 The political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, implicitly accused the United States and Israel of responsibility for last week's clashes between Hamas activists and Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip.
| I confess. It was me. I did it. That guy with the yarmulke helped, too. I'll take my medicine. I'm just so ashamed... |
Meanwhile, Egypt said it has started constructing a new tri-border crossing that will link the three sides of Egypt, Gaza and Israel. An Egyptian official said the crossing would be built within three months, but did not specify when it would be opened for use. The crossing will be south of the old Egyptian-Gaza crossing at Rafah.
| Does it come with tunnels, like the old one did? |
In Damascus, Meshaal spoke after attending a meeting of leaders of Damascus-based radical Palestinian factions opposed to the PLO's peace accords with Israel. The leaders rejected internal fighting and called for national unity "and solving differences through dialogue to enable the Palestinians to continue the battle of liberating Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestinian lands," Meshaal told reporters. Referring to the Gaza clashes, Meshaal said, "There is foreign pressure and incitement known to everyone."
| "Every time a Paleo woman goes to clean under the bed, they find an American or an Israeli, and sometimes both!" |
Although he did not elaborate, Meshaal was apparently alluding to the United States and Israel, which have repeatedly demanded that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas disarm Hamas. In a statement issued after the Damascus meeting, also attended by Farouk Qaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's mainstream Fatah faction, the militant leaders stressed "the Palestinian right of resistance until all legitimate rights are achieved" and urged all Palestinian factions to avoid armed fighting in solving internal differences. Qaddoumi said the leaders also agreed to "refrain from all forms political and media provocations that can harm the interests of our people and their national unity."
| Oh, he did, did he? Well, me and Moshe will take care of that! |
Meshaal warned that "no one has the right to interfere in internal Palestinian affairs even if it was the U.S. administration." He rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's demand that Hamas disarm. "As long as our land is occupied, the Palestinian people and their factions have the right to jointly resist and play a political role."
| "And we're the ones who define what our rights are, not you!" |
Rice said last week that Hamas cannot participate in Palestinian politics if it remains armed. "You cannot simultaneously keep an option on politics and an option on violence," she said. But "we refuse any inclination toward internal feuding because our fixed national principles set Palestinian blood as a taboo," he said.
| Yeah. We've seen that. Very commendable. |
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