| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Hamas seals deal on Israel | |
| 2006-06-27 | |
AS ISRAELI tanks massed on Gaza’s borders last night, Hamas executed a dramatic shift in policy to reach an agreement that implicitly recognises Israel. The militant Palestinian group’s surprise move could see the Hamas-led Government — anathema to Israel and the West — replaced within weeks by a national unity coalition. Details of the agreement remained unclear, but Palestinians hoped that the prospect of the secular Fatah party and other factions joining the Government might end international sanctions, and make it possible for Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate President, to restart negotiations with Israel. But those hopes depend on the immediate military crisis being resolved. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, promised a “comprehensive and protracted” military operation unless Gilad Shalit, the 19-year-old soldier captured on Sunday, were freed. He later spoke of a “limited operation” in southern Gaza, targeting “terrorist infrastructure”. Last night Israeli missiles struck three bridges along Gaza’s main north-south highway, in what the military said was an effort to impair the Palestinians’ ability to move the captive soldier. As convoys of Israeli tanks took up position just north of Gaza and armoured bulldozers constructed sand berms along the border, Palestinians hastily built defences against attack. In northern Gaza, from where Palestinian militants have regularly fired rockets into Israeli towns, fighters put up barricades in Jabalya refugee camp, while Islamic Jihad fighters further south posed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, AK47s, bomb belts made of ball bearings and explosives packed into disinfectant bottles. The men conceded that they had nothing to match Israel’s F16 fighters and Merkava tanks. But, one said: “We have exploding bodies.” Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, pleaded for restraint. Egypt moved 2,500 troops to Gaza’s southern border to prevent a mass exodus of Palestinians, and urged Hamas to release Corporal Shalit. The Popular Resistance Committees, a militant group with close ties to Hamas, said that the soldier was being held “in a safe place that the Zionists cannot reach”. The PCC was one of the three groups who seized Corporal Shalit in a daring tunnel raid on Kerem Shalom military base, and are now demanding the release of Palestinian women and child prisoners. As Hamas’s military wing took joint responsibility for the attack, its political wing was ending its power struggle with Mr Abbas by apparently accepting a national unity plan that the President had threatened to put to a referendum. Hamas has long advocated the destruction of Israel, but the plan calls for a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza territories captured by Israel in 1967 — implicitly recognising Israel’s existence in the rest of historic Palestine. However, the original document, drawn up by Palestinian prisoners from all factions, does not mention a two-state solution or Israel’s right to exist. Its already ambiguous language may also have been watered down in recent talks. Walid Awad, a spokesman for Mr Abbas, said that Mr Abbas would insist on any new government accepting the three international demands that have been made of Hamas: recognising Israel, renouncing violence and abiding by previous agreements. “This is the basic point on which the President and Fatah have concentrated — that its programme has to be acceptable to the international community,” Mr Awad said. Mushir al-Masri, a rising star in Hamas, again made clear that while his group acknowledged the reality of Israel’s existence it did not recognise the Jewish state’s legitimacy. He also said that it had agreed only to “focus” future attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, not to “confine” them to the occupied territories. Israel, meanwhile, dismissed the agreement as an irrelevance as long as an Israeli soldier remained captive. Mark Regev, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “It’s a tragedy that the responsible Palestinian leadership was not giving its full attention to the release of our soldier. We really are at the edge of a cliff. If he is not released we will be forced to take actionto bring about his release.” | |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #11 3dc and spod are spot on. The reason we are still f*&king with Hamas is because of the UN and EU wanting moderation and a soft approach. Crush them, thats what they understand and more importantly that is what they will respect. When they know they will be destroyed for their actions they will not act. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-06-27 22:26 |
| #10 Full out war. Patton was right. Fight to win and fight anyway you have to to win. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2006-06-27 22:11 |
| #9 Scooter has it. all else is posturing and lies. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-06-27 21:47 |
| #8 I am troubled that Israel is talking limited action in southern gaza. Limited is a bad idea. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-06-27 21:13 |
| #7 This is just a ploy by Hamas when faced with a massive assault by the IDF. It is too late. Their missile attacks and kidnap ops were done. They are acts of war. Clean out Hamas, then talk all you want with the Paleos to your heart's content, Israel. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-06-27 20:45 |
| #6 If those sub-human savages were serious about anything, Shalit would be returned as a first step. Anything else at this point is just hot air. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2006-06-27 20:42 |
| #5 I think it's going to take a little more than begrudged implicit recognition to stop the tanks from flooding into Gaza. Too little, too late. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-06-27 20:37 |
| #4 How long until the EU says Hamas has met the conditions to be removed from the terror list? |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-06-27 20:35 |
| #3 My guess is when the tanks are withdrawn, Hamas will change its mind again. Not if they're all dead. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-06-27 20:31 |
| #2 Well, well ... look at that, my bullsh!t meter is pegging. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-06-27 20:31 |
| #1 I'm not sure how much you can trust a dramatic change of heart that comes only when tanks are massed at the border. My guess is when the tanks are withdrawn, Hamas will change its mind again. |
| Posted by: WhiteCollarRedneck 2006-06-27 20:29 |