[Slate] Mitchell Prothero - A month ago, Majed Ghrayeb, a top Fatah security official, was at home in Jabaliya in Gaza when the Hamas Interior Ministry's Executive Force attacked his house. Within minutes of the attack, Mahmoud Abbas called Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in an effort to get Ghrayeb released. Haniyeh reached the commanders on the ground, ordered them to release Ghrayeb, and was promised that he would be let go "in five minutes," according to an official in the room at the time. The Hamas fighters executed Ghrayeb and dumped his body in the street. Despite Abbas' and Haniyeh's recent moves toward cooperation, the two men have failed to address what might be the only issue that currently matters: who will command the thousands of underpaid and overarmed gunmen who wander the streets of the Gaza Strip "keeping order."
2007-02-26 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive