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JPost Middle East- Analysis: Why has the West Bank been quiet? January 6, 2009
- Lebanon doubts Hizbullah will open second front January 6, 2009
- Jordan, Egypt strike balance between Israel ties, angry public January 6, 2009
- Doctors stuck at bottleneck on Egypt-Gaza border January 6, 2009
- Analysis: Hamas desperate for lull January 6, 2009
- ynet - Updates for RSS
- Egypt calls on Hamas, Israel to discuss weapons smuggling into Gaza January 6, 2009
- Venezuela expels Israel envoy over Gaza attacks January 6, 2009
- UN chief slams shelling of UN schools January 6, 2009
- Egypt seeks immediate ceasefire followed by talks January 6, 2009
- Cabinet considers filing complaint over Hamas' use of UN facilities January 6, 2009
- Haaretz.com - News
- IDF shell kills 30 in Gaza UN school; Israel mulls appeal over Hamas fire from UN facilities January 6, 2009Israel is considering submitting a complaint to the United Nations of Hamas' use of the world body's facilities for terror purposes, after 30 people were killed when an Israeli army artillery shell struck a UN school in Gaza. Israeli troops say that they were fired on from the building. ...
- Obama breaks silence on Gaza, calls civilian deaths 'a deep concern' January 6, 2009Barack Obama, who takes over as U.S. president from George W. Bush on January 20, broke his silence about the violence in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, calling the loss of civilian lives in Gaza and in Israel a "source of deep concern for me." ...
- Turkey-Israel basketball game canned after pro-Gaza protesters storm court January 6, 2009A basketball game between a Turkish and an Israeli team was suspended on Tuesday after Turkish fans erupted in protests against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, Turkish media reported. ...
- French TV airs photos billed as damage from Cast Lead, actually from 2005 January 6, 2009French public television network France 2 on Tuesday revealed they had aired photographs that allegedly showed destruction caused by the Israel Air Force during Operation Cast Lead, which were in fact taken during a different incident in 2005, one in which Gaza civilians were killed by an explosion caused by militants in the Strip. ...
- French President Sarkozy: Deal on Gaza truce 'not far away' January 6, 2009French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday a deal for a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip was "not far" away. ...
- IDF shell kills 30 in Gaza UN school; Israel mulls appeal over Hamas fire from UN facilities January 6, 2009
background Hamas
Hamas (Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement”) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary organization and political party which holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority.
Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada. Notorious for its numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces, Hamas also runs extensive social programs and has gained popularity in Palestinian society by establishing hospitals, education systems, libraries and other services[4] throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Hamas’ charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Hamas describes its conflict with Israel as political and not religious or antisemitic. However, its founding charter, writings, and many of its public statements reflect the influence of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Hamas’s political wing has won many local elections in Gaza, Qalqilya, and Nablus. In January 2006, Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, taking 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, while the previous ruling Fatah party took 43. Many perceived the preceding Fatah government as corrupt and ineffective, and Hamas’s supporters see it as an “armed resistance” movement defending Palestinians from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. \owever, since Hamas’s election victory, particularly sharp infighting has occurred between Hamas and Fatah.
Following the Battle of Gaza in June of 2007, elected Hamas officials were ousted from their positions in the Palestinian National Authority government in the West Bank, replaced by rival Fatah members and independents in an action that many Palestinians and other experts considered illegal. On 18 June 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) issued a decree outlawing the Hamas militia and executive force.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union,Israel, Japan, and the United States,and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The United States and the European Union have both implemented restrictive measures against Hamas on an international level.
Origins:
Hamas was created shortly before the December 1987 Intifada as a more militant, Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious, political and social movement founded in Egypt and dedicated to the gradual victory of Islam. Since the mid-1970s, the Brotherhood had been expanding its influence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through its vast array of social services. Hamas advocacy of an immediate holy war to liberate Palestinerendered the Brotherhood’s policy of gradual Islamicization ineffectual.
Ideology:
Hamas preaches and engages in violence and terror in order to destroy the state of Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. Its virulent hatred of Jews and Judaism is deeply rooted in the anti-Semitic writings of Muslim Brotherhood theologians.
In August 1988, Hamas issued its Covenant laying down its ideological principles and goals. Replete with anti-Semitism, it echoes the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion and charges Jews with an international conspiracy to gain control of the world. In Hamas’ worldview, Islamic precepts forbid a Jewish state in the area known as Palestine, the Jewish people have no legitimate connection to the land of Israel and Yasir Arafat is a traitor to the Islamic Palestinian cause. As the Hamas Covenant proclaims, “The landof Palestine is an Islamic trust… It is forbidden to anyone to yield or concede any part of it… Israel will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it…”
Organizational Structure:
Hamas is both a terrorist organization and a mass social, political and religious movement. The military branch is reportedly divided into three wings: an intelligence arm which gathers information about Palestinians suspected of collaboration, an arm which pursues those who have violated Islamic law and the Izzedine al-Qassam squads who are responsible for most of the terror attacks. The al-Qassam squads are comprised of a few dozen activists loosely organized into small, shadowy terror cells, at times operating independently of each other. Hamas’ military and political leaders are based throughout the West Bank and Gaza and the organization maintains offices and representatives in Teheran, Damascus and Amman. The connections and levels of coordination between the military and political branches are concealed.
The division of Hamas into military and political/social wings has led many observers to erroneously assume that the social wing of Hamas is completely separate from its military wing. However, funds raised for the social programs of Hamas free up other funds for the military wing and there is no open accounting system whereby the international community can ascertain whether or not the social wing finances the military wing. For instance, so-called humanitarian donations reward the families of Hamas suicide bombers.
Hamas’ military wing also utilizes the organization’s social wing for indoctrination and recruitment. The social, cultural, religious and educational institutions of Hamas are well-known venues for anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred and serve as recruitment centers for Hamas suicide bombers. For example, a Hamas-sponsored soccer team in Hebron provided a ready supply of several Hamas suicide bombers. In early 2006, Hamas began operation of a television station based in Gaza, Al Aksa TV, which broadcasts primarily religious and children’s programming. Al Aksa TV – which Hamas says it hopes to soon broadcast via satellite to broaden its audience – is likely to become a key tool in propagating Hamas’ extremist message. Indeed, the host of the station’s children’s program told the New York Times that his show “will teach children the basics of militant Palestinian politics.”
Terrorism and Violence:
Hamas launched its campaign of violence in 1989, first against Israeli soldiers and suspected Palestinian collaborators, and then against Israeli civilians. In the wake of the Oslo agreement, Hamas leaders intensified their rhetoric and vowed to derail the peace process through violent attacks. Drive-by shootings, firebombings and stabbings increased. Suicide missions began in April 1994, when a Hamas suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a bus in Afula killing eight and wounding 50 others.
Since that time Hamas has claimed responsibility for hundreds of attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets. Israeli security sources have thwarted scores more. Following Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, Hamas carried out dozens of rocket attacks against civilian targets in southern Israel. According to the Israel Defense Forces, through suicide bombings and other violent attacks, Hamas has killed nearly 300 Israelis since September 2000, and wounded over 2,000.
While Hamas agreed to a ceasefire or “tahdia” on terrorist operations in March 2005, according to Israeli sources, Hamas continued to plan and perpetrate terrorist attacks, and helped provide support for attacks claimed by other terrorist organizations.
Through systematic religious and political indoctrination and social pressure, Hamas leaders recruit young Palestinian men for suicide missions and other attacks. Hamas has also recruited beyond the West Bank and Gaza. According to Israeli sources, Hamas has recruited and operated a number of Israeli Arab terror cells. In June 2003, Israel indicted five senior officials of the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, including movement leader Sheikh Ra’ad Salah, on various terrorism-related charges including membership in Hamas and raising funds abroad for Hamas agencies in the West Bank and Gaza. According to Israeli sources, two British Muslim suicide bombers who blew up a pub in Tel Aviv in April 2003 were Hamas recruits dispatched by the Hamas military command in Gaza.
Financial Support:
Hamas enjoys strong financial backing from Iran (an estimated $20 - $30 million), private benefactors and Muslim charities in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Palestinian expatriates across the globe and American donors. Its budget has been estimated at $70 million and 85 percent of it reportedly comes from abroad; the remaining 15 percent is raised among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. A number of Americans and U.S.-based charities have been implicated in funneling money to Hamas. It is estimated that Saudi Arabia continues to channel between $12 - $14 million to Hamas annually. At a June 2003 press conference, Adel al-Jubeir, a senior adviser to the Saudi Crown Prince, did acknowledge that many Palestinian institutions funded by the Saudis may be run or managed by the political wing of Hamas.
Syria remains a key center for Hamas operations, and the Assad regime provides support and protection to key Hamas leadership based inDamascus.
Hamas and Palestinian Politics:
Hamas had tremendous success in the January 25, 2006 parliamentary elections, routing Fatah, and winning 74 seats in the 132-seat legislature, with Fatah earning a disappointing 45 seats. Hamas will thus form the next Palestinian Authority government, with Mahmoud Abbas remaining as Palestinian Authority President.
Although the “Oslo II” agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in September 1995, outlining the modalities of Palestinian elections, bars candidates who “commit or advocate racism; or pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or non-democratic means,” President Abbas did not prevent Hamas’ participation in the political process.
Hamas began large-scale participation in the Palestinian political scene in 2005, and they did extremely well in the series of municipal elections held throughout the year, gaining more than a third of municipal council seats. As a result of the fourth round of Palestinian municipal elections held in December 2005, over one million Palestinians live in municipalities governed by Hamas (while only 700,000 live in municipalities governed by Fatah).
Hamas candidates appeal to Palestinian voters as the alternative to the perceived corruption, inaction and weakness of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority leadership. Candidates promised improved socio-economic conditions for Palestinian families, and greater social services. They also pledged an end to the “Israeli occupation,” the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of all Palestinian refugees.
Through the 2006 election campaign, Hamas candidates and leadership did not disavow their commitment to an “armed struggle” against Israel, their refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and the precepts of the Hamas Charter. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar declared on Palestinian TV, “We do not recognize the Israeli enemy, nor his right to be our neighbor, nor to stay (on the land), nor his ownership of any inch of land. . . . We are interested in restoring our full rights to return all the people of Palestine to the land ofPalestine. Our principles are clear: Palestine is a land of Waqf (Islamic trust), which can not be given up.” At the same time, a number of Hamas candidates did make pragmatic statements, indicating that they might deal with Israelis in certain situations, or via a third party.
The entry of Hamas into Palestinian politics has been somewhat controversial. Some Hamas ideologues argue that involvement with the Palestinian Authority will lead to comprising the party’s goals, and the legitimization of the Palestinian Authority’s dealings with the State of Israel. Indeed, for these reasons Hamas did not participate in the last Palestinian elections in 1996.
Hamas security forces free 3 journalists
Hamas security forces free 3 Palestinian journalists who had earlier been arrested on charges on fabricating news critical of the movement.
A Hamas internal security official stated that the men were released after they admitted and confessed that they had been producing falsified reports which question Hamas cabinet as well as its security forces, Reuters reported.
The official, who refused to be named, added that the release took place after fellow journalists appealed to the movement’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, for their freedom.
“We made a mistake and it won’t be repeated,” one of the journalists told reporters and human rights officials after his release.
The journalists worked in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the Palestine Press. The local news agency is linked to the movement’s rival, Fatah faction. Fatah faction is loyal to President Authority Chief, Mahmoud Abbas.
The two major Palestinian factions have frequently swapped accusations of persecution since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip last year.
Hamas says Fatah security forces are holding several journalists - with ties to the resistance group - in occupied West Bank.
Abbas Displays Map of “Palestine” Erasing Israel
This week the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Ayyam published a picture of Mahmoud Abbas, standing in front of a map of “Palestine” that covers all of Israel.
The Palestinian Authority flag is displayed above the map. Abbas was speaking from the “Headquarters of the Palestinian Presidency” in Ramallah, at the opening meeting of the PLO Central Council. This area is part of Abbas’ office complex.
The Al-Ayyam front page photo caption said: “The President speaks at the opening meeting of the [PLO] Central Council at the Headquarters of the Presidency in Ramallah.”
The Fatah controlled daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida also carried a picture of Abbas in front of the same map.
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Palestinian Media Watch provided information for this story.
Egypt arrests pro-Hamas blogger
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information reports 40 officers storm home of pro-Hamas blogger showing burning US flag, pictures of Hamas fighters in blog. Egyptian interior ministry spokesman says ministry not aware of case
Reuters
Egyptian police have arrested a blogger who criticized the government and expressed support for the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, a human rights organization said on Tuesday.
The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said 40 officers had confiscated books and CDs from blogger Mohamed Adel’s house before arresting him.
“An enormous security force and special forces to take into custody a young blogger who owns nothing other than a keyboard and a blog!” said Gamal Eid, director of the Network. “This is the law of the state of emergency which has ruled Egyptians for 27 years.”
The group said there had been no word of or from Adel since November 20. An interior ministry spokesman said he was not aware of the case.
Egypt sentenced a blogger to four years’ jail last year after finding him guilty of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak.
International and local rights groups say torture is systematic in Egyptian jails and police stations. Egypt says it prosecutes policemen who torture detainees.
Adel’s blog featured a picture of the founder of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, a burning American flag, and pictures of Hamas fighters.
Egypt says the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most powerful opposition, is a banned group and police regularly arrest its members.
The Brotherhood has criticised the government for refusing to open its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, accusing it of participating in the punishing Israeli siege of the coastal territory.
Hamas took over Gaza last year after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas to maintain missile blitz up to Ashdod
military sources report that Israeli government leaders have misread the motives behind Hamas’two-week missile-rocket-mortar assault on Israel as jockeying for better terms when the six-month truce comes up for renewal next month. Their decision to mute Israel’s military response to the ongoing violence stems from their misplaced expectation that the attacks will stop once the truce is in the bag.
Israeli intelligence circles challenge this perception. They estimate that Hamas will continue escalating the violence at least up until Israel’s general election on Feb. 10, 2009, forcing more than a quarter of a million suffering citizens to live on a never-ending knife edge.
The Hamas rationale falls into three parts:
1. The 25-kilometer range Grad multiple-launch rockets, which the radical terrorists have vowed to continue firing against the Mediterranean port-town of Ashkelon, will also be directed further north to Ashdod, Israel’s most important port after Haifa. This will keep Hamas at center stage of Israel’s election campaign and demonstrate who really influences the Israeli voter. This maneuver, learned from the Palestinian master terrorist, who used to step up the violence before Israeli elections, will put rival Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose “peace talks” with Israel came to naught, in the shade.
2. Hamas is not scared by the prospect of the Olmert government being driven to a major military operation in Gaza. Its leaders calculate that it will be so costly in casualties for the Palestinian population and Israeli troops alike that an international outcry will force the IDF to cut the campaign short without achieving its goals.
3. Forcing the Israeli army to withdraw without a victory will enhance Hamas’ standing in Gaza and the West Bank – just like Hizballah after the 2006 Lebanon war.
In Hamas’ view, the compromise proposals put forward by Egyptian intelligence minister Omar Suleiman in his bid to broker a Palestinian power-sharing deal was biased in favor of Abbas and his Fatah. This left the Hamas free to walk away and instead build up its violent assaults on Israeli towns and villages.
Despite the ongoing missile attacks, Israel decided Sunday, Nov. 17, to allow 30 trucks of humanitarian aid through to Gaza. However, fuel consignments have been stopped until further notice.
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