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Factional Fighting in Gaza Imperils Unity Government
[Los Angeles Times] Henry Chu - An increasingly violent struggle threatens to bring down what had been touted as a Palestinian "unity" government. When their new political power-sharing coalition was unveiled in March, amid smiles and congratulations, leaders of Fatah and Hamas pledged to put an end to their fighting. But the ferocious violence shredding the Gaza Strip this week has made a mockery of the agreement. The events this week have made it increasingly clear that, from the outset, the "unity" effort was almost set up to fail, with neither of the two leading parties willing to give much ground where it counted most. Power in Gaza still flows largely from the barrel of the gun, and the rival organizations never really agreed who got to control the weapons. The end of factional fighting in Gaza was supposed to be near in March when Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah member, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas appointed Hani Kawasmeh as their interior minister after a rancorous dispute over the politically sensitive post that lasted for weeks. Kawasmeh, widely viewed as an independent compromise candidate, was charged with drafting a plan to integrate the competing Palestinian security agencies into a unified force able to quell the violence.