Hamas Discourages Protests

Hamas has a novel way of discouraging protests against their government. Hand grenades.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Five people have been wounded when a Hamas sympathiser tossed a hand grenade into a demonstration in the Gaza Strip of police protesting non-payment of salaries.

The identity of the victims was not immediately clear, security sources said Saturday.

The incident occurred in Deir el-Balah, one of many locations in Gaza where hundreds of police were demonstrating. They were burning tires and setting up roadblocks to disrupt traffic.

The more than 160,000 Palestinian Authority employees have received practically no pay since March, as a result of the suspension of direct Western aid and the refusal of banks to transfer Arab donations to government coffers.

The European Union and United States froze direct aid after the radical Hamas party took office in March, citing its refusal to formally recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous agreements.

The Cash Flow Jihad Strikes Hamas and it is biting hard. It appears that weapons are of no use when it comes to moving bits and bytes. For that to happen there needs to be co-operation on both ends of the wire (tube?). Civilization is a co-operative deal. If Hamas doesn't give up Tribalism and become civilized it may yet have an open revolt on its hands from the people who elected it. Lessons in self government I guess.