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October 04, 2006
This representation of the conflict between Hamas and Fatah is just one aspect of the conflict. The result of the divisiveness between Hamas and Fateh means that Gazan society is returning to an era in which the government, headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh or Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) does not solve problems.
Stavro
However, the broader context is the Israeli occupation of the Gaza strip. Gideon Levy in an op-ed in Ha'aretz writes that:
Gaza has been reoccupied. The world must know this and Israelis must know it, too. It is in its worst condition, ever. Since the abduction of Gilad Shalit, and more so since the outbreak of the Lebanon war, the Israel Defense Forces has been rampaging through Gaza - there's no other word to describe it - killing and demolishing, bombing and shelling, indiscriminately.
Gaza is occupied, and with greater brutality than before. More than ever, Gaza is also like a prison. The Palestinians have been sealed shut and starved.
The occupation is four decades old and still going strong in both the West Bank and Gaza. In that time Israel has followed a consistent policy of subjugating the Palestinian population, imprisoning it inside ever-shrinking ghettos, sealing it off from contact with the outside world, and destroying its chances of ever developing an independent economy.
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