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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (104194)	7/7/2003 5:09:40 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Khaled Abu Toameh, reporting in the Jpost, confirms that Israel's attacks against Hamas, far from "jeopardizing the peace process" as the BBC always says, were extremely motivational in securing the hudna: Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad have all taken pains to explain that their agreement to suspend attacks is contingent on Israel's acceptance of a long list of demands and conditions. Nevertheless, senior Palestinian security officials believe that the armed groups would find it extremely difficult to resume attacks against Israel even if most of their conditions are not met. "The Palestinian street wants calm, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad are aware of this," explains a Palestinian journalist from Gaza City with close links to the Islamic groups. "In this regard I would say that these two groups showed sensitivity to the calls from the street to stop the violence. More and more people have been complaining about the vicious cycle of violence and the daily killings and house demolitions. They were telling the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders that all they were offering was more blood and destruction." The journalist says that the turning point for Hamas came after the assassination attempt against senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi in Gaza City last month. "That's when the Hamas leaders realized that Israel now meant business," he says. "The Hamas leaders were convinced that [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon had received a green light from Washington to eliminate the political leadership of the movement. Many of the Hamas leaders were in a state of panic, and even went into hiding. They refused to ride in cars for fear of being attacked from the air, and stopped using mobile phones. My impression was that many of them softened their tone and began sending out conciliatory messages. One of them was Ismail Abu Shanab, who for the first time announced that his movement would be prepared to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel." jpost.com