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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Hamas leader pledges to stick by ‘the rifle and the tunnel' | |
| 2016-04-16 | |
| [IsraelTimes] Ismail Haniyeh says the issue of incarcerated Paleostinians is ’at the top of our priority list’; dozens riot near Israeli border Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... said Friday the group remained committed to armed struggle against Israel, in a speech he made ahead of Prisoners’ Day, observed by the terror organization next week. Speaking at a rally in the Gazoo Strip, Haniyeh said, "Our message to the prisoners is a message inked in blood. The rifle and the tunnel are our commitment. "The issue of prisoners is at the top of our priority list. As time passes, we stick to our principles, and the people who walk in the path of deaders and prisoners also stick with us."
On Thursday, an IDF officer said both sides were preparing for a future conflict, and while neither side was interested in renewing violence, a miscalculation on either side could bring about another round of fighting. "Hamas suspects that we will initiate offensive action against it by surprise, and so the fear of miscalculation exists," the officer was quoted by the Hebrew website Ynet as saying. "Their level of sensitivity to our public proclamations is high. Hamas saw [the months of violent attacks] in the West Bank as a strategic opportunity, even at the cost of deterioration in Gazoo, and the movement is disappointed with the drop in the number of terror attacks. Since October, 17 Paleostinians were killed in border fence riots and some 800 were maimed," the officer said. The terror group has been investing considerable resources in the Nukhba force, an elite unit of fighters. According to Ynet the number of Hamas fighters in the unit has grown to 5,000 people ‐ a quarter of the group’s fighting manpower. On the other hand, the group’s development and construction of rockets has been severely damaged by Egypt’s closing of smuggling tunnels. Hamas has been finding it difficult to restore its array of short and medium-range projectiles since the end of Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. Speaking earlier this week at a forum dedicated to the situation in Gazoo at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, director of the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau Amos Gilad said that the Hamas armed wing, led by Muhammed Deif, ultimately paid no heed to the political wing, headed by Haniyeh. Gilad opined, however, that conflict would not erupt this year between Israel and Hamas. "The good news is that our deterrence is still working. They say that there will be a ’hot’ summer. That’ll only be because of the high temperatures," Gilad said, alluding to the tendency for regional conflicts to take place in warmer summer months. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 "Let's you and him fight!" |
| Posted by: Raj 2016-04-16 17:56 |
| #3 So, stick a rifle up your tunnel, already. |
| Posted by: JHH 2016-04-16 16:07 |
| #2 "....and the goats." Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2016-04-16 08:46 |
| #1 ".." he said while hiding amongst his civilian shields |
| Posted by: Frank G 2016-04-16 07:31 |