13 more killed in Gaza, as the Hamas-Fatah gang war continues

The gang war for control of the Gaza turf continues, in spite of Palestinian capos Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Abbas making noises about a truce.

And so far, Fatah is getting the worst of it, by far.

The festivities started with a major attack on a Fatah garrison at the Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza, when Hamas went after the base with rockets, RPGs(rocket-propelled grenades) and mortars, probably part of the American weapons shipment they hijacked.

Ironically enough, your tax dollars paid for building that base, as well as it's destruction! Way to go, Mr. President and Madame Secretary.

After the initial attack, Hamas used an old trick the Palestinians like to use on Israeli civilians..after the initial atrocity, they'll lie in wait fo rthe ambulances to come and fire on them. In this case, Hamas waited for a Palestinian force in jeeps to come to the rescue of the Fatah fighters in the Karni base, and ambushed them as well.

In all, eight Fatah fighters were killed and a number wounded, and the base was shot up fairly badly. In fact, Hamas only withdrew when Israel sent a couple of helicopter gunships and a couple of tanks into the area. After that,another Fatah gunman from Force 17 was killed when he strayed over the border into Israel and refused to halt.

The Israeli are refusing to get involved in the turf war, but they closed down th eKarni crossing, which makes sense from a security standpoint. Unfortunately, the closure means Gaza will soon run out of fuel for its power plant and electricity to most of the strip could be shut down by Wednesday morning, said Abdel Karim Abdeen, head of the Palestinian Energy Authority.

During all this, the Palestinians found time to launch some Qassam rockets at Sderot...one of which hit a house a severely injured a mother and child.

The current gang war is pretty much like the others, with widespread kidnappings, roadblocks, and random shots into crowded residential areas. 21 people have been killed in Gaza in the last three days.

Fatah is holding out around Abbas' seaside compound in Gaza City, but they are increasingly being pushed out of Gaza.

The flashpoint of the latest violence was Abbas deciding to move 3,000 Fatah gunmen into Gaza City last week, over Hamas's objections. And not only that,but in charge of them was Gaza gang boss Mohammed Dahlan, someone who is definitely not on Hamas' welcome list.

Abbas obviously let those US arms and money go to his head...but he really has no strength on the ground in Gaza, which is Hamas turf.

The Beast continues to eat itself, and it will until the international community finally realizes that the idea of a second Arab Palestinian state is a really bad idea, and does something to resettle these people in the surrounding Arab countries.

Let's just say I'm not holding my breath....