(Der Spiegel-Germany) Annette Grossbongardt and Stefan Simons - Abd al-Hakim Awad, 39, chairman of the Fatah Youth Organization in Gaza, is planning a "Carnival of Victory" as soon as the last Israeli soldier leaves Gaza, complete with folklore shows, fireworks, and parades through the settlements of their former neighbors. Palestinian authorities plan to operate a shuttle service that will bus hundreds of thousands of curious Palestinians into the settlements - to tour the "liberated Palestinian territory." The impoverished Palestinian leadership will spend more than $2 million on the spectacle. To demonstrate their power, the Islamists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad held a parade of uniformed recruits to their supposedly 40,000-strong "People's Army," armed with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers, in the Jabaliya stadium last week. The high point of the military show was the simulated storming of a Jewish settlement.
2005-08-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive