This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1104

Israel launches 'prolonged' offensive against Hamas - rearrests leader Hassan Yousef after rocket attacks on Israeli towns

Hamas calls Abbas weapons ban attempt to "break the backs of the martyrs"
September 25, 2005

Arrested Hamas leader Hassan Yousef as a speaker at the internationally funded Hamas front known as PASSIA, The Palestinian Academy for the Study of International Affairs. PASSIA counts among it's founders the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung .

What better speaker to talk about the Islamist concept of truce (as a strategic means of regrouping for attacks) then a Hamas leader ?

28 December 2004, PASSIA, Ramallah Topic: The Islamic Concept of Truce {Hudna}, and its implications for the Palestinian Struggle Speaker: Sheik Hassan Yousef

MIM: Business as usual in Gaza:

Hassan Yousef was released by Israel several years ago and has been pursuing his terrorist activities unhindered. He was also an associate and frequent speaker at PASSIA, (The Palestinian Academy for the Study of International Affairs",a heavily funded organisation which also includes Hamas leader Jamil Hamimi, who was accused of working for the Holyland Foundation funding front. Another PASSIA luminary is Sheik Ikrima Sabri, who declared his love for child suicide bombers with the statement; "the younger the martyr the more I respect him"

Recently, Hassan Yousef made headlines when he went up to the Temple Mount and exhorted Muslims to fight the Israelis and started a rumor ( similiar to those spread by Hitler ally Al Husseini in 1929), that Jews were planning to take over the Temple Mount.

Hassan Yousef's arrest should lead to demands that the PASSIA organisation be stripped of it's funding for their ties to Hamas. MIM readers will recall that FAU Fulbright scholar Mustafa Abu Sway (who was documented as a Hamas member) was also a frequent speaker at PASSIA events:

"...Hamas Peacenik" Mustafa Abu Sway's connections to PASSIA , the co called (Palestinian Academy for the Study of International Affairs )shows how there are zero degrees of seperation between him and Hamas. That a non existent country receives funding from the "usual suspects' like the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, to maintain an institutional NGO facade for Hamas should come as no surprise .PASSIA continues 'business as usual', even after panelist Hasan Yousef was arrested and imprisoned in Israel. (see HAMAS communique below calling for Jihad and warning Israel not to harm "the steadfast Sheik" ). The list of participants in PASSIA events includes members of Hamas, the PLO, Fatah, and the Palestinian Authority . http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/24

For recent news about Hassan Yousef see:

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/461

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"...Among those arrested were Hassan Yousef, the most prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank, Hamas officials said..."

Israel launches 'prolonged' offensive against Hamas
25/09/2005 - 10:23:18

Israeli aircraft blasted suspected Palestinian weapons facilities and other militant targets throughout the Gaza Strip early today, at the launch of what the military said would be a "prolonged" offensive against Hamas militants for bombarding Israeli towns with rockets.

The offensive in Gaza dashed hopes that Israel's recently completed Gaza withdrawal would help restart peace talks and left a seven-month-old ceasefire on the brink of collapse.

The fighting also raised already intense pressure on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to confront militants.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, the Israeli military arrested 150 Palestinian wanted men, most of them members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, in an operation that remained under way this morning.

The military has conducted sweeping arrests of Islamic Jihad militants since the February ceasefire, but this is the first time since the truce that it has detained large numbers of Hamas members.

Among those arrested were Hassan Yousef, the most prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank, Hamas officials said.

The Israeli Security Cabinet, a group of senior officials led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, approved the military operation in Gaza at an emergency meeting late last night after Hamas militants fired nearly 40 rockets from Gaza at southern Israeli towns.

The rocket barrage, which slightly wounded six Israelis, was the Islamic group's first major attack since Israel concluded its Gaza pullout last week.

"It was decided to launch a prolonged and constant attack n Hamas," said Major General Yisrael Ziv, the army's head of operations, hinting that Israel was preparing to resume its assassination of top Hamas leaders, a practice suspended after the February ceasefire. Asked whether the leaders were in danger, he said: "Let them decide for themselves."

Israel killed dozens of Hamas leaders, including the group's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, during more than four years of violence.

Israeli security officials said Operation First Rain would include artillery fire, air strikes and other targeted attacks.

The operation will grow in intensity, leading up to a ground invasion in several days unless Abbas's Palestinian Authority halts the rocket attacks or Hamas ends the attacks itself, officials said.

The ground operation would require final approval from the full Cabinet, they added.

Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa called the plan a "serious escalation that will lead to a new era of violence".

Shortly after the ministers' decision, Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets throughout Gaza, including three weapons-storage facilities and a Gaza City school the military said served as a front for Hamas. Other targets included the offices of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small militant group.

Nineteen people were slightly wounded in the attacks, and the buildings were heavily damaged.

The Popular Resistance Committees, another armed group, said the home of one of its commanders was targeted. The commander, Amer Karmout, survived the attack but two relatives were wounded, the group said.

Israeli military officials said the attacks were aimed at any group possessing weapons. But the offensive was focused on Hamas, the largest Palestinian militant group.

The Gaza City air strike caused heavy damage to the Al-Arkam school, which Yassin founded. The army said Hamas used the building to raise funds for attacks, recruit militants and assist families of suicide bombers.

The attack occurred in a crowded neighbourhood, damaging at least five nearby homes, knocking out electricity. Fifteen people were slightly wounded, medical officials said.

Yesterday, an Israeli aircraft struck two cars carrying Hamas militants, killing two local field commanders. The attack signalled a resumption of targeted killings, albeit of relatively low-level militants.

The chain of events began on Friday afternoon, with an explosion at a Hamas rally in Gaza's crowded Jebaliya refugee camp, in which at least 15 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded.

Hamas blamed Israel for that blast, and said its rocket attacks on Israeli towns were meant as retaliation. However, the Palestinian Authority held the Islamic militants responsible, saying weapons were mishandled.

In a speech yesterday, Abbas renewed demands that armed groups stop flaunting their weapons in public. "We are required more than ever before to end this frequent tragedy that resulted from chaos and military parades in residential areas," he said.

Hamas called Abbas' position "a stab in the back of the martyrs" and a blow to efforts to work out differences between the factions.

Israel indefinitely sealed the West Bank and Gaza, barring thousands of Palestinians from jobs in Israel. Officials also said the army planned to order residents of northern Gaza to leave their homes so Israel could create a "buffer zone".

Ziv, the Israeli commander, and other officials said they hoped the military campaign would encourage Palestinians to put pressure on Hamas to halt its activities.

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Troops mass: Israel has resumed its policy of assassinating militants. (AFP)

Israel arrests 207 in West Bank crackdown

Israeli troops have arrested 207 suspected Islamic militants in the West Bank in the toughest crackdown in months.

The arrests come after the Jewish state vowed to stop Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.

"Our forces have taken 207 fugitives into custody, most of them from Hamas or Islamic Jihad," an Army spokeswoman said.

Relatives and Hamas sources say Hassan Youssef and Mohammed Ghazal, who are both top Hamas officials in the occupied West Bank, are among those who have been detained.

The arrest sweep is the biggest by Israel since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed a cease-fire in February that paved the way for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza this month.

An Israeli Army general says the arrests are among measures authorities have decided on after rocket attacks by Hamas that were launched from Gaza.

The Army has also resumed assassinating militants and received an unprecedented green light to use artillery against the Gaza Strip.

"This operation is not limited in time," Major-General Israel Ziv, chief of military operations, told Israel Radio.

"We have taken the liberty to use all weapons in order to remove this threat (of rocket attacks)."

Air strikes

Israel killed two Hamas militants on Saturday in its first air strikes in the Gaza Strip since the pullout.

Palestinian witnesses say 20 civilians were wounded.

In the latest air strike, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles in the northern Gaza Strip early on Sunday.

A military source said the missiles targeted buildings used by militants.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

The Israeli Army said about 40 rockets had been fired into Israel since Friday.

Militants said the rocket attacks were in retaliation for a blast that killed 15 people at a Hamas rally.

But Israel denies responsibility for the blast and the Palestinian Authority says it appears to have been an accident caused by Hamas members carrying explosives.

Vowing vengeance, the military wing of Hamas says it is "time to strike with all our might".

Palestinian officials have condemned "Israeli aggression", but Mr Abbas has also strongly criticised militants for keeping explosives in built-up areas, calling their actions a "massacre".

"It has become imperative now more than ever to stop ... armed parades and disruptions in civilian areas at the expense of serious work and of the rule of law," Mr Abbas said.

The Israeli Army sealed off the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, denying entry to Palestinians allowed to work in Israel.

Sharon showdown

The violence could have an impact when Mr Sharon battles to hold on to the leadership of his ruling Likud Party in a showdown triggered by rightist rival Benjamin Netanyahu's opposition to the Gaza pullout.

The vote by Likud's more than 3,000 central committee members tomorrow could turn Israeli politics on its head.

It may prompt Mr Sharon to leave the party and form a new centrist alliance that surveys show would be very popular with voters.

Opinion polls show the outcome is too close to call, although Mr Netanyahu - who quit as Mr Sharon's finance minister in August over Gaza - has a slight lead among central committee members in the run-up to the vote.

Polls also show a new centrist alliance headed by Mr Sharon would secure 76 seats in Israel's 120-member Parliament, while a Netanyahu-led Likud would be decimated.

The bloodshed is also a major challenge for Mr Abbas, who has shied away from disarming militant groups such as Hamas - an Israeli condition for talks on Palestinian statehood - because of fears it could lead to civil war.

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PASSIA meeting on 'The Future of Al Quds' with Hamas leaders Hassan Yousef, Jamil Hamami, Sheik Ikrima Sabri, and former FAU visiting professor Mustapha Abu Sway, who continues to 'teach' at Al Quds University, which serves as a front for Hamas.

http://www.passia.org/meetings/rsunit/2001/22janphotos.html

[Back]

22 January 2001 , PASSIA, Jerusalem
Al-Aqsa Mosque: Threats & Challenges
Speakers: Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine; Adnan Husseini, Director of the Islamic Waqf, Jerusalem
Participants: Sheikh Jamil Hamami, Isam Anani, Hatem Abdel Qader, Mohammed Nusseibeh, Sheikh Ibrahim Sabri, Dr.Mustafa Abu Sway, Ibrahim Du'aibes, Dr. Adnan Arafeh, Samer Nusseibeh, Ghanem Nusseibeh, Zaki Abu El-Halawa, Hassan El-Qiq, Abdel Rahman Abu Arafeh, Father Tareq Abu Hanna, Father Murad Hjazin, Father Tareq Hjazin, Father Rami Tabban, Father Wesam Masada, Father Hamam Khzuz, Father Ala Alamat, Father Imad Alamat [See Photos]

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This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1104