Nothing uglier than internecine warfare

The Times has an article about one Palestinian group, Fatah, bombing another, Hamas: "Gunfights and mass-arrests swept the Palestinian territories over the weekend in the aftermath of a deadly bomb attack on Gaza’s Hamas rulers, which the Islamists blamed on their western-backed rival Fatah. A major Hamas security sweep in Gaza, in which hundreds of Fatah members were rounded up for interrogation and the movement’s offices shut down, triggered fighting involving another group, the Army of Islam, a radical, smaller movement with previous links to both factions and which kidnapped Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist. In the middle of the internal fighting, Israeli forces simultaneously launched a raid to arrest a senior Hamas fugitive in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, killing the man when he opened fire on the raiding party... The Army of Islam is based in a cramped area of southern Gaza City dominated by the powerful and fiercely territorial Doghmush clan, with whom Hamas has had run-ins in the past over smuggling operations. Hamas policemen fought gun battles with clansmen and militia members for hours, at one point having to extricate a group of its policemen who were pinned down by Doghmush snipers. At least three people were wounded in the all-night clashes. Following the infighting, Israeli forces stepped into the complex melee this morning with a raid to nab the senior Hamas militant, Shihab al-Natsheh, whom Israel accused of masterminding a suicide bombing in the southern Israeli town of Dimona in February, killing an elderly Israeli woman."

Rico says it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys; he hopes they keep it up all summer but leave the Israelis out of it...