Hamas to Gaza militias: Stop firing rockets at Israel
Ismail Haniyeh says adhering to cease-fire with Israel protects Gazans from IDF attacks.
By Reuters Tags: Hamas Gaza Israel newsHamas in Gaza tried to ease tension with Israel and Egypt Tuesday, urging other Palestinians to stop firing rockets into the western Negev and promising Cairo answers over the shooting of an Egyptian soldier at the border.
Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Islamist movement's government in the coastal enclave, said other armed groups in the Gaza Strip should observe what has amounted to a ceasefire since Israel's major offensive a year ago. That, Haniyeh said, was in the interests of protecting Gazans from Israeli attacks.
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had warned Hamas to rein in its allies "or else" - a threat of more Israeli action.
Rocket fire by smaller groups Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, and Israeli air strikes that killed several Palestinians, made the past two weeks among the most violent since the three-week war that killed 13 Israelis and over 1,400 Palestinians before a ceasefire in mid-January 2009.
"We call upon Palestinian factions to intensify their meetings in order to reinforce the national agreement and to work in a joint spirit to protect our people and to protect our interests and to block any possible Israeli aggression against our people," Haniyeh said before a cabinet meeting in Gaza.
Despite denials from some of the smaller groups, Hamas has insisted lately there was an agreement to hold back on attacks.
While hostility between Hamas and Israel is the norm, the Palestinian Islamist movement has also been concerned of late over a deterioration in relations with Egypt, which controls the short southern border of the Gaza Strip.
Already frustrated in its efforts to promote reconciliation between Hamas and the rival Fatah party of West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and by its difficulties in brokering a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, Cairo was angered last week by the death of a soldier at the Gaza border.
He was shot during clashes when Hamas supporters rallied at the frontier in the town of Rafah to protest at Egyptian efforts to stem supplies reaching Gaza through secret tunnels.
Egyptian officials have said the soldier was hit by a bullet fired from the Palestinian side. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday there was evidence the Egyptian border guard could have been hit by a bullet from his own side.
Whatever the case, Haniyeh said, Hamas was working in good faith to clarify what happened and to protect relations with Cairo: "We are carrying out an investigation ... (which) aims to arrive at the truth and to put measures in place that ensure Palestinian-Egyptian relations are protected."
Cairo has long had cool relations with Hamas, which shares roots with the banned Egyptian opposition movement the Muslim Brotherhood. But Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, is also keen to avoid being portrayed as an ally of the Jewish state in its conflict with the Palestinians.
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Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. |
| Photo by: (Reuters) |
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will ever be able to stop these murderers as a whole because this is what they are:murderers and murderers do not constitue a military!hello! they have proven it again:they are muslim murderers!haniyah is pretending to care now about the gaza people!give me a break; if he had a caring bone in his body he would have been caring all these years he's been ordaining suicide bombings with women and chiidren carrying them out!
The goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel which is obviously why you like Hamas. If their goal was to help any innocent Palestinians you would not care about them at all, just as you could not care less about Haitians and other people around the world who are suffering through no fault of their own. You are right to point out that the Palestinian dream of destroying the Israel and the Jews is just a dream but thanks to people like you a whole nation of hopeless refugees has persuaded itself it is possible and desirable. All the suffering of both sides is on your conscience or at least would be on your conscience if you had a conscience.
Your question needs to be addressed to Hamas. Was it worth it for them? It was their decision to end the ceasefire and start a war which led to the deaths of approximately 1000 of their own terrorists as well as an unknown but much too high number of innocent people. Was it worth it for you to encourage them? The blood is on your hands and your conscience. What is worse, you are still encouraging them to do the same thing again, naturally from a safe distance. It must be very disappointing to you that the leaders of Hamas have apparently learned from their mistake and stopped listening to your advice.
the first sign that they should not have their own state is the very admission by haniyeh that he cannot control his smaller factions...which of course is nonsense and their excuse to be able to still carry out terrorist rocket launches. Either way, these are not a people ready for statehood.
"Their goals are to destroy Israel" Um...have you compared Israel with Gaza lately? "Gaza destroy Israel"...what a joke!
"It seems that Hamas has learned from Cast Lead that aggression against Israel does not pay" Do you think it was worth the deaths of so many hundreds of innocent women and children, then? I expect you do.
Why do they go near the fence-border? Throw rocks at Israeli cars? Kill Jewish Rabbi`s? Muslim women that knife border security? Suicide bombers ? "Muslim men that shoot innocent people at Fort Hood saying the name of Allah & verbally threaten to kill Jews on a Miami plane last week? Who drive bull-dozers into people walking on the side-walks?" Would you care to name all the wrongs Israel has done to the Palestinians? I tell you, the screen isn't long enough...
Took a long time to turn on the light bulb... But thank God for a glimpse of light ! It's simple, Stop antagonizing, provoking Israel & live! They talk about Israeli aggression? Why do they go near the fence-border? Throw rocks at Israeli cars? Kill Jewish Rabbi's? Muslim women that knife border security? Suicide bombers ? Muslim men that shoot innocent people at Fort Hood saying the name of Allah & verbally threaten to kill Jews on a Miami plane last week? Who drive bull-dozers into people walking on the side-walks? You call these loving of peace? Not hate crimes? Politically correct? Do they call kassam rockets- love kisses ? When Palestinians get serious about PEACE then their actions MUST be congruent with their mouths ! I would say the same words to any group who acted that immature- Jews, Christians, Muslims, Palestinmians.... Shame on You !
Israel has to come up with some new approaches to the Israeli-Arab conflict that haven't been tried yet. The idea of another 6-Day War has to be out of the question. We almost lost Israel in 1973, so Israel cannot seek to engage Arabs in the same manner as before. Being Israel is going to have to be a job, with moderate Arab Regimes that have good relations with the West. Hamas is always going to try to outsmart Israel. Especially, while Khameini and Ahmadinejad are seated in power along with their friends in Syria. Last thing Israel should want is an armed conflict with any nation over there because the other side figures it can count on all Muslims. Israel needs to keep a really low profile even if it is picked on politically. I think it's inevitable that there will be some kind of military clash between Arabs and Iranisns, with the focal points being the Straits of Tiran and perhaps also Hormuz, sometime in the next ten years. The outcome of that will determine what happens next.
It seems that Hamas has learned from Cast Lead that aggression against Israel does not pay.
Have you ever heard the police "urging people not to hold up banks"? Either Hamas runs the operation or it doesn't. How about "anyone seen firing rockets will be fired upon by Hamas Police"?
Gee, this dude has been screaming about "Israeli aggression" and "Israeli atrocities" to every retaliation of Israel to Islamic terror attacks. Suddenly, Duh...years later...he's telling the terror crew that stopping the firing will protect Gazans. Amazing!! He actually made the connection!! Hamas has been going down and down. Personally, this is a leopard that ain't gonna change its spots...Iran is feeding them.
Hamas can stop the rockets if they wish. If they choose not to, I can assure you that as far as the U.S. goes, they can deal with Hamas and nobody on this side of the planet will give a damn. We've all had enough of Islamic terrorists.
1/. A year ago he was ordering a rocket onslaught against Israel with no care for consequences. Now he chastises others for doing the same thing. 2/. The Hamas charter and countless speeches he has given have incited others to carry out these rocket attacks, now he wants them to stop? 3/. Hamas is responsible for Gaza. Therefore Hamas is responsible for every rocket attack coming out of Gaza, regardless of who "lights the fuse". 4/. Why make a public statement pleading with the minor jihadis? To whom is this statement directed? Why not just arrest them? After all that's what proper governments do.
Terrorists have no morals, they are backwards thinkers who enjoy killing and in this case use God to support their claims. Their goals are to destroy Israel, and they could care less about their own.
Just when you think you've seen it all, tada, a Snake pops out of the grass for tea. This is a very interesting article, a few points of worthy mention: 1. Haniyeh, agrees that Israeli military attacks are retailitory, "We call upon Palestinian factions...to reinforce the national agreement...and to block any possible Israeli aggression against our people" No Attacks on Sderot no Israeli Air Strikes, Just like a conditioning a Dog, Haniyeh is learning, perhaps if he didn't hide under hospitals he might have learnt the lesson quicker. This also shows some fear for Hamas, or at least the article portrays it as them heeding Barak's warning. Regardless, Hamas is responsible for its territory, if it can't control a renegade faction, well too bad, Israel has a right to have 0 rockets fired blindly at its citizens. 1 is 2 many and unfortunately, you, Haniyeh won't learn the hardway as you are a pussy who hides underneath hospitals and sends 14 year olds into tunnels&weapons factory
He's addressing the press not the Palestinians.