Haaretz reports: The Islamist Hamas movement said Wednesday that President Mahmoud Abbas’ plan to approach the United Nations for recognition of Palestinian statehood was a “tactical” move, part of a negotiations process, and therefore could not be backed. The move was not based on principles and “Hamas and other factions are not part of this step and do not support it,” Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader in the Gaza
Big news: Hamas and Fatah have agreed to form a new interim government as part of a process of “reconciliation” and a “unity deal”. Yes, not only is Hamas going to join Fatah in a unity government, that government will be lead by, who else, Abbas! When I read that this morning I though “Hamas leaders have gone totally insane!”. Think about it: Who is Abbas? He is exactly *nobody*.
Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank for the People’s Voice Nahom Barnea is a prominent Israeli journalist and regular columnist at the mass-circulation newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. On Friday, 19 September, he revealed shocking details of a recent “security coordination” meeting between Israeli and Palestinian security commanders. Barnea, well known for his journalistic reliability, attended the meeting which took place at the Israeli occupation army’s West Bank headquarters at the settlement
It is a great honour and long awaited pleasure for me to interview a real expert on Palestine and the rest of the Middle-East: Tony, the author of what is definitely one of the best Palestinian blogs – Palestinian Pundit, a “must visit daily” for anybody interested in the Palestinian drama. I have been reading Tony’s posts for quite a while already (many thanks to datta for drawing my attention
By Reuters (via Ha’aretz) Israel Defense Forces attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have boosted the popularity of the Islamist group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh among Palestinians in that territory and in the West Bank, according to a poll released Monday. The survey by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that if new presidential elections were held, Haniyeh would receive 47 percent of the vote compared
Al-Manar TV reports: Egyptian and Hamas security forces closed the border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, nearly two weeks after resistance fighters blew open the frontier amid as Israeli occupation blockade, a security source and witnesses said. “Security forces have starting closing the border,” an Egyptian security source said. “No more Palestinians are being allowed in.” One gate remained open to allow Palestinians to return to Gaza and Egyptians
Al-Manar TV reports: The Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas has dismissed as an Israeli-led conspiracy PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s proposal to deploy his own, Western-trained forces at the Rafah crossing along with the EU monitors. Palestinian Authority said Monday that it had reached a deal with Egypt to take control of the Gaza border. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri dismissed the proposal, calling it an “Israeli-led international conspiracy with the participation
Israel’s policy towards the Gaza issue is at least as phenomenally stupid as it is evil. In fact, I consider it a perfect case study in Neocon short-term thinking. Let’s take a look at the context, at what has happened, at what is going on now and at where all this leads. The main, over-arching, issue Israel, as a self-described “Jewish state”, is facing today is not terrorism or Iranian
The great Annapolis Peace Conference has resulted in exactly nothing. This is not the opinion of Hamas, or Hezbollah, but the opinion of Ghaith al-Omari, legal adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who, according to CNN, declared: The Israeli-Palestinian statement read by President Bush at the start of Tuesday’s peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland, amounted to a “public relations gimmick”. “The statement has a shelf life of two days,” he
Commentary taken from the blog “Lenin’s tomb”: Israel and Palestinians commit to peace trumpets The Guardian, with a sick-making portrait of Bush, Olmert and Abbas holding hands. How’s that commitment working so far? Well, let’s not forget that having launched a ‘civil war’ against Hamas and used Dahlan’s goons to foment war in Gaza on behalf of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas supports Israel’s war on the Gaza strip. There is no
This interview was originally published in Yedioth Ahronoth in Hebrew; it has been translated by Diana Buttu of The Institute for Middle East Understanding. The moment that Abbas officially announces his resignation, even if I am in prison, I will put forward my candidacy for President (of the Palestinian Authority) and I will win. This is what Marwan Barghouthi said from his cell – number 28, section 3 – during
By Anand Gopal BADDAWI CAMP, Lebanon, Sep 5 (IPS) – There is a new look to the entrance of the Palestinian refugee camp Baddawi in northern Lebanon. Hanging above the armed man who guards the entrance are posters of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the slain spiritual leader of Hamas, and other fighters from the Palestinian guerrilla group. Nearby, a huge Hamas banner covers the side of a house, and down the
by Osamah Khalil, The Electronic Intifada Over the past two months a coalition has formed around Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an attempt to bolster his rule. Desperate to maintain his hold on power, Abbas has chosen to forgo national unity and rely on support from the U.S. and Israel to tighten his hold on the West Bank and target Gaza. Abbas and his benefactors have made it clear to
On Tony Karon’s excellent blog Mark Perry offers 10 reasons why Hamas, rather than Abu Mazen and his U.S. backers will prevail in the struggle for Palestinian hearts and minds. The Islamists today represent the Palestinian mainstream, while Fatah is broken from top to bottom. Even more importantly, Abbas is increasingly isolated within his own organization, most of whose grassroots and mid-level leadership want nothing to do with the U.S.
In occupied Palestine Israel differentiates between Christian and Muslim Palestinians, between Fatah and Hamas, between West Bank and Gaza Strip, and between citizens of one town and the other. Since the establishment of their terrorist state on usurped Palestinian land Israelis keep regurgitating their phobic mantra “Arabs want to wipe Israel off the map” in order to draw international sympathy, and to cover up their war crimes throughout the Arab
by Eran Shayson for The Jerusalem Post A month after its takeover of Gaza, it seems Hamas has begun to translate its military achievements into political dividends, while Fatah is wallowing in the mud and becoming even less relevant. Although Hamas’s victory in Gaza was decisive, leaving the movement with no serious rivals in the area, the victory also held the potential to work against it. First, following the collapse
A Comment by Tony Sayegh Hamas has displayed both political and military decisiveness in finally putting an end to the Palestinian Contras’ plans of spreading “creative destruction” in Gaza in a manner similar to Iraq and to ultimately destroy Hamas politically and militarily. As I said before Hamas had to act and it did. The swiftness of the Hamas response and its ability to rout the Dahlan Contras in just
Saudi king snubs Abbas Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has snubbed the Palestinian president, skipping a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas on a visit to Jordan. An Abbas official said “the meeting was postponed due to lack of time as both leaders had busy schedules”, but Al Jazeera’s David Chater, reporting from Jordan, said it was a deliberate and undiplomatic snub. Abbas was kept waiting at a palace room for a telephone
Ma’an News Agency report: Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Brigades refuse to dissolve or to disarm and reject the truce in the West Bank Bethlehem – Ma’an Exclusive – The Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Brigades have announced that they have rejected the presidential decree regarding the disbanding of militia in the occupied Palestinian territories. The spokesman of the brigades, Abu Oday, told Ma’an that, following consultations with the brigades’ leaders in the West
I have recently posted a video which, according to the Western Imperial media, shows Fatah people being tortured by Hamas. In reality, of course, what the video shows is Hamas people being tortured by Fatah thugs. A Palestinian refugee in Austria, Kawther Salam, whose excellent website I highly reccommend, has now provided a translation of the atrocities shown on this video: The first scene shows a pointed metal stick pushed
