in the news
- August 5, 2008
Family feud - Gaza style
Hatred clearly runs strongly in Gaza. How’s this for a family feud? 29 dead, 60 wounded, plus homes and businesses burnt down. And its still not finished!
This feud is between the al-Masri’s and the Abu Taha’s. It started in 2005 when one of the former stopped at a roadside stall to buy a mango. The stallholder didn’t have change for $5, so the buyer did what most normal people would do - shot and killed the him.
“We want to kill one more to be equal,” a member of the Abu Taha clan told a researcher for International Crisis Group. But then the toll moved to 10 Abu Taha and 11 Masris dead - and the Masris vowed revenge.
Those Masri’s are an argumentative lot. In 2006 they went to war with another clan because one of the Masris, while driving a donkey-cart, collided with a car driven by a member of the equally powerful Kafarneh clan. 6 people were killed as neighbours who had lived side-by-side for decades turned guns on each other in the name of clan honour. Houses were sand-bagged and women who had married across clan lines on both sides were locked up while hundreds of gunmen fought it out for two months. The ongoing feud prompted the Masris to erect a four-metre-high wall around their enclave in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.
They are fighting on other fronts too, vowing to kill members of the Dughmush clan. Plus they are at loggerheads with Hamas, the political party/terrorist organisation that now controls Gaza. A clan leader said it needed to avenge the death of three of its fighters during the Hamas takeover, and said “the vendetta remains outstanding”.
Happy families they are not!
Technorati Tags: Gaza, Masri, Abu Taha, Kafarneh, Dughmush, clans, Hamas, Palestine
7 Responses to “Family feud - Gaza style”
Kinda makes you hope they wipe each other out completely. No more silly feuds.
By chosha (17 comments.) on Aug 6, 2008
wow. just…wow.
By Blaine Fridley (1 comments.) on Aug 6, 2008
Chosha - I was thinking that myself. Stick all the would be fighters out in the desert somewhere, with no innocent bystanders in the way, armed to the teeth, and let them slug it out to the death.
By Ian (33 comments.) on Aug 6, 2008
Can we just drop a bomb in their midst to wipe them out and stop all this? Just a thought.
By monaco (1 comments.) on Aug 6, 2008
How can the let a family feud escalate to such carnage? I really dont get it.
By Andy (1 comments.) on Aug 10, 2008
That is some serious family bonding. I don’t think any of my family would kill someone if I didn’t get change for a mango. Bastards. Where is the honour I ask you?
By Kelley (5 comments.) on Aug 10, 2008
unthinkable but they happen, the carnage and everything, all for the sake of kinship. we can never understand this of course but there really are families that live like this. it’s about where one is born, i think. one cannot choose but go with the flow.
By bingskee (2 comments.) on Aug 17, 2008