Suicide as Foreign Policy (Hamas defends bombing, Abbas condemned the slaughter of innocents)

Council On Foreign Relations ^ | April 18, 2006 | Lionel Beehner

[IrishMike]

The world was reminded again of the fragility of calm in the Middle East after a lone suicide bomber killed nine (LAT) and wounded sixty outside a Tel Aviv fast-food restaurant. The bombing was the worst of its kind since August 2004 and the first such attack since Hamas took power three weeks ago. Hamas officials defended the bombing, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the slaughter of innocents.

While support for suicide bombing has declined across the Muslim world, according to a July 2005 Pew Poll, several political and clerical leaders continue to view it as a legitimate—and effective—form of resistance, particularly when the victims are non-Muslims. The purpose of these so-called martyrdom operations, as this BBC analysis explains, is killing or maiming as many people as possible, thereby instilling a high degree of fear among the targeted civilian population. Such attacks are notoriously difficult to detect. In addition, they provide a low-cost way to provoke a heavy-handed response from one's enemy, which then is used to justify further suicide attacks and creates a seemingly endless cycle of violence. This is the case between the Palestinians and Israelis, just as it was between the Tamil Tigers—often credited with inventing the suicide bomb as a tool of resistance (Economist)—and the Sri Lankan government.

In the Middle East, such attacks have spread beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last year in Iraq, for example, suicide attacks—most of them car bombs—briefly replaced kidnappings, beheadings, and improvised explosive devices as the preferred tactic of the insurgency,

[IrishMike]

Abbas annuls Hamas decision to create special force
Apr 21 8:48 AM US/Eastern

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060421124712.pimqgc0b.html

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has annulled a decision by the Hamas government to create a new security force of gunmen from armed factions, an official said.

"President Abbas considers the decisions of interior minister Said Siam illegal and anti-constitutional, and he has sent a letter to this effect to prime minister Ismail Haniya," Tayeb Abdelrahim told reporters on Friday.



"He will publish a decree annulling these decisions," added the Palestinian Authority secretary general.

On Thursday, Siam announced he was created a new special security force of gunmen from armed factions to supplement the work of Palestinian police and security forces faced with rampant chaos in the territories.