This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1144
Terrorists join forces to prove they can "overcome anarchy" prompting Israeli Minister to disclose 'PA not really willing to fight Hamas'
October 9, 2005
MIM: As Sharon gets ready to meet with Saeb Erekat,( who was instrumental in presenting the 'final solution to the Palestine Israel question' to James Wolfensohn in 2001), PA head Abu Abbas has joined forces with the leader of Hamas to announce their plans to attack Israel. In response to this the Sharon government has declared they plan to free more jailed terrorists and the IDF has approved the arming of the PA. Hamas & PA Reduce Infighting and Target Judea & SamariaSunday, October 9, 2005
Arab terror gangs and the PA announced a truce as the PA tries to show it is in control, but Hamas still patrols in several Gaza towns. Firebomb and shooting attacks against Jews on the rise.
"Any action aimed at spreading chaos or internal strife ... will be considered treason," according to a statement at a Gaza news conference of eight terrorist groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Several of the leaders were masked.
The statement came after the tables were turned on Hamas, and several of its members were kidnapped and later released, a tactic Hamas has used frequently against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and foreigners. The latest kidnapping occurred Friday morning, and the Associated Press reported that the PA was behind the incident. The PA Interior Ministry denied that the security forces were involved. "This is an absolutely false allegation," said spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa.
The truce gives the PA a better image for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who is to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this week and with U.S. President George W. Bush next week. Abbas wants to show that the PA is overcoming anarchy.
Beneath the surface, Hamas still competes with the PA and controls several Gaza towns, including parts of the strategic border city of Rafiah, a smuggling point for weapons and terrorists from Egypt. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom revealed on Saturday that weapons and ammunition still are being smuggled from Egypt through Rafiah and added that he "hopes that the Egyptians will act against it."
Hamas also is trying to take over in Judea and Samaria, where attacks against Israel have been on the rise the past few days. The IDF arrested several teenagers on Saturday for hurling firebombs and rocks at Israeli vehicles on the main highway from Jerusalem southbound to Gush Etzion. No injuries were reported. The IDF reported several shooting attacks and at least three stabbing attacks against soldiers last week.
"Hamas no longer listens to the Palestinian Authority," Israel Security Agency director Yuval Diskin recently said.
"It is impossible to disconnect the string of terrorism between the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said last week in an interview. "Today in Judea and Samaria, both Hamas and the (Islamic) Jihad are reorganizing to carry out terrorist attacks."
Hamas announced last month it has imported rocket technology into Judea and Samaria and will shoot at nearby major population centers, such as Netanya, Kfar Saba, Afula and Jerusalem. Arabs fired over 5,900 rockets and mortar shells on the western Negev before and after the August withdrawal from Gaza.
Arab terrorists have not attacked from Gaza for several days, but the recent intra-Arab battles and Saturday's truce are seen more as a lull in anti-Israel activity rather than a change in strategy.
Hamas is trying to manipulate a way to run in the PA legislative elections, which already have been postponed from this past summer to January. The PA is threatening another delay. PA chairman Abbas wants to co-opt Hamas rather than fight its terrorists. Israel has warned it will interfere, passively, with PA elections if Hamas participates and remains armed.
Dov Weisglass, a close aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is to meet with PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat again on Sunday following Friday's discussions toward this week's Sharon-Abbas summit. The summit is not expected to produce any dramatic changes, according to Reuters News Agency.
The PA is expected to demand that Israel release more Arab terrorists, and Sharon may agree to freeing those "without blood on their hands," according to Foreign Minister Shalom.
"The real problem is that the PA is not really willing to fight Hamas," he added.
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1144