Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., July 02, 2008 Sivan 29, 5768 | | Israel Time: 20:14 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar (AP)
Last update - 18:23 28/06/2008
Top Hamas official: We'll stop anyone who breaks Gaza truce
By Fadi Eyadat and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Tags: cease fire, crossings, Hamas 

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, told a Saudi newspaper on Saturday that his organization will move against any armed group that attempts to violate the cease-fire with Israel, including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Al-Zahar warned that any Palestinian group who deviates from the national consensus and harms the interests of the Palestinian people can no longer be considered a part of the resistance, but rather as someone who seeks to harm it.

Al-Zahar added that Hamas has recently arrested gunmen who fired missiles at the Karni crossing as well as at trucks carrying goods that passed through the crossings.
Advertisement
"There are families who will turn their children into Hamas because they are acting against the law," al-Zahar said.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday appealed to Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to honor the week-long truce with Israel, and stop firing at the Negev, for the good of the Palestinian civilian population.

Two mortar shells from Gaza hit the western Negev on Friday, exploding in open areas, despite the cease fire agreement. No damage or injury were reported.

"We expect everyone to respect the agreement so that the Palestinian people achieve what they look for, an end to this suffering and breaking the siege," he told reporters outside a Gaza mosque after Muslim prayers.

The attack on Friday came one day after two Qassam rockets were fired from the Strip into Israel. The militant Fatah offshoot Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack and demanded that the cease fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which currently includes only the Gaza Strip, be extended to include the West Bank as well.

Palestinian medics and local residents said the Israel Defense Forces killed a Palestinian teenager during a raid in the West Bank on Friday.

The residents said the 17-year-old was killed while confronting Israeli soldiers who raided the village of Beit Umar, near Hebron.

An IDF spokesman said troops fired at a group of militants who hurled firebombs at them, hitting one.

At a high-level security meeting late Thursday, Israel decided to keep the border crossings into the Gaza Strip closed on Friday because of the latest rocket attack defense officials said. They added that a limited amount of fuel would be transferred into the Strip despite the closure.

Since the cease fire went into effect last Thursday, instead of retaliating for rocket attacks with airstrikes at Palestinian rocket squads, Israel closed the border crossings, where vital supplies are shipped into Gaza - restoring a blockade that has caused severe shortages.

The move hits at the main interest of Hamas - ending the blockade and easing the hardships facing the people under its control. Hamas officials charged that by restoring the blockade, Israel is violating the truce. Underlining the high level of distrust, Palestinians formed a committee to track Israeli violations.

At a meeting Wednesday, Israeli defense officials discussed how to proceed once the crossings are reopened. According to the same officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings are closed, Israel might reset the truce clock each time it closes the crossings in response to a Palestinian violation.

Israel had significantly increased the amount of supplies flowing into Gaza on Sunday, in accordance with the truce agreement, and was ready for another increase next Sunday. But a barrage of four Qassam rockets, claimed by Islamic Jihad, stopped the process. Now Israel is considering counting three days from each reopening of the crossings before it reinstates the original increase.

During a visit to Prague, Czech Republic, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Israel should reopen the crossings to preserve the truce.

"[The reopening is] important because the closure... of Gaza is actually producing a situation where you have 1.5 million of our people who live there with a sense of not much to lose," Fayyad said. "That is a situation that's got to end."

Hamas charged that the re-imposed blockade is a violation. But Hamas official Taher Nunu said that Hamas is committed to the truce. "The [Hamas] government will not allow anyone to violate this agreement," he said.

The rocket attack Thursday came as Israeli envoy Ofer Dekel headed to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials on the final stage of the truce - a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier Hamas has held captive for two years. Israel has balked at Hamas' demands, saying its list of prisoners includes militants involved in deadly attacks on Israelis.

Hamas also has demanded that Israel allow reopening of Gaza's only border crossing with Egypt in the final phase of the six-month truce deal.

The Rafah crossing has been sealed since the Hamas violent takeover over the Strip last June, confining Gaza's people to the tiny seaside territory. Israel has said it would not allow reopening of Rafah until the soldier is freed.

Related articles:
  • Hamas: Qassam fire is harming Palestinian interests
  • Report: Israel prefers Hamas prisoners be released to Gaza, not West Bank

    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Death penalty
    Iran hands down death sentence to man who spied for Israel.
    Robot hospital
    The place where IDF treats droids wounded in the line of fire.
      1.   now shut the border for 5 months 00:54  |  vik 27/06/08
      2.   bored pals doing what comes natural,i knew they would be the ones 02:12  |  terrornator 27/06/08
      3.   Let Sderot eat die while Gazans enjoy fuel 07:11  |  Jonathan 27/06/08
      4.   Hamas wants one way cease fire 07:48  |  Joe Frazier 27/06/08
      5.   Hamas - lying as official Pal policy 08:22  |  Joe Sittizen 27/06/08
      6.   Outsider 08:33  |  Di 27/06/08
      7.   #2 Terrornator not up with the news, it appears. 08:37  |  Johnboy 27/06/08
      8.   Shut Borders Permanently 10:53  |  Baruch Gold 27/06/08
      9.   Why don`t we react?! Why don`t we react militarily?! 11:26  |  Adi 27/06/08
      10.   More extremism by the bullies in Israel 12:11  |  Dutch 27/06/08
      11.   Hamas, la puta madre! 12:17  |  Ivan 27/06/08
      12.   Joe Sittizen, Re The real liars 12:29  |  Dutch 27/06/08
      13.   #7 - Source, Johnboy? 12:31  |  JES 27/06/08
      14.   Yet another science miracle by islam? 12:56  |  Johnny 27/06/08
      15.   #13 13:08  |  Dav 27/06/08
      16.   Where is "Haaretz"` Akiva Eldar with condemnations of own country 13:14  |  Absolute Sweden 27/06/08
      17.   Scyooz me, Dutch, but your foot is caught in your molars 13:29  |  Joe Sittizen 27/06/08
      18.   #10 dutch rights wrong 13:44  |  odles 27/06/08
      19.   Nice "truce" you folks have going 13:48  |  Calvin Grinder 27/06/08
      20.   Dont transfer fuel 13:51  |  KUTW 27/06/08
      21.   Violating the truce 13:53  |  KUTW 27/06/08
      22.   Israel must react militarily and do so harshly if it does not 14:07  |  Dominique 27/06/08
      23.   Exchange Shalit, then massive invasion 14:10  |  Slappy 27/06/08
      24.   Gaza mortar shells hit Israel despite truce 14:30  |  Michael 27/06/08
      25.   Those loyal to abu khara are violating the ceasefire 15:07  |  Palestinian in UK 27/06/08
      26.   7 Johnboy,Maan News reported that on day one of the truce israel 15:19  |  lakshmi 27/06/08
      27.   WHY DON`T YOU MENTION ISRAEL`S 7 VIOLATIONS 15:21  |  GEORGE 27/06/08
      28.   dutch,i see you quit showing in your post,your from america,thank 15:29  |  terrornator 27/06/08
      29.   You do not talk to terrorists, you fight and defeat them. 15:31  |  Jean Van Daem 27/06/08
      30.   #13 Dav 15:37  |  ChanahS 27/06/08
      31.   PUK - Arafat also 15:40  |  ChanahS 27/06/08
      32.   no aid TO GAZA 15:41  |  real vision 27/06/08
      33.   Israel should level Gaza once and for all. 15:41  |  August West 27/06/08
      34.   George # 27 15:42  |  ChanahS 27/06/08
      35.   George # 27 15:42  |  ChanahS 27/06/08
      36.   #7,Johnboy my Google found nothing.Is yours from Pallywood? 15:53  |  Ronald 27/06/08
      37.   MERT KNEW HIS WOULD HAPPEN AND HE DID NOT CARE! IF SO WHY DID HE 16:00  |  glenna 27/06/08
      38.   Channah (re: George) 16:06  |  Guido 27/06/08
      39.   israel is a joke 16:07  |  joseph theeboom 27/06/08
      40.   lakshmi IDF fired at the fish not fisherman to finish the fight. 16:09  |  POP 27/06/08
      41.   Schalit 16:18  |  Dave Duncan 27/06/08
      42.   Dutch if stupid Qassams then don`t fire them 16:21  |  POP 27/06/08
      43.   The Palestinians are addicted to terrorism 16:24  |  Rafi 27/06/08
      44.   DUTCH (#10) Don`t you have anything else 16:29  |  Gil 27/06/08
      45.   Gaza, Hamas, Olmerd. 16:37  |  Mordecai Ben Natan 27/06/08
      46.   # 10 Dutch...in the ancient Book of Changes 16:41  |  Lynn 27/06/08
      47.   dutch #11 gives definition "stupid Qassams".What a stupipd dutch! 16:44  |  Vittorio 27/06/08
      48.   #27,George 16:45  |  Mike 27/06/08
      49.   Dutch: Please return to Mental Asylum 16:50  |  People of the World 27/06/08
      50.   #7 johnboy talk about not up with news 16:52  |  Big Sur 27/06/08
      51.   #12 Dutch date. going Dutch In Maine 16:55  |  Big Sur 27/06/08
      52.   # 43 Rafi ....it has become a way of life 17:00  |  Lynn 27/06/08
      53.   Gil # 44 I would appreciate your help I am new to the room 17:02  |  Big Sur 27/06/08
      54.   Mike (re: George) 17:02  |  Guido 27/06/08
      55.   truce 17:02  |  Ralph 27/06/08
      56.   #10: I disagree 17:09  |  Michael II 27/06/08
      57.   it seems Haaretz only publicises direct talk from haters 17:24  |  Big Sur 27/06/08
      58.   IDF breaches of truce 17:27  |  Michael II 27/06/08
      59.   You are all fool`s.... 17:42  |  ross 27/06/08
      60.   #27 George so far last but not forgotten, researched and found no 17:45  |  BIG SUR 27/06/08
      61.   Guido #54 17:51  |  Big Sur 27/06/08
      62.   THE NATIONAL SUICIDE PLAN 17:54  |  Fred Amsel 27/06/08
      63.   KEEP THE CROSSINGS CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED 18:01  |  Mark 27/06/08
      64.   #51 Big Sur, It maybe just time to bring it on... 18:03  |  Dutch 27/06/08
      65.   Pop, This is a schizophrenic agreement... 18:06  |  Dutch 27/06/08
      66.   Abbass men ashame us in peace and in war 18:13  |  Palestinian 27/06/08
      67.   johnboy and "prejudice" 18:13  |  judea 27/06/08
      68.   Gil, your pioneer settlers ought to get a real life 18:15  |  Dutch