JD: It looks like Hamas which would be in the Gaza Strip and Fatah headed up by Mahmoud Abbas the Palestinian Authority there in Ramallah, they hate each other as much as they hate Israel. In fact they have a civil war that’s going on. Can you give us any enlightenment as far as that’s concerned?
DD: Jimmy that does go back to the formation of Hamas in late 1987 actually, but this conflict is real. Hamas has condemned all along the Palestinian Authority’s attempts to make peace with Israel. Now those have been very feeble attempts as we know but the peace treaty that Yasser Arafat signed was condemned by them. They continue to say Israel’s total destruction is our only goal and is our ultimate goal and we will not even fain peace where as the PA does still have some security cooperation in Judea and Samaria with Israeli forces. It’s very weak but there is some coordination, we’ve seen that in recent weeks. Indeed there is a civil war there. There’s no chance that Hamas is going to give up its control over the Gaza Strip, that’s their mini state and the PA is trying to get that back. Egypt is trying to keep both sides at bay, other forces that work there.
