Companies in the Palestinian West Bank say the Hamas group that controls the Gaza Strip are planning to impose new trade rules that will deepen economic and political abyss between the territories.

In recent months, firms based in the West Bank have begun to rediscover the market in the Gaza Strip, home to a third of the Palestinian people, because Israel has eased restrictions on entry of goods into the enclave.

But the companies say they are finding new clauses to Hamas, including an application to register their business, a move that could indicate that the Islamist group reportedly planning to collect new taxes on their operations.

A source close to the Hamas government, who declined to be identified, said he had asked a few companies who have registered. But he said "no steps have been taken to force them to do it."

Complications faced by companies seeking market share in Gaza highlights the deep divide between the territories where Palestinians seek to establish their state.

Source.

But the Jooz will still be blamed for this division...

Image via Wikipedia. Hamas' flag with Shahada.This happened three days ago:

Two phosphorous mortars were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. "These weapons have been banned by the Geneva convention. They cause burns among victims and they kill," said Haim Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council. Hamas-the Iranian-backed terrorist group that rules Gaza-has increased its attacks on the Jewish state since Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed direct negotiations earlier this month. "So long as this autonomous Iranian entity in Gaza continues to exist, we will be fired on," Yalin said. "There are 50,000 residents who live in this area who are thirsty for peace and a normal life. And we face a Hamas entity that is unwilling to recognize Israel. We are civilians, farmers, students, all being fired on indiscriminately."

When Israel used them, there was an international uproar against its use. When Hamas uses it, it barely gets to front pages. Another example of double standards. What happens: Israeli lives are worth less than Palestinian ones?

PA Legislator's New Math Updates Number of Virgins for ‘Martyrs’ - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News:
What happens? The number of applicants for suicide bombers have declined that quickly lately?

Found here.

"Hamas continued to gain strength this past summer as about 100,000 youngsters underwent radical anti-Israel indoctrination at dozens of summer camps run by the terrorist group – which also attacked United Nations camps, its main competition – according to a report released on Tuesday by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

According to the report, more than 100,000 children and teenagers participated in the Hamas camps, which included paramilitary training and military parades. The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization also opened 51 different summer camps for over 10,000 children.

Well, in reality that's an euphemism. The terrorist organization is not raising the taxes, they are just asking anyone which is "doing" a non-taxed "activity" to pay... without any law that says expressly why they should pay and what amount:

In the last couple of weeks, Gaza Strip store keepers, owners of supermarkets and grocery stores complained that the deposed government of Hamas movement in Gaza is imposing unreasonable and unfair taxes on products such as cigarettes, cars, motorcycles, electric generators and fuels.

"They (Hamas government) are searching for any reason to collect money from the poor people who have been suffering from the Israeli siege, which shows the real financial crisis that Hamas is passing through these days," Abu Ahmed, another store keeper who declined to give his full name, told Xinhua.

Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a Gaza-based economist, told Xinhua that any government in the world "has the right to collect taxes from the people, but in accordance with a transparent and clear law of taxes and customs," adding "unfortunately, the tax situation in Gaza doesn't have any basic law."

The Hamas Minister for Religious Endowments has again spoken against the Jews and the Zionists, though this time he also adds the Crusaders, US and Europe to his hated enemies. He also says that he wants to prepare a martyrdom operation within Tel Aviv with "Ramallah authorities".

The beauty of the speaker is at the same level as ever. Really ugly this guy, hein?



Tx to An Egyptian.

Related: "Jews are Bacteria, May He Anihilate all this people".

For the first time since pre-State days when Zion and Palestine were synonymous terms, a “Palestinian Zionist Organization” has been established – by Arabs.

The latest Arab to show his public support for Israel is Elias Issa, who describes himself as a “European West-Bank Palestinian.” He writes that he chose a unique approach by which to celebrate Israel’s 62nd birthday – namely, by launching the Palestinian Zionist Organization. He says his goal is “to show the world why it must support the Jewish people and to [distance itself] from the terrorist Palestinian government.”

Statements on the new website include warnings that a new PA state, if it were to arise, would “become the most terrorist state in the world… The Palestinians don't believe in a two-state solution; they only believe in a one-state solution - a land called Palestine [which] does not involve any Jewishness."

Issa, who now lives in the United States, explains that the international community is blind “to what's truly going on in this Middle East conflict. [I hope] to make a difference by shining a different kind of light on the Palestinian-Israeli situation.”

The website notes that “more and more Palestinians” are going public in their support for Israel.

Those are good news, but it's interesting that this hasn't had a lot of publicity.

The Palestinian Authority, run by Al-Fatah*, is the only regulator for financial institutions and charitable institutions in the West Bank and Gaza. So in that context it declared Hamas-linked Islamic National Bank of Gaza illegal because it hadn't applied for the necessary license to "engage in banking activities" in the area.

US Treasury Department also designated the Bank as being controlled by Hamas, preventing any US national or US companies to have any link with it.The explanation was given by US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey:

"Consistent with our commitment to a well-regulated and transparent financial system in the Palestinian territories, Treasury will continue to exposeHamas's efforts to create institutions with the trappings of legitimacy that are in fact controlled by and used to support a terrorist organization."

 The PMA continued with enforcing the regulation and froze the assets of another Hamas-linked organization, called "Friends of the Sick Association", because the believed the charity was serving as a front for the terrorist organization.


Hamas' response was to broke in the Gaza Strip branch of the Bank of Palestine and steal the frozen account's money: $400,000.

Via.

Actually both Hamas and Al-Fatah are descendants of the same group (the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood), but despite that fact they continue waging war at one another. Make no mistake: Al-Fatah is no better than Hamas, but the latter is much more truthful, because they don't hide their goals. Both of them want to destroy Israel as a state, so any agreement with them that saveguards Israel's existence is not going to be very welcomed, whatever the rest of the terms.