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Middle East
Hamas, Jihad Say Won’t Disarm, Defy Palestinian PM
2003-06-04
Palestinian militant groups vowed Wednesday they would not disarm, defying an appeal by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas issued at a U.S.-led peace summit with Israel. "We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine," Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said. Islamic Jihad, another group sworn to Israel's destruction, followed suit.
I don't think any of us here expected anything different. Maybe somebody at the State Department did...
But neither ruled out further talks with Abbas, who seeks a halt to militant attacks in a 32-month-old revolt for independence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. He has sought to coax both groups into a cease-fire. Abbas met President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Jordanian resort Aqaba Wednesday for talks aimed at advancing a U.S.-backed peace "road map" which envisages a Palestinian state co-existing with Israel. "The armed Intifada (uprising) must end and we must resort to peaceful means to achieve our goals," Abbas said.
Without Armed Struggle™, the gunnies will have to get jobs. Where's the glamor in that?
Any full-scale Palestinian crackdown on militants seems unlikely given concern it could spark civil war. But even an arms amnesty would be anathema to Islamic militants who consider themselves the vanguard of Palestinian nationalism. "(Abbas) spoke about stopping the resistance, collecting arms as if we were a state and not under occupation," Islamic Jihad official Abdallah al-Shami said. "He was not supposed to use such language."
"Who does he think he is, Prime Minister?"
Both groups said it was first incumbent on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel wants militants reined in first. Hamas and Islamic Jihad view Israel, as well as the West Bank and Gaza, as Palestinian land. They opposed 1993 interim peace deals and have waged several suicide bombing campaigns. But mindful of the suffering caused to Palestinians by Israeli army incursions, the militant groups have indicated willingness to suspend attacks inside Israel and thus help Abbas implement the road map. "We are in need of more time. I think that in the coming few days we in Hamas will decide on our objective, and then we will meet with Mr Abbas," Rantissi said.
"If he's still alive"
Posted by:Steve

#4  this is abbas' real test: it's them or him. we'll know soon if he has the stuff to crush them. i was surprised by abbas' sensitivity to jewish suffering in his speech. a glimmer of hope.
Posted by: m rainey   2003-06-04 17:55:31  

#3  Re: Hamas and Hez:

1. The won't give up their weapons.

2. If they do not derail the Roadmap to Hell™ Peace plan with booms and other mischief on the Israelis, they will just wait for another day to do it.

3. They will never submit to Abbas, and Abbas will never go for the gunnies, so Abbas is doomed.

What things really boil down to is this: Hamas and Hez and the Al-Aska Aksa Martyrs Brigade and all the other brigands have to be put out of business before we have peace over there. The only two entities that I know of that are willing/capable of doing so are the US and Israel. And that is where it is at. All the rest is window dressing and BS and wasted Jet A.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-06-04 14:17:53  

#2  "We are in need of more time. I think that in the coming few days we in Hamas will decide on our objective, and then we will meet with Mr Abbas," Rantissi said.

The objective has not change: They want the complete and utter destruction of Israel. That may seem reasonable from a bunker in southern Lebanon, but it looks like the road map to peace just hit a major sink hole.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono   2003-06-04 12:55:13  

#1  Just signed their own death warrants. They just do not realize it yet.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-06-04 12:24:16  

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