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| Israel-Palestine |
| Meshaal: Group Committed to Israel Truce, BUT... |
| 2005-07-14 |
| The political leader of the Hamas militant group said Thursday it and other Palestinian factions remained committed to a truce with Israel, despite recent violence. BUT Khaled Meshaal told The Associated Press that what he called continued Israeli violations may renew confrontations and end the 5-month-old cease-fire. On Tuesday, a suicide bombing outside a shopping mall in the Israeli resort town of Netanya killed five people. Israel said it was carried out by a follower of Islamic Jihad, the second-largest Islamic militant group after Hamas, which opposes the existence of the Jewish state and has killed hundreds of Israelis. Mashaal said Israel has failed to commit itself to the conditions of the truce, citing more than 47 Palestinians killed during the cease-fire. Israel is provoking the Palestinian factions to force them to break the truce," he said. The militants regard any Israeli action against them as a truce violation, ranging from the almost daily arrests of their supporters to Thursday's killing of Mohammed Alassi in Nablus, which the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade cited as justification for the evening rocket attack that killed a woman in Nativ Haasara, inside Israel. Israelis say arrests and pre-emptive strikes are legitimate acts of self-defense against people planning to kill Israelis. It says 16 Israelis have been killed during the truce. "The continued aggressions and provocations by Israel would create a climate whereby there can be no calm," Meshaal said. "No one can prevent the Palestinians from retaliating for the Israeli aggression and from defending themselves." For now, however, Mashaal said the Palestinian factions would continue to abide by the cease-fire agreement. "Hamas and all Palestinian factions, including the Islamic Jihad, are still committed to the truce," he said by telephone, speaking from an Arab country that he declined to disclose. Following the Netanya bombing, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice singled out Syria for criticism and called on Damascus to end its support for Islamic Jihad. Syria has long denied involvement in terror attacks on Israel. "It's essential that the Syrian government end its support for terrorist organizations, particularly those who are headquartered and harbored in Damascus," Rice said. "Syria should immediately stop letting its territory be used for insurgent activities and for activities which frustrate the aspirations of the Lebanese, Iraqi and Palestinian people." Mashaal called her comments "unjust." "It's an expression of absolute U.S. bias toward Israel," he said. Meshaal said "nobody holds responsibility for what is happening except the Israeli occupation and the continuation of the Zionist aggression" of the Palestinian militant groups' presence in the Palestinian territories. He urged the Bush administration to end what he called its bias in favor of Israel and abandon its "aggressive policy" against Arab nations in general and the Palestinians in particular. He also urged European countries to adopt a more balanced, just and evenhanded stand toward Arabs. He described his talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus last week as "frank and clear" and said they discussed the general Palestinian situation, relations between Hamas and the mainstream Fatah movement, and the Palestinian legislative elections. He reiterated his group's position not to participate in the Palestinian national government, saying there were more pressing issues, such as "rebuilding the Palestine Liberation Organization on new organizational bases, expediting legislative elections, and forming a national committee" to follow up on Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Meshaal said his group would never abandon its weapons "so long as there is Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands." |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #1 Mashaal said Israel has failed to commit itself to the conditions of the truce, citing more than 47 Palestinians killed during the cease-fire. Does that count suicide bombers? Personally, I have no doubt this number includes, much as similar counts here in Cincinnati, those who were killed while shooting at people. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-14 17:42 |