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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Hamas eliminating militia opposition, replacing Fatah officials with Islamists

GAZA CITY — Hamas has launched a plan to eliminate all militias in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian security sources said the new Hamas regime has informed Palestinian armed factions that they must either disband or join the new security forces, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said Hamas has pledged funding for those militias that agree to disband by 2008.

Hamas has already destroyed the Fatah infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The sources said Hamas has purged Palestinian civil service, including hospitals and schools, of Fatah members and replaced them with Islamic loyalists.

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"Since the Hamas takeover in June, there are two militias left in the Gaza Strip -- Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees," a security source said. "Both organizations have friends in Iran and Syria."

[On Tuesday, Hamas forces clashed with the Dughmoush clan, the most powerful family in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian security sources said two Hamas officers were killed in Gaza City.]

In early August, Hamas's Executive Force clashed several times with Jihad fighters in the regime's effort to halt the display of weapons in the Gaza Strip. The sources said the fighting ended through intervention by Iran and Syria, which has assisted both Hamas and Jihad.

Since then, the sources said, Hamas has been quietly meeting Jihad and other militias to discuss the new security measures. The representatives were said to have been offered financial and other incentives to leave their organizations and form an umbrella group aligned with Hamas.

"Hamas wants to eliminate all rival factions and show unanimous public support for its Gaza plan," a Jihad operative said.

So far, the Hamas-aligned umbrella group contains several new splinter factions. Fatah Al Yassir, founded by Fatah official Khalid Abu Hillal, a former Interior Ministry spokesman, operates a military wing in the Gaza Strip. Another faction was founded by two leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees, Amr Kurmout and Kamal Al Nirib.

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