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Who Will Direct the Gaza Strip?

As the first year devoid of an Israeli presence since 1967 dawned in the Gaza Strip, armed militias roamed the streets freely, foreigners are being kidnapped with regularity, and the measure of a man in this coastal territory is not his political title, or even the size of his house, but the number of AK-47-wielding bodyguards he employs. This is the future of "Palestine"?

When Israel left Gaza four months ago, full control over the 1.3 million people was ostensibly transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). But its authority in this coastal territory has deteriorated to such a state of anarchy, that the best-armed gangs or families are effectively the law now. With Palestinian Legislative Council elections scheduled in three weeks, the violence in Gaza has heightened and armed factions are jostling for control with the ruling Fatah party.

"The Palestinians are looking for an excuse to blame Israel because they are incapable of controlling their own streets," Israeli spokesman Ranaan Gissin says. "If they decide they want to cancel the election, they do it on their own merit, they can`t hang it on us." After insisting for weeks that elections would go ahead as scheduled, Mr. Abbas said for the first time on Monday that he would consider delaying the vote, not because of the violence, but due to the question of whether Israel would bar Palestinians in east Jerusalem from voting.