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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Factions in #Gaza threaten immediate escalation, rockets deep into Israel if Netanyahu does not grant additional concessions
2019-04-02
[TWITTER]
Incendiary Balloon Lands In Sderot, Police Investigates

[Jpost] An alert citizen living in the southern city of Sderot noticed an incendiary balloon that landed in the city and called the authorities, the Police spokesperson said on Monday. A sapper was dispatched to defuse the explosive.

Reports: Islamic Jihad planning large Gaza attack to derail ceasefire talks

[IsraelTimes] Israeli defense officials on Monday warned that the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 appeared to be planning to conduct a large-scale terror attack on the Gazoo border in order to derail ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, according to two Hebrew media reports.

The unnamed officials told Paleostinian affairs correspondents from the Ynet news site and Channel 14 television station that members of the Iran-backed group had been seen conducting "suspicious activities" near the security fence over the past day.

Paleostinian Islamic Jihad is the second-most powerful terror group in the Gazoo Strip, after the coastal enclave’s de facto rulers, Hamas, though it is believed to have a slightly larger arsenal of rockets and mortar shells, mostly locally manufactured varieties based on Iranian designs.

The group is also suspected of being responsible for a barrage of rockets fired at southern Israel in the predawn hours of Sunday morning, which struck open fields in the Eshkol region, causing neither injury nor damage.

According to Monday’s reports, the PIJ operatives along the border appeared to be preparing for some kind of an attack, though the details were unclear. The anonymous officials said it could be the firing of an anti-tank guided missile at Israeli troops; a large-scale improvised bomb attack; or some type of cross-border assault.

According to the anonymous officials, the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad’s Beirut-based leadership appeared to be trying to derail these ongoing ceasefire efforts with rocket fire and its planned attack along the border.

On Sunday afternoon, a mortar shell was launched from Gazoo toward Israel but it failed to clear the border and landed inside the Strip.
Ynet adds:
In recent hours, Israeli security officials have identified unusual activity by members of the Islamic Jihad's military wing in several locations along the Israel-Gazoo border fence. This activity could be an attempt to fire a missile such as a Kornet at an Israeli target, place explosive charges along the fence or even attempt to break through the fence to carry out a significant attack inside Israeli territory.

These preparations are being carried out under the nose of the Egyptian mediators, and as far as is known, Hamas is not even aware of this activity. It appears that the instructions for carrying out the attack were given to the group's military wing by the Beirut office of Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nahala.

It is still not entirely clear why Islamic Jihad is interested in bringing about the total collapse of the arrangement currently being brokered by Egypt. It is possible that this is the organization's way of expressing dissatisfaction at what they are receiving as part of the agreement, or could be a directive from Iran, which funds Jihad, aimed at destroying the arrangement. Islamic Jihad is also responsible for the six rockets fired at the Gazoo border communities on Sunday morning.

Islamic Jihad denied the IDF claim. "There is no truth to these reports. From time to time Israel tries to create confusion in the Paleostinian arena, but these attempts will fail," the group said in a statement.

Two senior Islamic Jihad figures - Daud Shihab and Khaled al-Batsh - are members of the extended committee in the Gazoo Strip that receives updates from Egyptian intelligence about the progress of the negotiations. It is unclear whether they too are part of the plan to scupper the arrangement via a major attack.

Negotiations for the arrangement between Israel and Hamas are being conducted by General Ahmed Abdel Khalek, who holds the Paleostinian portfolio in Egyptian Intelligence, and the UN's Middle East envoy, Nikolay Mladenov, who met Monday with Hamas leader 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...
 at his home in the Shati refugee camp.

On the Hamas side, the negotiations are being handled by the group's Gazoo chief Yahya Sinwar, while the Israel side is headed by National Security Council chair Meir Ben-Shabbat. As part of the negotiations, two crossings from Israel to the Gazoo Strip - Erez and Kerem Shalom ‐ have been reopened, while the supply of diesel to operate the Gazoo power plant has been renewed through the latter.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Thousands of Palestinians protest on Gaza border
2018-10-20
[Ynet] Most demonstrators keep away from fence but some burn tires closer; Paleostinians breached fence and flee back into the strip three times, Israeli troops opened fire on infiltrators in one instance.

Some 10,000 Paleostinians protested as part of Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw,'s "March of Return" campaign at several spots along the Gazoo border on Friday evening, with Israeli defense officials saying the festivities were the calmest over the past seven months and that Hamas has been able to rein in the violence.

The IDF said most of the protesters have been keeping their distance from the border fence, while dozens were burning tires and throwing rocks with slingshots closer to the fence.

There were also fewer incidents of rioters hurling explosives, Molotov cocktails and grenades at IDF troops. Israeli troops responded with crowd dispersal measures.

Defense officials estimated Hamas deployed gunnies to the border fence area to calm down protesters and prevent violence. In addition, Lebanese TV network Al Mayadeen reported the IDF also sent text messages to Gazoo residents, warning them not to come to the border.

Nevertheless, Paleostinians managed to breach the border fence, enter Israeli territory and flee back into the strip three times. In one of the cases, the IDF shot up the infiltrators. The IDF said "all infiltration incidents were being monitored by the forces."

Hamas' al-Aqsa TV aired footage of Paleostinians climbing over the fence and others breaching it and entering into Israeli territory. Others used cutters to tear down parts of the barrier.

Gazoo's Health Ministry reported 130 Paleostinians were maimed by Israeli fire and six of them were at death's door. About 30 Paleostinians suffered tear gas inhalation.

The IDF has deployed large forces along the border and has been preparing for the possibility the "March of Return" protest will escalate later. IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot held a situation assessment on the border.

An IAF shot up a terror cell launching incendiary balloons from Gazoo into Israel.

Meanwhile firefighting teams with aid from the KKL and the Nature and Parks Authority have been working since the early morning hours to put out three fires caused by incendiary balloons.

The Hamas terror group said in a statement that "the persistence of the people in Gazoo and the mass participation in the 30th week to the 'March of Return' to break the blockade is the biggest response to the threats of the Israeli enemy, as it serves as a great incentive for our people.

Hamas official Ismail Radwan added that "no element has asked us to stop the protests. Even the Egyptians stressed it is our right to protest."

Earlier, the Hamas-led organizing committee of the weekly "March of Return" riots issued an unusual announcement, telling demonstrators not to approach the Gazoo border fence during the protests.

The Paleostinians were asked not to come near the border fence so Israel would not have an excuse to attack the coastal enclave.

"Your blood is valuable, keep it to establish the homeland," the announcement read.

Sources in Gazoo further told Ynet Hamas is expected to tone down the display of violence.

The sources added that talks held with Egyptian intelligence officials, as well as Israel's warning that further escalation in the strip would force it to launch a military campaign in Gazoo, would motivate the terror organization to curb the violence.

Israeli decision-makers believe that restraining the festivities along the border fence would restore calm there.

Skirmishes resembling to last Friday's riots, during which the Paleostinians placed an bomb on the fence, with 20 of them breaching it and prompting the IDF to open fire, would leave Israel with little choice but to launch a limited military campaign in Gazoo, credible sources told Ynet.
The Times of Israel adds:
According to reports, Egypt had warned Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", that renewed protests would bring a heavy Israeli response.

Khaled al-Batsh, a big shot of the Iran-backed Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 terror group and an organizer of the march, wrote in a statement thanking the Egyptian military intelligence delegation for its work bringing about a limited ceasefire with Israel on Wednesday and Thursday.

He also said the delegation was due to visit the Gazoo Strip again the following week to continue the negotiation efforts.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Exploded tunnel was dug for soldier abductions, Gaza terror leader says
2017-11-01
The response to yesterday's story. Such lovely people.
[IsraelTimes] Islamic Jihad chief Batsh vows to build another passage into Israel in order to snag bargaining chips for a prisoner swaps

Senior Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 leader Khaled al-Batsh said Tuesday that the attack tunnel stretching from Gazoo into Israeli territory that was blown up by the IDF the previous day had been built by his group for the purpose of kidnapping Israeli soldiers.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza Militants Say Truce Restored
2014-03-14
Gazan rocket sex having been consummated, there will be quiet until the next arousal. Or in other words: Huuuuudddddnnnnaaaaaa!!!1!!
[An Nahar] Gazoo's Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 announced Thursday that an Egyptian-brokered truce had been restored following a brief but intense confrontation a day earlier when Israeli warplanes pounded the Strip after heavy cross-border rocket fire.

But the truce was being tested after the Israeli military reported than a rocket had been fired from Gazoo early in the evening, bringing to four the total over the course of the day.

Even so, that was sharply down on the more than 60 rockets that Israel said had been fired since Wednesday night, and the skies over the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run Gazoo Strip were filled only with driving rain.

No one has yet grabbed credit for the latest rocket fire.

Over the course of 24 hours, Israeli warplanes struck Gazoo after bully boyz fired scores of rockets over the border in the worst confrontation since an eight-day conflict between Israel and Hamas bully boyz in November 2012.

Although there were no casualties on either side, the violence was denounced by both Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
 and British Prime Minister David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
 at a news conference in Bethlehem.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton added her voice.

"I strongly condemn the recent rocket attacks on Israel, for which the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad, which is listed by the EU as a terrorist organization, has grabbed credit," she said in a statement

"There can be absolutely no justification for the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, and I call for an immediate end to such acts."

Behind the scenes, Egypt worked to secure the renewal of a truce agreement to scale back the hostilities, officials in Gazoo said.

"An Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT)," Islamic Jihad front man Daud Shihab told AFP.

Earlier, Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader, said Egyptian officials had contacted Hamas to "restore the truce" with Israel in force since November 2012.

"The Egyptians are in contact with the movement to restore the truce and stop the Zionist escalation and attack on Gazoo," he told AFP.

But an Israeli defense official said he was "not familiar" with any ceasefire arrangement.

"They understand that if the fire continues, the Israeli reaction will be very harsh, and the last thing the Islamic Jihad and Hamas want now is an escalation and deterioration," he told AFP.

Despite the tit-for-tat violence, experts said Israel was not interested in a major confrontation in Gazoo.

The confrontation began Tuesday when Islamic Jihad bully boyz fired a mortar at Israeli troops allegedly trying to enter southern Gazoo, prompting a retaliatory air strike that killed three of them.

On Wednesday, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, began firing a coordinated barrage of rockets at southern Israel that continued into the night, with the group putting the number at 130.

Israel responded by hitting 29 targets across Gazoo overnight, including Islamic Jihad and Hamas bases. Another seven air strikes on the south followed during the morning.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas Orders Reopening of Gaza News Agency
2013-11-17
[An Nahar] The Gazoo Strip's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, prime minister on Saturday ordered the reopening of a Paleostinian news agency closed in July for alleged "false" reporting of Hamas aid to Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund.

"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...
 ordered reopening Maan (agency) from tomorrow morning," government front man Ihab al-Hussein told AFP.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Haniyeh and Paleostinian faction leaders to discuss renewing unity talks. Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
's Fatah movement was not represented at the meeting.

Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 delegate Khaled al-Batsh said that at the start of the talks he asked Haniyeh to reopen Maan and the local offices of Saudi-owned pan-Arab TV channel Al-Arabiya, which were closed on the same day.

Batsh told Agence La Belle France Presse that Haniyeh made no immediate decision on Al-Arabiya but that the factions would pursue the matter with him on Sunday.

At the time of the closure a Maan staffer and a Hamas official told AFP the agency's Gazoo office was being temporarily shut for a report -- citing Israeli sources -- saying that Hamas gave refuge in a Gazoo hotel to runaway leaders of the Egyptian Moslem Brüderbund.

Saudi-owned pan-Arab channel Al-Arabiya did not reveal the reasons for its office closure.

Morsi, a veteran Moslem Brüderbund leader who went on to become Egypt's first freely elected president, was toppled in a military coup on July 3.

Since then, hundreds of his supporters have been killed and some 2,000 Islamists have been rounded up a in a military crackdown.

On July 14, Egyptian Sherlocks began questioning Morsi and members of his Moslem Brüderbund over their escape from jail during the 2011 uprising that put them in power.

The enquiry relates to the escape by Morsi and dozens of Brotherhood members from Wadi Natrun prison during the revolt that ended former president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
's three-decade rule.

An Egyptian court in June said the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gazoo and Leb's Shiite Hezbollah movement helped prisoners escape.

Hamas is the Paleostinian chapter of the Moslem Brüderbund, which has branches across the Middle East.

In its coverage of the Egyptian upheaval, Al-Arabiya has aired live footage of anti-Morsi protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square and called the coup that overthrew him a "second revolution."
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abduct Israelis to free prisoners, Gaza leaders say
2012-04-28
Islamic leaders in the Gazoo Strip called on Friday for Orcs and similar vermin to kidnap Israelis and use them as bargaining chips to secure the freedom of thousands of Paleostinians prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Human rights groups say up to 2,000 prisoners have joined an open-ended hunger strike to protest against jail conditions and thousands of Paleostinians staged a rally in the Gazoo Strip to support their cause.

"We should work hard to get (Israeli) prisoners in our hands in order to secure the freedom of our prisoners," Khaled al-Batsh, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, told the crowd. "I say to all armed factions, the way to free the prisoners is through swaps ... An arrest for an arrest, and freedom for freedom. This is the way," he said.

Israel last year freed some 1,000 Paleostinians in return for the release of Gilad Shalit, a soldier seized in 2006 and held by the Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in secret captivity for five years.

Human Rights groups say at least 4,700 Paleostinians remain in Israeli jails, many of them convicted for violent crimes. Paleostinian leaders say they should be treated as prisoners of war, something Israel rejects.

Friday's rally saw participants waving both the green and black flags of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad - a sign of growing ties between the two groups, which share the same Islamist ideology and advocate the destruction of the state of Israel..
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza factions discuss unity, truce
2010-04-05
The Palestinian factions of the Gaza Strip met on Sunday night to discuss prospects for inter Palestinian reconciliation, as well as a possible truce with Israel, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on Monday morning. According to the Arab publication, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front all participated in the meeting. Representatives of the West Bank-based Fatah movement had been set to attend, but reportedly issued a last-minute cancellation.

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha as saying the meeting constituted the “first fruits' of a series of inter-Palestinian talks to resolve the situation in the Gaza Strip and lead to the removal of the blockade and “Israeli aggression.' He also reportedly urged the international community to take a stand against Israel's “threats' and “policies against' the Palestinians.

Islamic Jihad official Khaled al-Batsh was quoted as saying the discussion of the core regional issues had also touched upon mechanisms for cooperation and coordination between the Palestinian factions. The aim, he said, was to build a “united resistance front.'

Contrary to a Sunday report that the Islamic Jihad movement had decided to temporarily cease launching rockets at Israel in favor of focusing on improving the situation in Gaza, Monday's Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report stressed the terrorist groups' determination to carry out “resistance' Israel. Resistance, the leaders reportedly said, would remain a Palestinian right so long as the Israeli aggression toward the Palestinian people persisted.

The movement's spokesman, Daoud Shihab, had told its official radio station in an interview conducted on Sunday morning that the group had stopped firing rockets due to the need to lift the Gaza blockade and alleviate the Palestinians' suffering. According to Israel Radio, his remarks were later removed from the radio station's Web site. Later that day, a high-ranking member of the group told a Palestinian Web site that the organization's military wing would "continue to use rockets according to the circumstances on the ground."

Though they vowed to organize demonstrations against Israel's refusal to release Palestinian prisoners and its “Judaization' of Jerusalem and Al-Aksa Mosque, the Gaza leaders also noted that “popular resistance' – a term designating rioting and other non-military methods of confrontation – was not a sufficient alternative to “armed resistance,' meaning terrorist attacks.

The leaders reportedly praised the Khan Younis attack of last week, in which Maj. Eliraz Peretz and St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky, both of the Golani Brigade, were killed. Several hours of clashes between IDF tanks and armed Palestinians followed, injuring three soldiers and killing, according to a Gaza medic, two Palestinian gunmen.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas, Islamic Jihad reject Egypt truce
2008-03-28
Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Thursday rejected an Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip after fresh talks in Egypt, saying it must include all Palestinian territories.

Hamas political bureau member Jamal Abu Hashem and senior Islamic Jihad member Khaled al-Batsh met two aides to Egyptian security chief Omar Suleiman to discuss the proposed ceasefire, an Egyptian security official told AFP. But following the talks on the Gaza-Egypt border, the two movements said that any truce with Israel must include both the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians also wanted the deal to include the re-opening of the crossings into the impoverished territory, which were sealed after the Islamists violently seized control in Gaza last June. "Any truce with Israel must include the West Bank, the lifting of the siege and the opening of the border crossings," Batsh said after the talks, echoing a reaction by Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum echoed.

Egypt, one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace deal with Israel, has been seeking to broker a truce or lull in fighting between Hamas and the Jewish state after an upsurge in violence last month.

In separate meetings with US and Israeli envoys and representatives from the main Palestinian factions, Egypt has also been trying to secure an agreement to lift Israel's blockade of Gaza and reopen its land crossings. Since Hamas took power, Israel has tightened restrictions on Gaza, preventing all but vital humanitarian aid from entering in an attempt to pressure the Hamas-run government to halt rocket attacks. Following the last round of such talks on Saturday, Egypt released 33 Hamas members who had been detained after crossing from the Gaza Strip. Hamas had accused accused Egypt of torturing its members.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas, Islamic Jihad to discuss ceasefire in Egypt next week
2008-03-09
(Xinhua) -- Palestinian factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad (Holy War) will visit Egypt next week to continue the talks on ceasefire deal with Israel under Egyptian mediation, an Islamic Jihad leader said on Saturday. Khaled al-Batsh told reporters that a delegation from his movement visited Al-Arish city in Sinai last week as part of preparations for the talks which will focus on the calmness, internal Palestinian dialogue, lifting the siege and reopening crossings into Gaza Strip.

Israel imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip since last June when Hamas took over the territory from President Mahmoud Abbas' forces. In addition to the siege, Israel stepped up military operations in the Hamas-ruled coastal Strip.

Al-Batsh said there have been talks on ceasefire "but the Islamic Jihad can accept it only when the occupation stops its crimes and becomes ready to give the Palestinians their rights."

Meanwhile, al-Batsh called on Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement to end their differences, which widened after Hamas took over Gaza. "Any side that insists on not starting the dialogue brings harm against the Palestinian people, their cause and rights," he said.

On Thursday, a delegation from Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements visited Egypt for talks on the security situation along the Egypt-Gaza border following Israel's recent military actions in Gaza. Their talks also dwelt on how to reach a truce with Israel in order to protect innocent Palestinians in Gaza. Egypt tried to persuade Hamas to accept a truce that would halt rocket attacks on Israel in an effort to end Gaza violence and salvage Middle East peace talks.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PRC threatens life of PM Fayad
2007-07-29
The government of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad came under heavy criticism over the weekend from Hamas and other radical groups for failing to mention the "armed resistance" in its platform. One group threatened to kill the "traitor" Fayad and his colleagues in Ramallah, while another said it would step up its efforts to bring down his government.

The threats against Fayad are the worst since he was appointed as prime minister last month. PA security officials here told The Jerusalem Post that they were taking the threats very seriously and that measures had already been implemented to protect Fayad and other top figures.

Hamas, in another act of defiance against Fayad's West Bank government, on Saturday started paying salaries to some 10,000 PA civil servants in the Gaza Strip who did not receive their payments because of their affiliation with Hamas. On Friday, Fayad's government published its platform, which does not include any reference to the mukawama (a term generally associated with armed struggle) against Israel. Instead, the government reiterated its commitment to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for a "popular resistance against the Israeli occupation."

The new manifesto stated that any peace agreement with Israel must be designed along the pre-1967 borders and that Jerusalem should be the capital of both Israel and any future Palestinian state. "We were not surprised by the Fayad government's decision to drop the armed resistance from its platform, because this is a government that works according to an American and Israeli agenda," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip. "If Fayad thinks that he can erase the word mukawama with ink he's mistaken. This word was written with the blood of our martyrs."

Abu Zuhri expressed "astonishment" that Fatah had agreed to the platform. "We urge Fatah to take a clear and brave stance toward the policy of the Fayad government, which is acting against the national aspirations of our people."

Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various armed groups in the Gaza Strip, accused Fayad of "legitimizing the occupation and of surrendering Jerusalem and the rest of the territories to the enemy."

Dubbing Fayad a "traitor," Abu Mujahed said the armed resistance had succeeded in "blocking the Zionist project for many years." Fayad, he added, may drop anything he wants from his platform, "but the Palestinians and their resistance movements and thousands of prisoners will always have their own platform. No one will be able to spoil our real platform. The Israeli enemy has failed over the past decades to end the armed struggle, and Fayad won't succeed in doing so."

Abu Abir, a notorious warlord in the Gaza Strip, threatened that his men would target Fayad and "his treacherous gang" in the West Bank. "We will target them in the field the same way we attack Israel," he said in response to the government's failure to endorse the armed struggle. "We promise to put an end to all the American-backed Palestinian personalities in the near future because of their decision to side with the Israeli enemy."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Islamic Jihad also condemned the Fayad government, vowing to continue terror attacks on Israel. "Who does this government represent," asked Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip. "If Salaam Fayad continues to ignore the desire of the Palestinians and insists on dropping the armed struggle from his platform, then he should search for another people to govern."
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Islamic Jihad leader says Rice visit to prepare for strike on Iran
2007-03-26
A senior Islamic Jihad leader said on Saturday that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the Middle East that starts today, meant to rally support for attacking Iran or Hezbollah. "We think this visit comes as part of preparations for war targeting Iran or Hezbollah... and maybe to strike an Arab country, " Khaled al-Batsh of the Islamic Jihad told reporters in Gaza.

Rice began a four-day tour to the region where she will meet with Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian leaders. "Rice's visit also comes to put pressure on the Arab leaders to change the Arab peace initiative, especially the right of return of the Palestinian refugees," al-Batsh said.

Palestinian and Arab officials expressed rejection to any change in the Arab peace initiative.
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Terror Networks
Islamic Jihad threatens to target U.S. over leader
2007-02-13
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group on Tuesday threatened to retaliate against the United States if it tried to capture its Damascus-based leader. "Violent operations will target all American interests if they attempt to harm the secretary-general, Dr. Ramadan Shallah," said Abu Ahmed, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing.

Senior Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh said the United States decided to offer the $5-million reward to bolster an Israeli campaign against the group following the Eilat bombing. "It (Shallah's capture) would unleash a new wave of violence and actions of legitimate resistance, and those who issued the decision will be responsible," Batsh told reporters in Gaza.
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