This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/516

Backfire : Jihad urges Abbas to stop contact with Israel

The friend of my enemy is my inadvertant ally ?
March 24, 2005

MIM: Nearly a month ago Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 'threatened to halt peace talks' with terrorists. Not surprisingly Sharon was not taken seriously, when after 3 suicide bombings, he assured the perpetrators that Israel would not retaliate.

The groups then cynically declared "an open ended ceasefire", (i.e until the next attack ). In a perversely ironic twist, the terrorist group Jihad, which is demanding Abbas stop talking with Sharon, would be helping Israel by putting a stop to the government's suicidal appeasement policy.

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Jihad urges Abbas to stop contact with Israel

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/24/content_2739121.htm

GAZA, March 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian radical group Islamic Jihad called on Thursday for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to stop holding security meetings with Israel.

Khaled al-Batch, a Jihad leader, told reporters that the past Palestinian experience with occupation showed that the meetings didn't stop Israel from carrying out the repressive policies against the Palestinians.

He added the meetings would give an impression that situation in the Palestinian territories is all right though Israel continue to break the calmness by incursions, arresting and firing at the Palestinians.

Commenting on the Arab summit which ended in Algiers Wednesday, al-Batch said that the summit did not present anything new to the Palestinians apart from relaunching the 2002 Arab peace initiative which offered Israel peace and normal relations in return for withdrawal to 1967 borders.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqIft0eiemZG5mLnOyxjVBNrOCMvHDgvUCW#top

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MIM: Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bombers criticise Abbas for 'not providing promised employment'.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=79047

Saturday, March 26, 2005



(IsraelNN.com) The current 'calm' is not a reality and is only a "rest break" during which its terrorists are stockpiling new weapons that have not yet been used against Israelis, according to a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.

Abu Musav, commander of the northern Gaza Al-Aqsa terror squad, added that it only is a matter of days before the current clam ends. He also criticized Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) for not providing promised employment.

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http://www.leadershipmedica.com/sommari/2004/Numero_01/attualita/Articolo%201/articolo1_ing.htm

Idea of truce drives wedge between militants

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-split15mar15,1,1619211.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

NABLUS, West Bank — "...During nearly 4 1/2 years of conflict with Israel, Abu Qusai, a veteran leader of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, always felt elated when he heard about a suicide attack against Israelis. Often enough, his own organization was behind it.

But when he learned of a suicide bombing on Feb. 25 at a Tel Aviv nightclub, he experienced an unaccustomed response: consternation. Even more dismaying for him, the exiled leadership of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed five Israelis and wounded dozens more..."

"...But the militant groups are badly splintered. However truce-minded their leaders might be, some disaffected young foot soldiers are poised to break away and violate any accord. A growing split has emerged in recent weeks between the groups' leadership based inside the Palestinian territories and their "outside" leaders: militants in exile, based mainly in Syria..."

"...Abbas' government also was pressed by Israel to begin rounding up hundreds of wanted men, rather than only those considered to be "ticking bombs" — those thought to be planning an imminent attack. The prospect of arrest by Palestinian security appeared to cause the militants little concern, however.

On a recent morning in Nablus, the largest Palestinian city, a group of militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade pored over a "wanted" list that had just been provided to them by a contact within the Palestinian security forces. "Oh, there I am," one said laconically..".

"...A commentator for the Al Ayam newspaper, Hassan Batal, visited the (Tel Aviv) bomber's family home outside Tulkarm and noted a sharp departure from past norms of ritual community celebration. Instead of the attacker's relatives expressing pride in his sacrifice, a cousin bitterly told Batal that the bombing had done nothing to help the Palestinian cause..."

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Sharon threatens to halt peace talks

NewsStand - NewsStand - Sunday, February 27, 2005

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) Jerusalem (dpa) - Israel on Sunday threatened to discontinue peace talks unless Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas takes "active steps" against terrorist groups. "(Abbas) has taken no practical measures against terrorism," said Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon after a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "Without active steps by the Palestinians, there will be no transition towards implementing the first stage of the road map." The development follows Friday's suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub in which four Israelis died and over 50 were wounded. "As long as (Abbas) tries to reach understandings with (militant groups), terrorism such as we witnessed last Friday will continue, and Israel cannot accept this," Sharon said. The Israeli government had earlier announced that it will discontinue talks on the release of Palestinian prisoners in reaction to the Tel Aviv bombing. Justice Minister Zippi Livni was quoted as saying that her government would not discuss the issue because of the lack of movement by Palestinians to rein in militants. A committee of both sides was to prepare for the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners after Israel recently released 500 earlier in the week. The extremist group Islamic Jihad has said it was behind the bombing, carried out by a 21-year-old Palestinian from a village near Tulkarm in the West Bank. Israel contends that the Syria was also responsible for the attack. Deputy Palestinian premier Nabil Shaath cast doubt on the veracity of the Islamic Jihad claim, while Abbas has blamed an unnamed "third party" for the nightclub bombing. Israel has given Abbas a list of Palestinians it wants arrested, most of whom are Islamic Jihad members, Israeli radio reported Sunday. Sharon however said there was no doubt the orders for the attack came from Islamic Jihad elements in Syria. "Even though we know this for a certainty, the fact is not enough to absolve the Palestinian Authority (PA) of its responsibility," he said during a cabinet meeting Sunday. Deputy Premier Shimon Peres also blamed Syria on Israel army radio. Referring to Syria President Bashar Assad, Peres said: "The commandos come from his country, and therefore he cannot talk his way out of it." The government in Damascus has denied any involvement. Israeli media reported Sunday that the armed forces would refrain from retaliatory action for the latest attack, the first since a truce was declared on February 8. Deputy Defence Minister Ze'ev Boim said, however, that Israel would resume targeted killings of wanted Palestinians if the PA failed to crack down on terrorists. Military action in Syria would not be ruled out, he said, according to media reports. "Israel has already attacked Syria in the past and could do so again, if it is thought necessary," Boim said. In Gaza, a senior Islamic Jihad leader asserted the movement would continue carrying out armed attacks against Israel "if Israeli violations to the ceasefire continue". Khaled al-Batsh told reporters the movement's armed wing Saraya al-Quds carried out the nightclub bombing. ------------------ http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=81865 Army Radio Journalist Admits 'Conspiracy of Silence' Friday, May 13, 2005 A leading Army Radio journalist has confessed that the media and political systems have turned a blind eye in allowing/encouraging the disengagement at the price of democracy. "I have failed. We have failed," wrote Kaveh Shafran, political affairs correspondent for Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) in a recent article for the Israeli Institute for Democracy. "As a diplomatic correspondent, I was among those who in the past year were supposed to tell the public exactly what is the disengagement plan, why it was created, how it will be implemented, and to discuss its various aspects, as well as how the Prime Minister functions." He explained that one of the reasons for the failure is the feeling of closeness of the media with the Prime Minister when they fly together. The media and senior government officials have "become a part of the [Sharon] family who fly together [on press trips] and do not truthfully openly protest for fear of being demoted," Shafran wrote. The media kept silent, he added, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "lied" by saying he would accept the results of a Likud referendum on disengagement. "The media's conspiracy of silence protected Sharon when he fired cabinet ministers who did not support disengagement," he wrote, noting that the media also ignored the High Court's criticism of the dismissals. "We denounced [former Minister] Benny Elon (National Union) for not immediately making himself available to receive the letter of dismissal, but we ignored the criticism of the High Court" on the firings, Shafran wrote. "We stayed silent when Sharon formed government [policies] with an Arab majority and when he distributed bribes to the hareidim and Shinui. We said nothing when he pressured, threatened and bribed MKs with jobs so that they would support him... Where were we when the allegations of Sharon-family corruption came to light?" "Are the media who support disengagement allowed to turn a blind eye to inappropriate [procedures] just to execute the program? Does this mean that it is possible for Sharon to fire any cabinet minister, the Chief of Staff and General Security Services chief who do not agree with his position?" He said that the following questions should have been asked by the media, but were not: "What happens the day after the disengagement from Gaza? Who will rule there? What's the next stage in Judea and Samaria? What will be the status of the territories that will be evacuated? Does evacuation mean the 'end of conquest'? What will happen if the GSS Chief's warnings about Kassams fired at Ashkelon come true? Why are there no housing solutions for the evacuees? What does Sharon want and what is he planning?" Shafran also accused Finance Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom of not being true to their conscience and refraining from criticizing the plan for fear of being fired. Shafran is the second journalist in the last two months to admit to journalistic incompetence over disengagement. Yediot Acharonot's Nachum Barnea, considered one of the country's top journalists, recently wrote that the media "supported disengagement more than they supported democracy." Journalist Michael Freund recently reported as follows: "Speaking at a conference held at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, Amnon Abramovich, who is considered one of the country's leading commentators and investigative reporters, had this to say about the role of Israel's media in the run-up to the proposed Gaza withdrawal: "I think that we need to protect Sharon like an etrog [a citron fruit used by religious Jews on the Sukkot festival which requires special care and protection]." In case anyone did not understand the thrust of his remarks, Abramovich added, "The person who established the settlement enterprise is Sharon, and if a good spirit has come over him toward the end of his life and he is ready to tear it down, then in my opinion we need to protect him not only from political obstacles but also from legal obstacles too"

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/516