I’m glad that Dahlan is out of Gaza.  The level of discourse here—if you acknowledge that Dahlan is a thug, someone else has to say “Hamas are thugs,” is like children in a sand box.  “I know you are but what am I.”  Hamas has restored order to Gaza.  At what price down the line for society in Gaza we don’t yet know.  As for the ridiculous people around Abbas like Abed Rabbo who are trying to implicate Hamas in the kidnapping to win political points, Fatah really has blown it, since the Hamas takeover of Gaza would not have occured if they had shared power in the first place.  Yes, yes, I know Abbas was under all kinds of pressure from the U.S. but that didn’t mean he had to go along with the U.S. agenda with such precision.  THAT was not necessary.  But then who does Fatah really represent anymore?  There are a gazillion Fatahs, and that’s not Hamas’ problem, that’s Fatah’s problem.

[...] I was ecstatic this morning when I heard the news that Alan Johnston was finally released. For four long months, he was held by a group calling themselves “The Army of Islam” [...]

- Abdurahman