Israel and Hamas / IDF likely to be swept up in W. Bank struggle

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Posted, with the following reply, because they seem to indicate that Hamas' position is not being diminished by the sanctions applied.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is likely to escalate soon in light of the Israel Defense Forces' decision to try to thwart the establishment of a Hamas security service in the West Bank.

In Gaza, Hamas' "Special Security Service" has become one of the organization's main power bases in its struggle against Fatah. Members of this force are well-equipped and very disciplined, and they have won almost all their street battles with Fatah gunmen. Though the service's more than 5,000 members appear on the Palestinian Authority payroll, in practice, they answer solely to Yusuf a-Zahar, a member of Hamas' military wing and brother of PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud a-Zahar. Alongside its official task of keeping order in Gaza's streets, the force has another, no less important, mission - intimidating Fatah.

However, Hamas is having trouble consolidating its rule in the West Bank. Members of Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, may not rejoice at taking orders from PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but they are happy to use their weapons to intimidate Hamas members and Hamas-affiliated charities.

Al-Aqsa gangs, which rule most of the West Bank, have benefited from four years of IDF operations against Hamas that have severely damaged the latter's military infrastructure. Hamas is aware of the problem and seeks to close the gap with Fatah by recruiting its own men into the PA security services and turning them into a concentrated, well-armed, well-trained and intimidating operational force.

Haaretz

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1. PA official: Hamas interior minister brought $2 million into Gaza

Hamas' interior minister brought $2 million into the Gaza Strip in a new effort by the ruling Islamic militant group to flout international sanctions, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

The official said the Hamas-led government would use the money to make one-time $50 payments to 20,000 members of Palestinian security forces by the end of the week.

A European Union official said Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam personally carried the money into Gaza last week, but said there was little the EU monitors at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing could do. The monitors observe the crossing under an Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached last year.

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Hamas ministers, using their VIP status, have brought more than $20 million into Gaza in recent months, despite international sanctions against the group.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/779875.html