Posted on 05/20/2014 5:18:12 AM PDT by SJackson
GAZA — For 14-year-old Aseel Radi, the promised reconciliation between warring Palestinian political factions is viewed through a forlorn fountain in a crowded market on the eastern side of Gaza City.
Aseel used to visit the fountain in what is known as Palestine Square with her father, Maher, a member of the Fatah faction’s armed wing who was killed by militants from its rival, Hamas, during the bloody six-day battle for control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Now, only a few bricks remain of the broader basin, which is filled with trash. The lights have been turned off and water no longer flows.
“I do not like passing by it anymore,” Aseel said. “I remember my father in every step I do: when I wake up, when I walk to school, before I sleep, because he used to stay beside me until I fell asleep when I was afraid of something.”
These yearnings of a young girl for a lost parent are among the looming challenges for Palestinian leaders who signed a pact April 23 to reunite Gaza and the West Bank and repair the Fatah-Hamas rift. The 2007 fighting left 260 Fatah activists and 176 from Hamas dead, and a committee is now charged with persuading their families to accept compensation — and raise the funds to pay it — rather than pursue the death penalty as outlined in Islamic law.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Am I the only one looking at the headline thinking maybe it would be about killing Jews? No, that's not a problem, they're on the same side there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.