Bad news for long suffering Palestinians according to the head of Palestinian Intelligence:
Brigadier-General Tawfik Tirawi predicted a bloody clash between Hamas, the Islamist movement headed by Ismail Haniyah, the Palestinian prime minister, and Fatah, its secular rival led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We are already at the beginning of a civil war, no doubt about it. They (Hamas) are accumulating weapons and a full-scale civil war can break out at any moment,” said Tirawi.
Large quantities of weapons and ammunition have been smuggled from the Egyptian-controlled Sinai into the Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew from the area last year, according to Palestinian sources. Most of the arms are carried through dozens of tunnels, many controlled by Hamas.
Many of the weapons are believed to originate in the countries in the region that support Hamas, such as Iran and Syria. Egypt is trying to prevent the smuggling but has achieved only limited success, according to Israeli sources.
Tirawi rejected the possibility that by accumulating weapons Hamas is preparing for a war against Israel. The arsenal was to be used against Fatah, he insisted.
