The chief Hamas bombmaker and No. 1 on Israel’s most-wanted list said Israel had lost its battle to destroy the radical Islamic group and was leaving the Gaza Strip in defeat. Mohammed Deif, a shadowy Hamas leader and a five-time survivor of Israeli attempts to kill him, made a rare statement on the group’s Web site, gloating over Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he would pull soldiers and Jewish settlers out of most of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank if peace talks with the Palestinians remain stuck in the coming months. Both sides hope to paint the departure as a victory, and many feel violence will surge in the months leading up to a redeployment. Deif said the proposed withdrawal is a sign that Israel is no longer able to withstand attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers. "If we look at the results of our Jihad (holy war) and our resistance, we will find that the enemy entity is collapsing," Deif said in an audio file posted on the group’s Web site. "The Israeli collapse is near. With God’s help, it’s closer than they imagine. We will witness the victory with our own eyes."
| ... he said, standing in the rubble of Paleostine. |
Deif, who tops Israel’s list of militants marked for death, has survived repeated attempts on his life. In one of his most dramatic close calls, helicopter gunships zeroed in on his Mercedes while he was stuck in a traffic jam in a crowded Gaza neighborhood in September 2002. The pilots fired two missiles into the car, killing two bodyguards. Deif escaped with moderate wounds.
In his Internet monologue, Deif fired back, saying Sharon’s attempts to destroy Hamas had failed. "Sharon, who always refused any peaceful solutions ... the one who came to eliminate the resistance ... he is the same Sharon who has now decided on a total evacuation and full withdrawal from Gaza," Deif said. Explaining what he called a victory over Israel’s vastly superior forces, Deif goes on to say in a transcribed interview on the group’s Web site that suicide bombers are "as efficient as a tank or a warplane."
"Our engineers and technicians work day and night to develop their capacity to hit the enemy," he said. And there’s no shortage of willing recruits to join the ranks of suicide bombers, he said, indicating that he’s had inquiries from entire families wanting to join up. "It’s a great honor to say we are receiving hundreds of requests from willing martyrs, and believe me when I say there are families looking to do that, for the sake of God." |