Gazan Government To Open More Offices

And why not? They are the democratically elected Government and they won the majority of votes. It's called "democracy" although Israel and the US don't support democracy any longer.

Hamas is considering opening branches for the Palestinian parliament in several Arab states to reach out to the world and overcome travel restrictions caused by an Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Hamas leaders said the idea was still under discussion, but sources said Hamas lawmaker Marwan Abu Rass has left the Gaza Strip for Damascus to prepare for the opening of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)'s first branch outside the Palestinian territories.

"The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc of Hamas is thinking seriously of opening a regular office in the Syrian capital," Ismail al-Ashqar, another Hamas legislator, told Xinhua. "Such a step would help break the siege on the bloc's members."

Meanwhile, Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the PLC, confirmed that the parliament's foreign offices would be open soon "in all Arab capitals, not only in Damascus."

"At the beginning, the branches will be in Syria and Egypt before spreading out to all Arab capitals," Bahar told reporters in Gaza. "The aim is to communicate with the world and the Arab parliaments, given the tight blockade of Gaza."

In January 2006, Hamas defeated the long-dominant Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas and scored a landslide victory in the legislative elections.

A year later, Israel shut down all commercial crossings with Gaza and Egypt maintained the closure of Rafah border crossing point -- the only gate that bypasses Israel for Gazans to the outside world, in response to Hamas' violent takeover of the coastal strip. source

ILLEGAL SETTLERS~A NEW TAKE

I must preface this by saying I do not believe this is possible, But, A Jew writing for the Daily Star in Lebanon, has quite an unusual take on the I/P situation regarding the huge issue of settlements. At first read I found it quite stunning and very much outside the box. Upon reflection, strangely enough, IF something like this were to take place AND succeed, it could also be the beginning of a (many years and generations away) one state solution. Here’s the important bits:

In every attempt, those involved in cutting deals between Israel and the Palestinians have always tried going through the settlers, a self-defeating tactic because doing so only gives them more power. A new approach is to outmaneuver them – set a border that’s defensible for Israel and functional for Palestine, and urge the settlers to either get behind that border, with government assistance, or become a Jewish minority in the Palestinian state.

An ultimatum to settlers would force them to choose between the modern state of Israel and its biblical promise, possibly encouraging many to acquiesce without major incident. Those who remain could retain their Israeli citizenship, with an open invitation to return, but would become Palestinian citizens. Living no differently from other diaspora Jews, they would be subject to the laws and values of their state.

The idea of withdrawing Israel but leaving Israelis has yet to go mainstream, but there have been hints. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said as much at the Aspen Ideas Festival last July, when he declared that Jews would be welcomed in a future Palestinian state.

Gershon Baskin, co-director of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information, proposed in a recent Jerusalem Post column to “link the rights, privileges and obligations of Palestinians in Israel to those of Jews in Palestine … to close the gaps of discrimination against Palestinians in Israel and prevent the discrimination against Jews in Palestine.” read it all here