Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Mohammed Nazzal	Mohammed Nazzal	Hamas	Syria-Lebanon	Palestinian	At Large		20030426
		member of the Movement's political bureau

The Grand Turk

US slaps fresh sanctions on six senior Hamas officials

2024-11-20

[IsraelTimes] Targets include terror group’s representatives abroad, operative who aided deadly 1997 bombing at Tel Aviv café, and financiers funneling money into Gaza, West Bank

Washington imposed sanctions on six senior Hamas
Hamas

..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
officials, the US Treasury Department said Tuesday, in further action against the Paleostinian terror group as Washington has sought to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages in 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 a rusty iron fist by Hamas with 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...
The Treasury Department said in a statement the sanctions targeted the terror group’s representatives abroad, a senior member of its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and those involved in supporting fundraising efforts and weapons smuggling into Gaza.

"Hamas continues to rely on key officials who seemingly maintain legitimate, public-facing roles within the group, yet who facilitate their terrorist activities, represent their interests abroad, and coordinate the transfer of money and goods into Gaza," Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.

"Treasury remains committed to disrupting Hamas’s efforts to secure additional revenue and holding those who facilitate the group’s terrorist activities to account."

Among those targeted was Abd al-Rahman Ismail abd al-Rahman Ghanimat, a longtime member of Hamas’s military wing who is now based in ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
, the Treasury said. It accused him of being involved in "multiple attempted and successful terrorist attacks," including the 1997 Café Apropo bombing in Tel Aviv.

Ghanimat was previously sentenced to five life sentences in prison but was one of 1,027 Paleostinian security prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held at the time by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Two other Hamas officials based in Turkey were also among those targeted by the sanctions, the Treasury said, charging that Musa Daud Muhammad Akari and had been involved in facilitating the transfer of funds from Turkey "into Gaza and the West Bank for Hamas."

Akari was previously convicted by Israel for taking part in the 1992 murder of Israeli police officer Nissim Toledano. He was released from prison as part of the Shalit deal in 2011.

Ankara has denied that it has become the new base of Hamas’s politburo operations although Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
said Tuesday that the Hamas leaders involved in negotiations for a hostage release-ceasefire deal with Israel were "not in Doha" anymore.

In addition to the three Turkey-based Hamas officials, the US Treasury Department said that it was imposing sanctions on Gaza-based officials Basem Naim and Ghazi Hamad.

It charged that Naim has "participated in Hamas’s engagements with Russia and been a part of Hamas delegations to other countries," while Hamad has "served as the editor of Hamas propaganda outlets and is authorized to speak publicly on behalf of Hamas."

Hamad was also involved in the past with overseeing Gaza’s border crossings, which the Treasury said were "one of the primary ways Hamas smuggled weapons into Gaza," and were also used by the terror group to smuggle in the equipment it used to build its "extensive tunnel network they intentionally interspersed among Paleostinian civilians."

The final Hamas official included in Tuesday’s sanctions list was Mohammed Nazzal, whom the Treasury said has "provided support to the terrorist group for over 30 years. Nazzal, who has previously lived in both Jordan and Syria, is a big shot on Hamas’s Council on International Relations, the Treasury said.

The sanctions freeze any US-based assets owned or controlled by the named individuals. They also block financial transactions with those designated and prohibit the contribution of funds, goods and services to them.

Tuesday’s action marked the ninth time that the Treasury has imposed sanctions on Hamas entities and backers since the October 7, 2023 terror onslaught enacted by the group in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages.

Most recently, on October 7, 2024, the Treasury imposed sanctions on a "sham charity" in Italia that it said had been fundraising for the Paleostinian terror group, and on two senior Hamas representatives in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
— one in Germany and the other in Austria.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Egyptian ties not snapped, says Hamas

2010-05-18

A senior Hamas official on Monday denied media reports that Egypt has cut relations with his movement. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said in a press statement that Hamas had not been officially informed of the decision.

Early on Saturday, the Egyptian daily Almesryoon reported that Cairo had decided to reject requests by Hamas officials for entry visas and freeze all channels of communication with the movement. The daily quoted senior Egyptian officials as saying that the decision is part of a series of steps in response to what the Egyptians called a Hamas media defamation campaign against Egypt.'

The officials added that the severing of ties is not related to the failure of Egyptian-mediated talks to reconcile Hamas and Fatah, but comes as a response to the organized media campaign that Hamas officials are waging against Egyptian figures by defaming them in Arab satellite television stations and in the Arab media.' According to the report, the Egyptians say the public campaign is being led by the movement's senior officials, including Khaled Mashaal, Mohammed Nazzal, Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Al-Zahhar.

Tensions between Hamas and Egypt has been escalating in recent months and is rooted in Egypt's consistent refusal to open the Rafah crossing, its construction of a steel fence on the Gaza border and its clampdown on smuggling tunnels.

Abu Zuhri also denied any media escalation between Hamas and Egypt saying the matter is just a media fabrication.' The Hamas spokesman, however, said that his movement does not hide its distress over the conduct of Egyptian security forces. The army conduct led to the death of five Palestinians -- four in tunnels and a fisherman in a ship accident -- and the torture of Hamas prisoners in Egyptian jails, he said.

Last week, Hamas accused Egypt of spraying poisonous gas into one of the tunnels, which led to the death of four Palestinians. Also last week, Abu Zuhri accused Egypt of torturing 30 Palestinian detainees in its custody using electric shocks and prolonged hangings. Hamas also said that a Palestinian fisherman was killed when his boat collided with an Egyptian naval vessel in Egyptian waters. Gazans said the Egyptian sailors beat the fisherman to death with clubs and pipes. Shortly after the incident, another tense event took place when Hamas security forces announced they had defused a bomb near the Egyptian embassy in Gaza City, which has been inactive since Hamas took over the Strip in 2007.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Report: Egypt bans entry of 3 top Hamas members

2009-03-26

Egyptian authorities have recently barred three top Hamas members from entering the country, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday.

According to the report, Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman issued an order that Hamas' politburo member Mohammed Nazzal and two of the group's spokesmen, Sami Abu Zuhri and Mushir al-Masri, would be stopped at the border should they try to cross into Egypt.

The newspaper quoted Egyptian intelligence sources as saying that the move was prompted by the three's "negative statements" about Egypt and about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, perceived as "direct and indirect incitement" against Cairo.

Suleiman and his aides have also expressed their disapproval of Nazzal's hardline stands in the Egyptian-brokered talks meant to bridge the gaps between Hamas and its Palestinian rival faction, Fatah.

As for Cairo's disapproval of Abu Zuhri and al-Masri, Egyptian officials told al-Quds al-Arabi that the two had publicly criticized President Mubarak's regime, prompting Suleiman to deny Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal's request to allow al-Masri passage to Iran through Egypt.

Cairo is also said to be preventing Abu Zuhri, who is currently in Damascus, passage back to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the newspaper also reported that the negotiations meant to facilitate a Hamas-Fatah unity government in the Palestinian Authority are accelerating. According to the report, the parties are expected to sign a coalition agreement by April 4.

Palestinian sources quoted in the report said that according to the draft agreement, the Palestinian government's prominent ministries, including the premiership, would be manned by "independent" individuals, free of any political affiliation, while "secondary" ministries would be allotted to Fatah and Hamas.

The signing ceremony, added the report, will led by Mubarak, Mashaal and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and will be witnessed by Syrian and Saudi delegates.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Marwan to be 'freed' as part of Shalit deal

2009-03-06

(AKI) - Prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti would be released from jail in a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that would also free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, a close associate of Barghouti has claimed. Saed Nimr, director of the Free Marwan Barghouti campaign, spoke to Adnkronos International (AKI) on Thursday as Egypt-sponsored negotiations continue for a long-term peace deal between the parties.

Marwan gets exchanged in the same condition as Shalit. If Shalit is alive and well, so is Marwan. If Shalit has bruises, give some to Marwan. If Shalit is dead, whack Marwan just before the exchange takes place ...

"We have received assurances that Barghouti is included in Hamas' list to swap Shalit," Saed Nimr told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a telephone interview from the West Bank. "There have been so many times when the release of Barghouti was talked about, this time, we have reasons to be more optimistic than any other time in the last seven years."

Nimr, a political science professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, has been campaigning for Barghouti's release since he was arrested in Ramallah in 2002.

Nimr was responding to claims by the Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi, which quoted Fatah sources who claimed that young Fatah members were protesting against the failure of Fatah's so-called 'old-guard' to secure Barghouti's release. "Some of the leaders of the 'old-guard' are not very happy about Barghouti's release, because they are afraid of reforms that Barghouti would implement in Fatah which could undermine their positions, " Nimr said.

The pan-Arab daily claimed that Palestinian Authority officials were preventing Barghouti's release, because PA officials are afraid that it could severely weaken Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and instead strengthen Hamas which is reportedly holding Shalit hostage in the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper also said Abbas was not able to secure Barghouti's release during negotiations with outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. Al-Quds al-Arabi also quoted a Hamas political official who confirmed the threat to Abbas' power.

" Palestinian officials asked their Israeli counterparts not to release Fatah's patriot, Marwan Barghouti, because it would weaken Abu Mazen (Abbas) and strengthen Hamas," said Hamas official, Mohammed Nazzal, from the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.

However, Nimr told AKI how important Barghouti's release was for both the Gaza-ruling Hamas and its rival Fatah. "Not only is Hamas asking for the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, but Marwan Barghouti is one of them, " he said. "From the point of view of Hamas, releasing Barghouti is very important because without him such a prisoner exchange deal would be very weak.

"Despite that he would most likely be its (Hamas) opponent in elections in the near future."

Many consider Barghouti as Abbas' successor as Palestinian leader, but Nimr said Barghouti would work with Fatah's leadership. Nimr said Barghouti is necessary for a reconciliation between Palestinian factions, and to lead them ahead of legislative and presidential elections as well as to unite the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with Hamas and Fatah taking leading roles in politics.

"Definitely Marwan Barghouti is the one who is going to unify Fatah and lead the elections from Fatah's side. Barghouti believes we should share power with Hamas, we should share the political arena.

"No-one can cancel the other one out. Hamas cannot lead without Fatah and Fatah cannot lead without Hamas, they need each other, even if it the other is in the opposition."

Barghouti, was the leader of the West Bank's Tanzim movement - a militant wing of Fatah - and is considered the new guard within the ruling Fatah movement. He was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to five life-terms in 2004, by an Israeli court which found him guilty for the deaths of 26 people and for belonging to a terrorist organisation. Barghouti refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli court system.

During the first and second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 1987 and in 2000, Barghouti led marches through Israeli checkpoints and is widely associated with the grassroots movement opposed to Israeli occupation.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas chief hints at new political organisation

2009-01-30

(AKI) - The exiled leader of the Islamist Hamas movement, Khaled Meshal hinted at the formation of a new political organisation and said the Palestine Liberation Organization in its current form no longer represents Palestinians. "We must build a national reference to represent the Palestinians at home and abroad, including all national forces, the Palestinian people and the national trends," said Meshal. "By now, all Palestinian factions agree, and we will surprise you.

He made the remarks during a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha late on Wednesday, called "Celebrating the Gaza victory."

We will include all the factions and national Palestinian movements."

Meshal also said that the PLO serves to divide Palestinians rather than reconcile. "This because in this moment, the PLO no longer represents us and is no longer a unitary point of reference. On the contrary, it represents existing divisions between us," said Meshal.

He made the remarks during a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha late on Wednesday, called "Celebrating the Gaza victory."

Meshal also repeated his request to other Arab countries to follow the example of Qatar, which has decided to send financial aid directly to the government of deposed prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, bypassing the Palestinian Authority altogether.

Meshal's view was echoed by a Hamas political bureau member present at the meeting. "The emir of Qatar (Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani) has promised us that he would give the money directly to the people of Gaza. We do not trust the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and we do not believe that it is trustworthy," said Mohammed Nazzal.

Last week, Meshal, asked donor countries to donate funds to the Hamas government led by deposed prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, and not the government led by caretaker prime minister Salaam Fayyad in the West Bank. Earlier this week, the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, said no donations destined for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip would go to the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas.

Nazzal concluded by accusing some Palestinian and Arab parties of complicity in Israel's three week long offensive in Gaza, that resulted in the death of 1,330 Palestinians and injured 5,000 others. "I can confirm that there are Palestinian parties who knew of an impending strike, and there was involvement of Arab parties before the outbreak."
"knew of an impending strike". C'mon, only you idiots in Hamas didn't know. Israel only gave about a bazillion warnings.

Meanwhile, Ismail Haniyeh echoed the so-called 'victory' over Israel during the Gaza war, saying the Jewish state did not meet its goals. "When we speak of a Palestinian victory, we are not exaggerating. The Palestinian people have won against the Israeli occupiers in this war. The entire world has seen that they (Israel) had clear goals that were not reached, due to the stubborness of the Palestinian people and the resistance, which remained unshaken in the battlefield," said Haniyeh in an interview with Dubai-based Arab TV network Al-Arabiya.

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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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Fifth Column

Hamas: Carter to meet Mashaal in Syria

2008-04-10

It's official...
DAMASCUS, Syria - Former President Carter will meet the exiled leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas during a visit to Syria next week, a senior Hamas official said Thursday. The Atlanta-based Carter Center did not confirm the meeting. The senior Hamas official in Syria told The Associated Press that Carter sent an envoy to Damascus earlier, requesting a meeting with the militant group's officials, including exiled leader Khaled Mashaal.
Ah'll bring mah own kneepads. And vaseline...
Hamas "welcomed the request," said Mohammed Nazzal, who said the meeting would take place April 18.
Yes, yes. It will be an honor to meet the most useful idiot of them all.
Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed that Carter planned a trip to the Middle East at the end of the week but could not "confirm any specifics."
Is there a plane crash planned, beacause that's the only specific I wanna know about.
A press release from the center said the former Democratic president was to lead a study mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as part of his "ongoing effort to support peace, democracy and human rights in the region." The statement said the visit would take place from Sunday until April 21. "This is a study mission, and our purpose is not to negotiate, but to support and provide momentum for current efforts to secure peace in the Middle East," Carter said in the statement. "Our delegation has considerable experience in the region, and we go there with an open mind and heart to listen and learn from all parties."
Sure ya do, Jimmah. I trust ya. You ain't like the others...
Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work in mediating conflicts, including the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel while he was in the White House and his humanitarian travels for the Carter Center since.
Yes. So many successes. So many successes...
In Washington, the State Department said it twice advised Carter against meeting any representative of Hamas. "U.S. government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interest of our policy or in the interest of peace to have such a meeting," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding that Washington would do nothing to facilitate Carter's talks with Hamas. He said the message had been conveyed directly to Carter in a phone call by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch.
Do y'all know who ah am, peon?
"If he decides to travel to Syria, we will provide full support befitting a former president of the United States," McCormack said. "One thing we will not do, however, is have the Department of State, in any way, engage in any sort of planning related to a meeting with Hamas."
Fuck him. Give him nothing.
A Carter-Mashaal meeting would be the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and Hamas officials. In 2006, the Rev. Jesse Jackson met Mashaal during a visit to Syria.
Why doesn't that surprise me?

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian Fatah rules out Hamas peace talks

2007-10-11

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Rooters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction ruled out talks with Hamas on Thursday as Israel warned any such dialogue with the Islamists could "torpedo" a peace deal with the Jewish state.

Palestinian sources familiar with the matter said members of Hamas and Fatah had discussed holding peace talks, but Fatah leaders said they had not backed any meeting and rejected dialogue with Hamas unless it cedes control of the Gaza Strip, which it seized in fighting with Abbas's forces in June.

"What happened in Gaza was a military coup against legitimacy and against democracy," Abdallah Franji,
And who embodies Democracy and Legitimacy better than al fatah, I ask you?
who is close to Abbas and a member of secular Fatah's central committee, told Rooters. "If they retreat then we can talk. Now we cannot."

Abbas dismissed the Islamist Hamas-led Palestinian government in June after the violence in Gaza, ushering an easing of U.S. and Israeli sanctions and plans for a peace conference next month.

Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh, who was prime minister until June, said late on Wednesday Hamas was ready to hold talks with Fatah and hinted it might be ready to give up control of the enclave.

In about a hundred years.

Israel, which is trying to bolster Abbas and sideline the Islamist group, said talks between the rival factions could "torpedo" efforts ahead of a U.S.-sponsored peace conference to move towards a deal on establishing Palestinian statehood. "We are concerned that if you ... allow this extreme organisation which is opposed to reconciliation back to centre stage you will in fact torpedo any chance of moving forward," Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

Israel and the West have shunned Hamas until it recognises the Jewish state's right to exist.

Fatah leaders rejected Haniyeh's calls for talks and said Hamas, struggling with the effects of an international boycott and an Israeli blockade of Gaza, was lying about wanting peace so as to shore up Palestinian support.

Well yeah, Hamas is lying? Blinding glimpse of the obvious.

Palestinian sources familiar with the talks but not affiliated with either party said on Thursday Fatah official Jibril al-Rajoub had met senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal to discuss holding talks in Egypt.

But a Fatah official said on Thursday the meeting between Rajoub and Nazzal was "non-binding" and said Rajoub, a one-time senior Fatah security official who has been pushing for talks with Hamas, did not have the backing of Fatah leadership. "With the international restrictions on Hamas, they have started to feel the crunch," the official said. Rajoub declined to comment on the record.

One source close to the talks said an exiled hard line Hamas leader would arrive in Cairo next week to prepare for talks between the factions.

Fatah refuses to talk to Hamas unless it pulls out of its security compounds in Gaza. Hamas says ceding control of the compounds must come as part of a deal, not as a precondition.

One Palestinian source said Hamas-Fatah talks would also touch on a Hamas ceasefire with Israel that could include a prisoner swap deal.

A Palestinian official said last month a prominent Hamas official tried to open discussions with Israel to ease confrontation in Gaza but was rebuffed by the Jewish state.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel likes popcorn well buttered and foils plot to kill Palestinian president

2006-05-07

A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence. Hamass military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said.

Abbas, who became president of the Palestinian Authority last year after the death of Yasser Arafat, was formally warned of the danger by the Israelis and cancelled a planned visit to the territory. The murder plan is the clearest sign yet of the tensions inside the Palestinian Authority between Hamas, which swept to power after elections in January, and Abbass Fatah movement. Hamas leaders, who refuse to recognise the state of Israel, suspect Abbas of obstructing their attempts to govern, which have been hampered by a financial boycott from donor nations. Hamas considers Abbas to be a barrier to its complete control over Palestine and decided to kill him, said a Palestinian source who was an adviser to Arafat and is a close acquaintance of Abbas. It is understood that the attack would also have targeted Mohammed Dahlan, Abbass strongman in Gaza.

The sources were unable to say who in Hamass secretive leadership had given the order to kill Abbas. But an indication of its hostility towards Abbas came last week. In a statement to Al-Jazeera, the Arab television news network, Mohammed Nazzal, one of its leaders, accused the president of being party to besieging and isolating the Hamas-led government.

Abbas, who is guarded by his own security men, divides his time between his Gaza and Ramallah offices. While in the West Bank he is relatively safe, but Gaza stronghold of Hamas and numerous rogue terrorist organisations is a dangerous place. Shortly after his election to the presidency Abbas narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the Gaza Strip. A recent request to the Israeli government to let him bring in new weapons for his presidential guard was rejected by Shaul Mofaz, the outgoing Israeli defence minister. However, the Israelis could not ignore intelligence information regarding the imminent threat to Abbass life. We monitor every movement of Hamas in Gaza, said an Israeli intelligence source. So when we learnt that Abbass life was in danger, we made sure to inform him without delay.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas ready to change manners after Russia trip

2006-03-06

Islamic group Hamas admitted on Sunday that it had to change its manners after winning the Palestinian elections but showed no sign of compromise with Israel as it wrapped up a landmark trip to Russia. The comments came as Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal finished the groups first formal visit to a major power with a tour of the Kremlin and a meeting with Patriarch Alexei II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who called for talks with Israel.

After three days of insisting that the next move in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was up to Israel, Hamas leaders sought to sweeten their rhetoric on Sunday while still rebuffing calls to recognise Israel and renounce violence. We dont say no to everything, senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal said. We know that we are in a new phase, a new stage following Hamas victory in the January 25 Palestinian elections, he said. Hamas must change its manners. We know that very well. But what we are saying is that we want a response from the Israelis. If you want Hamas to change its policies, you must also request that the Israelis change their policies.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria closes offices of Palestinian groups

2004-09-25

Has Dr. Assad seen the hand writing on the wall in the direction of 'ally' Iran?
Or is this more window dressing for the West?)
Syria has closed down all offices and cut off phone lines belonging to radical Palestinian groups in Damascus, a Palestinian official announced over the weekend. Khaled Fahoum, the former Speaker of the Palestine National Council (the PLO's parliament-in-exile), said the leaders of the Palestinian groups had gone underground for fear of being targeted by Israel. (Maybe these Pal jihad boys will book flights for Tehran and step up shop there. Having all the slithering rats in one place when the boom drops would benefit the whole world.)
The London-based Al Hayat newspaper quoted senior Syrian government officials as confirming that the leaders of the Palestinian groups had left Syria. Palestinian sources said the groups were planning to move to Qatar, Tunis or Bahrain. The three countries have agreed in principle to host the Palestinian groups after Egypt turned down a similar request.
The Gulf states should think twice about allow additional fanatics into their oil rich kingdoms.)
Syria has been under heavy pressure from the US to close down the offices of 10 Palestinian groups based in Damascus, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front-General Command (headed by Ahmed Jibril) and Fatah-Intifadah (headed by Abu Musa Maragha).
(What a line up of the most dangerous terror groups)
Fahoum is the first senior official to announce the close of the Palestinian offices in Damascus. Syria has in the past claimed that the groups did not have any military bases in Damascus and were not involved in terrorism. However, the Syrian authorities described the offices used by the groups as "media centers."
LOL
Last year the Syrian authorities announced that the "media centers" had also been shut, but it later transpired that they were continuing to function. Unconfirmed reports in the Arab media have suggested that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was considering moving to Iran. According to the reports, the Syrian government recently asked Mashaal to start searching for a new country that would agree to host him. Last week Mashaal was summoned to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials about the future of the Gaza Strip after Israel's planed withdrawal from the area. He is also said to have raised the issue of his relocation during talks with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman.

Mashaal's deputy, Musa Abu Marzuk, is also reported to have left Syria, but his new address remains unknown. A third senior Hamas official, Mohammed Nazzal, is also believed to have been expelled from Syria. Imad Alami, the movement's "operations officer," is still in Syria, but will leave soon, a Hamas source revealed. Ahmed Al Haj, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Information, said in response to reports that Syria had asked Mashaal and his aides to leave the country: "This is a very personal and legal matter and he can go anywhere he wants. He can choose where to live and he has several options." Palestinian sources said that Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah has also left Syria to an unknown destination.
If this continues Iran will not have any friends...

Jihad this!

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Middle East

Palestinians Canât Agree on Truce Offer

2003-12-08

Almost as much of a surprise as "Mugabe Quits Commonwealth." EFL.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Palestinians failed to agree on a truce offer to Israel on Sunday after three days of talks, setting back the Palestinian prime ministerâs ~~fears~~ hopes for a halt in violence to jump start the stalled U.S.-backed "road~~kill~~ map" peace plan.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out most suicide attacks against Israel, resisted intense pressure from Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and the top Egyptian mediator and refused a full cease-fire.
"No! And if you keep badgering us weâll kill you."
"Okay, I tried. So much for intense pressure."
The two groups would agree only to a limited truce, ending attacks on civilians in Israel but not on Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel said it would accept only a comprehensive halt. "Thereâs no half-way cease-fire," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
How the ones in the past, where you honored the truce and the Paleos kept killing? Sounds half-way to me.
Egypt had called together the Palestinian factions - more than a dozen, ranging from Yasser Arafatâs Fatah movement to the Islamic groups and smaller leftist movements - in hopes of producing a halt to all attacks. Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman wanted to present the truce to Washington next week in a broad proposal that could win U.S. backing and put pressure on Israel. But Qureia, who joined the talks Sunday in the hopes of bridging the gap, left the Egyptian capital, and several delegates acknowledged the talks produced no concrete results.
Paleos never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
"There are disagreements about the nature of a cease-fire," Maher Taher, a senior delegate for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told The Associated Press. "The factions have different positions on the issue." Even when Qureia and Suleiman lay on the pressure in a three-hour meeting Sunday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad refused to buckle in their rejection of the broad halt.
"We told you, Qureia, stop badgering us!"
"Okay, okay already!"
"Hamas is not ready to make a comprehensive cease-fire. This is final," senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal said after talks ended Sunday. The militant factions also rejected giving Qureia authority to speak for them in any negotiations with Israel. "We are not ready to give them authorization to sign a new agreement," Nazzal said.

"It was difficult for us and other factions to accept a new truce without guarantees from the Israeli side, because the previous truce failed in the same way, because of no Israeli guarantees," said Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza.
And yes, his lips fell off.
The Cairo session "ended with the hope of holding another meeting but it hasnât been agreed on a date," Azzam said.
Maybe they could hold it in Damascus, and give the Israelis a really irresistible target.
In exchange for the full truce, Egypt and Fatah were demanding that Israel stop building settlements, pull its troops out of Palestinian areas re-occupied during the uprising and halt construction of its so-called security barrier along the borders with Palestinian areas, which juts into Palestinian land. Essentially, their plan would have met much of the criteria of the "road map."
By the Israelis.

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