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Gaza Has Gotten More Tribal

[Globe and Mail-Canada] Mark MacKinnon - Nabil Kafarneh rarely leaves his home on the west side of Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Kafarneh isn't a wanted militant, or even a key figure in the raging battle between political factions. But he's a senior member of the Kafarneh family, and his clan is at war. Where the last shreds of law and order have disintegrated, Gazans are turning to the last group they can trust - their families. Gaza is less a political entity now than a vast underworld slum, with each street controlled by a different faction or family. Kafarneh can't go to nearby Gaza City, he says, because the Kafarnehs are locked in a bloody honor feud with the Dugmash clan there. Three Dugmashes have been killed so far in the fighting and the Kafarnehs are braced for the inevitable revenge-taking. Kafarneh and his son Matar are examples of what's gone wrong in Gaza over the past year. Twelve months ago, Kafarneh was a real estate agent who was planning to open a nightclub in Gaza City. His son was a police officer drawing a salary from the PA. Now both are gunmen, defending their family's interests and living on money paid to them by richer relatives. Matar explained, "I have no choice. Because of the situation, families have to take security into their own hands. There's no police, no government." Mahmoud el-Masri, whose family controls the east side of Beit Hanoun, said that since Hamas took office and the international community turned off the aid taps, Gaza has gotten more tribal.
2006-10-16 01:00:00
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