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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Haniyeh: Palestinian victory in Gaza is near |
| 2009-01-01 |
| Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that Israeli attacks on Gaza had to stop before any truce proposals could be considered. "First, the Zionist aggression must end without any conditions... Second the siege must be lifted and all the crossings must be opened because the siege is the source of all of Gaza's problems," he said in a televised speech to Palestinians. "After that it will be possible to talk on all issues without any exception," Haniyeh said, referring to recent truce proposals raised by all parties, including Israel. Haniyeh was speaking from an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, which has suffered the deadliest Israeli attacks in the past four decades in which at least 394 Palestinians have been killed. Haniyeh sounded a defiant tone, saying the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip will win the fight against Israel. "We tell the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere that you will win, inevitably," Haniyeh said. "Victory is near, God willing, and it is closer than people think." In his speech, Haniyeh said: "What is happening in Gaza is not normal aggression. It is a real war, a war without morals, with neither principles nor laws. It is a war of elimination against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip." The head of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, earlier on Wednesday said that Israel is hesitating to launch a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip for fear of failure. According to Nasrallah, a ground operation in Gaza will prove extremely difficult for Israel, because of the one and a half million residents who are "embracing the resistance." In a televised speech made before an audience of Hezbollah supporters in Beirut, Nasrallah added that Israel hasn't declared specific goals for Operation Cast Lead because it won't be capable of achieving them. "What is happening in Gaza is a victory, despite all the pure blood being spilled," said Nasrallah. Nasrallah on Sunday said that he had asked his fighters to be on alert for a possible Israeli attack on Lebanon following the raids on Gaza that have killed nearly 400 Palestinians. "What is happening today is a Palestinian copy of the July war," Nasrallah declared, drawing a comparison between the Israel Defense Forces offensive in the Gaza Strip and the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which Hezbollah waged against Israel in southern Lebanon. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 So whaddya think is closer Izzy, Palestinian victory or Palestinian unity? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-01 20:37 |
| #4 "There's thousands of 'em on all three sides, sarge!" |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-01-01 16:13 |
| #3 Hamas has them "RIGHT WHERE THEY WANT THEM". |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2009-01-01 12:24 |
| #2 The war must not stop until Israel has you, Ismail Haniyeh. Then it will stop, for you. It must go on at least until the February elections, then we will see. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-01-01 11:41 |
| #1 Palestinian Victory? I do not think those words mean what you think they mean |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-01 09:32 |