What are the repercussions for the civilian population of the internal Palestinian conflicts in the Territories?
The fragmentation of Palestinian society is not new but has reached an unprecedented level, as witnessed by violence among armed factions, family clans and, even, within families. Many people have been wounded and killed in exchanges of gunfire on the streets of Gaza. Others have been subject to reprisals for their political affiliations, including being shot in the legs. Hospitals have not been spared. Skirmishes have occurred inside facilities and patients have been killed in their hospital beds. The population has been held hostage to internal Palestinian battles, as well as to the policy of the international community which does not recognize the elected Hamas government, and has sought to isolate them by denying international financial aid since January 2006. This has deepened the dependency of the Palestinian population (for medicine, food and public employees’ salaries), condemning them to a poverty and deprivation that worsens daily. In mid-May, heightened internal Palestinian
