The assassination of Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin may well turn out to be a blow, not to Hamas, but to the Palestinian Authority. In the power struggle waged for the past several years in Gaza between the PA and Hamas, it was Yassin's organization that enjoyed an ever-increasing advantage in the sphere of public opinion.

Hamas is perceived as an organization whose leaders are free of corruption and ready to make sacrifices. In the eyes of the Palestinian street, Hamas' diplomatic tactics have proven themselves to be effective, while PA chairman Yasser Arafat's strategy has led to a dead end. The assassination of Yassin puts paid once and for all to the possibility that the PA will take measures to restrain Hamas and curb its members.

The more Israel hits Hamas leaders and rank-and-file members, the more their popularity climbs. In tandem, they become increasing immune to operations by the PA's security force, since any such operation would only be interpreted as treacherous collaboration with Israel. Recently, there was some cases in which the PA's security forces tried to arrested Hamas activists, but hundreds of the organization's activists physically blocked their path and prevented the arrested.

There are some 20,000 armed Palestinian Authority police officers in the Gaza Strip, compared to barely 2,000 armed Hamas members. Nonetheless, the balance of power between them is not based solely on number, but on the public standing that each group enjoys.

The assassination of Yassin could, therefore, merely contribute to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and, by creating chaos in the Gaza Strip, turn Hamas into the only side to profit from Yassin's death.

While the disengagement plan and the surrender to terror were being discussed yesterday in the Prime Minister's Office, the Khoury family of Beit Hanina was burying its son George, 20, an Israeli student who was murdered in Jerusalem by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Almost at the same time, the parents of Fatma Al-Jaled from Khan Yunis were burying their 8-year-old daughter, who was fatally wounded by "warning shots" fired by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. This is the essence of the routine of death that has taken hold in Israel and the territories: the leaders prattle, the fighters kill and the children die.

The land is slowly filling up with more and more victims - Jerusalem, Khan Yunis, Ashdod, Gaza, Netanya, Jenin, Hadera, Rafah, Tel Aviv. When a national conflict permeates every home and becomes a personal conflict, it's difficult to remove it from the domestic environment. When the leaders finally put an end to this cursed war, and the fighters lay down their weapons, we will discover that the land is filled with hatred, fear and violence.

Last August, a comprehensive study on the impact of the first 20 months of the intifada on the adult Israeli population was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Some 16 percent reported having been directly exposed to traumatic incidents. Prof. Avi Bleich, the president of the Israeli Psychiatric Association, told the Palestine-Israel Journal last November that the secondary circle of people exposed to violence and bereavement, especially the family members and friends of victims, comprises 30 percent of Israelis. According to his calculation, every second Israeli is exposed to trauma, and this does not take into account the impact of people's exposure via the media. It can be safely assumed that in the 20 months that have passed since the study was conducted, this vast number has grown further.

The exposure of the residents of the territories to violence and death is even greater. The number of unarmed people killed so far is nearing 2,000. Many more have been crippled physically and emotionally. A study conducted among 10- to 19-year-olds in the territories last year by Dr. Iyad Sarraj, the head of psychiatric services in Gaza, discovered that 94.6 percent had experienced a funeral, 83.2 percent had witnessed shooting incidents, and 61.6 percent had seen a relative being hurt.

Over 97 percent of those who participated in the study revealed post-traumatic stress disorders of varying severity. According to the World Bank, the closures and blockades in the first two years of the intifada propelled the number of people living below the poverty line in the territories from 20 to 60 percent.

The Red Crescent claims that in 70 percent of calls for help, they are unable to reach the home of the sick person. A survey conducted by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics in September 2003 found that over half of the population of the West Bank reported difficulties in trying to reach their place of work or their fields. Dr. Mohammed Haj-Yihye, from the School of Social Work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has for the last three years been tracking the impact of the occupation on adolescents (14- to 18-year-olds) in the territories. The most pronounced finding of his work (conducted with the help of focus groups) is that the most dangerous post-trauma reactions relate more and more to the extended family.

The level of anger and fear is higher among the third generation in Haj-Yihye's study, since they detect suffering, humiliation and depression among the first and second generation members of their family. Dr. Haj-Yihye also found that adherence to religious and nationalistic symbols, like the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the right of return, has been passed on to this group from the older generation.

For the information of the chief of staff, the study finds that the consciousness of the young Palestinians has not been seared, as he hoped, with the futility of violent struggle. On the contrary, they reveal growing moral and religious commitment. These youngsters also display anger toward the Palestinian leadership, and the desire to protect their families and to enact revenge in the name of their parents. The girls in this group express mainly frustration and loss of hope.

These youngsters are tomorrow's "terror infrastructure." They are more dangerous than all the weapons-smuggling tunnels in Rafah and the bomb laboratories in Khan Yunis. They are the daily victory of terror and of the occupation.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/407144.html

alè, mo partono i complotti....

per correttezza non riporto il nome del forum, cmq aleggiano dubbi sull'opportunità di quest'azione soprattutto dopo l'uccisione dei poliziotti palestinesi a Gaza
Condivido l'affermazione qui riportata

"Salvo che l'obiettivo politico non fosse proprio costringere Hamas e Fatah
ad avvicinarsi anziché combattersi, questo lo sa solo Sharon."


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