'U.S., Israel made Hamas power brokers'

A cease-fire agreed upon last week between Hamas and Israel enhances the position of Hamas and amounts to the Jewish state's tacit recognition of the terrorist group's control of the Gaza Strip, a top Palestinian Authority official told WND.
 
Officially, the PA, headed by its president, Mahmoud Abbas, endorsed the Gaza truce agreement, which went into effect this past Thursday, hours after Hamas and other local Palestinian groups took responsibility for firing nearly 30 mortars and rockets from Gaza into nearby Jewish communities.
 
But unofficially, the PA has been expressing its strong opposition to the truce to Israeli and American diplomats, explaining the cease fire puts Hamas in a more powerful position.
 
"[U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice sold us out. It is not possible that Israel agreed to the truce with Hamas without U.S. approval," said the top PA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(Story continues below)

"Israel has now negotiated indirectly with Hamas and is doing business with them. Hamas is the deal makers and power brokers" the PA official said.
 
The PA official's main gripe was not that Israel was negotiating with a terror group but that the Jewish state, he argued, was enhancing Hamas at the expense of the PA.
 
The official said the PA took particular offense at talk of eventually expanding the truce to the West Bank, which until now has been considered the territory of Abbas' Fatah organization.
 
He said if Hamas was seen as the main power broker in the West Bank it would be a "disaster" for Fatah and the PA.
 
The official described the mood at Abbas' headquarters following the truce as "one of mourning.  It's our Tisha B'Av."
 
Tisha B'Av is the Jewish fast day known as the "saddest day" in the Jewish calendar. It commemorates multiple tragedies that befell the Jewish people, including the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples.
 
Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since last summer, when it expelled the U.S.-backed Fatah organization from the territory.
 
The Gaza cease-fire officially went into effect last week. Israel has said it will hold off all military operations in Gaza in exchange for a complete cessation of Palestinian rocket attacks and violence.

Hamas, for its part, reportedly instructed its members to refrain from carrying out any attacks.

Israel this week is expected to ease its blockade of Gaza by allowing a larger number of shipments to enter and may open border crossings closed in recent months.

Israeli security officials have warned in briefings to the Knesset that Hamas would use the truce to rearm itself and strengthen its forces for an ultimate Israeli military incursion into Gaza. The officials said more Israeli troops would likely die fighting in Gaza because of the off-time Hamas is likely to use to prepare itself for battle.

In a briefing to the Knesset yesterday, Yuval Diskin, director of Israel's Shin Bet Security Services, identified a recent surge in terrorist activity and arms smuggling in the Gaza Strip. He also said Hamas stepped up the pace of training its gunmen and attempted several major attacks in recent days that were foiled by Israel.

Cease fire 'victory for resistance'

Last week, WND quoted Gaza-based terrorist leaders calling the cease-fire  a "victory" for Palestinian "resistance." The terrorist announced the truce will be used by local terrorist groups to re-arm and prepare for battle against the Jewish state.

"We are humiliating the Israelis. They kept threatening to make a huge operation in Gaza, but they were the ones who begged us to go into the cease-fire," said Muhammad Abdel-Al, a leader and spokesman for the Hamas-allied, Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees terror group.

Along with Hamas, the Committees took responsibility for firing a massive onslaught of rockets and mortars just before the truce was agreed to.

"[The rocket attacks] prove we are not going into this cease-fire from a weak point but from a point of force and power," Abdel-Al said.

Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' so-called military wing, told WND his group will use the truce to rearm itself.

"The hudna (temporary truce) will be used for more training, arming. ... We don't have any intention to stop from bringing in weapons from the Sinai into Gaza," said Abdullah.

He called the cease-fire "one more sign of the collapse of the Israeli army, that this big Israeli army with the so-called best air force in the world didn't succeed to stop the rockets, and they accepted the truce."

The term "hudna," dates back to Islam's founding in the 7th century, when Muhammad declared a 10-year hudna with the tribe that controlled Mecca. Later, after re-arming, Muhammad attacked the tribe, claiming it had broken the truce. In 1994, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat invoked Muhammad's hudna when he justified the launch of the second intifada during the Oslo peace process.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy noted in 2003 that Hamas had agreed to 10 cease-fires in the previous decade and returned freshly armed after each one.

"It is important to note," the institute said, "that all cease-fire offers have been presented at a time when Hamas needed a moment to step back and regroup after an organizationally exhausting confrontation with a more powerful foe (either Israel or the PA)."

 

 

---

To interview Aaron Klein, contact M. Sliwa Public Relations by e-mail, or call 973-272-2861 or 212-202-4453.

---

Related offers:

What terrorists complain about besides paying rent

Save Temple Mount from destruction

Definitive work on Mideast – available only here!

"Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad"

"Israel in Crisis"

"Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict"

Perfect gift! Compass that points to Jerusalem

 

---

Previous stories:

Terrorists boast truce 'victory for resistance'

Hamas scoffs at discussed Israeli incursion

We'll keep firing until every Jew climbs back into the sh---- hole'

'Peace partner' attempts massive border explosion

As Hamas negotiates truce, 'peace partner' attacks Israel

'U.S. partner' carries out deadly border raid

Israel to arm terrorists?

Hamas using U.S. weapons

Hamas lists seized U.S. weapons

U.S. aid to equip Palestinian militia

U.S. contemplating more weapons to Palestinians

Terrorists claim CIA files seized

Hamas flaunts seized American weapons

Hamas seizes U.S. armored personnel carriers

Terror leader: We'll obtain U.S. weaponry

Terror chief received U.S. assault rifles

U.S. offers Palestinians more weapons

U.S. plan to fund militias backed

U.S. to fund Hamas terror cells?

Officials: Hamas infiltrated U.S.-funded militias

Hamas to join U.S. funded militias?

Rice summit will lead to Palestinian state?

Secret talks handing West Bank to Abbas