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| Middle East |
| Hamas is gonna get it... |
| 2002-09-23 |
| While Israel Defense Forces bulldozers wrecked buildings in Yasser Arafat's Muqata compound in Ramallah, Israel refrained from taking action against another "political" leadership, whose ties to terror attacks are not in dispute - Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip. We were wondering about that... Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer warned on Friday that top Hamas figures such as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin have no "insurance guarantees" protecting them from Israeli attacks. And people close to Ben-Eliezer hinted that the IDF will start operations against Hamas soon. Uh... You want to get it in gear, then? Yet, as things stand today, whereas Arafat has denounced terror attacks inside the Green Line - no matter that few believe his remarks are sincere - Hamas figures such as Yassin praise the sacrifice of the suicide bombers. And the Hamas advocates of terror seem to speak with impunity - Israel hasn't lifted a finger against them. Shehadeh would disagree with that... In Samaria, the Hamas' terror network has suffered a number of decisive blows. Its current leaders in the area (Mohammed Hanbali, Nasser Asida and Ali Iylan) are obscure, unknown figures, especially when compared to predecessors such as Mahmud Abu-Hanud. They were saying earlier they'd knocked the crap out of the West Bank Hamas... Israel has only tried once to attack the Hamas' political leadership, and the killing of Sheikhs Jamal Mansur and Jamal Salim in Nablus last August remains highly controversial. Discussion of attacks on Hamas "big names" elicit concerns regarding operational or political complications. In this connection, Israel's political leaders haven't forgotten the diplomatic fall-out which resulted from the botched attempt to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan, in September 1997. It's not clear whether Israel wants to take renewed responsibility for the ailing Sheikh Yassin, by imprisoning him once again (the Hamas spiritual leader was released from an Israeli prison as a result of the Meshal fiasco). Better this time to give him a nice funeral, with lots of wailing and guns firing in the air. Add in Rantissi and make it a double... Thanks to Steve for this one... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |