Fatah terrorists said they attacked Israel with a Kassam Sunday while its leader, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, blamed the rival Hamas faction for attacks that he said give Israel an excuse to stage counterterrorist operations.
Visiting in Cairo on Sunday, Abbas charged that Hamas "gambled with the future of the people, they gambled with the blood of the people, the destiny of the people and the dream of the people…because of agendas which are not Palestinian," referring to Iranian and Syrian regimes.
However, it was Abbas's own Fatah terrorist wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which took responsibility for firing a Kassam and mortars on the western Negev Sunday morning.
WorldNetDaily reported Sunday evening that Islamic Jihad denied its terrorists had fired rockets earlier in the day and said that Fatah and Hamas staged the attacks.
A Fight for Control
Hamas ostensibly is in full control of the Gaza region, but rival factions are increasingly challenging its jurisdiction as fallout continues following Hamas's severe losses during the IDF Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign against its terrorist infrastructure.
Hamas has demanded that the Islamic Jihad control its members, several of whom fled the Fatah faction when Hamas took over Gaza almost two years ago.
"If we catch them, I think they will not live to see the light of day," a Hamas spokesman told WND.
Hamas has said it needs $2 billion to rebuild the area, but virtually all Western countries refuse to give it a cent. On the other hand, Abbas has been weakened by staying out of the limelight during the war in Gaza and even using the opportunity to arrest and in some cases torture Hamas supporters in Judea and Samaria.
"Abbas seems to be the biggest loser, seen as increasingly irrelevant by his people both in Gaza and the West Bank," the Associated Press reported Sunday.
A growing rift between de facto Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his Iranian and Syrian financial backers also clouds the Gaza political skies. Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal Sunday repeated statements he made last week that the PLO as obsolete and called for a new national authority.
Abbas told reporters in Cairo he totally rejects the demand, adding that he rejects all dialogue without any who rejects the authority of the PLO.
Meanwhile, Hamas again has succeeded in smuggling in money, this time in the form of Euros, according to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency. It reported Sunday that Hamas leaders handed out more than 4,000 Euros each to Gaza Arabs whose houses were destroyed during Operation Cast Lead.
Hamas has used its well-developed social welfare system to retain control and popularity by supporting a large number of Gaza Arabs.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit of Egypt ignored the growing Fatah-Hamas rift on Sunday and invited both factions to meet later this month for reconciliation talks, which are considered mandatory before Israel and the PA can seriously continue their own negotiations for the creation of a new Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.