That's a Strange Headline
There are overwhelming numbers which demonstrate that people get the vast majority of "information" they get from a story when they read the headline. So when the article is titled Israelis weigh into firefight as Abbas strikes at militants, surely the intent is to convey that Israel joined a battle between Abbas and the "militants". More to the point, in the context of the Middle East, it pretty clearly implies that Abbas was trying to fight Hamas and that Israel interrupted him - in other words, that Israel intentionally inflamed a situation that Abbas was getting under control. So because the article is in English, and because in English "as" means "at the same time", one would be surprised to find out that nothing of the sort is true:
From early morning yesterday Palestinian security forces fought running gun battles with the Islamic militant group in the streets of Gaza, in a show of force which was intended to halt militant rocket attacks on Israel, but ended with Hamas gunmen dancing on the burning wreckage of police vehicles.
Barely had the dust cleared from the internecine fighting - which shocked Palestinian bystanders, rescue workers and religious leaders - when Israel launched helicopter strikes that killed seven Hamas members in Gaza and the West Bank.
A more accurate headline would have been "Israel attacks Hamas after Abbas fails". But that wouldn't fit the "Israel must cooperate with Abbas so he can bring the Palestinians to the peace table" petulance coming from the impotent international left.
From early morning yesterday Palestinian security forces fought running gun battles with the Islamic militant group in the streets of Gaza, in a show of force which was intended to halt militant rocket attacks on Israel, but ended with Hamas gunmen dancing on the burning wreckage of police vehicles.
Barely had the dust cleared from the internecine fighting - which shocked Palestinian bystanders, rescue workers and religious leaders - when Israel launched helicopter strikes that killed seven Hamas members in Gaza and the West Bank.
A more accurate headline would have been "Israel attacks Hamas after Abbas fails". But that wouldn't fit the "Israel must cooperate with Abbas so he can bring the Palestinians to the peace table" petulance coming from the impotent international left.
