[Washington Post] Dennis Ross - In several days of discussions in Jerusalem and Ramallah recently, the debate I witnessed in both places wasn't about the stalemate in the peace process or the Arab peace initiative. It was about the conflict between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza - and whether Gaza was in fact already lost to the Islamists. The consensus was that Hamas had made a deliberate calculation to attack all key security positions held by Fatah in Gaza and that the Fatah forces now had few, if any, senior commanders still in that area. All those I spoke with were worried about the consequences of Gaza's becoming an Islamist enclave. They saw it offering inspiration to other Islamists throughout the Middle East and providing a new haven for Islamists of all stripes.
2007-06-04 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive