Hamas Says No to Arafat's Ceasefire Efforts

31/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Jesse Jackson Set to Meet Hamas' Spiritual Leader Wednesday||Occupation Army Arrests Young Palestinian Woman in Ramallah||Jordan's King Abdullah Calls U.S. Mideast Role 'Essential'||UN Report on Jenin to be Published Thursday||EU Poses New Conditions for Palestinian Aid|| STORY: Palestinian Resistance group Hamas rejected President Yasser Arafat's latest efforts to broker a halt to its attacks against Israeli civilians.

"A ceasefire from the Palestinian side will only whet the appetite of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon to strike us and attack us again," Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader from the Gaza Strip, told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite news channel.
"What point is there in a dialogue between Palestinians that is aimed only at giving the Israeli entity concessions for free?" the Hamas leader asked.

"Why has the world not opened a dialogue with the Israeli entity with the goal of obtaining an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories, a halt to the aggression and the lifting of the blockades," he added, listing a number of Israeli military measures since the intifada erupted 22 months ago.

And Zahar reiterated Hamas's call for revenge Tuesday in response to the July 22 aerial bombing of Gaza City that killed their top military commander Salah Shehade and 14 others, including nine children.

"The retaliation ... must give comfort to the parents of the victims in Gaza," said the Resistance leader.

"The moment of the reprisal is not so important. What counts is the result," Zahar added.

Palestinian officials have said militant groups, including Hamas, were on the verge of announcing a halt to attacks on Israeli civilians when an Israeli F-16 bombed a packed Gaza City neighborhood, killing Shehade and the others.

The aerial raid appeared to obliterate any hopes for a truce as it provoked cries for revenge from Resistance groups.
However, Arafat said on Monday he was still working to broker a similar freeze on anti-Israeli attacks.

YASSIN TO MEET JACKSON WEDNESDAY

Meanwhile, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual chief of Hamas, is set to meet US Civil Rights leader, Jesse Jackson in Gaza on Wednesday, Hamas officials said.

"The US leader asked to meet leaders of Hamas during his visit to Gaza and Sheikh Yassin welcomed this idea," Ismail Haniya, a Hamas official in Gaza City, told AFP Tuesday.

Yassin, a crippled and near blind cleric, will receive Jackson at his home, where the prominent African American leader will also meet other top officials from Hamas, Haniya said.

Jackson, a two-time Democratic candidate for the presidential nomination and a key figure in the 1960s civil rights movement, arrived in Tel Aviv Saturday at the head of a multi-denominational delegation of religious leaders that was to spend five days in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Jackson met on Monday with Arafat.

OCCUPATION ARMY ARRESTS YOUNG PALESTINIAN WOMAN

Meanwhile occupation soldiers last night arrested a young Ramallah woman. The report carried by Israel Radio added that the Palestinian is accused of plotting a bombing attack.

Also in Ramallah, occupation troops arrested a Fatah Tanzim member overnight. The Palestinian man is accused of being connected to attacks in Israel.

No further details were immediately available.

JORDAN'S KING ABDALLAH CALLS U.S. MIDEAST ROLE 'ESSENTIAL'

Jordan's King Abdullah II called the establishment of a Palestinian state and genuine security for Israel "complementary needs," and urged the United States to boost its engagement.

"Arab trust of US influence remains low," he told the gathering of politicians and pundits including former president Bill Clinton and his secretary of state Madeleine Albright at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm 2002 in this glitzy Colorado resort town.

"This is all the more reason for the United States to show its commitment to fairness and freedom, and lead the way to peace."

The king was to meet later with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who was to address the gathering Wednesday.
"It is time to bring justice, peace and hope to the people of Israel and Palestine," said King Abdullah, who was due in Washington later this week for top-level talks Thursday at the White House.

UN REPORT ON JENIN TO BE PUBLISHED THURSDAY

A report on events that unfolded in April during the Israeli occupation of a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin will be made public Thursday, diplomatic sources in New York said.

After the release of the report, the UN General Assembly will reconvene the special session that voted overwhelmingly to direct the investigation and report on May 7.

"I would prefer the session on Thursday, but it is not possible for practical reasons," said Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, adding that it would likely be held on Friday.

Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of massacring civilians and committing war crimes between April 2 and 12 in the Jenin camp.

Israel has repeatedly and strenuously denied such accusations, insisting that about 50 people, mostly Palestinian fighters, died in pitched battles that also left 23 Israeli soldiers dead.

Human rights investigators from other organizations said there was no evidence of a massacre but said the army may have committed acts that could be qualified as war crimes.

An attempt to send a UN fact-finding team to the spot was blocked by Israel.

EU POSES NEW CONDITIONS FOR PALESTINIAN AID

In Brussels, the European Commission has set new conditions on aid to the Palestinian Authority, demanding greater transparency and insisting on rapid internal reform, commission sources said.

Brussels gives 10 million euros (dollars) a month to the Palestinian Authority budget to help ensure the provision of essential services to the population.

European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said in a letter to the Palestinian Authority that the commission intended to extend EU aid for another three months until October, but that further funding would be subject to the Palestinians meeting the new conditions.

The aid is used mainly to pay the salaries of some 123,000 Palestinian civil servants.

The commission -- the European Union's executive arm -- is to "encourage concrete adoption and rapid internal reform within the Palestinian authority," sources said.

The new conditions include a demand for greater transparency in public sector employment, that the authority ensure that recruitment is limited to the absolute necessary while implementing a modern system of internal audit and financial control in line with international best practices.

Patten sent the letter on July 15 to the authority's International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath and Finance Minister Salam Fayad.

PHOTO CAPTION

Hamas founder sheikh Ahmed Yassin talks during interview with Reuters as he sits in his wheelchair in Gaza Strip on July 30,2002. Palestinian Resistance groups have vowed to retaliate since Israel launched an air strike on a crowded area of Gaza City last week, killing 15 people, including nine children and a Hamas commander. REUTERS/ Ahmed Jadallah
- Jul 30 10:34 AM E