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Hamas, Jihad seek revenge
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Khaled Abu Toameh Dec. 27, 2003
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Hamas and Islamic Jihad have vowed to step up their attacks against Israel in the aftermath of Thursday's killing of the head of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
Leaders of the two groups said over the weekend that the killing of Muqled Hamed and two of his companions in an IAF rocket attack on their car dealt a fatal blow to efforts to arrange a temporary truce with Israel.
Islamic Jihad announced that the killing of Hamed "destroyed" Egyptian and Arab efforts to reach a cease-fire with Israel and threatened to resume attacks on civilians inside Israel.
"The assassination has completely destroyed the idea of excluding civilians from the cycle of violence," said Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad official in the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that the idea of keeping Israeli and Palestinian civilians outside the cycle of violence was one of the main issues discussed between various Palestinian factions in Cairo.
Representatives of 12 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, met in the Egyptian capital earlier this month to discuss the possibility of announcing a hudna, or temporary truce, with Israel.
The talks failed after Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and three other groups insisted on receiving clear assurances from the US and Arab countries that Israel would sign a cease-fire agreement.
Batsh said Islamic Jihad is no longer prepared to spare Israeli civilians without receiving a commitment from Israel that it would stop its attacks on Palestinians.
However, he said that his group would continue the dialogue with the other factions and the Palestinian Authority out of concern for the "higher interests" of the Palestinians. "We can't allow the occupation to set the agenda of our internal affairs," Batsh added. "[Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon wants to target Palestinian civilians as a pressure card to force our people to surrender."
Muhammad al-Hindi, another Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, said the killing of Hamed would only increase the determination of his men "to pursue the path of martyrdom and resistance." He urged the Palestinian Authority to "stop seeking peaceful solutions and to join the resistance against the Zionist enemy."
Islamic Jihad's armed wing, al-Quds Brigades, said it would inflict a "painful lesson" on Israel. "This new crime will not go without punishment," the group said in a statement. "Israel will pay a high price for every crime it perpetrates against our people, its leaders, and its officers. The Zionist enemy has not learned from past assassinations and did not understand that our people would not surrender."
Muhammad Ghazal, a top Hamas official in the West Bank, said the killing of Hamed was an Israeli message to Egypt [which hosted the cease-fire talks] and Arab countries that are trying to calm the situation that Israel is not interested in a cease-fire.
"It's time for these countries to realize the fact that the Zionist mentality does not recognize peaceful solutions and is responding to our initiatives by more killings and destruction," he said. "These killings and the latest military escalation in Rafah and Nablus reflect a Zionist mentality that is thirsty for blood."
On Friday, some 25,000 Palestinians participated in the funerals of Hamed, his two bodyguards, and three other civilians killed in the missile attack. Hundreds of gunmen from Hamas and Islamic Jihad were among the crowd.
"Reprisals will hit Tel Aviv," chanted the marchers. "Revenge, revenge," they shouted, brandishing black Islamic Jihad and green Hamas flags.
PA officials said that Thursday's attack was a "severe blow" to efforts to persuade the different factions to stop their attacks against Israel. The officials said that it would be very difficult for PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei to meet with Sharon at a time when Israel is stepping up its military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Last week the PA called off a planned meeting between Minister of Negotiations Saeb Erekat and Dov Weisglass, the head of Sharon's bureau, in protest against the killing of nine Palestinians during an IDF raid on Rafah.
"Sharon is deliberately undermining Abu Ala [Qurei]," said a senior PA official in Ramallah. "The latest military escalation is playing into the hands of the radical groups, which are now saying that they will resume their attacks inside Israel. How can Abu Ala ask Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop their attacks when Israeli helicopters are killing wanted men?"
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