Unruly Gaza clans compete in power void

Even if Sarraj overstates the case a little, the mess in Gaza is real, and it presents fundamental problems for Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority he inherited from Yasir Arafat. Israel’s August pullout set off a power struggle here, and put Gaza’s fissures in sharp relief. Gaza now seems like a street-corner society, with security forces only more sophisticated varieties of the militant gangs that have their base in neighbourhoods, refugee camps and the hamullas.

The hamullas are so powerful in Gaza that rival security forces seek to buy their loyalty with money and weapons, while hamullas seek to ensure that their members are represented in all crucial groups, including among the militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“The hamullas have their own militias or have infiltrated the various security services,” said Talal Okal, a political scientist at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. “Each militia tries to preserve its role and prevent the Palestinian Authority from exercising its functions and authority.” —NYT