 | Brave, brave Lions of Islam. |
GAZA - Faced with the threat of Israeli assassination, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and many of his top ministers meet in secret, sleep in safe houses, and communicate by fax and email instead of by cellphone.
Israel has jailed more than a third of Haniyehs cabinet. Many of the others have gone into hiding, including deputy Prime Minister Naser Al-Shaer, who has not been seen since last week.
| Check Amman, Cairo and Vienna. |
Other possible targets -- Interior Minister Saeed Seyam and Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar -- have not appeared in public since last Wednesday. Ministers are taking the Israeli threats very seriously, said a Palestinian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trying to keep what remains of his cash-strapped government functioning, Haniyeh has shifted the responsibilities of many of the jailed ministers to others. Minister of Information Youssef Rizqa, who has limited financial experience, has assumed responsibility for the ministry of finance and religious affairs after Israel detained ministers Omar Abdel-Razeq and Nayef al-Rajoub.
| Since they don't have money, how much experience does he need? Anyone can tote a suitcase. |
Atef Odwan, the minister of refugee affairs, has temporarily stepped in for the jailed ministers of prisons and Jerusalem affairs. Some ministers are telecommuting, using the Internet and faxes to avoid going to offices that could be bombed. Most of the ministers have switched off their mobile phones and are not coming to their offices, a Palestinian official said.
Israeli intelligence monitors cellphone communications and can use the signals to track their movements.
| So could we until the New York Times published the details. |
For the first time since the cross-border raid, Haniyeh met on Sunday with some of his ministers inside his partially wrecked compound. Odwan said he had no doubts Israel could kill Haniyeh or any other minister it wants. He said the Hamas-led government will not collapse even if it ends up with only one minister left.
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GAZA - Israeli forces seized a Palestinian cabinet minister, lawmakers and mayors in the occupied West Bank and launched more air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, stepping up a campaign against Hamas Islamists. Israeli troops entered the West Bank city of Nablus and took into custody Education Minister Naser Al Shaer of Hamas, according to his wife, Huda. I asked them, Why are you taking him. The officer said, We have orders, Huda told Reuters.