JPost - Reg Req'd
Two Hamas gunmen were killed and an Israeli soldier was wounded Wednesday in a gunbattle in the northern Gaza Strip, military sources said. The violence erupted in Beit Hanoun not long after Israeli police thwarted a bomb attack in central Israel, arresting two Palestinians who infiltrated from the West Bank, and confiscating their explosives, near the Israeli-Arab town of Kfar Kassem.
Hmmmm what about the roadmap....?
In Beit Hanoun, gunmen opened fire on soldiers at positions on the outskirts of the town, sources said. Soldiers fired back and a gunbattle ensued, during which two Palestinians were killed. A soldier wounded lightly by shrapnel was treated at the scene and then taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Hamas claimed in a statement that the battle erupted when its men fired an anti-tank rocket at the Israeli position.
Take out the highest available target every time there's an attack. Snuff out Hamas, literally, or it won't end
The attack on Israeli soldiers came the morning after a Hamas leader hinted at recognition of Israel. A senior Hamas official told reporters in Gaza City on Tuesday that Hamas envisions a Palestinian state living side alongside Israel. The remark appeared to be Hamas' first public recognition of the state of Israel.
Big F*&KING DEAL
The statement, from an organization which has called for the destruction of Israel, closely followed reports from Israeli and Egyptian officials that Hamas is on the brink of declaring a cease-fire with Israel. Hamas has come under intense Egyptian, Palestinian, European and US pressure in recent weeks to curb terrorism against Israel, which may enable the road map to move forward. "What is the point in speaking in rhetoric," said Hamas leader Abu Shanab. "Let's be frank. We cannot destroy Israel. The practical solution is for us to have a state alongside Israel. [The future Palestinian state] is not one that is to take place of Israel," he said.
| That'd be a jaw-dropper, if he meant it. He doesn't, anymore than Chuck Taylor has any intention of leaving power or Bob has of retiring... |
One of five top Hamas officials, Abu Shanab is known as a moderate among Hamas ranks. The tone of his statements has often conflicted with the inciting rhetoric of more militant Hamas leaders like number two, Abdel Aziz Rantissi. According to Hamas political insiders, last week's attempted assassination of Rantissi also indicated Israel is no longer willing to distinguish between the group's political and military wings, effectively lifting a blanket of immunity from many of its leaders.
| Nothing will ever happen until it's their skins on the line. Cannon fodder is too cheap and easily replaced... |
"When we build a Palestinan state," said Abu Shanab, an engineer, "we will not need these militias; all the needs for attack [against Israel] will stop. Everything will change into a civil life."
Abu Shanab better let others start his car for him
He said the Palestinian state he envisions will not supercede Israel, but will be "one that lives with it," largely because it could face destruction in a full-scale war against Israel. "Israel's balance of power is much greater than the whole Arab world combined. It is strong enough to make for stability for the rest of our lives, and beyond that as well," he said. Asked whether Hamas only tacitly agreed to a "hudna," or cease-fire, as Palestinian Authority security sources have recently reported, Abu Shanab waved away the question. "In fact Hamas wants to make a strong public declaration of cease-fire if Israel will allow it to happen," he said. Abu Shanab said Israel has torpedoed each of the four cease-fire attempts to date. He said he wonders whether the Sharon administration even desires such an arrangement.
| "Yeah. It's not us, it's them!" |
Abu Shanab argued that the Bush administration has miscast the group since 9/11 by repeatedly grouping it with al Qaeda. However, he said, all members of Hamas insist that a full cease-fire can be reached only when Israel withdraws from all of the territories conquered in the 1967 Six Day War. Anything short of that will ignite a continuation of violence, he said.
| "All of it! Every little bit! You, over there! Is that dust on your shoes from Gaza? Put it back, right now, or we'll kill you!" |
Palestinian security sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post yesterday that the finalization of the "hudna" is well under way, if not already fully mapped out. Brig. Gen. Saeb al-Ajez, the Palestinian National Security officer responsible for maintaining security in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, said Tuesday "the hudna will start soon, and I think it has already started."
| We can tell. The rockets are hardly flying at all... |
He referred to a de facto cease-fire, "which is not written on paper but is apparent on the political map," that has already taken hold of much of the Gaza Strip. However an IDF Intelligence Branch official was more skeptical of the prospects of a hudna. The official told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Hamas "appears," to have decided "in principle," to declare the cease-fire. He added, however, that the group is interested in "blurring" its terms. Hamas has also not yet decided to whom to give its cease-fire commitment: PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas or Egypt, he said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who also appeared before the committee on Tuesday, said the Mahmoud Abbas-led PA has the "operational capabilities and manpower" to battle terror groups. According to Sharon, the PA has 20,000 "salaried" forces in Gaza and 30,000 in the West Bank who can "immediately operate" against terror infrastructures. Al-Ajez said there are only about 8,500 rifles for its forces.
| Take some from your snuffies, then. Don't even tell me the Paleos don't have enough guns! |
"We are starting from zero [following Israeli destruction of Palestinian weaponry] and need means of transport, weapons, equipment uniforms, communication equipment," he said. "We need bases." While al-Ajez waffled on the PA's resolution to subdue Hamas or Islamic Jihad forces attempting to attack Israel, he expressed his unit's readiness to do its best to prevent launching of Kassam rockets into Israel should the IDF withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Without a public Hamas declaration of a cease-fire, he said, the PA would be hard-pressed to launch pre-emptive or punitive strikes on Hamas operatives for fear of piquing the ire of the Palestinian public in Gaza. |