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| Israel-Palestine |
| Gunmen threaten to kill Palestinian MPs |
| 2005-04-17 |
| JPost - Reg Req'd - EFNews Palestinian gunmen shut down a government building on Sunday and threatened to kill members of the Palestinian parliament, demanding the Palestinian Authority provide jobs to former prisoners and to relatives of people killed during nearly five years of fighting. give us jobs or we'll kill you? Think those jobs involve work, or just distribution of EU cash as before? Led by Zakariye Zubeydi, the head of Jenin's branch of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, about 40 militants gathered in Jenin's main intersection, firing into the air as several hundred sympathizers encouraged them. "gun sex!" Zubeydi told the crowd he was ready to march on the offices of local parliamentarians. "In half an hour, if we find any of them in their offices there will be blood and then our only language will be the Meanwhlie, members of the armed wing of Hamas, Izzadin Kassam, have expressed their readiness to join the Palestinian Authority's security forces, Palestinian legislator Abdel Fattah Hamayel revealed over the weekend. "We want 'jobs' too!" This is the first time the PA has declared its intention to recruit Hamas activists to its security forces. Trying to subvert Hamas's rise? Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders warned that their groups would resume their attacks on Israel unless all security prisoners were released. The threats were issued during demonstrations in the Gaza Strip in support of Palestinian prisoners. Hamayel, who heads a committee entrusted with negotiating with Palestinian gunmen wanted by Israel for their role in terror attacks, said several Hamas fugitives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were prepared to lay down their weapons and join various branches of the security forces. "Some of the Hamas members have already filled out the relevant forms to join the security forces," he said. "The Palestinian Authority is prepared to absorb all of them." He noted, however, that other Hamas fugitives had rejected the offer to serve as security officers, saying they wanted more time to think about it. Last week, the PA began recruiting dozens of wanted gunmen to its security forces as part of a plan designed to resolve the problem of the fugitives. At least 80 out of a total of 530 gunmen, most of them belonging to Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, were incorporated into the security forces after signing a document in which they pledged to abide by the law. Hamayel said the PA was not dealing with the gunmen on the basis of their political affiliation, but as fugitives whose lives were at stake. "Our goal is to provide these men and their families with a dignified and safe life," he explained. riigghhttt The gunmen who have already joined the security forces are now under the direct jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry and the paramilitary National Security Force, Hamayel said, adding that most of the Fatah gunmen had already agreed to serve as policemen. He said that although Israel had handed the PA a list with the names of some 500 fugitives, the real number of gunmen wanted by Israel is over 1,200. Hamayel accused Israel of violating the understandings reached with the PA on the issue of the fugitives by killing a Fatah gunman in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus last week. "This is a flagrant violation of the understandings and the hudna," he charged. "According to the understandings we reached at the Sharm e-Sheikh summit [earlier this year], Israel is supposed to inform the Palestinian Authority in advance about any Palestinian who is planning to carry out an attack so that our security forces can verify the information." In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied that the movement's gunmen were planning to join the PA security forces. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #3 TW, just grab it! Need you ask? ;-) |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-04-17 8:53:26 PM |
| #2 Popcorn? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-04-17 8:34:16 PM |
| #1 Hamayel said, adding that most of the Fatah gunmen had already agreed to serve as policemen. Reminds me, I haven't read 'A Clockwork Orange' in a while. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-04-17 8:32:31 PM |