Posted on 07/13/2005 1:25:22 PM PDT by sofaman
Abbas to meet Hamas, Islamic Jihad
Ramallah
Palestinian officials in Ramallah made it clear that "only those directly linked to the [Netanya] attack would be punished" less than 24 hours after a senior Palestinian Authority security official announced that the PA was planning to crack down on Islamic Jihad for its role in Tuesday's suicide bombing in Netanya.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who described those responsible for the Netanya attack as "idiots," is expected to hold talks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad on ways of preserving the unofficial truce with Israel.
Abbas believed that the only way to persuade these groups to abide by the period of calm, known in Arabic as tahdiya, is by engaging in a dialogue with their leaders and not by using force against them, a source close to Abbas told The Jerusalem Post.
"Resorting to force against Hamas and Islamic Jihad will only aggravate the situation for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority," he explained. "The two groups will respond by resuming their attacks on Israel."
PA security sources claimed on Wednesday that the Netanya attack was the work of a local cell operating in the Tulkarm area and that the Islamic Jihad leadership in the Gaza Strip was not directly linked to it. "Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip have told us that they knew nothing about the attack and we believe them," said one source. "It was a local initiative."
Meanwhile, sources in the Gaza Strip reported that most of the Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip had gone underground for fear of Israeli retaliation.
Abdullah Shami, one of the Islamic Jihad leaders, said his group was taking the Israeli threats very seriously. "We consider the threats made by [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon against Islamic Jihad to be very serious and dangerous," he said in a phone interview. "Islamic Jihad, like the rest of the Palestinian groups, is living in a constant state of war imposed on the Palestinians by Israel."
Shami said that many of the group's leaders were taking precautionary measures to avoid being targeted by Israel. "We are now very cautious and we have restricted the movements of many of our men," he added.
Led by Damascus-based Ramadan Shalah, Islamic Jihad is considered one of the smallest groups operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Unlike Hamas, which enjoys enormous popularity in the Gaza Strip and some parts of the West Bank, Islamic Jihad's supporters are estimated at a few thousand.
Some Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank are believed to be on the payroll of Hizbullah and Iran, which are desperately trying to undermine Abbas and resume terror attacks inside Israel.
Although Islamic Jihad has never accepted the truce engineered by Abbas, its leaders insist that they had instructed their followers to respect the agreement reached between the PA and the rest of the Palestinian groups in Cairo earlier this year. Islamic Jihad leaders claim that the Netanya attack, like the Stage Club bombing last February, was a "natural response to Israel's continued violations of the truce."
The alleged Israeli violations – according to Islamic Jihad – include the arrest by the IDF of dozens of Islamic Jihad activists in the West Bank, as well as the ongoing construction of the security fence and the refusal to release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
"Islamic Jihad maintains the right to respond to any Israeli violation of the truce," said Islamic Jihad official Khaled al-Batsh. "A truce can't be one-sided."
Some of Abbas's closest aides appear to have endorsed the Islamic Jihad line.
"Israel is partially responsible for the Netanya attack because of its continued violations," said Nabil Abu Rudaineh, the top media advisor to Abbas. "The ongoing Israeli violations mean that Israel bears responsibility for the deterioration. Israel must stop its policy of assassinations and the construction of the wall and settlements. We are committed to the tahdiya and Israel should create an atmosphere to preserve the truce."
Hamas Abbas Yabbas Dabbas Doofus!!!!.................
They're going to play "hide the salaam"!
or Pin the bomb on the Israeli?.......
..........................................
So, is Sharon going to meet with "Kach"?
Oh don't be silly, they're a "terrorist organization."
Doubt he could find them. If Israel could find their membership, they'd be in jail.
I know they're a big issue with the Jew-obsessives on FR and elsewhere, but most reliable sources I've seen place their membership at something between one and two dozen, with perhaps a hundred or so supporters worldwide. Four attacks in the last decade I believe, with one possible fatality, a stabbing in Jerusalem. Could have been a personal disagreement, who knows, but chalk it uup to terrorism. One fatality for Kach-Kahane Chai.
They are a terrorist organization though, and the *ssholes who accuse you or me of supporting Kach or Kahane Chai are accusing us of a felony here in the good old USA. Guess there's an internet exception.
Jews=Kach=terrorists. They're the same as al Qaida. Thank goodness we have the peaceful, democratic, Dr. Abu Mazen, Phd, Zionist studies and Holocaust denial, to cooperate with in creating a democratic middle east.
A Stab In The Heart [Video]
IsraelNationalNews - A Video on Gush Katif [Video]
The Nature Of Bruce ~
It is a nothing that the government uses to batter any Jew who is religious and opposes Israeli government policy.
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