed. Hamas TV broadcast a display of weapons inside the building, as well as jeeps, mortar shells and bulletproof vests seized in the compound, which according to Hamas, were smuggled to Fatah by Israel and the Americans in the past few months through the border with Egypt.^[15]

Hamas members held a prayer in the compound, which they referred to as the "heresy compound." Hamas also changed the name of the neighborhood where the building is located from "Tel al-Hawa" to "Tel al-Islam."^[15]

On the afternoon of June 14, the Associated Press reported an explosion that rocked Gaza City. According to Fatah officials, security forces withdrew from their post and blew it up in order to not let Hamas take it over. The security forces afterwards repositioned to another location. Later on June 14, Hamas also took control of the southern Gaza Strip city Rafah which lies near an, already closed, border crossing with Egypt, which is monitored by Israeli, Palestinian and European Union security forces. The EU staff had, at that time, already been relocated to the Israeli city of Ashkelon for safety reasons.^[16] On June 14 Abbas dissolved the Palestinian-Hamas unity government, on June 15, Hamas completed the control over Gaza.[4]

[edit] Violations of international law

“	These attacks by both Hamas and Fatah constitute brutal assaults on the most fundamental humanitarian principles. The murder of civilians not engaged in hostilities and the willful killing of captives are war crimes, pure and simple.	”
—Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.[17]

Human Rights Watch accused both sides with violations of international humanitarian law, in some cases amounting to war crimes.^[18] The accusations include the targeting and killing of civilians, public executions of political opponents and captives, throwing prisoners off high-rise apartment buildings, fighting in hospitals, and shooting from a jeep marked with "TV" insignias.^[17] The International Committee of the Red Cross has denounced attacks in and around two hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza strip.^[19]

During the fighting several incidents of looting took place: a crowd took furniture, wall tiles and personal belongings from the villa of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat;^[20] the home of former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan was also looted: "An AFP correspondent witnessed dozens of Palestinians taking everything they could carry from Dahlan's villa - furniture, pot plants and even the kitchen sink, complete with plumbing fixtures such as taps,";^[21] and at the Muntada, Abbas's seafront presidential compound, witnesses reported seeing Hamas fighters remove computers, documents and guns.^[21]

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] Political consequences

On June 14, 2007 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the current unity government and the declaration of a state of emergency.^[22][23] Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya was dismissed, and Abbas rules Gaza and the West Bank by presidential decree. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded by declaring that President Abbas' decision was "in practical terms...worthless", asserting that Mr. Haniya "remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president".^[24]

As a result of the conflict, the territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority is de facto divided into two entities: the Hamas-controlled government of the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, governed by the Palestinian National Authority.^[25]

On June 18, key international powers, including the EU, US and Israel showed public support for the new administration without Hamas. The EU and US normalized the tie to the Palestinian National Authority and resumed direct aid. Israel announced it would return frozen tax revenue of about USD800m to the new administration.^[26]

During the fighting, 6,000 Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side of the border at Rafah.^[27] The border was closed after it was shelled from the Gaza Strip side.^[27] Israeli and Egyptian diplomats asked Hamas to allow those stranded to use the Kerem Shalom crossing to return home but Hamas declined the request.^[27] According to Israeli officials, Hamas stated they would attack the crossing if it was opened.^[27] The border would not reopen until the breach of the Gaza-Egypt border in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010 in response to the Goldstone report, Hamas was said to have apologized to Israel for killing civilians, though later a denial was issued. After the apology, Fatah spokesman Ahmad 'Assaf commented that Hamas ""apologizes to Israel for killing Israeli civilians, but at the same time refuses to apologize to the Palestinian people for crimes it has committed against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, for killing hundreds of Fatah members and for injuring hundreds of other Palestinians... during and after the blood-soaked Gaza coup." ^[28]

[edit] Religious consequences

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fouzi Barhoum, said earlier that Hamas was imposing Islamic law in Gaza but this was denied by exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.^[29]

Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza. "I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza." ^[30] Although a Christian bookstore has been attacked, there has never been a case of a Christian being attacked or killed because of his religion as of June 2009. Muslim and Christian communities are said to live in "peaceful coexistence".^[31]

[edit] Military consequences

Hamas has captured thousands of small arms and eight armored combat vehicles supplied by the United States,^[32] Egypt, and Jordan^[33] to the Palestinian Authority.

According to Muhammad Abdel-El of the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees, Hamas and its allies have captured quantities of foreign intelligence, including CIA files. He is quoted as saying that they are "more important than all the American weapons we obtained the last two days." Abu Abdullah of Hamas' "military wing", the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claims Hamas will make portions of the documents public, in a stated attempt to expose covert relations between the United States and "traitor" Arab countries.^[34]

While Hamas collected most of the 15,000 weapons registered to the former security forces, it failed to collect more than a fraction of the 400,000 weapons that are in the hands of various clans, and said that it would not touch weapons used for fighting Israel, only those that might be used against Hamas.^[35]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• June 7, 2007, Fatah official killed, truce broken
• In pictures: Hamas takes Gaza (BBC)

v • d • e Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Participants	Individuals	Conflicts / Violence / Terrorism	Diplomacy
Israel: Israel Defense Forces Israel Police Mossad Shabak Palestinians: Main: Palestine Liberation Organisation Palestinian National Authority Fatah Hamas Other: Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades DFLP Palestine Liberation Front Palestinian Islamic Jihad Palestinian Popular Struggle Front PFLP PFLP-GC Popular Resistance Committees Influence: Arab League British Mandate of Palestine (1920–48) Egypt European Union Germany France Hezbollah Iran Iraq Jordan Lebanon Libya Muslim Brotherhood Al-Qaeda Russia Saudi Arabia Syria Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom United Nations United States Yemen	Israel: Moshe Arens Ami Ayalon Ehud Barak Menachem Begin Meir Dagan Avi Dichter Yuval Diskin David Ben-Gurion Ephraim Halevy Dan Halutz Tzipi Livni Golda Meir Shaul Mofaz Yitzhak Mordechai Benjamin Netanyahu Ehud Olmert Shimon Peres Yaakov Peri Yitzhak Rabin Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Yitzhak Shamir Ariel Sharon Shabtai Shavit Moshe Ya'alon Danny Yatom Zvi Zamir Palestinians: Abu Abbas Mahmoud Abbas Moussa Arafat Yasser Arafat Yahya Ayyash Marwan Barghouti Mohammed Dahlan Mohammed Deif George Habash Wadie Haddad Ismail Haniya Nayef Hawatmeh Amin al-Husayni Ghazi Jabali Ahmed Jibril Abu Jihad Salah Khalaf Leila Khaled Sheikh Khalil Khaled Mashal Zuheir Mohsen Abu Ali Mustafa Abu Nidal Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Jibril Rajoub Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi Ali Hassan Salameh Salah Shahade Ramadan Shallah Fathi Shaqaqi Ahmed Yassin	1920 Palestine riots 1921 Jaffa riots 1929 Palestine riots 1929 Hebron massacre 1936–1939 Arab revolt 1930s Irgun attacks 1947 Jerusalem riots 1948 Arab-Israeli War · 1948 war massacres · 1948 Deir Yassin massacre · 1948 Exodus from Lydda and Ramla · 1948 Hadassah medical convoy massacre · 1948 Palestinian exodus 1948-1967 Jewish exodus from Arab lands 1948-1967 Terrorist attacks against Israel The retribution operations · 1953-1955 Unit 101 1966 Samu Incident 1967 Six-Day War 1968 Battle of Karameh 1969-1970 War of Attrition 1970 Avivim school bus massacre 1970 Black September in Jordan 1972 Operation Isotope 1972 Munich massacre · 1972 Operation Wrath of God · 1972 Israeli aerial raid on Lebanon · 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon 1973 Yom Kippur War 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre 1974 Ma'alot massacre 1975 Savoy Hotel attack 1975 Zion Square bombing 1976 Operation Entebbe 1978 Coastal Road massacre 1978 South Lebanon conflict 1980 Misgav Am attack 1982 Lebanon War · 1982 Siege of Beirut · 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre 1984 Bus 300 hijacking 1985 PLO ships bombing 1985 Operation Wooden Leg 1987 Night of the Gliders 1987–1990 Intifada · 1988 Tunis Raid · 1989 Bus 405 attack 1993–1999 Palestinian suicide attacks 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre 1994 Waxman rescue attempt 2000–2008 Al-Aqsa Intifada · Palestinian rocket attacks (list) · Palestinian suicide attacks · Massacres during Al-Aqsa Intifada · Assassinations during Al-Aqsa Intifada 2000 October 2000 events 2001 Santorini 2002 Operation Noah's Ark 2002 Operation Defensive Shield · Battle of Jenin · Siege of Bethlehem · Battle of Nablus 2002 Operation Determined Path 2003 Abu Hassan 2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike 2004 Israel-Gaza conflict · Operation Rainbow · Operation Days of Penitence 2005 Shevet Ahim 2006 Operation Bringing Home the Goods 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict · Gaza beach explosion · Operation Autumn Clouds · Beit Hanoun shelling 2006-2007 Fatah-Hamas conflict 2007–2008 Israel-Gaza conflict · Operation Hot Winter 2008 Mercaz HaRav shooting 2008 Jerusalem bulldozer attack 2008–2009 Operation Cast Lead	Hussein-McMahon Correspondence Sykes-Picot Agreement Balfour Declaration UN Partition Plan Resolution 181 Israeli Declaration of Independence UN Resolution 194 UN Resolution 242 Palestinian Declaration of Independence 1991 Madrid Conference 1993 Oslo Accords 1997 Hebron Agreement 1998 Wye River Memorandum 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum 2000 Camp David Summit 2001 Taba Summit 2002 Road map for peace Quartet on the Middle East 2005 Israel's unilateral disengagement plan 2007 Annapolis Conference Valley of Peace initiative