Abbas Strikes Back in West Bank

These days, if you're a militant of Hamas in the West Bank, the only safe place to be is inside an Israeli jail. And many Hamas are indeed locked up. Parliamentarians, mayors and city councilmen were rounded up by the Israelis months ago. Being behind bars may be their salvation.

Since Hamas' rout in Gaza of forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, the president's balaclava-clad gunmen have gone on a vengeful spree of kidnapping and arrests in the West Bank, where they are far stronger than Hamas. A Hamas spokesman said Fatah militants had carried out more than 250 attacks against Hamas during the last three days, a stark contrast to Gaza, where Hamas, once its enemy was defeated, issued an amnesty for all Fatah militia, even the 10 senior most commanders who, unlike many other high-ranking Fatah officials, had not manage to escape.

Those Hamas supporters not already in Israeli jails have gone underground, and more purges are expected now that Abbas on Sunday formed a new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Abbas also outlawed all of Hamas forces.

That won't matter in Gaza, where Abbas' edict is unenforceable, but it will in the West Bank. In the past few days, Gunmen belonging to Abbas' Fatah movement killed one Hamas militant in Nablus, burned down offices, TV stations and charity homes run by the Islamic militants.

The Bush Administration said that after the swearing-in of Fayyad, the U.S, would lift its 15-month long embargo of aid to the West Bank, and other major European donors are expected to follow suit. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, now in Washington, is also expected to make concessions, such as an unfreezing of millions of dollars in tax revenues for Palestinians and lifting roadblocks inside the occupied West Bank, all aimed at strengthening Abbas' emergency government.

Because Gaza is under Hamas rule, it will be excluded from the lifting of sanctions. The rationale is that this exclusion will be used as a weapon to choke Hamas, considered by Israel and the U.S. to be a terrorist organization. But Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants face a worsening crisis, victims of the international embargo on Hamas. Relief agencies warn that food stocks are running low in Gaza, and the United Nations is currently negotiating with Israel to re-open its borders with Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, from Gaza, the former Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh declared that Abbas' new government was “illegal”. Gaza sources told Time that Haniyeh is busy trying to free BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who is believed to be captive of the Dagmash criminal family that was under the protection of elements within Fatah movement. But with that protection stripped away, the criminal family has been given an ultimatum that it either surrender Johnston within hours or face “dire consequences”.

Securing Johnston's release is of vital importance to Hamas, since the militants want to show they can deliver on their promise of bringing justice and security to Gaza, where criminal gangs –some with ties to Fatah—took advantage of the feud between the two Palestinian militant groups. The release of the foreign correspondent is Hamas' first step in that direction.

--by Tim McGirk/Jerusalem