Hamas Rejects Cease-fire
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
April 29, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal met with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday in Cairo.
Following the meeting, Mashaal told reporters they'd discussed the status of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Corporal Gilad Shalit, the continuing violence in the Gaza Strip between rival factions, the problems in the PA unity government, and the need to restructure the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to allow Hamas and other Palestinian groups to join the PLO.
Also on the agenda was the renewal of a five-month-old cease-fire between Israel and the PA, which Hamas officials declared over after its rocket and mortar attack on Israel's Independence Day. On Saturday, Hamas reiterated that the cease-fire is over.
Until last Tuesday's attack, Hamas had not claimed responsibility for the daily Kassam rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on Israeli towns in the western Negev.
According to Saleh Kallab, a Gaza-based political analyst quoted in Sunday's Jerusalem Post, last Tuesday's attack was specifically meant to undermine the PA unity government.
Kallab said the attack revealed that Syria and Iran -- not Abbas or PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh -- were calling the shots for the Palestinian people.
According to Kallab, Hamas is divided between those who support the unity government and those who do not.
"The armed wing of Hamas is reporting to Mashaal and former [Hamas] cabinet ministers Said Siam and Mahmoud Zahar, who are all opposed to the Mecca Agreement [the Saudi-sponsored initiative that paved the way for the formation of a unity government between Fatah and Hamas].
"The latest rocket attacks are aimed at embarrassing both Haniyeh and Abbas," said Kallab.
Meanwhile, on Saturday IDF troops shot and killed three Hamas terrorists attempting to plant a bomb next to the security fence near the Kissufim Crossing at the Gaza border. The three were members of Iz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, which also claimed responsibility for last Tuesday's attack.
According to The Jerusalem Post, the IDF's Southern Command said it was the 60th attempt by Palestinians to plant bombs along the border's security fence since the November cease-fire.
Source: The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz
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