Palestinian resistance group Hamas has threatened to avenge a deadly weekend raid in the movement's Gaza stronghold with attacks inside Israel. In comments on Monday, the Islamic group's leader in Gaza, Mahmud al-Zahar, also poured cold water on calls for a ceasefire with Israel. "Aggression from Israel will be reacted by self-defence ... whether within the occupied territories or outside the Green Line," al-Zahar said.
His comments came after 11 Palestinians were killed over the weekend during an Israeli raid into the Khan Yunus refugee camp in southern Gaza, the deadliest offensive since the death of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. Mahmud Abbas, Arafat's successor as Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) chairman, has been trying to persuade Hamas - responsible for most of the anti-Israeli attacks during the course of the four-year intifada - to call a new ceasefire. But al-Zahar said that only a complete end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a release of all 8000 Palestinian prisoners would lead to such a move. "We have already declared our stand - it should be a bilateral stoppage. Israeli aggression first, the release of all Palestinian detainees, the opening of our borders, real withdrawals from our areas, not redeployment," he said. "The occupation is the cause. The elimination of the occupation will spontaneously stop this aggression."
Al-Zahar was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on the Middle East where delegates appealed for an end to attacks on civilians. Alexander Kalugin, Russia's envoy to the region, said that it would be impossible to put pressure on Israel to tone down its activities as long as attacks against civilians continued.
| Okay. Forget the Paleostinian state idea. They're not gonna let it happen. I expect Zahar will be eating a something with fins soon. |
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