On Friday, December 30th, 2011, several dozen Palestinians in Nabli Saleh, supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists, demonstrated during the villages’ weekly protest. This week the activists released hundreds of black balloons with the names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. Several Palestinian and international activists were arrested by Israeli Forces, and soldiers shot tear gas into the crowd in addition to spraying them with skunk water.

The following day, two hundred activists in Chicago also released 344 balloons, one for each of the children killed three years ago. The action was organized by the newly formed Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights, a primarily youth-based organization. Palestinian-American activists gave speeches decrying the continued Israeli siege and sporadic bombardment of the Gaza Strip before the balloons were released in symbolic solidarity to lift the spirits of Palestinians who continue to live under a brutal occupation.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1) WHY ARE YOU INSISTING ON GOING TO THE UN IN SEPTEMBER?
Palestinians want to go to the UN in order to get international recognition for their future – a Palestinian State – and to legitimize Palestinian claims for freedom, independence and statehood.

2) WILL THE UN HELP IN MATERIALIZING THOSE GOALS?
The majority of countries in the world support Palestinian statehood. The goal is to abolish the four and half decades of Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. Gaining staehood would open open up several new avenues for Palestine to pursue and end to the occupation and denial of human rights, such as the ICJ.

3) CAN YOU IDENTIFY THOSE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES?
The Occupied Territories are situated in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They are within the 1967 border lines which are violently and illegally occupied by Israel. Their combined area makes up approximately 22% of historical Palestine.

4) WHY IS ISRAEL OPPOSED TO THE PALESTINIAN DRIVE TO GO TO THE UN IN SEPTEMBER?
Israel is opposed due to its ongoing denial of Palestinian rights and rejection of Palestinian statehood. Israel intends to keep the Occupied Territories and enlarge its “lebensraum” at the expense of the Palestinian people and their land properties. In keeping the Occupied Territories, Israel will carry on with its policy of building settlements and walls in order to fragment the territories so that they cannot be united into any one Palestinian State.

5) HOW CAN ISRAEL ALONE DEFY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND CHALLENGE THE UN RESOLUTION?
Unfortunately, Israel has been shielded by multiple US vetoes (43) since 1967 providing Israel with all the support needed to carry on its violations against the Palestinian people and their landm on every level. At the same time, in the US, Israel has the world’s largest superpower as it’s strongest ally.

6) CAN WE SAY THAT THE WASHINGTON-TEL AVIV AXIS IS THE MAIN OBSTACLE TO PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
YES …. when we see the blind support of successive US Administrations, including the current Obama Administration towards Israeli aggression and occupation, we can conclude that the US is a major obstacle to peaceful coexistence in the Region as well.
Can you elaborate more on this issue?
• Look at the unlimited financial support of billions of US Dollars provided to Israel every year, which are used to build illegal settlements on Palestinian land;
• Also, the military and the technical support and cooperation between Israel and the US military industries;
• The US vetoes used at the UN Security Council to block the condemnation of Israeli violations of international resolutions including human rights violations in the occupied territories;
• The falsification of the facts and the US biased media coverage of the events in the Middle East which demonize Palestinians and their legal rights; while favoring Israel and its illegal occupation and aggression;
• Look at the empathic support of the Congress and the standing ovations during Netanyahu’s speech defying Obama’s “moderation”;
• All this and many other indications testify the so-called ‘unbreakable bonds’ (Obama) between Israel and the US in which Palestinians are the victims.

7) WHAT HAPPENED TO DIRECT NEGOTIATIONS WITH ISRAEL?
Heading to the UN in September is not a substitute for direct and honest negotiations. However the extreme right-wing Israeli leadership has closed all the doors to honest and tangible negotiations. Negotiating and simultaneously confiscating Palestinian land by expanding settlement building reflects the dishonest mentality of Israel’s leaders. That’s why President Abbas asked for settlements to stop in order to open the way for honest and serious negotiations.

8 ) WHAT ABOUT DELEGETIMIZING ISRAEL?
Going to the UN and obtaining international recognition for a PALESTINIAN STATE on the 1967 borders doesn’t mean delegitimizing the state of Israel as such, but the illegal occupation of Israel in these lands. The military occupation of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza is illegal through Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 in addition to other agreements and treaties (Madrid, Oslo agreements, Road Map, Annapolis Statement and others). Yet Israel and the US are blocking the withdrawal from those occupied Palestinian territories. International law considers Israel’s occupation as illegal, yet Israel is intentionally blurring the line between the 1967 borders and its illegal occupation and expansion.

9) WILL THERE BE RIOTS IN THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES DURING PRESIDENT ABBAS’ SPEECH AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY?
Palestinians will celebrate an INDEPENDENCE DAY on the day of his speech, which will be delivered to the International Community in an attempt to obtain freedom for Palestinians, by establishing a free and independent Palestinian State. There will be no riots or confrontations with Israeli soldiers. There will however be a great show of support for President Abbas’ speech in New York along with an even greater rejection of the Israeli occupation.

10) WHAT KIND OF RELATIONS WILL THE NEW PALESTINIAN STATE (THE 194TH UN MEMBER STATE) HAVE WITH ITS NEIGHBORS?
The 194th member state, the State of Palestine will be peaceful, democratic and secular (not religious). It will be a state for all its citizens and entertain peaceful relations with all states of the region, Israel in particular. The Palestinian state will be a peaceful contributor to a turbulent Middle East, in the hope that all nations can live, coexist, and flourish peacefully together.

20th August – Residents of Beit Ommar, supported by Israeli and international activists, gathered for a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Gaza, following the recent Israeli airstrikes there which killed 14 people, including 13 year old Mahmoud Abu Samara.

As the demonstration attempted to march through Beit Ommar fields towards the illegal settlement of Karmei Tsur, the Israeli military responded with extreme violence. Live ammunition was fired at protestors, and concussion grenades were thrown, setting fire to the surrounding grass.

Soldiers arrested a total of five demonstrators, including Yousef Abu Maria, a member of the Beit Ommar popular committee and PSP organising committee. He was thrown to the ground, breaking his arm (photo above) for the third time this year. Soldiers then tried to place Yousef in handcuffs, despite it being clear that he was in agony. Majde Za’aqiq, another member of the popular committee, and organising committee at the Center for Freedom and Justice, was also arrested, alongside two Israelis and one international.

At the time of writing, all five were still in police custody.

This brutal violence is indicitive of a trend being seen across the West Bank and Gaza, as Israeli violence is escalated in the run-up to September’s UN vote on Palestinian statehood.

This week has seen the killing of yet more Gazans at the hands of the Israeli military, as the brutal seige imposed on over one and a half million people continues.

While the world busily talks about the UN general assembly in September, the situation on the ground deteriorates, as Israeli escalates its attacks on towns in the West Bank and Gaza.

In the latest Israeli attack, apache helicopters fired rockets into densely populated areas of Gaza, killing 14 people, including 13 year old Mahmoud Abu Samara (pictured above).

We would like to extend solidarity to Gaza and its children, who live in constant fear of such attacks.

Large crowds listened to speakers and attended workshops in the villages of Beit Ommar, Ni’lin, and Budrus. Palestinians debated the merits of the resistance and asked questions of political leaders in open forums. Workshops were given on topics ranging from the growing movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel to the growth of the occupation through settlements and the Annexation Barrier.

Noteable speakers included Maher Ghneim, the Palestinian Authority Minister of the Wall and Settlements; Aziz Dweik, the head of Hamas in the West Bank; Abed Alrahim Malouh, the head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Qais Abu Layla, Vice Chairman of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and Sultan Abu ‘Ayneyn, leader of the Fatah Movement in Lebanon. Also featured was a phone call from Nash’at Alwahaidy in Gaza City, a leader from the Gaza popular committees.

A large number of cities, villages and towns were represented at the conference. These areas included Beit Ommar, Sourif, Arroub, Tuwani, Yatta, Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah, Dura, Ni’lin, Budrus, Nabi Saleh, Ma’asara, Jabel Abu Ihlal, Beit Sahour, Sheikh Jarrah, Beit Ula, Bethlehem, Dhahriya, Deir Qaddis, Qujbya, Shuqba, Bil’in, Al Mydia, and Iraq Burin.

Created by a coalition of popular committees, the conference accomplished its intended goal of creating a program for building popular resistance to the occupation. More details will be provided with notes on all three days, all of which will be posted on this site this week.

The third day of the conference, which ended in Budrus, concluded with a demonstration against the Annexation Barrier on the village’s land. Approximately 150 people, including Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists came together in a large protest in front of the barrier. The demonstration had barely begun when the Israeli military began firing excessive amounts of tear gas at the demonstrators. The demonstrators retreated into the village. The army proceeded to fire tear gas into the village, including into a boys elementary school. At least two protesters were injured after being hit by tear gas canisters.

Budrus is known for its successful campaign against the construction of the Annexation Barrier in 2004. The barrier was originally set to divide the village and destroy thousands of olive trees. As a result of a strong and well coordinated popular resistance movement by village residents, the wall was re-routed to run along the Green Line in all but a small section, essentially saving the village over 80% of its land. It was the only village to successfully re-route the Wall solely through popular resistance, without resorting to the Israeli court system.
More details on the design and mission of the conference can be found on the following page: http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/popular-resistance-conference/

PSP activist from Chicago Max “Jeff” Suchan sent the following message at 9:30pm Palestine time:

As we tried to leave the port of Athens on the Audacity of Hope, we were blocked by the Greek coast guard and after a standoff, we have been ordered to dock in what has been called a military area of the port. No one is allowed off the boat and it is unclear whether we are currently being detained.

The U.S. Boat to Gaza is calling on supporters to contact their local Greek Embassies and demand that the Audacity of Hope be allowed to sail and not allow Israel to export its siege.

Below is the contact information for the Greek Consulates and Embassies in the United States, please contact either your closest consulate, or the one in Chicago, and demand that PSP activist Max Suchan, and all the rest of the U.S. Boat to Gaza be allowed to sail!

U.S. Boat to Gaza boarded by Greek Forces. Photo: Debra Ellis

New York:
nycons@greekembassy.org

Consulate General – Chicago
650 North St. Clair Street
Chicago , IL 60611
Telephone: 312.335.3915
Fax: 312.335.3958
Web Address: http://www.greekembassy.org/chicago/
E-mail: chicago@greekembassy.org

Consulate General – San Francisco

2441 Gough Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
Telephone: 415.775.2102
Fax: 415.776.6815
Web Address: http://www.greekembassy.org/sanfrancisco
E-mail: sfgr@greekembassy.org

Consulate General – Los Angeles
12424 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Telephone: 310.826.5555
Fax: 310.826.8670
Web Address: http://www.greekembassy.org/losangeles/
E-mail: lagr@greekembassy.org

Consulate General – Tampa
601 Bayshore Blvd., Suite 800
Tampa, FL 33606
Telephone: 813.865.0200
Fax: 813.865.0206
Web Address: http://www.greekembassy.org/tampa
E-mail: grgencon.tam@mfa.gr

Consulate – Atlanta
Tower Place, Suite 1670 3340, Peachtree Rd., N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30326
Telephone: 404.261.3313
Fax: 404.262.2798
Web Address: http://www.greekembassy.org/atlanta/
E-mail: atlanta@greekembassy.org

Consulate – Houston
520 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 450
Houston , TX 77027
Telephone: 713.840.7522
Fax: 713.840.0614
Web Address: http://www.greekembassy.org/houston/
E-mail: houston@greekembassy.org

In the past few months, my family and friends keep asking me why I am participating in the Freedom Flotilla as a passenger on the US boat, the Audacity of Hope. As part of this initiative, 40 of us have gathered in Athens in the hope of sailing towards Gaza in the coming days to challenge the Israeli naval blockade. We will join ten boats in international waters consisting of hundreds of passengers from 22 countries around the world. This second Freedom Flotilla comes a little over a year after Israeli commandos killed eight Turkish and one Turkish-American activist as they were attempting to deliver humanitarian aid on-board the Mavi Marmara when the ship was about 70 miles from Gaza City’s port.

I have little doubt we will be intercepted by Israeli Forces, who have threatened to attack our ships with snipers, attack dogs, and water cannons. I also expect that after we are boarded, we will be arrested, held in Israeli jails, and deported back to the United States. In light of these risks, many of those who are close to me want to know why we are sailing on anyways.

I am sailing because the people of Palestine have the right to determine their own future free from military occupation, economic control, and imposed restrictions. I am sailing because the Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza is part of a wider siege of one of the most densely packed areas in the world in which Israel controls the sea, air space and land crossings, crippling the economy and effectively turning the Strip into an open-aired prison. This siege can only be understood as an act of collective punishment, prohibited by international law under the Fourth Geneva Convention. I am also sailing because as an American, I am painfully aware that my government funds the occupation and directly supports Israeli policies that are designed to strip Palestinians of their basic civil rights. Where our government has failed to act for justice, ordinary people must step up to fill this void.

I am also sailing because the tide is turning, and we as Americans are again presented with a precious opportunity to join with others around the world to challenge oppression. I am inspired by the spirit of Tahrir, of Majdal As Shams, and the popular uprisings against authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and elsewhere as ordinary people catch courage from each other across borders to take their destiny in their own hands. I have seen that spirit here in Athens too, as those facing years of severe austerity measures occupy public spaces to look to each other for alternatives.

I have never been to Gaza, but I have spent more than a year in the occupied West Bank working to support Palestinian communities organizing in unarmed, popular resistance to occupation. While Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza may be geographically separated, and subscribe to a full spectrum of political persuasio1ns just like any other people anywhere around the world, they do consider themselves part of the same struggle for national liberation. I am also sailing because I know that as an American, I have more access to basic rights and resources that Palestinians living under occupation are denied. It is my hope that we can use our voices to transmit to the media the experiences of ordinary Palestinians, in Gaza and elsewhere, as we know their narrative has been routinely ignored and marginalized.

I am sailing for Ahmed Nasser Samouni, who was around 11 years old, the same age as my younger sister, at the time when he was badly wounded and most of his family were killed by Israeli Forces during the murderous assault on Gaza known as Operation Cast Lead at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Reema Abu Lafi, one of the nurses who treated him in Al Quds hospital in Gaza City, recounted his ordeal;

“One of the Samouni family children Ahmed Nasser, 10 or 11 years old, came to us at Al Quds hospital in a very bad condition on January 6th. He had been shot in the chest and needed test tubs. He told us that all of his family had been taken into a room by the soldiers when they came to their house. When missiles hit the house, most of the family was killed. Ahmed’s father is alive, but his mother, sisters and brother are all dead. Ahmed stayed with the bodies of his family members for four days before he was found and brought here. The first thing he asked for was for bread and water. Many family members are still missing but today we will know for sure when all of the bodies come in.”

During this three week assault, over 1400 Palestinians were killed, thousands of houses destroyed, and economic and civil infrastructure deliberately targeted in this war of attrition. I am sailing because I know that as an American, my tax dollars paid for the weapons that were responsible for so much destruction and death.

I am sailing for Yousef Ikhlayl, a youth from the village of Beit Ommar in the southern West Bank. Yousef was just 17 when he murdered by Israeli settlers as he was working his family’s land on January 28, 2011. I had met Yousef on several occasions as he was a participant in programs organized by the Center for Freedom and Justice, a center in the village that works to empower community organizing and unarmed struggle against the occupation. Yousef was an enthusiastic participant in photography classes I helped translate on several occasions. The settlers who killed him showed no regard for his humanity and to date none of his killers have been prosecuted by Israeli authorities. It is my hopes that as I sail, it can open up new opportunities to reach more people in the United States, to share stories like Yousef’s and work to ensure that the occupation will never claim another life again.

I sail because the risks I face are nothing compared to what the average Palestinian in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere faces on a daily basis. Palestinians, in their courage and steadfastness, are the real heroes. And I am certain, just as others have overturned their oppression before, that one day they will be successful in defeating occupation. The global tide toward justice is rising, and its time for us to get on board.

Max “Jeff” Suchan is a long-time volunteer with Palestine Solidarity Project.

Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah reached an “understanding” in Cairo on Wednesday to set up a transitional unity government and hold elections, Hamas and Fatah sources said.

Hamas leader Izzat Ar-Rishiq confirmed the initial agreement. Ar-Rishiq said Cairo will call all factions to sign the final reconciliation within the week with the presence of Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Mash’al.

Egypt’s official MENA news agency said the factions “reached a complete understanding after talks on all the points, including the formation of a transitional government with a specific mandate and setting a date for elections.”

Egypt will now call a meeting of all Palestinian factions to sign a reconciliation agreement in Cairo, MENA added.

Fatah delegation chief Azzam Al-Ahmad confirmed the report and said the two sides had agreed to set up a “government of independents.”

“This government will be tasked with preparing for presidential and legislative elections within a year,” Al-Ahmad said in a phone call in Ramallah.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted immediately, demanding that President Mahmoud Abbas “choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas.”

Netanyahu said such an agreement paved the way for Hamas to take control of the West Bank too, where Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have their headquarters.

“The Palestinian Authority must choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There cannot be peace with both because Hamas strives to destroy the state of Israel and says so openly,” Netanyahu said.

“I think that the very idea of reconciliation shows the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and creates the prospect that Hamas could retake control of Judea and Samaria just like it took control of the Gaza Strip,” he said, referring to the West Bank.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Abbas, dismissed these remarks.

“In reaction to Netanyahu’s remarks we say that Palestinian reconciliation and the agreement reached today in Cairo is an internal Palestinian affair,” Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

Netanyahu, he said, “must choose between peace and settlements.”

The United States, meanwhile, said it supported Palestinian reconciliation on terms “which promote the cause of peace.” Hamas, however, “is a terrorist organization,” said spokesman Tommy Vietor.

“To play a constructive role in achieving peace, any Palestinian government must accept the Quartet principles and renounce violence, abide by past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist,” he said.

Hamas and Fatah were on the verge of agreeing to the same deal in October 2009 but the Islamist movement backed out, protesting the terms had been revised without its consent.

Wednesday’s deal was brokered in Cairo where the factions met with Egypt’s new spy chief Murad Muwafi, whose predecessor Omar Suleiman tried unsuccessfully to bridge a split that has left Gaza and the West Bank ruled by rival administrations.

The Hamas delegation included senior members from Gaza as well as its Damascus-based deputy leader, Mussa Abu Marzuk.

On March 16, the president said he was ready to visit Gaza for talks with Hamas leaders to form a new government in order to pave the way for an agreement with Hamas on the formation of non-partisan cabinet lineup ahead of elections.

“I am ready to go to Gaza tomorrow to end the division and form a government of independent national figures to start preparing for presidential, legislative and National Council elections within six months,” he said.

And earlier this month, Abbas told AFP that Iran had ordered Hamas not to reconcile with its long-time secular foe, prompting an angry response from the Islamist movement which said he was responsible for blocking a unity deal.

“Until now Hamas refuses to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the initiative” — to put an end to divisions, form a new government and prepare for elections, he said, adding: “Now the ball is in their court.”

Cairo has long tried to broker a deal bring the two warring factions, and in October 2009 brokered a deal which would have led to a transitional government followed by elections. Fatah signed the deal, but Hamas stalled and the agreement was never implemented.

Tensions between the two movements date back to the start of limited Palestinian self-rule in the early-1990s when Fatah strongmen cracked down on Islamist activists.

They worsened in January 2006, when in a surprise general election rout, Hamas beat the previously dominant Fatah to grab more than half the seats in parliament.

Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza after a week of deadly clashes in June 2007, cleaving the occupied Palestinian territories into rival hostile camps.

Since then, Gaza has been effectively cut off from the West Bank, which is under the control of Fatah, and repeated attempts at reconciliation have led nowhere.

The disunity of the Palestinians has prevented them from taking a common stance in peace talks with Israel, which are now off the table.

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Ministry of Interior in Gaza said early Friday that an abducted Italian solidarity activist was found dead hours after being kidnapped by radical Islamists.

The government in Gaza “condemns the heinous crime that does not reflect our values, our religion or our customs and traditions,” a statement from the ministry said vowing to hunt down those responsible.

Local sources told Ma’an that Vittorio Arrigoni’s body was found in an empty home northwest of Gaza City in the Mashrou Amer area.

In a statement, the Hamas government press office said Arrigoni “was found by security hanging in an abandoned house in northern Gaza.”

“When news of the kidnapping of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni became known security services went on general alert and the investigation has led to a member of the group who gave away the other members and showed the place where the activist was kept,” Hamas government spokesman Ihab al-Ghoussein said in a statement read on television.

“The security services moved competently and quickly and found the body of the hostage who had been killed several hours earlier in an atrocious way according to a forensic doctor.”

Salafist radicals in Gaza were suspected in the kidnapping of Arrigoni, an activist for the International Solidarity Movement, last seen alive in a video posted online Thursday.

“We kidnapped the Italian prisoner Vittorio and we call on the Haniyeh government … to release all our prisoners,” it said, referring to Hamas Premier Ismail Haniyeh and naming an imprisoned jihadi leader called Sheikh Hisham Su’idani.

In March, sources close to the Salafists told Ma’an that their leader, Hisham Su’idani, 50, was arrested from his home in the Shati refugee camp.

The kidnappers identified themselves in the video as belonging to a previously unknown group called The Brigade of the Gallant Companion of the Prophet Mohammed bin Muslima.

The group described Arrigoni as a “journalist who came to our country for nothing but to corrupt people — from Italy, the state of infidelity, whose armies are still in the Muslim countries”.

The Salafi Jihadi group had threatened to kill Arrigoni unless Hamas released Salafist prisoners by Friday evening. Before the deadline passed, however, Hamas said his body was found.

Huwaida Arraf, a co-founder of the ISM, confirmed that Vittorio’s body was identified by staff in Gaza City. “It’s unbelievable,” she said. “He was more Palestinian than the criminals that killed him.”

Arraf added: “He’s very well-known, he lives among the people. He’s just got this dynamic, humanitarian personality.

“I even thought that whoever has him is going to see his humanity and just let him go so when I heard what happened to him I was totally shocked.”

Two suspected kidnappers were arrested and security forces are looking for accomplices, officials said.

The West Bank-based Palestinian leadership earlier called for the “immediate and unconditional release of this foreign activist who is working in support of the Palestinian cause and people”.

“This action does not help the just cause of the Palestinian people. On the contrary, it harms it,” a statement said.

Before the death was announced, Palestinians had planned to meet in Gaza City’s central Jundi square on Friday at 4 p.m. The protest was to demand Arrigoni’s release, the Gaza Youth Breaks Out group said.

Arrigoni held honorary citizenship for his work in the occupied territories, “a hero of Palestine,” said Khalil Shaheen of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in an ISM statement.

Rome on Friday denounced “in the strongest manner the act of vile and senseless violence committed by extremists who are indifferent to the value of human life”, a statement said.

The foreign ministry expressed “its deep horror over the barbaric murder and its most sincere condolences to the family.”

Hamas security forces have in recent years taken a hard line against Salafists in Gaza.

There are five major Salafist groups in Gaza, all of which espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the early days of the faith.

Their religious observances and refusal to abide by various ceasefires have set them on a path of confrontation with Hamas.

Though small in numbers, the groups have had a disproportionate impact.

By launching hundreds of crude rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel, they have attracted the wrath of both Israel and Hamas.

The history of bad blood between Hamas and the Salafists goes back to 2007, when a Salafist group called the Army of Islam claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of BBC reporter Alan Johnston.

Hamas severed ties with the group and helped free Johnston after four months in captivity.

Tensions boiled over in August 2009, when Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God) announced the creation of an Islamist “emirate” in Gaza, during a sermon at a mosque in the southern city of Rafah.

That prompted a furious response from Hamas, whose forces stormed the mosque, prompting clashes which left 24 people dead.