Hamas Islamist fighters and looters ransacked the blood-spattered Palestinian presidential compound in Gaza yesterday, rejoicing at the rout of their well-armed, secular rivals from the president's Fatah faction.
With Gaza effectively a new independent entity under Hamas control, Israel and the US were preparing to ease an embargo on the Palestinian Authority to channel funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah-run West Bank administration.
Abbas, who decreed a state of emergency on Thursday, was expected to name an emergency government later yesterday.
Ten Fatah security chiefs arrested by Hamas in Gaza and accused of launching a "coup" were given "amnesty" -- a possible sign Hamas leaders want to show restraint and statesmanship.
Despite firing in the air by Hamas fighters, who paraded captured Fatah vehicles and seized weapons, civilians hauled away fridges, satellite dishes, even doors.
"The battle was against those who implemented America's policy," its spokesman said on television.
Forces loyal to Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the prime minister in the dismissed Palestinian government, seemed in complete control in the Gaza Strip. Fatah holds the larger West Bank.
The Israeli press yesterday screamed alarmist cries of chaos, hell and catastrophe.
"The catastrophic scenario has become reality: Hamas controls Gaza and Fatah the West Bank," the tabloid-style Maariv newspaper said.
Israel's top selling Yediot Aharonot, as well as Israeli public radio, referred to two Palestinian entities from now on -- Hamastan in Gaza and "Fatahland" in the West Bank.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday. Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community at a time when China is increasingly misusing Resolution 2758. The resolution had a clear impact when it changed who occupied the China seat at the UN, Lambert said. “Today, however, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increasingly mischaracterizes and misuses Resolution 2758 to serve its own interests,” Lambert said. “Beijing