Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Mahmoud Zahar	Mahmoud Zahar	Hamas	Middle East	Palestinian	At Large	Big Shot	20030910
		Foreign minister. Also a member of the Hamas politburo.
	Mahmoud Zahar	Hamas	Middle East				20040115

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF hits Gaza as terrorists fire 20 36 rockets at Israel, ending months of calm

2021-04-24

[IsraelTimes] Rocket salvos continue throughout the night and into morning after Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, calls for attacks on Israel over Jerusalem unrest; in response, Israel targets Hamas infrastructure.

The Israeli military struck multiple Hamas targets in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip Saturday morning, including rocket launchers and underground infrastructure, the army said, in response to several salvos of rockets fired into Israel overnight.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Gaza strikes.

At least 20 rockets were launched from the Paleostinian territory in salvos throughout the night and into the morning, in the worst assault from the Strip in many months.

Sirens sounded in numerous Israeli communities near the Strip, including Ashkelon and the Eshkol, Sdot Negev, Sha’ar Hanegev and Hof Ashkelon regional councils.

The attack followed days of tensions and festivities in Jerusalem and the West Bank that involved Paleostinian and Israeli civilians as well as Israeli security forces.

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted four of the projectiles. Others fell in open areas. Iron Dome is programmed to not deploy at rockets that are projected to hit non-populated areas.

No Israelis were hurt in the attacks and no damage was reported.

The rocket barrage came after hours the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza held a series of protests in the Strip and called for violence against Israel in the wake of fierce festivities Thursday in Jerusalem between police, bad boy Jewish activists and Paleostinian protesters.

Addressing the protesters, Hamas big turban Mahmoud Warty Nose al-Zahhar
...a co-founder of Hamas and a member of its leadership. Since 2006, Warty Nose has served as foreign minister in the government of Ismail Haniyeh. He is considered one of the more stubborn hard-liners and has no objection to kissing the Persian foot to keep the money flowing. Warty Nose's son, a member of the Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli raid in early 2008. Another one was disposed of when the IDF bombed his house in 2003...
condemned the decision of some Arab states to normalize relations with Israel last year and lashed out at the Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank for continuing its security coordination with Israel.

"After a long series of protests and demonstrations, we have reached the conclusion that without weapons, we cannot liberate our land, protect our holy sites, bringing back our people to their land or maintain our dignity," he said.

The attacks came during a general lull in violence from the Gaza Strip in recent months, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and as Gaza grapples with the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic.

A single rocket was fired into Israel from Gaza last Friday. Another was fired the day before. Neither rocket caused injuries or damage, and the IDF hit Hamas targets in response.

Last month, a rocket was fired toward Beersheba as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a campaign stop in the southern city ahead of the March 23 elections.

The military did not respond to the rockets throughout the night, except for a single tank strike after the first volley that targeted a Hamas post.

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

#UPDATE: 9 rockets fired by militants in Gaza into southern Israel tonight, with 4 interceptions repoeted according to @kann_news https://t.co/SIB13INv33
— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) April 23, 2021

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas leader Sinwar ousted in secret vote - report

2021-03-10

Ululululululu!!

[JPost] Some reports said that the result of the vote was not final and that a second round would take place
And keep voting til they get it right?
Hamas has elected a new leader in the Gaza Strip to replace Yahya Sinwar, according to people familiar with the matter. His name is Nizar Awadallah, the sources said.

Awadallah, 63, was one of four candidates who challenged Sinwar, the Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported. The other three candidates were identified as Mahmoud Zahar, Fathi Hammad and Ziyad al-Thatha.

Link

The Grand Turk

Hamas leader meets Turkish president amid talk of Jerusalem-Ankara detente

2015-12-20

[Jpost] "The normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel will not change Ankara's position towards Hamas" says senior Hamas official.

Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, is closely following reports about rapprochement between ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Israel and is waiting for an official word from Ankara on the issue.

On Saturday, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal met in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
. The Turkish news agency Anadolu news agency said that Mashaal briefed Erdogan on the latest political developments in the region during the 60-minute meeting.

This was the first meeting between the two since recent reports about an agreement between Turkey and Israel to restore their normal ties.

The agency did not say whether the two also discussed the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel.

In an interview over the weekend, Hamas leader Mahmoud Warty Nose al-Zahhar

...a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership. Since 2006, Warty Nose has served as foreign minister in the government of Ismail Haniyeh. He is considered one of the more stubborn hard-liners and has no objection to kissing the Persian foot to keep the money flowing. Warty Nose's son, a member of the Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli raid in early 2008. Another one was disposed of when the IDF bombed his house in 2003...
refused to comment on the reports, including the possibility that Turkey was planning to impose restrictions on Hamas activities in the country.

"Until now, the picture remains unclear," Zahar said. "We will announce our position once we see an official Turkish announcement."

Zahar claimed that the reports were thus far unverified and emanated from anonymous sources. "Therefore, we can't relate to these reports," he explained.

The Hamas leader noted that Israel and Turkey have maintained ties for a long period of time. He said these ties were never cut off in spite of the tensions between the two countries in recent years.

Turkey has also maintained close relations with Hamas over the past few years.

Turkey also plays host to some top Hamas operatives, including Salah Al-Arouri, one of the founders of the movement's armed wing, Ezaddin Al-Qassam.

Another senior Hamas official, Ahmed Yusef, predicted that the rapprochement between Israel and Turkey would not have a negative impact on his movement.

"Policies among countries are based on interests," Yusef said. "The normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel will not change Ankara's position towards Hamas."

The Hamas-affiliated website Al-Resalah quoted Turkish officials as saying that their country would not abandon its demand to lift the blockade on the Gazoo Strip despite the rapprochement with Israel.

The officials claimed that Turkey was conditioning its renewed ties with Israel on two conditions: lifting the blockade on the Gazoo Strip and payment of compensation for the families of the Turkish nationals who were killed aboard the flotilla aid ship, Marmara.

The second was agreed to long ago. The first is a non-starter. Then there's this, from The Times of Israel, which must have given the conversation between the two local Muslim Brotherhood leaders extra piquancy:

The last meeting between Erdogan and the Hamas leader took place four months ago, on August 13, before the escalation in Paleostinian terror attacks against Israelis.

Twenty-two Israelis have been killed and 252 maimed, according to Foreign Ministry data, as of December 14, while around 100 Paleostinians have been killed, most of them in the course of their attacks, and more than 1,000 maimed. Many of the Paleostinian maimed were hurt during festivities with Israeli security forces in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, including hundreds who suffered from inhaling tear gas and other minor injuries from riot dispersal measures.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Why A Two-State Solution Will Never Work

2012-12-30

What will happen when you have pressured Israel into allowing a Paleostinian entity to take hold on the 1967 borders, an entity that is taken over by a radical Islamic force bent on Israel's destruction?

There is no place for you Jews among us, and you have no future among the nations of the world. You are headed for annihilation. -- Mahmoud Warty Nose al-Zahhar

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Africa North

'Egypt grants citizenship to 50,000 Palestinians'

2012-10-12

[Jerusalem Post] Security official tells Egyptian paper that Interior Ministry instructed to give citizenship to all Paleostinians with Egyptian mothers.

Why?

Some 50,000 Paleostinians, most of them from the Gazoo Strip, have been granted Egyptian citizenship over the past few months, an Egyptian security official revealed Thursday.

Why are they suddenly releasing some Palestinians from durance vile?

The official said that the Egyptian Interior Ministry had been instructed to give Egyptian citizenship to all Paleostinians who were born to Egyptian mothers.

The official, who was not identified, told the Egyptian newspaper El-Watan that the instructions came from the country's High Administrative Court in Cairo last May. The official pointed out that the number of Paleostinians who have received Egyptian citizenship increased dramatically after the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
Egypt now occupies second place -- after Jordan -- in granting citizenship to Paleostinians.

The court decision paved the way for thousands of Paleostinians, particularly those living in the Gazoo Strip, to apply for and receive Egyptian passports.

Until recently, Egypt, like most Arab countries, had refused to grant citizenship to Paleostinians in accordance with an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
resolution dating back to 1965.

According to the resolution, "Paleostinians who are residing in the Arab countries are given, upon their request, valid travel documents. The concerned [Arab] authorities must, wherever they be, issue these documents or renew them without delay."

The Arab countries have justified their refusal to grant citizenship to Paleostinians by arguing that they wish to protect the Paleostinian identity and ensure their return to their original homes inside Israel.

The Egyptian official also revealed that Cairo was now studying the request of an additional 35,000 Paleostinians to receive Egyptian citizenship.

He predicted that by 2013 the number of Paleostinians who would have received Egyptian citizenship would rise to 100,000.

Mahmoud Warty Nose al-Zahhar

The timing seems unwise. Egypt is crashing into a profound and unsolvable economic crisis which will soon lead to disease, despair, and food riots in the streets. Why add more people to the mix, and moreover people accustomed to dealing with their concerns with weapons of various sizes? It can't be that the Muslim Brothers expect the Gazans to fight for them like Hizb'allah is fighting for President Assad the Younger, surely.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas: We Will Close Tunnels If Egypt Opens Rafah

2012-08-13

[Jerusalem Post] Bardaweel, a Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, front man, expresses confidence Egypt will work towards re-opening Gazoo-Sinai Rafah crossing.

Hamas is prepared to close all the tunnels under the border between the Gazoo Strip and Egypt if the Egyptians agree to reopen the Rafah border crossing on a permanent basis, Hamas officials announced on Sunday.

"The tunnels are a necessary popular method to break the criminal blockade on the Gazoo Strip," Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas politician and front man, told news hounds.

He said the tunnels were needed "to consolidate the steadfastness of the Paleostinian people and their resistance against occupation, which is working to Judaize the holy sites and is killing children, women and ill people."

On Saturday, the Paleostinian Authority called on Cairo to destroy the tunnels, saying they posed a threat to Egyptian security and damaged chances of achieving Paleostinian unity.

Bardaweel said that a "civilized alternative" to the tunnels would be the opening of the Rafah terminal to goods and passengers.

"We are confident that the Egyptian leadership would work toward creating this alternative and we hope that the border crossing would not be closed for too long," Bardaweel added.

He pointed out that Mohammedans were now observing Ramadan and would soon celebrate Id al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the 30-day fast.

The Hamas official reiterated the claim that Israel was behind last week's terrorist attack in Sinai, in which faceless myrmidons killed 16 Egyptian border guards.

"The attack serves the higher interest of Israeli occupation," Bardaweel said. "There is a lot of theoretical and practical evidence to back this up. The Zionist enemy has been seeking to undermine Egyptian security and embarrass the Egyptian leadership, which it believes is hostile to the aggressive Zionist project."

Bardaweel accused Israel of seeking to drive a wedge between Egypt and Hamas in light of improved relations between the two sides and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
's recent visit to Cairo, "where he was welcomed as the legitimate prime minister of the Paleostinian government."

Bardaweel also accused the PA of spreading lies in an attempt to implicate Hamas and the Gazoo Strip following the Sinai attack.

He said the Egyptians had not notified Hamas about the possible involvement of any Paleostinian from the Gazoo Strip in the attack.

Hamas is prepared to work together with the Egyptian authorities to reveal the identity of the perpetrators, he added. Hamas leader Mahmoud Warty Nose al-Zahhar

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

In Iran, Warty Nose Says Strategy to Remain Unchanged

2012-03-16

[An Nahar] Senior Gazoo-based Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leader Mahmoud Warty Nose al-Zahhar

...a co-founder of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and a member of the Hamas leadership. Since 2006, Warty Nose has served as foreign minister in the government of Ismail Haniyeh. He is considered one of the more stubborn hard-liners and has no objection to kissing the Persian foot to keep the money flowing. Warty Nose's son, a member of the Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli raid in early 2008. Another one was disposed of when the IDF bombed his house in 2003...
pledged that the "principles and strategy of the Paleostinian Islamic resistance will not change," during a visit to Tehran on Thursday, Iranian media reported.

Zahar, who is meeting Iranian officials, arrived in Tehran shortly after a fragile truce between Israel and Gazoo-based snuffies was announced, ending four days of bloodshed.

During a meeting with the Hamas leader, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi voiced his country's support for the Paleostinians.

He condemned Israeli air strikes during the recent outbreak of violence, calling them "savage attacks by the Zionist regime against the innocent Paleostinian population," the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Support for the Paleostinian population is part of our principles and religious beliefs, and we are certain that the Paleostinian people will triumph," he said.

Zahar thanked Iran for its "limitless support."

On Wednesday, Zahar met the head of Iran's supreme national security council, Saeed Jalili, and the speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, the IRNA said.

Jalili reportedly renewed Iran's unwavering support for the Paleostinian cause and cautioned Zahar against "plots" seeking to divide the Paleostinian resistance.

In recent months, divisions have opened between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile, and members of the group's Gazoo leadership, including Zahar.

Meshaal has presented an increasingly moderate position, saying last May that he was ready to give negotiations with Israel "a chance," and offering tacit support for the establishment of a Paleostinian state alongside Israel.

He has also publicly supported peaceful "popular resistance," and engaged in a reconciliation deal with rival Paleostinian group Fatah, even backing an agreement to have Paleostinian president and Fatah chief the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
serve as the head of a temporary consensus government.

Those positions have put him at odds with much of the leadership in Gazoo, which has warned that it expects to be consulted about key decisions, including reconciliation with Fatah and the principle of armed struggle.

"Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices," Zahar said in January.

Despite Meshaal's engagement with Fatah, the reconciliation efforts have largely stalled, and Paleostine Liberation Organization official

Yasser Abed Rabbo
... Paleostinian politician and a member of the Paleostine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee. He holds an M.A. in economics and political science from the American University in Cairo.....
warned on Thursday that he felt Hamas was uninterested in the process.

"I no longer believe that Hamas wants reconciliation," he told Voice of Paleostine radio.

Zahar's visit follows one last week by Hamas's Gazoo prime minister Ismail Haniya, who shared the podium with Iran's diminutive President

Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad on February 11 to commemorate the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On March 3, Zahar said Hamas was not taking sides in the conflict between the Syrian regime, Iran's main ally, and bad turbans.

But Haniya, in a visit to Cairo last month, saluted "the heroic Syrian people, who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," in a departure from the Islamists' refusal to criticize Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
Meshaal last visited Tehran in October.

Israel and the United States consider Hamas to be an armed proxy of Iran and, on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded Gazoo an "advance post for Iran," explicitly accusing Tehran of arming, financing and training snuffies in the Paleostinian enclave.

But despite the ties, Hamas has said publicly it would stay out of tensions between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear activities.

Ahmed Youssef, a counselor to the Hamas foreign ministry, told Agence La Belle France Presse earlier this month that "Iran does not need Hamas to respond to Israel in the event of an attack, because it has enormous military capabilities at its disposal, which allow it to act without us."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Salehi: If Israel strikes Iran, it will meet its end

2012-03-15

Iran's foreign minister stresses that an Israeli military strike on nuclear sites in Iran would elicit a "full force" response. If Israel decides to conduct a military strike on nuclear sites in Iran, it will be the end of the Jewish state, said Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbhar Salehi on Thursday.

"If Israel ever, ever makes this mistake, that will set the time for the end of Israel. The Israelis are well aware of this," said Salehi, during an interview with Danish television TV2.

The Iranian foreign minister stressed that in the case of an Israeli attack on Iran, the Islamic Republic "will be responding very forcefully."

Earlier Thursday, the Iranian foreign minister met with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar in Iran, who expressed his full support for the Palestinian cause and condemned the "dastard atrocities of the Zionist regime, " Iranian state-run news agency IRNA reported. Zahar was in Iran, meeting with leaders to gather support following a weekend of military exchanges with Israel, according to the report.

Salehi told Zahar that the recent Israeli air strikes in Gaza were a sign of Israel's weakness.

"We are quite confident that the Palestinians will win the struggle," Salehi said.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Arab World: Confusion in the ranks

2012-03-10

Differing Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, stances on Iran reflect a power struggle in the organization resulting from the upheavals of the Arab Spring.

This week, leading Gazoo- Hamas activist Salah al-Bardawil told The Guardian newspaper that in the event of a war between Iran and Israel, Hamas would not back Teheran. Hamas Foreign Minister in Gazoo Mahmoud Zahar later appeared to refute Bardawil's stance, saying that Hamas would respond "with utmost power" to any "Zionist war on Iran."

These statements reflect confusion and divisions in the main Paleostinian- Islamist movement. The confusion derives from the variety of options which the Arab upheavals of 2011 have placed before Hamas.

The divisions also reflect the resultant opening of separate and competing power structures in the movement, with the leaders of the Gazoo statelet opposing the overall leadership, and also quarreling among themselves.

The Teheran-led "resistance axis," with which Hamas was aligned, is one of the main victims of the Arab upheavals of the last year. Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
the clear winner from the upheavals so far is the ideological trend of which Hamas is a representative -- namely, Sunni Islamism.

Revolt in Iran-aligned Syria has left the Iranians exposed as a narrow, sectarian force. Their claim to represent a general Mohammedan interest against the West and Israel is in disarray. In Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, Sunni Islamist elements are moving to benefit from the fall of authoritarian leaders.

Hamas's close relationship with Iran is of long standing, dating back to the mid 1990s. Iranian help formed a vital factor in turning the Paleostinian Islamist movement into a formidable terrorist force in the second intifada of 2000-2004. Following Hamas's takeover of the Gazoo Strip in 2007, Iranian aid increased in both volume and importance for Hamas.

Yet with all this, the alliance between Iran and Hamas always had the nature of a marriage of convenience. Unlike Hezbullies, the Sunni Hamas was not a creation of the Iranians, and did not subscribe to the Shia-derived Iranian-ruling ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih (leadership of the jurisprudent).

Hamas still has a deep connection to Paleostinian politics. It emerged from the Paleostinian branch of the Moslem Brüderbund, and inherited the extensive social and educational network and the ideological outlook of the Brotherhood.

There are also those within the movement -- particularly within its armed wing -- who adhere to the radically anti-Shia Salafi trend within Sunni Islamism.

Hamas's relationship with Iran derived from the somewhat binary nature of regional politics prior to 2011. The US-led and Iran-led regional blocs were facing off against one another. As Hamas PLC member Musehir al-Masri put it in 2007, Hamas and Iran had their differences, yet alliance with Iran was "a thousand times more preferable than relying on the Americans and Zionists."

Implicitly, there were only two choices, and Hamas's preference was obvious. As a result of the events of 2011, there are no longer only two choices. Hamas is split regarding which path to take.

The situation in Syria was the immediate spark for Hamas's move away from the "resistance axis." The movement was placed in an impossible situation, in which its host, the Assad regime, was engaged in the wholesale slaughter of a largely Sunni-Arab uprising.

The signs of discomfort have been apparent for months.

Hamas's Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
offices are empty and Khaled Masha'al left the Syrian capital for Doha. The movement's key leaders are now in Qatar, Cairo, or its Gazoo fiefdom.

The move has left Mashaal weakened. A power struggle is consequently under way between the Gazoo-based leaders Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
and Mahmoud Zahar, on the one hand, and Masha'al and the formerly Damascus-based element, on the other. Attitudes toward Iran are one of the elements in this disagreement.

The distancing from Iran appears to imply a move away from a focus on military methods and toward an emphasis on anti- Israel propaganda and popular agitation. But there is no overall agreement regarding the extent of the shift, and attitudes toward it have become enveloped in the larger power struggle under way.

Important elements among the Gazoo leadership do not wish to stray too far from the Iranians. Hamas, to maintain its Gazoo fiefdom, still needs Iran's expertise and its weaponry. There is no obvious Qatari or Saudi substitute for this.

The latest reports suggest that a new terrorist body, the "Aqsa Defenders" is emerging from within Hamas in Gazoo. Like Fatah's Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, this body may be used for deniable paramilitary activity, even as Hamas pursues other avenues of activity.

Haniyeh's visit to Iran and Zahar's latest statement suggest that in the period ahead, Hamas will seek to maintain some level of Iranian support, while at the same time developing relations with the authorities in Egypt and Qatar. Being in the midst of an internal contest, Hamas lacks the consensus necessary for a hard "either-or" decision with regard to its alliances.

Therefore Hamas's move away from the resistance axis should not be seen in terms of a clean break, and a clean break with political violence is equally unlikely.

Still, the distancing by Hamas from the Iran-led bloc, and its move back in the direction of the Sunni-Arabs, is reason for some quiet satisfaction in Israel. It represents a considerable setback for the regional alliance, which still constitutes by far the most serious strategic threat to Jerusalem.

A Hamas aligned more closely with Qatar would be equally politically intransigent, and if the Qatar and Egypt-sponsored reconciliation with Fatah succeeds, this will end any realistic hopes for a diplomatic process between Israelis and Paleostinians in the foreseeable future. Nor will Hamas entirely eschew violence.

The Qataris and their ilk deal in a politics of gesture and propaganda vis-a-vis Israel, but remain dependent on the West for protection against the real menace of Iran. They lack the genuine ideological fervor, seriousness and readiness for real war of the Iran-led regional alliance.

Hamas's move in the direction of Doha and Cairo, and subsequent internal squabbling, means the weakening of the most important alliance arrayed against Israel -- and the beginning of a period of flux and division for the main Paleostinian Islamist movement.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas Unclear About Role In Israel-Iran Fighting

2012-03-08

Gazoo's ruling Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, on Wednesday sent conflicting signals on whether it would stay on the sidelines if war breaks out between Israel and Iran. Hamas front man Fawzi Barhoum said that the group has only "humble weapons that aim to defend and not to attack." This limited arsenal "does not give us the ability to be part of any regional war," he said.

Later Wednesday, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted another senior Hamas official in Gazoo, Mahmoud Zahar, as saying that "retaliation with utmost power is the position of Hamas with regard to a Zionist war on Iran."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Paleo unity deal faces big hurdle

2012-02-13

RAMALLAH, West Bank - A mounting rebellion by Hamas leaders in Gaza against a breakthrough power-sharing agreement with ~~ineffectual~~ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas highlights a potentially fatal flaw -- the deal never spelled out how the Western-backed leader can take charge again in Gaza, the territory he lost to a violent takeover by the Islamic militants.

Former bitter foes Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, Hamas' top leader in exile, signed the Qatar-brokered deal in Doha last week, saying they are committed to a true partnership. As part of the agreement, Abbas is to head an interim unity government that replaces rival administrations in the West Bank and Gaza and leads the Palestinians to general elections.

Abbas needs to strike a delicate balance to make it work. The Palestinian leader has to satisfy international demands that the interim government -- to consist of politically independent technocrats -- not be a front for Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group. If it is seen as too close to Hamas, the Palestinians would likely lose hundreds of millions of dollars in Western aid.

At the same time, he risks sabotage from Hamas leaders in Gaza if he tries to strip them of too much of their power. In the nearly five years it ruled the territory, Hamas hired some 40,000 civil servants and security forces, many of them supporters of the movement, while 62,000 troops and civil servants forced out by the 2007 takeover -- many of them pro-Abbas -- are waiting to return to their old government jobs.

Sounds like you boys can't work together. Too bad, so sad. Might as well go back to killing each other. The Zionists can help with that...

They'll take it in turns to go without pay? Because there isn't the funds to meet current expenses -- donor fatigue and the fragile situation in Europe, donchaknow.

Gaza leaders of Hamas have voiced their misgivings in increasingly strident tones. The Hamas bloc of legislators last week said the deal is illegal because Abbas cannot serve as both president and prime minister.

On Saturday, the Hamas strongman in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, complained that Mashaal did not consult with other leaders in the movement before signing the deal and that the decision-making Shura Council should meet to correct what he termed a mistake.

"We feel there is a real crisis concerning the Doha agreement, and that this problem should be resolved within the institutions of the movement," he said in comments published by the Egyptian news agency MENA.

Across the board, Hamas lawmakers in the Abbas-run West Bank rushed Sunday to support the agreement, siding with Mashaal against the Gaza rebels. "Reconciliation is our strategic choice and we should go for it without hesitation." said Hamas legislator Mona Mansour.

Such public airing of disagreements is rare for tightly organized Hamas, a Gaza offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the pan-Arab movement that scored post-Arab Spring election victories in Egypt and Tunisia. It is still unclear whether the internal dispute is only about protecting Hamas' interests in Gaza or also the change in direction recently advocated by Mashaal.

The unity deal, first reached in principle last year, was made possible by a narrowing of the political differences between Hamas and Abbas, said Mustafa Barghouti, an independent from the West Bank who has played a key role in reconciliation.

Mashaal, while not formally renouncing violence, has embraced the idea of "popular protests" against Israeli occupation as a gesture to Abbas, Barghouti said. And while Hamas has long opposed Abbas' talks with Israel on the terms of a Palestinian state, Abbas now seems to have given up hope he can reach a deal with the current rightist Israeli government.

Israel, which has refused to halt construction, has condemned the reconciliation. A text message statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Abbas' insistence on a settlement freeze meant he was "turning his back to peace."

"Instead of entering a negotiation that will bring an end to the conflict, (Abbas) prefers to align himself with the Hamas terror group, the same Hamas that embraces Iran," it said.

Progress on reconciliation has been slow, a sign of continued distrust. Hamas complained that West Bank security forces loyal to Fatah have reneged on promises to release dozens of Hamas prisoners, and that only a few were freed. Election officials say that in apparent retaliation, Hamas in Gaza prevented them from trying to update voter records ahead of the planned votes for president and parliament.

Following last week's agreement, Abbas is to put together his transition government. He says however he does not want to announce the composition of his government until he is sure he can hold elections -- a task complicated by ensuring his elections commission can work in Gaza and in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Once a unity government is in place, Abbas' biggest challenge would be to establish a single security service out of two rival forces. In the West Bank, many of Abbas' forces have undergone training by the U.S. and have cooperated with Israel in reining in Hamas, while the Hamas government in Gaza, with a force of 18,000, receives funding from Iran. Last year's initial unity deal called for a gradual blending of the security forces, but did not say how much of that would take place before general elections. However, the West might balk if troops closely linked to Hamas continue to control Gaza.

Abbas might also be held responsible by Israel if smaller militant groups tolerated by Hamas continue to fire rockets from Gaza at Israel from time to time. In recent years, Israel has praised the level of security cooperation it has received Abbas in the West Bank, and a loss of a good working relationship with Israel could make it very difficult to run a Palestinian entity that is still very dependent on its neighbor.

The delicate reconciliation arrangements seem to require an extraordinary amount of good will from Hamas leaders in Gaza -- and that seems in short supply.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Haniya, Hamas Leaders Meet Sudan's Bashir

2011-12-30

[An Nahar] Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, premier Ismail Haniya held talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
Thursday on his first official regional tour since the Islamists' 2007 power seizure in the Paleostinian enclave.

Haniya, who arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday, was joined in the meeting by other high-ranking Hamas leaders -- the first time they had met as a group with Bashir, whose country has close ties with Hamas.

The Paleostinian group has long maintained a base in Sudan, where its exiled chief Khaled Meshaal is a frequent visitor.

Meshaal joined the hour-long talks with Bashir, as did key Hamas figures Mahmoud Zahar, a former foreign minister, and Moussa Abu Marzouk.

"From the Arabs and Islamic countries we want finance and political support to confirm that Jerusalem is the capital of the Paleostinian state," Haniya told news hounds after the meeting.

He also came to Khartoum for the Al-Quds Forum, an annual gathering which focuses on Jerusalem, the eastern sector of which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed shortly afterwards.

Around 200,000 Paleostinians live in east Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of their future state.

Meshaal told news hounds that his delegation briefed Bashir on reconciliation efforts with the Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Since 2007, the Paleostinian territories have been politically divided into two separate territories, with the Fatah of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
largely ruling the West Bank and Hamas governing Gazoo.

In May, following years of bitter rivalry, the two factions signed a reconciliation deal.

Last week, Abbas met Meshaal in Cairo and the two agreed on a process that would pave the way for Hamas to join a reformed PLO, now dominated by Fatah, and for long-delayed Paleostinian elections.

Haniya left Gazoo on Sunday and visited Cairo before flying to Sudan.

Sources in his office said the main purpose of the trip was to seek "help and aid" for the reconstruction of Gazoo, which was devastated by a massive 22-day Israeli offensive which began three years ago.

His tour was also to include Qatar, Turkey, Tunisia and Bahrain.

Haniya entered Egypt through the Rafah crossing, which has remained largely closed since June 2006 when Israel imposed a blockade on Gazoo after Death Eaters snatched soldier Gilad Shalit, who was freed two months ago under a prisoner swap deal.

The blockade was tightened a year later when the Hamas seized control of the territory, ousting forces loyal to the Western-backed Paleostinian Authority.

Cairo officially reopened Rafah crossing with Gazoo in May, more than three months after Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
stepped down.

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