The American-Israeli Coup In Gaza That Never Happened

According to Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), the USA and Israel orchestrated a coup in 2007 by Fatah to force Hamas out of the West Bank. Oppressed by the Western backed Palestinian collaborators, Hamas fled to Gaza. Confined to this tiny strip, Hamas has been forced by an Israeli-Egyptian siege to give up its fine liberal democratic ideals displayed when it successfully ran in the 2006 Legislative Council elections. In CJPME's own words via a press release dated February 17:

CJPME notes that the lack of Palestinian unity has been comfortable for Israel and the US, but has prolonged the average Palestinians’ sense of political limbo, and seems to have encouraged Israel’s belligerence. CJPME also notes that Canada and other nations have done little to oblige Israel to respect international law, leaving Palestinians to fend for themselves when dealing with their occupiers, the world’s fifth largest military power.

 

Hamas has indicated that it will not participate in the new elections, nor recognize their results. Hamas won the 2006 Legislative Council elections, which were found to be democratic and fair by international observers, including the Jimmy Carter Centre. However, during a 2007 coup by Mahmoud Abbas’s party Fatah—orchestrated by the US and Israel—Hamas was forced out of the West Bank. It now rules only in Gaza, which has been under siege since 2007. The Palestine Papers revealed that the PA urged the Egyptians to strictly enforce the blockade of Gaza, despite the humanitarian duress of the Palestinians in Gaza.

This interpretation of historical events is a combination of a bunch of little lies and distortions. Anyway, it ain't the truth.

On the one hand, one can fault the corrupt and violent regime of Fatah for failing to hand over power to the group that won the vote. On the other hand, Hamas is (and was at that time) recognized in much of the Western world as a terrorist entity akin to Al Qaeda and other jihadist organizations. Certainly, Hamas had no pretentions of being a sort of liberal democratic party that would respect basic human rights. As bad as Fatah is (and was), transitioning power to Hamas was never going to be quick or easy, comparable to a Canadian Liberal government giving way to a Conservative one.

The CJPME makes it sound like Hamas' hold on Gaza was already complete (with a Jimmy Carter stamp of approval, no less) when Fatah struck out at their opponents (at the goading of their American-Zionist masters, naturally).

The Hamas coup has to be seen in the context of ongoing stop-start fighting already happening between Hamas and Fatah through the Spring of 2007. In the context of that power struggle, Hamas was the one that upped the ante to a full-blown coup. 

On June 10, a Hamas militants grabbed a few Fatah members and threw one of them, Mohammed Sweirki, off a tall building. Fatah retaliated and threw a Hamas member off a building.

What happened next has been well-documented by international media (Drat! They're all wholly-owned subsidiaries of Uncle Sam-Zionism Inc... especially the BBC):

• Hundreds flee Gaza as Hamas tightens grip
• Hamas Seizes Broad Control in Gaza Strip
• President warns of Hamas 'coup'

Basically, Hamas decided they were through sniping at Fatah. They were going to go for broke.

Mortars were also fired at the Gaza compound of President Mahmoud Abbas. He was not there at the time.
 

 

In another development, Hamas has declared parts of northern Gaza a military zone and barred Fatah members from the streets.
 

...
 

In one incident, the home a Fatah activist was attacked and three members of his family killed, including a 75-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy.
 

 

A senior militant from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to Fatah, was also killed.
 

Jamal Abu al-Jedian was shot 41 times in his hospital bed in Beit Hanoun. His brother was also later found dead, Fatah said.

Then they started moving in on Fatah strongholds. Fatah members fled to the West Bank, where their consolidated forces were at least were able to avert a complete Hamas takeover of all of the Palestinian territories.

That's what really happened.

It can seem to be a futile thing to refute a falsehood when so much effort is required. In keeping with Churchill's dictum that "a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on", it took about 400 words to refute a sentence or two from a CJPME press release. But the CJPME and their friends shouldn't be allowed to rewrite history with their own set of "facts".