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In the past week, fighting between Hamas and Fatah has left more than 32 people dead and many more injured, bloody clashes that have pushed Palestinians one step closer to the brink of a civil war between Abbas and his Fatah faction on the one hand, and the Hamas-led government on the other.

Palestine has become another front in the Bush administration's Cold War against "Islamofascism." Mahmoud Abbas and Gaza warlord Muhammad Dahlan have become the willing proxies for the Palestine franchise of this wider project. Since October, eight truckloads of AK-47 rifles and machine guns and several million rounds of ammunition have entered Gaza from Israel. Abbas' Presidential Guard has also attacks against he Islamic University in Gaza, shelling, burning and destroying parts of it.
On December 15th, Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah president of the Palestinian Authority, announced that he will dissolve the recently elected parliament and call new presidential and parliamentary elections. Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo told Associated Press that the president would set the date within a week, and that new elections would be held within three months.

Many see the move as an unconstitutional attempt to unseat the Hamas-led government that threatens to precipitate a full-scale civil war between supporters of Hamas and Fatah. Clashes between the two groups has been increasing in recent weeks.

On November 7th, dozens of Bay Area activists stood in solidarity with the people of Beit Hanoun and protested the Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine and the siege of Gaza. The group started out at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco where many police and a handful of Israel supporters waited for the vigil to begin. The demonstration progressed to Montgomery and Market to bring the atrocities in Gaza to the attention of the people of San Francisco. Photos | Video

On November 10th a vigil was held in front of the Israeli Consulate. Photos

On Saturday, September 16th, the anniversary of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, over 40 Bay Area activists staged a "die-in" at the Ferry Building in San Francisco to highlight the fact that US tax money has been used to fund the attacks on and killings of civilians in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq. imc_photo.gif Photos
On the back of Israel's military defeat in Lebanon, Palestinians fear that their blood will be used to bolster public confidence in Olmert's government. The Israeli military offensive in Gaza continued unabated during the conflict in Lebanon but was practically unmonitored by the world's media. With the exception of the United Nations registering grave concerns over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the continued violence against Palestinian civilians and infrastructure, it seems that the Palestinians have been forgotten. 170 Palestinians including, 138 civilians, 14 security officers and 15 militants, were killed in Israeli attacks from June 27th until August 8th 2006. During that same period, Israeli F-16s and helicopters launched 190 air strikes, the Israeli military fired over 3,500 artillery shells, the Israeli Air Force carried out 380 air patrols and 506 Palestinians were injured.

UN Warns of Gaza "Time Bomb" | War Overshadows Palestinian Killings: UN | Year on, Gazans See No End to Occupation | Unilateral action by Israel spawns violence in Gaza | Two killed in Gaza air strike | Israel extends Hamas MP's detention | Palestinians discuss unity government | Rafah crossing closed after being open less than 7 hours in 2 days | Time to Reopen the Palestine File at the UN? Not Yet! | Israeli Army Causes Two Serious Head Injuries to Protestors in Bil'in | 3 Palestinian Civilians Killed by IOF in the West Bank
Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have returned to the remains of their homes in the South of the country. Rebuilding started the day the ceasefire started with Hizbullah playing a major role, clearing roads and helping to dig out survivors and the dead from collapsed buildings. Hizbullah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah has promised a year's rent and a set of new furniture for every family whose house has been destroyed in the fighting. With billions of dollars worth of damages, NGOs and Western governments have been much slower in their response; the US has only promised $50 million and an international donors' conference in Stockholm isn't scheduled until August 31st.
US Counters Hizbullah Rebuilding | Hizbullah revs up Aid to Victims

One major challenge facing returning Lebanese are unexploded bombs. During the month of hostilities, Israel dropped thousands of US made munitions including many cluster bombs. Cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground launched shells that eject multiple small submunitions. Submunitions are classified as either bomblets, grenades, or mines. They are small explosive-filled or chemical-filled items designed for saturation coverage of a large area. ...Each of these delivery systems disperses its payload of submunitions while still in flight, and the submunitions drop over the target. Human Rights Watch opposes all use of cluster munitions with high initial failure rates, including the weapons that Israel used in Lebanon, because of the prolonged danger they pose to civilians. In Southern Lebanon, thousands of unexploded bomblets have turned some areas into virtual minefields, and there are already reports of death from cluster bombs among returning refugees.
Israel asks U.S. to ship cluster bombs quickly | HRW Urges No Cluster Bombs to Israel | Robert Fisk: Lebanon's pain grows by the hour as death toll hits 1,300 | Israeli Ambassador Grilled on Use of Cluster Bombs

In Beirut and along the Lebanese coast, the war has left both the water and air in poor shape. Chemicals and dust from the buildings hit during Israeli air strikes have badly polluted the air and land in S Beirut. Along the coast Lebanese volunteers have started to clean oil-stained beaches. Nearly 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled onto Lebanon's coast after Israel bombed Jiyyeh power station,50 kilometers south of Beirut, causing the biggest ecological crisis in the country's history.
Lebanon Facing its Worst Environmental Disaster Ever: Oil Spill From Israeli Strike | Oil Spill Reaches Syrian Coastline | Lebanon: Environmental catastrophe threatens Mediterranean
Guns fell silent across southern Lebanon on Monday morning as a United Nations ceasefire came into effect. Thousands of Lebanese civilians, displaced by the Israeli bombardment, have started heading home to Southern Lebanon. It is not clear if the refugees will be able to make it home since Israel's military has "said traffic restrictions south of the Litani River had not been lifted" Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also said that despite the ceasefire (and the demand that Hezbollah disarm), Israel will continue to try to assassinate Hezbollah leaders.
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