Officials
from the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud
Abbas have spent recent days openly lashing out against the rival Hamas
faction as evidence continued to emerge - acknowledged by the Americans,
by the Israelis, and by Fatah officials themselves - that the terror
group was linked to last Thursday's abduction of three Israeli teenagers
traveling through the West Bank. The crisis comes just a few
weeks after Abbas inked a unity pact with Hamas leaders under which they
agreed to the formation of a consensus government that would have
jurisdiction over both the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip and over
Fatah-controlled portions of the West Bank. The subsequent formation of
the new cabinet generated substantial controversy and cost Abbas and his
international supporters significant political and diplomatic capital,
but eventually Western governments - including the Obama administration -
had decided to continue supporting Ramallah. Washington had in
particular worked closely
with PA officials to avoid running afoul of U.S. laws restricting aid
to governments that include Hamas. Fatah figures are now said to be
seething over what they consider to be something between recklessness
and betrayal on the part of Hamas. Abbas publicly condemned
the abductions on Monday. Veteran Arab affairs reporter Avi Issacharoff
has since that condemnation published a series of articles quoting
Abbas's allies conveying open anger and promises of retribution. A Monday afternoon
article contained accusations that 'Hamas was trying to undermine the
relative peace in the West Bank and foment unrest against both Israel
and the Palestinian Authority' and that 'Hamas will pay a steep price
for the kidnapping... in the form of punitive steps with which the PA
plans to target Hamas in Gaza.' A story published by Issacharoff
a few hours later confirmed Hamas's involvement in the abductions and
quoted a Fatah source insisting that Hamas had promised not to engage in
violent operations as a condition for the unity pact. The same source
emphasized that "if it becomes clear that Hamas is responsible for the
kidnapping and breached the agreement, that would mark the crossing of a
red line from our point of view, and we could not maintain the
reconciliation status quo." A day later Issacharoff published an article seemingly confirming that Fatah had taken steps to roll back the reconciliation.
CNN on Tuesday conveyed reports
that Islamist militants loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) have made significant gains outside of Baghdad, where fighters
are advancing on the city of Baquba and where more than 50 people were
killed when ISIS militants used hand grenades to attack a local prison. The news comes a day after the publication of a Daily Beast report detailing
Iranian offers to Baghdad of among other things its army and spies in
an effort to curb the advance of ISIS across the country. The Daily
Beast cited senior Iraqi officials as saying that the offers of
assistance came “from the highest levels of the Iranian government.” The
Daily Beast report will be read alongside the 2013 State Department
country-by-country report [PDF] released last month, which slammed
Tehran for supporting both Sunni and Shiite fighters across the region
and globally. Iranian efforts to sustain the Shiite expansionism of
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have alienated Iraqi Sunnis, making
regions of the country hospitable for the current Sunni-led insurgency.
At least 31 people were killed
Monday in barrel bomb attacks in the northern city of Aleppo, according
to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog group. The Assad regime has been waging an aerial bombing campaign against rebel-held areas of Aleppo since December, with the death toll for 2014 exceeding 2,000. The
use of the helicopter-deployed, shrapnel-packed IEDs – which can level
entire buildings with a single explosion – has been slammed by top
Western diplomats -- Secretary of State John Kerry has referred to the
use of the bombs as “barbaric”; British Foreign Secretary William Hague went so far as to call their use a “war crime."
The latest wave of barrel bombings comes as observers are growing
increasingly concerned about the precedent set by the Assad regime’s
tactics – earlier this month, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Lafer Fellow Michael Knights noted
“that a lot of governments are losing control of the
counterinsurgency…They’re also watching what they see in Syria, and they
feel like their air power is what is making the difference.” Agence
France Presse (AFP) reported at the end of last month that the Iraqi
government had begun using barrel bombs to target civilians. Barrel bombs have also washed up on Israeli beaches and are believed to have originated in Gaza.
Israel’s NowForce startup,
known for its emergency response apps, has released its SOS app to the
Israeli public free of charge. The company chose to make public its
emergency system, which has been available to subscription clients until
now, following the kidnapping of the three Israeli teenagers.
“In the wake of the grievous incident, in which three Israeli teens
were kidnapped, we decided to release this to the general public for
free as a way to boost the personal safety of Israelis all around the
country,” NowForce spokesperson Julie Zuckerman told the Times of Israel.
The application will allow anyone who registers to notify emergency
contacts and emergency service organizations. “The app represents the
kind of simple and cheap technology, available right now, that can be
easily deployed to prevent situations like last week’s kidnappings,”
Arik Yekuel, the former head of technology for the Israel Police, told
Times of Israel. NowForce says on its website that the service will also
be provided free to visitors to Israel. (via Israel21c)
No comments:
Post a Comment