Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., March 12, 2008 Adar2 6, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:01 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

A Palestinian man weeping over the deaths of his family members in IDF shelling in the Gaza town of Beit Hanun on Wednesday. (Reuters) Last update - 01:50 09/11/2006 Hamas, Al-Aqsa call for resumed attacks, Abbas asks for restraint By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies Senior Hamas members called on Wednesday on the organization's military wing to resume suicide terror attacks in Israel after an Israel Defense Forces shelling in northern Gaza killed 19 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas' political bureau, said, at a press conference in Damascus, that the temporary halt to such attacks in Israel had come to an end. Hamas' military wing was free to act and choose its response in keeping with the developments in the field, Meshal said. Advertisement "All Palestinian groups are urged to activate resistance despite the difficult situation on the ground. Our confidence in our military wing to respond is great," Meshal said. Islamic Jihad, which never accepted the cease-fire brokered by Abbas and Egypt, vowed to carry out suicide bombings in response to the Beit Hanun strike. For his part, Nizar Rayan, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, said during a protest rally against the shelling in Beit Hanun that "the military wing, Iz al-Din al-Qassam, must strike wherever it can and in every one of the Zionists' cities." Leaflets distributed yesterday in Gaza, and attributed to Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades organization, also called for the resumption of terror attacks in Israel. At his press conference in the Syrian capital, Meshal also urged the Arab states to speak out against what he defined as Israel's crimes, and called for the establishment of an international court to investigate the incidents. Meshal added that the United States also bore responsibility for the killings, in light of its support for Israel Hamas' military wing also decried Washington's "political and financial support" for Israel, and appeared to call on Muslims to attack U.S. targets, urging them "to teach the American enemy harsh lessons". Speaking a few hours earlier at a press conference in Gaza, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas harshly slammed the Israeli shelling. Abbas, however, called on the Palestinian factions to refrain from carrying out terror attacks and urged them to cease the Qassam rocket fire, so as not to give Israel an excuse to continue with its actions. Through its actions, Abbas said, Israel was repeatedly undermining the chances for peace. Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas announced on Wednesday in the wake of the Beit Hanun killings that he was freezing talks to forge a unity government in the PA. Haniyeh had been slated to meet yesterday afternoon with Abbas for further discussions on the matter. Haniyeh clarified later in the day that he expected negotiations with Abbas' Fatah faction to resume within days. An Abbas aide said a deal could be imminent. "Our aim in suspending the dialogue was to concentrate on what happened in Beit Hanun," Haniyeh said. "I want to assure our people that we will resume the dialogue over the formation of the unity government within days." "We are so close to forming a new government," commented Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior Abbas aide. "We hope we will be able to finish very soon. The most important thing now is that there be real world pressure on Israel to stop these massacres." In a show of solidarity, Haniyeh and Abbas paid a joint visit to a hospital in Gaza to see and speak with the wounded from the Beit Hanun incident. Mustafa al-Barghouti, who is acting as a mediator between the two PA leaders, said the talks on the unity government would continue despite "the bloodbath in Beit Hanun," adding that Israel's objective was to undermine the possibility of establishing the new government Bookmark to del.icio.us   Bring down the house Knesset speaker calls for wrecking of yeshiva killer's family home. Frum and fabulous Beauty salons offer Haredi women a unique brand of modest glamour.   1.   Hamas should calm down and go for Israel`s jugular 10:09  |  Clickfool 08/11/06   2.   What goes around comes around 10:11  |  John 08/11/06   3.   Reap What You Sow 10:16  |  Paulo 08/11/06   4.   Circular 10:19  |  Matt 08/11/06   5.   Hamas should restrain and show the world..... 10:24  |  Swiss 08/11/06   6.   CFOOL It is so obvious.Why is it the Pals do not listen to you? 10:27  |  PETER SM 08/11/06   7.   PAULO.You sure Hamas and the Pals only want "end of occupation" 10:32  |  PETER SM 08/11/06   8.   After that latest terror attack by Israeli artillery 10:35  |  John 08/11/06   9.   Clickfool 10:43  |  brett 08/11/06   10.   Hamas says no to Unity Govt 10:53  |  Gina 08/11/06   11.   For Peter SM # 6 11:09  |  Clickfool 08/11/06   12.   For Brett # 9 11:12  |  Clickfool 08/11/06   13.   The right to exist forgone 11:33  |  David 08/11/06   14.   Israel out of the UN 11:45  |  kevin 08/11/06   15.   clickfool I agree 11:53  |  janice 08/11/06   16.   certainly the palestinians deserve better advisors than clickfool 11:54  |  concerned israeli 08/11/06   17.   put an end to EU-Israel agreement NOW 11:59  |  juan jose 08/11/06   18.   John thanks for the information 11:59  |  Jasmine Murphy 08/11/06   19.   *1 CLICKFOOL . 12:01  |  Bill. 08/11/06   20.   Stop calling for destruction Jews/Israel 12:21  |  human being 08/11/06   21.   A Little Naïve, Clicky 12:23  |  Rowan Berkeley 08/11/06   22.   hamas ceasefire 12:25  |  saul 08/11/06   23.   # 1,11,12 Clickfool 12:26  |  Nora 08/11/06   24.   Targetting civilians is now kosher 12:30  |  Ram 08/11/06   25.   TO Clickfool 12:31  |  cesare 08/11/06   26.   @15 Juan Jose 12:35  |  Mark B. 08/11/06   27.   Gaza shellings 12:40  |  David 08/11/06   28.   Hamas... can`t be blamed anymore 12:43  |  Steven 08/11/06   29.   Civilian Deaths 12:49  |  Daniel 08/11/06   30.   # 1 Clickfool No violence, a strict economic boycott... 12:53  |  Swiss 08/11/06   31.   Weeping civilian death : My call to Arab palestinians 12:58  |  Phil 08/11/06   32.   Hamas Threatening Bombs 12:59  |  Daniel 08/11/06   33.   #1: I agree 13:02  |  Stephen Murray 08/11/06   34.   # 17 Put an end to EU support to Pal-Arabs 13:15  |  Jouni 08/11/06   35.   My Personal Boycott Of Israel 13:27  |  Guy From NYC 08/11/06   36.   #29 Daniel:Civilian Deaths 13:34  |  Guy From NYC 08/11/06   37.   Well Halutz, THAT was a great military plan, wasn`t it? 13:37  |  Johnboy 08/11/06   38.   Hamas, terror attacks and Olmert`s government 13:37  |  Judith Lungen 08/11/06   39.   JUAN JOSE MARK B.How quiet you are with Israeli civillian deaths 13:40  |  PETER SM 08/11/06   40.   #7 Gee PETER SM, care to point me to.... 13:42  |  Johnboy 08/11/06   41.   For patronising Rowan Berkeley # 21 13:43  |  Clickfool 08/11/06   42.   PRIDE WITH HUMAN SHIELDS 13:45  |  Alan 08/11/06   43.   For Nora # 23 13:47  |  Clickfool 08/11/06   44.   So Clickfool how does Tourette`s 13:53  |  Jasmine 08/11/06   45.   palestinians are responsible 13:54  |  bev 08/11/06   46.   HUMAN SHIELDS 13:55  |  david 08/11/06   47.   Pals are to blame, the always invite what they get! 13:55  |  Dan 08/11/06   48.   Syria must be attacked, if Meshal orders attacks there 13:59  |  Ken Jurist 08/11/06   49.   To # 3 Paulo Reap what you sow. 14:06  |  Yossi 08/11/06   50.   Guy from NYC 14:07  |  Gusta 08/11/06   51.   Clickfool #1: Exactly and no more talk! 14:11  |  David James Vickery 08/11/06   52.   ISRAEL SHOULD BE KICKED OUT OF THE UN 14:12  |  Dutch 08/11/06   53.   JOHNBOY Gee,Why not point to the daily Qassems? 14:13  |  PETER SM 08/11/06   54.   guy from NYC 35 14:16  |  alan 08/11/06   55.   To Judith Lungen re: Olmert 14:18  |  David James Vickery 08/11/06   56.   i doubt that is really Clickfool saying that 14:31  |  Guy From NYC 08/11/06   57.   Click is correct: go for the jugular because 14:35  |  S. Cimitar 08/11/06   58.   Swiss #30 14:44  |  Survivor 08/11/06   59.   #48: Ken Jurist 14:44  |  Stephen Murray 08/11/06   60.   Hamas today is behaving more civilised than Israel 14:45  |  Swiss 08/11/06   61.   This is a hate fest 14:53  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 08/11/06   62.   #24 - targetting Israel civlians was always `kosher` I think 15:07  |  redmike 08/11/06   63.   Haniyaeh/Meshaal how many Israelis do ur Kassams target daily? 15:07  |  Beverley 08/11/06   64.   Meshal,warmonger 15:08  |  Ian 08/11/06   65.   #53 PETER SM, what DO you think the IDF is doing around the Gaza? 15:12  |  Johnboy 08/11/06   66.   # 54 Alan You are not well informed (Gaza Beach) ! 15:14  |  Swiss 08/11/06   67.   I have a confession to make .. 15:18  |  Clickfool 08/11/06   68.   #35 Guy From NYC 15:25  |  George Kaplan 08/11/06   69.   FINISH MESHAL OFF IN DAMASCUS 15:25  |  AK 08/11/06   70.   @39 PETER SM 15:32  |  Mark B. 08/11/06   71.   Retaliation ? 15:34  |  beverley 08/11/06