> Useful article from the Electronic Intifada:
>
> A SETBACK FOR THE BUSH DOCTRINE IN GAZA
>
> ALI ABUNIMAH
> 14 June 2007>
>
> More at
>
> http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7030.shtml
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Maybe, but by chasing Fatah out of Gaza, Hamas now assumes responsibility
for governing the desperately impoverished territory, which is sure to be
further sealed off from any meaningful trade and aid. At the same time, aid
long withheld from the Hamas and unity governments, including customs duties
sequestered by Israel, will now likely be released to the Fatah
administration in the occupied West Bank - accompanied perhaps by other
concessions such as a relaxation of checkpoints, a settlement freeze, the
replacement of Israeli troops by a strengthened Fatah internal security
force, and the resumption of negotiations with Abbas on a future Palestinian
"state". If there is even modestly greater freedom of movement and
improvement of living standards on the West Bank, Gazans under Hamas rule
may draw an unfavourable contrast to their own situation.
It's possible that the US, Israel, and Fatah provoked the Hamas takeover of Gaza with this in mind. Or, short of that, may quickly discover that the latest developments have presented them with the opportunity to isolate Hamas - their central objective since Hamas assumed political control of the PA following the 2006 election and, since earlier this year, became part of the unstable and short-lived "unity" government cobbled together by the Saudis.
Or the Bush and Olmert governments may still cling to the fiction that the solution to their current problems are primarily military rather than political.