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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (9522)	7/16/2005 8:39:32 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Middle East ceasefire shatters Sat 16 Jul 2005 BEN LYNFIELD IN JERUSALEM ISRAELI air strikes killed seven Hamas fighters yesterday, attacks which the Palestinian militant group said would "open the doors to hell", as the five-month-old Middle East ceasefire disintegrated. The missile attacks came as Palestinians in Gaza engaged in their worst internal fighting for a decade in an attempt by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to crack down on militant groups. The Israeli strikes, coming a day after a Hamas rocket attack killed an Israeli woman near Gaza, marked a definitive return to the Jewish state's assassinations policy and highlighted a tough posture in advance of the scheduled pullout from Gaza Strip settlements next month. "This is a sample and a warning," said Raanan Gissin, the spokesman for Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, after helicopter gunships killed four Hamas militants in Gaza City and three near the West Bank town of Salfit. "There is much more we can do." In the internal Palestinian fighting between security forces and Hamas militants in Gaza City, two bystanders, one of them a 14-year-old boy, were killed and 43 people injured. The fighting was triggered by an incident on Thursday night in which Palestinian forces engaged in a firefight with a Hamas rocket squad, wounding five militants. Palestinian officials and Hamas leaders exchanged recriminations over the internal strife, but also began talks. "Hamas has taken itself outside the rules of the game of the calming," said Dan Halutz, the Israeli army chief of staff, referring to understandings on the ceasefire. "We will have to take care of the terrorism and then move on to the disengagement." Hamas, which claimed the deadly rocket attack on Thursday was retaliation for Israel's killing of a Fatah militant in the West Bank the same day, said it was reconsidering its commitment to the ceasefire. A 2003 ceasefire arranged by Mr Abbas when he was the Palestinian prime minister collapsed after Israeli forces killed a Hamas militant in Hebron and the Islamic movement carried out a devastating bus bombing in Jerusalem in what it called a revenge operation. On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide attack in the northern city of Netanya, killing five Israelis in the first bombing since February. Mr Gissin alleged last night that the entire idea of a truce period was a fiction promoted by Mr Abbas. "There was a decision by terrorist organisations for tactical purposes not to engage in terrorism for some time," he said. "It's come to an end. He tried to foster the notion of a calming, but they can't get over this urge to murder Israelis. It's in their blood and genes." But Hani Masri, a leading Palestinian analyst, said yesterday's air strikes were aimed at destroying any semblance of calm by provoking Hamas. "These assassinations mark a great escalation, and it is clear that they are an attempt to set a trap to cause the Palestinians to violate [the calming] to the point where there will be an Israeli operation in Gaza," he said. "Sharon wants to show he is withdrawing from Gaza out of strength and not weakness." A military operation would also help Mr Sharon silence right-wing critics of the Gaza withdrawal, Mr Masri said. The internal fighting turned Gaza City's Sabra neighbourhood into a war zone, with Hamas and police engaging in firefights beginning at 5:30am local time. Civilians attacked the security forces with stones, and several armoured vehicles were set on fire. By late morning, relative quiet had returned to the streets and a large deployment of security forces appeared to be in control. But there were fears the tensions could erupt again in the coming days. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas each blamed the other for initiating the violence. The Palestinian interior ministry said Hamas gunmen had opened fire on a security forces vehicle in the Zeitoun area. Hamas demanded the dismissal of Nasser Youssef, the interior minister, who ordered his forces to implement a decision by Mr Abbas to halt the rocket barrages. "The calming does not mean silence in the face of Zionist crimes in the West Bank and Jerusalem," Hamas said in a statement. Efforts were under way yesterday to mediate an end to the internal fighting. But there also were longer term tensions that contributed to the eruption. The Palestinian Authority has indefinitely postponed legislative elections in which Hamas expected to score major gains, thereby removing a political incentive for Hamas to adhere to the ceasefire. Moreover, Mr Abbas's vow that there will be only "one gun and one authority" is seen by Hamas as a threat to its military wing and its self-definition as a resistance movement. This article: scotsman.com Middle East conflict: news.scotsman.com