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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas appoints new interior minister

2009-05-08

[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Hamas has appointed a new interior minister to oversee the work of its security forces in the Gaza Strip. The new minister, Fathi Hammad, has replaced Said Siam who was obliterated killed by Israel in January during Operation Cast Lead. On Tuesday, Hammad attended the weekly meeting of the Hamas cabinet in Gaza City for the first time in his capacity of interior minister. He said after the meeting that he planned to continue building and developing the Hamas-controlled security forces in the Strip. Hammad was elected as member of the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006. In the past few years he was also in charge of Hamas's Al-Aksa TV station. The post of interior minister is one of the most important portfolios in the Hamas cabinet because the minister is directly in charge of all the security forces. Unlike his predecessor, Hammad maintains good relations with representatives of the rival Fatah faction in the Gaza Strip. His appointment came shortly after Hamas announced that it had reelected Khaled Mashaal as head of its political bureau in a secret vote. The appointment of Hammad also coincided with reports according to which Hamas policemen have been deployed in various parts of the Strip in an attempt to stop militiamen from firing rockets at Israel. It's not clear if the appointment will have any impact on efforts by Hamas and Fatah to end their power struggle that has been raging for three years. Meanwhile, two senior Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip complained on Wednesday that Hamas policemen who stopped them at a checkpoint in the northern Gaza robbed them confiscated their personal belongings and documents that they were carrying. The two, Zakariya al-Agha and Ibrahim Abu al-Naja, were on their way back from the West Bank when they were stopped at a Hamas checkpoint near the Erez border crossing. They were later released without the documents. Fatah officials said that Hamas security forces had summoned several top Fatah operatives for questioning. They added that one of them, Nahed Khalil, from the northern Gaza Strip, had been brutally tortured while in detention. Khalil was recently released from an Israeli prison after completing a two-year sentence for security offences.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli troops were told to kill themselves to avoid capture

2009-01-27

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier. -Rudyard Kipling The tools at the Australian spin this as some kind of depraved PR effort designed to prevent another kidnap drama for Hamas/Hezbollah and their media allies. The real reason, however, is the horrible fate of almost everyone unfortunate enough to be captured alive by these devils. Our own troops in Afghanistan and Iraq have similar policies, though not officially: Save a bullet or a grenade for yourself. ISRAELI soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip offensive this month were ordered to kill themselves rather than be captured, and if necessary to kill any Israeli soldier they saw being taken into captivity, the Yediot Achronot newspaper has reported. "No matter what happens, no one will be kidnapped," the paper quotes one company commander telling his troops before the fighting began. "We will not have a Gilad Shalit 2." Corporal Shalit, the Israeli soldier taken prisoner three years ago, is being held by Hamas, which is demanding the release of more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds convicted of terrorism, in exchange for his release. The newspaper quotes similar orders given in different Israeli field units, which reportedly reflect a new army policy. In the past, there were standing orders, known as "Hannibal mode", for firing at a vehicle taking Israeli troops into captivity to disable it and permit a rescue team to reach it, even at risk to the captive soldiers inside the vehicle. The new orders tighten those instructions, reportedly by permitting the vehicle to be blown up. A soldier in a commando unit that operated behind Hamas lines said his unit was equipped with "special weapons". "We were instructed to use them also against any vehicle carrying a kidnapped soldier," he said. And an Israeli company commander told the newspaper he had instructed his men to resist being taken prisoner "even if this costs you your life". Israel's Channel Ten television station broadcast a recording of a battalion commander instructing his men just before they invaded the Gaza Strip, in which he says one of Hamas's main goals was to capture soldiers to exchange for imprisoned terrorists. "No soldier from the battalion will be kidnapped, even if that means he blows up on his own grenade together with whoever wants to take him," the commander says. Israeli officers reported several attempts, none successful, to kidnap soldiers during the house-to-house fighting in Gaza and to take them away through tunnels. In its wars with Arab countries, Israel has had prisoners taken, but at the end of the fighting all prisoners on both sides have been exchanged. But in its conflict with militant groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, Israel has had to give up hundreds of prisoners -- mostly Palestinian, sometimes Lebanese -- in exchange for a handful of Israeli captives or for the bodies of dead soldiers. Differing views about the stricter Hannibal mode were voiced yesterday by two fathers of soldiers who were taken captive by Hezbollah in Lebanon after being mortally wounded. It was an absolutely logical decision, said Haim Avrahami. "Better to pay the price of a soldier and spare him, his family and the nation the awful agony (of his imprisonment)." But Zvi Regev, father of one of the two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah in 2006 touched off a month-long war in Lebanon, condemned the new instructions. "We must leave a window of hope that the soldier will return," he said. "I'm shocked just to hear of the possibility that our soldiers will get orders to fire on other soldiers of ours." The bodies of the two men's sons were returned in exchange for hundreds of Arab prisoners. Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported yesterday that the No2 man in the Hamas hierarchy in Gaza, Mahmoud Zohar, was wounded in the final days of the fighting in Gaza, and taken by ambulance to a Cairo hospital. There was no indication of his condition and no confirmation from other sources. The No3 leader, Interior Minister Said Siam, was killed during the offensive in an Israeli airstrike. The newspaper, citing Palestinian sources, said Hamas had executed one of Siam's bodyguards for allegedly informing Israel of his whereabouts.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas probe 'to unveil military failings over Gaza'

2009-01-26

Hamas has launched a probe which is expected to be extremely critical of the failures of its military wing during the recent Gaza offensive, the respected Jane's Defence Weekly magazine said Monday. Hamas does after-action reports? Citing an unnamed top Hamas military commander, Jane's said a full report due soon would be critical of almost every decision taken by battlefield commanders during the 22-day assault, which ended last week. The source quoted by Jane's added that cowardly Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and his followers had effectively pushed for a conflict that it was not ready for. Why would that bother Khaled, he's safely in Damascus ... The report will highlight the losses of interior minister Said Siam and around 50 of Hamas's top explosives experts as among the most significant. Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and intelligence department have admitted shortcomings in how they responded to Israeli attacks, Jane's added, which Palestinian officials say killed over 1,300 people. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said last week that it lost only 48 fighters during Israel's Operation Cast Lead, although Israel has reported killing more than 500 Hamas members. Maybe the unaccounted Ezzedines just quit paying their dues ... Heavy criticism has been levelled at Ezzedine al-Qassam commanders who unilaterally declared an end to the truce with Israel on December 19, even though conflict preparations such as building a new safe communications network were incomplete, Jane's said. The investigation will also reportedly look at why fighters were unable to achieve many of their defensive aims. London-based Jane's highlighted the failure to defend the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood and the weak response to Israeli naval forces. The news came as European Union (EU) aid commissioner Louis Michel toured war-torn Gaza, labelling conditions "abominable" and saying that its "terrorist" Hamas rulers bear responsibility for the fighting. Oh he'll be sent packing in a hurry ...

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas fighters seek to restore order in Gaza Strip

2009-01-20

C'mon out, boys. It's safe. The Joooos are gone. Look fearsome... GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Uniformed Hamas security teams emerged on Gaza City's streets Monday as leaders of the Islamic militant group vowed to restore order in the shattered Palestinian territory after a three-week pummeling by the Israeli military. Time to get back to what you're best at, bullying your own people. Learned that from the Republican Guard, didn't they ... Hamas proclaimed it won a great victory over the Jewish state -- a view that appeared greatly exaggerated -- and the task of reconstruction faced deep uncertainty because of the fear of renewed fighting and Israel's control over border crossings. Damn, boys. Even the AP knows your fulla shit, for crissakes... Cars and pedestrians again clogged streets. Donkey carts hauled produce and firewood past rubble and broken glass. The parliament building and other targets of Israeli attacks were piles of debris, while orange and olive groves on the edge of town were flattened. Enjoy your victory, boys. Hope you have many more... U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to travel to Gaza on Tuesday to inspect damage and visit U.N. facilities hit in the fighting. Ban did not scheduled meetings with officials from Hamas, whose government is not internationally recognized. He won't be there long. I doubt there's even a three star restaurant left in the whole strip... Israelis hope Gaza's civilians, who suffered heavily in the fighting that ended Sunday, will blame their militant rulers for provoking the Israeli assault with rocket attacks on southern Israel. Hamas, however, raced to capitalize on anger toward Israel and sought to show it remains unbowed and firmly in command of the Mediterranean coastal strip. "We are still ready and capable of firing more rockets. We are developing the range of our rockets and the enemy will face more, and our rockets will hit new targets, God willing," said Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas' military wing. Despite the defiance, Gaza's Iran-backed leadership is likely to focus for now on assisting a traumatized population rather than re-igniting a full-blown conflict that could bring more misery to the area's 1.4 million people. Where's the evidence for that assertion? The high visibility of uniformed Hamas police stood in contrast to the furtive movements of Hamas fighters in civilian clothing who confronted or tried to evade the Israeli onslaught that began Dec. 27. Some have suspected the Islamic group was in disarray, but even some Israeli observers have acknowledged that the tightly knit organization remains largely intact. "We've had orders to be back, make sure everything goes well," said a Hamas police officer who gave only his first name, Mahmoud. Welcome back, Mahmoud! Did your uniform get all dirty from hiding under your bed? Israeli officials said they hoped to pull all troops out of the Gaza Strip by the time Barack Obama was inaugurated as U.S. president Tuesday. The withdrawal would avoid subjecting Obama to a vexing Mideast problem on his first day in office, and also give Israeli politicians time to prepare for elections next month. But Tuesday's deadline would not be met if militants resumed fire, government officials said."We reserve the right to act in Gaza," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Israeli television. "If they lift up their heads and shoot, we will return with great force because that is what you do against terror organizations." Israel hopes its Gaza offensive will serve as a long-term deterrent to further militant rocket attacks on its territory. But the Jewish state ended the war without achieving guarantees that Hamas will halt missile fire or stop smuggling weapons into Gaza. Hamas' demand that Israel open Gaza's blockaded border crossings also was not met. Israel and Egypt virtually sealed the crossings after Hamas staged a violent takeover of the strip in 2007, a closure that deepened poverty there and trapped its residents. The Israeli army has allowed humanitarian supplies in, and Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog said Israel would cooperate in "helping and easing up the pressure of the people of Gaza." With aid groups calling for an expanded flow of shipments, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor indicated that goods and equipment transported across the border from Israel must be closely scrutinized. "One needs to make sure that nothing that can be used as weapon will reach Hamas and that is clearly in the interest of all parties," he said. Hamas' interior minister, Said Siam, was among those killed in the war. But a spokesman for the ministry, Ihab Ghussein, said that Hamas remained in firm control of Gaza and that civil servants were surveying the damage. "We are working despite damage done to communication, to our vehicles and the destruction of our compounds. We are on the ground and our people can feel that," Ghussein said. Palestinian surveyors estimate the war caused at least $1.4 billion worth of destruction to buildings, roads and power lines. On Monday, Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion to the reconstruction project. They always pledge a billion. Try collecting it. However, a top European Union official said Europe wouldn't help to rebuild until Gaza was governed by rulers acceptable to the EU. The European bloc considers Hamas a terrorist organization. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner suggested international help in rebuilding Gaza could come if the Fatah Party of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned to Gaza. Hamas seized control from Fatah, and reconciliation efforts have failed. U.N. humanitarian chief John "The Wad" Holmes said told reporters at U.N. headquarters Monday that hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid will be needed immediately to help Gaza's people and billions of dollars will be required to rebuild its shattered buildings and infrastructure. When the phone don't ring, you'll know it's me, Johnny Wad... At least 1,259 Palestinians were killed in Israel's assault, more than half of them civilians, according to the United Nations, Gaza health officials and rights groups. Thirteen Israelis died, including 10 soldiers. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said 48 of the group's fighters died, a figure far below the hundreds of militants that Israel says it killed. Hamas also said 165 policemen were killed. Smaller militant groups reported an additional 104 fighters dead. On Monday, Gaza City residents picked through the ruins. Electricity cables dangled all over the city. Those who could afford expensive fuel relied on generators, but donkey carts piled with tree branches and split logs plied the streets, providing the city's most impoverished with wood for cooking and heating. In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, several teenagers stood around eight simple, unmarked graves in a graveyard that they said belonged to a Hamas leader and members of his family killed in an Israeli airstrike."People said that Hamas had given up resistance, but they were the ones who fought the Israelis when they came, so all of Gaza supports Hamas," said 15-year-old Eimad Abul Maeza. So no whining when it happens again, Eimad.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas: Abbas's spies led Israel to Siam

2009-01-18

Hamas over the weekend accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of being responsible for the assassination of its interior minister, Said Siam. Siam, who was in charge of Hamas's security forces and militias in the Gaza Strip, was the most senior leader of the movement to be killed during Operation Cast Lead. He was killed Thursday during an air-strike on his brother's residence in Gaza City. The brother, Iyad, was also killed in the attack, as was Siam's son. Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas legislator and spokesman, accused Abbas of playing a "major role" in the assassination of Siam and the military offensive against Hamas. Siam was considered one of Fatah's fiercest enemies in the Gaza Strip. His Fatah rivals held him responsible for the death of dozens of Fatah members when Hamas seized full control over the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. Upon hearing of Siam's death, several Fatah representatives in the West Bank expressed deep satisfaction, while others openly rejoiced. Fatah-controlled news Web sites published comments from Fatah supporters who went as far as thanking Defense Minister Ehud Barak for ordering the assassination of the top Hamas official.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli envoys dragged off sent to US, Egypt for truce talks

2009-01-16

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Top Israeli diplomats headed for Egypt and the United States on Friday in what appeared to be a final push toward a cease-fire to end Israel's punishing Gaza offensive against Hamas militants. In the West Bank, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to immediately stop its three-week-old war, meant to halt militant rocket fire on southern Israel from Gaza. "I strongly urge Israeli leadership and government to declare a cease-fire unilaterally," he said from Ramallah, the seat of the West Bank government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas' fierce rival. "It's time to think about a unilateral cease-fire from the Israeli government." Pinhead. An Israeli government response was not immediately available. Good. Let's hope it stays that way. Ban is on a weeklong trip to the region meant to promote a truce after both sides ignored a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire. Get a clue, Ban. Some 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on Dec. 27, including 346 children, according to the U.N. and Gaza health officials. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, four by rocket fire, according to the military. A day after Israeli forces killed a senior Hamas official and shelled a U.N. compound, the Israeli military kept up its pressure on Hamas. Before dawn Friday, Israeli aircraft struck about 40 targets all over Gaza, the military said. An official statement said targets included smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border, a rocket launcher ready for firing and a mosque that housed a tunnel entrance and was also used to store arms. Later, Palestinian medical officials reported an 11-year-old girl was killed in a shelling in northern Gaza and witnesses reported an air strike on a Gaza City mosque as people were headed there for Friday prayers. The Israeli military declined to comment. Militant rockets, meanwhile, struck five times in southern Israel, causing no injuries, the military said. Chief Israeli negotiator Amos Gilad arrived in Cairo on Friday for his second visit in two days to seek clarifications and express Israeli views about the latest Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire. And after midnight, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni left for Washington, where she was expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. over ways to stop arms smuggling to Hamas. Before leaving, she made it clear that halting arms smuggling was a crucial part of any truce deal. "Israel is going to retain its right to defend itself anyway, also when it comes to the smuggling of weapons, not only to rockets being fired at Israel," she said. The Bush administration was racing in its final days to negotiate a deal on American support for mediation efforts under which the U.S. would give technical support and expertise to prevent Hamas from rearming, said U.S. and Israeli diplomats. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. Israel wants a total end to Hamas' rocket launches into Israel and an arms embargo on Gaza's militant rulers. Hamas has demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the opening of blockaded border crossings. "These are our demands and we don't accept any political movement that does not accept them," the movement's top political leader, Khaled Mashaal, said in a televised address from his headquarters in Damascus, Syria. Intense Israeli military activity in Gaza on Thursday exacted a steep price from Hamas when Interior Minister Said Siam was killed in an airstrike. Siam was the commander of Hamas security forces and was widely feared in Gaza. A small crowd of mourners buried Siam in Gaza City on Friday. His white-shrouded body was draped in a green Hamas flag and some of the people who carried it chanted, "Greetings from Hamas!" One man fired an assault rifle in the area in a traditional salute. Siam was seen as a main architect of the violent Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, when Hamas fighters expelled forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He was the highest Hamas official killed in the offensive. "We are talking about a key person in terms of logistics in the field, and also in the political sense," said Bassem Zbeidy, a Hamas expert in the West Bank. He called Siam's death a "huge loss for Hamas," but said the movement is easily capable of generating new leaders, often more radical than their predecessors. Israel infuriated the U.N. Thursday when it shelled the world body's headquarters in Gaza City, where hundreds of Gazans were seeking cover from the fighting among food and supplies meant for refugees. The destruction added to what aid groups say is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ratcheted up tensions between Israel and the international community even as diplomats indicated progress in cease-fire talks. The U.N. compound, made up of workshops and warehouses as well as offices, was struck about a half-dozen times over a roughly two-hour period while more than 700 civilians were sheltering there, said John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. Olmert said Hamas militants opened fire from the U.N. compound. "It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologize for it," he said. The military said it was still investigating. I'll say. The place is still standing. Next time, perhaps. How 'bout using one of them white-phosphorous/napalm cluster bomb munitions next time.

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-Obits-

Slain Hamas minister was key figure in '07 Gaza coup

2009-01-16

Hamas Interior Minister Said Siam, killed in an Israeli airstrike Thursday, was one of the Islamic militant group's top five leaders in Gaza and a key figure in its violent takeover of the territory in 2007. The 50-year-old Siam was in his brother's house in a Gaza City suburb when an Israeli warplane dropped a huge bomb, flattening the building and leaving a deep crater in the sandy ground. Siam's brother and the brother's family were also killed. Hamas TV showed footage of Siam's body, wrapped in a bloodied white shroud. Siam was the second of Hamas' top five to be assassinated during Israel's 20-day-old offensive, aimed at halting Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel. The offensive has killed nearly 1,100 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, but Hamas has yet to agree to an Egyptian cease-fire offer.

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Hamas Uses Children, UN, Press As Human Shields In Gaza

2009-01-15

Good analysis and summary, EFL Jerusalem --- January 15, 2009...... Hamas has again used children, the UN and the press as human shields in Gaza. Hamas fired several rounds of mortar rockets at Israel Defense Forces from within and around the United Nations headquarters building in Gaza. The IDF responded with artillery fire killing several Hamas terrorists and wounding several civilians who they were hiding behind. The UN compound and a nearby warehouse were set on fire. Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the IDF had fired in self defense at the U.N. compound after Hamas terrorists opened fire from the location. "It is absolutely true that the IDF was attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologize for it," he said. "I don't think it should have happened and I'm very sorry." A senior Israel IDF officer had also said that Israel hit the compound after coming under fire from Palestinian terrorists. In fierce fighting taking place today, Hamas officials confirmed that an Israel airstrike killed the Hamas interior minister, who oversaw thousands of security agents in the Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed the airstrike. Hamas television said that Hamas Interior Minister Said Siam was killed in a strike that flattened a home in Gaza City. A top aide, Siam's brother and his brother's family were also killed. Siam is considered to be among Hamas' top five leaders in Gaza. One IDF officer told Sky News: "Hamas will most likely claim victory after this operation is over, but they know that we know that they have a problem." Iran has threatened to stop all aid and weapons to Hamas if they stop fighting. Hamas has responded by speaking with Egypt hoping that they could arrange a cease-fire before more Hamas leadership dies in fighting. "If Hamas terrorists in Mexico and Canada started to fire rockets and missiles at US cities, how would the US respond, how would any nation respond in defending their citizens?" In Israel's fight to defend itself against Hamas terror attacks against civilian populations, Israel is faced with moral challenges unprecedented in their complexity. Hamas, as a basic element of its strategy, exploits the Palestinian populations, the UN and the press as shields for its terrorist operations and infrastructure. This cynical strategy include the following tactics: the deliberate launching of rocket from populated areas, the deliberate use of civilian homes and UN bases to shield Hamas arms and explosives manufacturing facilities and the deliberate use of civilians as human shields against anticipated airstrikes. Attention, progressive journalists everywhere! Here's your chance to make a real contribution to hope and change, and possibly earn that big city gig you would literally kill for. Just send Achmed the contract stringer to find out where the Hamas leadership is hiding, then take yourself and the entire combined staffs of BBC, CNN, and Reuters to that place and camp out on the roof while you wait your turn for an exclusive interniew. The evil Juice will surely surrender in the face of this mighty display of world opinion, and you will be headed for honor, glory, free blow from coast to coast, and a Pulitzer prize. Do it now, riches await.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Senior Hamas figure Said Siam killed in airstrike

2009-01-15

ISRAEL has killed one of Hamas's top leaders in Gaza, interior minister Said Siam. He is the most senior Islamist to have been killed in the 20-day-old war in the enclave. "Leader Said Siam, his son and his brother fell as martyrs in Gaza," reported Al-Quds television, a Hamas station based in Beirut. A Hamas website confirmed the report. The three died in an Israeli airstrike on the house of Mr Siam's brother north of Gaza City. Mr Siam belonged to the hardline wing of Hamas and had created the Executive Force, a militia that played a key role in the Islamist takeover of Gaza in June 2007. The Israeli military confirmed the strike. "In a joint operation of the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) and the Shin Beth (internal security) a short while ago, jets attacked a building" in Gaza while Said Siam was inside with his brother Iyad and a third person, an army spokeswoman said. "We identified hitting the target." A bit more detail with two more deaders... Siam is said to be the number three leader of Hamas in Gaza after Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud "Warty Nose" Zahar. (AKI) - Palestinian and Israeli sources say two senior Hamas leaders, among them the group's Interior Minister Said Siam, were killed during an Israeli targeted assassination on Thursday. Hamas' head of general security service Salah Abu Sharah was also killed in the airstrike, as well as the head of its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, Mahmoud Watfah. Six other Palestinians were also killed during the airstrike and 20 people were injured. Siam was killed while hiding at his brother's home in Gaza City. Siam's brother and his son were also killed in the airstrike. "The blood of Said Siam will be a curse on the Zionist entity," said Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal quoted by Arab TV network Al-Jazeera. Siam and Shrakh are the most senior Hamas men to be killed in the Israeli offensive against Gaza. Siam is said to be the number three leader of Hamas in Gaza after Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahar.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Analysis: Hamas desperate for lull

2009-01-06

As the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip entered its 10th day, Hamas has begun sending conflicting messages regarding its intentions. These contradictory messages, Palestinian political analysts said, reflected the state of confusion in Hamas and raised questions as to who was calling the shots in the Gaza Strip. While some Hamas leaders have been openly signaling their readiness to accept a new cease-fire, others are still calling for pursuing the fight against Israel "until victory." What is clear is that Hamas is now desperate for a lull in the fighting. But it is also eager to score some kind of a "military victory" before a cease-fire is reached. Hamas can't accept a new cease-fire without having proved to the Arab and Muslim masses that it was capable of making Israel pay a heavy price for its military offensive. Hamas is fighting for its survival and its leaders know that their collapse would constitute a severe blow not only to the movement, but also to its patrons in Teheran and Damascus. "It's hard to tell who's in charge in the Gaza Strip these days," said a Ramallah-based analyst. "Hamas's political leaders have disappeared after throwing away their mobile phones. No one knows exactly what Hamas wants." The analyst said that according to his sources, the embattled Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip were no longer in direct contact with their colleagues in Syria. "The political leaderships of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Damascus have been disconnected from each other," he added. "I doubt if there's any coordination between them." He pointed out that the decision to dispatch two senior Hamas envoys to Cairo for talks about a cease-fire came as a surprise to the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. The two envoys are based in Damascus and report directly to Khaled Mashaal, he said. Another Ramallah-based political analyst said that the political leadership of Hamas has given the movement's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam, full freedom to take any measures it deems necessary to prevent the collapse of the Hamas regime. "The gunmen on the streets are now in charge," he noted. "This is a dangerous situation, because they don't report to anyone at the top. This has created a state of anarchy and confusion." Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip said on Monday that the general feeling was that Hamas does not exist any longer as a governing body. "All their government institutions have been destroyed," said a Gaza City reporter. "The Hamas leaders are now behaving like al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman Zawahiri. Their only public appearances are through recorded messages aired on Arab TV stations." On Monday, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar made his first public appearance in a previously recorded message broadcast on a Hamas TV station. Zahar's appearance was reminiscent of similar appearances made by al-Qaida terror leaders. Until two weeks ago, Zahar, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Interior Minister Said Siam - the three top Hamas leaders - were still sleeping in their homes and moving around freely and fearlessly. Until then, they were also frequent guests on various talk shows in the Arab media - especially Al-Jazeera, which is being accused by some Palestinians as serving as a mouthpiece for Hamas. Sources close to Hamas said that in light of the new reality, where the Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip have virtually vanished, the armed wing was receiving its instructions from the movement's leadership in Syria. The sources said that Mashaal, the Damascus-based leader of Hamas, was in direct contact with commanders of Izzadin Kassam in different parts of the Gaza Strip. "There's a vacuum in the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip," they said. "The Hamas leaders in Damascus are now in charge. There's no one to talk to in the Gaza Strip."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Nizar Rayyan: the obituary

2009-01-02

Nizar Rayyan, the Hamas military commander who was killed in Thursday's air raid on his home in the Jabalya refugee camp, was a sworn enemy not only of Israel, but also of the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas. Rayyan, who had four wives and a dozen children, led the Hamas militiamen who defeated Abbas's security forces in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. He is the third most senior Hamas leader to be killed by Israel, after the targeted killings of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March 2004 and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a few weeks later. Hamas leaders stressed that Rayyan's death, while a "painful loss" to their movement, would not affect its determination to continue the fight against Israel. A Hamas spokesman said he did not rule out the possibility that the PA had asked Israel to kill Rayyan because of his role in the Hamas-Fatah clashes in 2007. "Sheikh Rayyan was one of the main reasons why many of Abbas's men did not sleep well at night," he said. "They knew that as long as the sheikh was around, they would never be able to return to the Gaza Strip." A few days before Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip, Rayyan, dressed in military fatigues and carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle, declared that he and his supporters were planning to hold Friday prayers inside Abbas's presidential compound in Gaza City. Rayyan personally led the Hamas militiamen who seized the compound and PA security installations throughout Gaza. He later boasted that the Strip had been "cleansed" of "traitors" and "CIA agents" - a reference to Abbas and his former security chiefs. A few months later, Rayyan again issued a threat against Abbas. This time he declared that he would soon lead Friday prayers inside Abbas's Mukata compound in Ramallah, an indication of Hamas's intention to extend its control to the West Bank. That was why PA officials in Ramallah Thursday did not shed tears over his departure from the scene. In fact, some of them privately expressed relief, claiming that he was responsible for the killing of scores of Abbas loyalists in the Gaza Strip during the 2007 "coup." Many Palestinians saw the killing of Rayyan, 60, as a severe blow to Hamas and its armed wing, Izzadin Kassam. Some Hamas supporters said on Thursday that Rayyan was more significant than Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh or senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siam. "He was one of the most popular figures in Hamas," said a Palestinian journalist who knew the slain Hamas leader for nearly two decades. "He was the type of leader who would go out with the fighters to confront Israeli tanks and fire rockets at Israel. He loved wearing the military uniform." Apart from serving as a "spiritual" leader for Hamas's armed wing, Rayyan was also a teacher at the Islamic University in Gaza City. His students referred to him as "The Professor" and described him as a prominent Muslim scholar. One student said Rayyan was Yassin's real successor. Rayyan was a leading authority on the sayings of the prophet Muhammad (Hadith), and the basement of his four-story house had been turned into a library of more than 5,000 books and documents on Islam. After Islamic studies at universities in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Sudan, he returned to the Gaza Strip and worked as a preacher in several mosques. His fiery sermons and involvement in incitement and terrorism resulted in four years in an Israeli prison. When the PA assumed control over the Gaza Strip in 1994, Rayyan was one of the first Hamas members to find himself in a Palestinian prison, together with Zahar and Rantisi. At the beginning of the second intifada, Rayyan sent one of his sons to carry out a suicide attack in Gush Katif's Elei Sinai in 2001. Two Israelis were killed. Rayyan was also responsible for a series of suicide bombings and attacks inside the Green Line, including the suicide bombing in Ashdod Port in 2004 in which 10 Israelis died. In recent years, Rayyan served as a liaison between the political leadership of Hamas and Izzadin Kassam. He is even said to have been one of the very few Hamas operatives who knew where IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit was being held in the Gaza Strip.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas team in Egypt for talks on reopening Rafah, prisoner swap

2008-07-09

(Xinhua) -- A Hamas delegation from the Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian mediators on the reopening of the Rafah crossing and a prisoner swap deal with Israel. The Hamas team entered Egypt earlier in the day via the Rafah crossing at the Egypt-Gaza border, the Egyptian state MENA news agency said. The eight-member delegation comprises Hamas' former Interior Minister Said Siam and Hamas official Jamal Abu Hashem in addition to Hamas leader Mahmuod Zahar. The Hamas team from Gaza is reportedly to join up with a delegation of the movement from Syria that is expected to arrive later in the day for talks with Egyptian mediators. Before leaving for Cairo, Zahar said 'The delegation will discuss the calm issue according to the deal which stipulated a lull and a full lifting of the siege and opening the crossing points into Gaza.' The delegation will also discuss the issue of Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Palestinian militants for two years. Hamas demands to swap him for a number of Palestinian prisoners.

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