Hamas leader vows never to recognize Israel

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-leader-vows-never-recognize-israel-140726192.html

Reuters – 2 hrs 46 mins ago

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, making his first ever visit to the Gaza Strip, vowed on Saturday never to recognize Israel and said his Islamist group would never abandon its claim to all Israeli territory.

"Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land," he told a sea of supporters at an open-air rally, the highlight of his three-day stay in Gaza.

"We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take."

In an uncompromising speech, Meshaal also vowed to free Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, indicating Islamist militants would try to kidnap Israeli soldiers to use as a bargaining chip.

Israel last year released 1,027 Palestinians from its jails in return for the liberation of Gilad Shalit, a conscript soldier who was seized by Palestinian guerrillas in 2006 and hidden for more than five years in Gaza.

Thousands of Palestinian detainees remain in Israel. The Jewish state says many of them are terrorists. Hamas calls them freedom fighters.

"We will not rest until we liberate the prisoners. The way we freed some of the prisoners in the past is the way we will use to free the remaining prisoners," Meshaal said to cheers from the huge crowd that had flocked to see him.

Meshaal was born in the nearby West Bank but has lived most of his life in exile. He entered Gaza 24 hours ago to attend Saturday's rally which marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/gazans-rally-exiled-hamas-chief-155417673.html

Gazans rally with exiled Hamas chief

By By IBRAHIM BARZAK and IAN DEITCH | Associated Press – 1 hr 7 mins ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas vowed to continue fighting Israel Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Gazans turned out to celebrate the organization's 25th anniversary.

Khaled Mashaal's visit to the Palestinian territory — a first in his lifetime of exile — underscores Hamas' rising clout and regional acceptance since its eight-day conflict with Israel last month.

At the main stage in Gaza City, a roaring crowd greeted Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who emerged from a door built into a large model of a rocket fired at Israeli cities during the recent fighting.

Hamas' green dominated the gathering, where some children wore military uniforms and others carried guns. Masked gunmen holding automatic rifles flanked the podium where Mashaal gave a fiery speech.

"We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way," Mashaal said, referring to holy war. "We cannot recognize Israel's legitimacy."

Mashaal said he would continue to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails — referring to a swap last year where an abducted Israeli soldier was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The 56-year-old Mashaal, who left the West Bank as a child and now leads Hamas from the Gulf state of Qatar, entered Gaza on Friday via Egypt.

Hamas has received a boost from the political ascension of its parent movement, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, in the wake of last year's Arab Spring revolts — especially in Egypt.

It has also upped its profile as master of the Gaza Strip, leading it through the bloodiest round of fighting with Israel in four years and coming to a cease-fire arrangement in talks brokered by Egypt.

Hamas claimed victory in the conflict after holding its own despite airstrikes and maintaining an almost constant barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli cities.

The Nov. 21 cease-fire stipulated Israel would stop targeting militants. That, along with unprecedented support from Egypt, allowed Mashaal to make the visit without fear of Israeli assassination, which he has narrowly escaped in the past.

Israel, the U.S. and European Union list Hamas as a terrorist organization. Israel is now holding indirect talks with the group as a result of the cease-fire arrangement.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-chiefs-gaza-visit-poses-challenge-israel-214012489.html

Hamas chief's Gaza visit poses challenge to Israel

By By IBRAHIM BARZAK and IAN DEITCH | Associated Press – Fri, Dec 7, 2012

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The image of Hamas' long-exiled chief triumphantly walking around the Gaza Strip, flashing victory signs beside Islamic militant leaders Friday, illustrates how the group's defiance of Israel is forcing a change in Palestinian politics.

Buoyed by the rise of fellow Islamists in Egypt, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal and his allies are confronting Israel with the specter of a change in the balance of power between the two rival Palestinian factions — Hamas and the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.

Mashaal, 56, who left the West Bank as a child and now leads Hamas from the Gulf state of Qatar, broke into tears Friday as he arrived in the Gaza Strip for his first-ever visit.

Once on Gazan soil after crossing the border from Egypt, he prostrated himself in a gesture of thanks, He then recited a traditional Islamic prayer and kissed the ground.

Thousands of supporters lined the streets as Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh drove by, waving and flashing victory signs.

Mashaal's visit would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago. He would have been an easy target for Israel. Fifteen years ago, Mashaal was nearly assassinated in Jordan by Israeli agents who squirted a deadly poison in his ear, narrowly escaping after the U.S. forced Benjamin Netanyahu, then serving his first term as Israel's prime minister, to provide the antidote.

On Friday, Mashaal referred to the assassination attempt by "the foolish Netanyahu," saying, "God was stronger than him and his conspiracy."

But a Nov. 21 cease-fire agreement, negotiated by Egypt, has forced Israel to leave Hamas leaders alone and negotiate, albeit indirectly, with the Islamic militant group sworn to its destruction.

It appears unlikely that Hamas would ever agree to sit down for peace talks with Israel. The U.S. and European Union have joined Israel in listing Hamas as a terror organization because of its history of attacks aimed at civilians, including suicide bombings inside buses, restaurants and other public places.

But with Israel's relations at an all-time low with Abbas, the Jewish state might be faced with a tough choice.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, frozen since 2008, seem to have collapsed altogether. Abbas's recent success at the U.N., where he won recognition of a de facto state, angered the Israeli government, which insists Palestinian statehood should be reached through a peace agreement and talks.

Mashaal's visit came just two weeks ago after the bloodiest round of Israel-Gaza violence in four years.

Hamas perceives it came out on top in the fighting because it managed to hold its own despite heavy Israeli airstrikes. It succeeded in maintaining an almost constant barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli cities, with some exploding in the Jewish heartland for the first time near Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Millions of Israelis were in range of the Palestinian attacks.

Eight days of fighting ended with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that stipulated Israel would stop targeting militants. That, along with unprecedented support from Egypt, allowed Mashaal to make the visit without fear.

As a result of that truce, Israel, which officially shuns Hamas as a terrorist group because of suicide bombings and other attacks against civilians, is now conducting indirect talks with Hamas through Egypt.

In a sign of how touchy Israel is on the issue, Danny Danon, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's Likud party, denied that indirect talks were taking place.

"We speak with Hamas in the only language they understand which is weapons," Danon said.

"Gaza is heating up as a greenhouse for terrorism and I have no doubt that Mashaal did not come to promote peace but rather to promote violence against Israel," he said.

Hamas has received a boost from the rise of its parent movement, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, following Arab Spring revolts — especially in Egypt.

Deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak barely tolerated Hamas. He cooperated with Israel on a blockade of Gaza after 2007, when Hamas seized control of the territory in bloody street battles from Abbas' Fatah faction.

Since then Palestinians have been split, with Hamas ruling Gaza and Fatah ruling parts of the West Bank.

Israel, which is reluctantly coming to terms with the recent shifting Palestinian power balance, mostly kept silent on Mashaal's 48-hour visit to Gaza. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Israel did not differentiate among various Hamas leaders. "Hamas is Hamas is Hamas," said the spokesman, Yigal Palmor.

Thousands of masked Hamas militants deployed throughout Gaza to protect Mashaal's convoy, with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and anti-aircraft weaponry in tow.

During Friday's visit, which was timed for the 25th anniversary of Hamas' founding, Mashaal also paid homage at the house of the group's spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin, who was paralyzed in a childhood accident and killed by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter on March 22, 2004.

The assassination came at a time of heavy Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with Israeli military operations against Palestinians militants and a wave of Hamas suicide bombings in Israel.

"The resistance was launched from this humble house, Yassin the giant of Jihad operated from here. We pledge to continue his path," Mashaal said.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Bad_Daddy

[OriZ 3,157]

THESE were the main regional news headlines in The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday: “Home Front Command simulates missile strike during drill.” Egypt’s President “Morsi opts for safety as police battle protestors.” In Syria, “Fight spills over into Lebanon.” “Darkness at noon for fearful Damascus residents.” “Tunisian Islamists, leftists clash after jobs protests.” “NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons.” And my personal favorite: “ ‘Come back and bring a lot of people with you’ — Tourism Ministry offers tour operators the full Israeli experience.”

Ah, yes, “the full Israeli experience.”

The full Israeli experience today is a living political science experiment. How does a country deal with failed or failing state authority on four of its borders — Gaza, South Lebanon, Syria and the Sinai Desert of Egypt — each of which is now crawling with nonstate actors nested among civilians and armed with rockets. How should Israel and its friends think about this “Israeli experience” and connect it with the ever-present question of Israeli-Palestinian peace?

For starters, if you want to run for office in Israel, or be taken seriously here as either a journalist or a diplomat, there is an unspoken question in the mind of virtually every Israeli that you need to answer correctly: “Do you understand what neighborhood I’m living in?” If Israelis smell that you don’t, their ears will close to you. It is one reason the Europeans in general, and the European left in particular, have so little influence here.

The central political divide in Israel today is over the follow-up to this core question: If you appreciate that Israel lives in a neighborhood where there is no mercy for the weak, how should we expect Israel to act?

There are two major schools of thought here. One, led by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, comprises the “Ideological Hawks,” who, to the question, “Do you know what neighborhood I am living in?” tell Israelis and the world, “It is so much worse than you think!” Bibi goes out of his way to highlight every possible threat to Israel and essentially makes the case that nothing Israel does has ever or can ever alter the immutable Arab hatred of the Jewish state or the Hobbesian character of the neighborhood. Netanyahu is not without supporting evidence. Israel withdraws from both South Lebanon and Gaza and still gets hit with rockets. But this group is called the “ideological” hawks because most of them also advocate Israel’s retaining permanent control of the West Bank and Jerusalem for religious-nationalist reasons. So it’s impossible to know where their strategic logic for holding territory stops and their religious-nationalist dreams start — and that muddies their case with the world.

The other major school of thought here, call it the “Yitzhak Rabin school,” was best described by the writer Leon Wieseltier as the “bastards for peace.”

Rabin, the former Israeli prime minister and war hero, started exactly where Bibi did: This is a dangerous neighborhood, and a Jewish state is not welcome here. But Rabin didn’t stop there. He also believed that Israel was very powerful and, therefore, should judiciously use its strength to try to avoid becoming a garrison state, fated to rule over several million Palestinians forever. Israel’s “bastards for peace” believe that it’s incumbent on every Israeli leader to test, test and test again — using every ounce of Israeli creativity — to see if Israel can find a Palestinian partner for a secure peace so that it is not forever fighting an inside war and an outside war. At best, the Palestinians might surprise them. At worst, Israel would have the moral high ground in a permanent struggle.

Today, alas, not only is the Israeli peace camp dead, but the most effective Israeli “####### for peace,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak, is retiring. As I sat with Barak in his office the other day, he shared with me his parting advice to Israel’s next and sure-to-be-far-right government.

Huge political forces, with deep roots, are now playing out around Israel, particularly the rise of political Islam, said Barak. “We have to learn to accept it and see both sides of it and try to make it better. I am worried about our tendency to adopt a fatalistic, pessimistic perception of history. Because, once you adopt it, you are relieved from the responsibility to see the better aspects and seize the opportunities” when they arise.

If Israel just assumes that it’s only a matter of time before the moderate Palestinian leaders in the West Bank fall and Hamas takes over, “why try anything?” added Barak. “And, therefore, you lose sight of the opportunities and the will to seize opportunities. ... I know that you can’t say when leaders raise this kind of pessimism that it is all just invented. It is not all invented, and you would be stupid if you did not look [at it] with open eyes. But it is a major risk that you will not notice that you become enslaved by this pessimism in a way that will paralyze you from understanding that you can shape it. The world is full of risks, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a responsibility to do something about it — within your limits and the limits of realism — and avoid self-fulfilling prophecies that are extremely dangerous here.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-full-israeli-experience.html?_r=0

[OriZ 3,157]

GAZA CITY — Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, gave a defiant speech on Saturday, vowing to build an Islamic Palestinian state on all the land of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

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Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal addressed the crowd. More Photos »

Speaking before tens of thousands of supporters to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Mr. Meshal said the Jewish state would be wiped away through “resistance,” or military action. “The state will come from resistance, not negotiation,” he said. “Liberation first, then statehood.”

His voice rising to a shout, Mr. Meshal said: “Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on any inch of the land.” He vowed that all Palestinian refugees and their descendants would one day return to their original homes in what is now Israel.

“We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation, and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take,” he said. “We will free Jerusalem inch by inch, stone by stone. Israel has no right to be in Jerusalem.” He also promised Palestinian prisoners held in Israel that they would be freed using the same methods that had worked in the past — the kidnapping of Israelis and Israeli soldiers, like Gilad Shalit, who was released last year in a prisoner exchange after five years as a hostage.

Mr. Meshal’s harsh words reflected longstanding Hamas principles rather than new, specific threats toward Israel. But they will only reinforce Israel’s belief that Hamas is its enemy and intends to continue to use military force to reach its goals.

The anniversary of Hamas’s founding is Dec. 14, but the organization moved the celebration forward to honor the first uprising against Israel.

Mr. Meshal, on his first visit to Gaza after 45 years of exile, having fled a West Bank village at 11 with his family during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, was in a joyous but not conciliatory mood. He promised Palestinian unity, but only on the basis of Hamas’s principles, which would mean a subordinate role for Fatah, the main Palestinian faction in the West Bank. He called the United Nations General Assembly’s vote granting Palestinians enhanced status as a nonmember observer state — engineered by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank — “a small step but a good one.”

He insisted that Hamas had won a great military victory by achieving a cease-fire with Israel last month after eight days of rocket launchings and airstrikes, and said it could form the basis, with the General Assembly vote, of a new Palestine Liberation Organization that would contain all Palestinian factions. An inclusive Palestinian Authority and a P.L.O. based on Hamas principles, however, would almost surely find itself shunned by Israel and much of the world. It would also be a humiliating defeat for Mr. Abbas, who supports a two-state solution and has negotiated with Israel.

The P.L.O., run by Mr. Abbas of Fatah, is the sole legal representative of the Palestinian people and does not now include Hamas.

The celebration took place under cloudy skies, with periods of rain. But few of the supporters, many waving green Hamas flags, left the crowded square.

Mr. Meshal and Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, emerged together from a giant replica of a Hamas rocket called the M-75, which is supposed to be able to travel about 45 miles from Gaza City, putting it close to Tel Aviv. Many experts have said they think the M-75 is a repainted Iranian Fajr rocket, but the one on display bore the words “Made in Gaza,” in English. The crowd cheered and a band played a song praising Hamas leaders for being fearless in the face of death.

The stage featured the rocket, a banner showing the walls of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock, and large photographs of Mr. Meshal and of Ahmed al-Jabari, Hamas’s military commander who was killed by an Israeli strike on the first day of November’s fighting.

While nearly everyone in the crowd carried Hamas flags, Mr. Haniya and Mr. Meshal brandished large red, white, green and black Palestinian flags from the stage, pressing the day’s theme of reconciliation and Hamas’s claim to leadership of the larger Palestinian movement, encouraged by the latest fighting and by the victory in Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is the Palestinian branch.

Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Mr. Meshal, 56, prayed in Rafah after his arrival. “Gaza has always been in my heart,” he said. He now spends most of his time in Qatar. More Photos »

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Slide Show Hamas Leader Delivers Defiant Speech at Anniversary Celebration.Related

Political Leader of Hamas Visits Gaza for the First Time (December 8, 2012)

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.“We are imposing a new reality on the Israeli occupation,” said Salah Bardawil, a Hamas spokesman. “All the factions are here, and the Hamas flags embrace the Palestinian flags and the Fatah flags. We need to extend the Arab revolution to all Palestine from the sea to the river, and every refugee returns to his home.”

But Hamas is also anxious, some members say, about the current challenges to President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, who ran as the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate. To ride the wave of a Muslim Brotherhood ascendancy is fine, they say, unless it fails.

Those who came said they were thrilled to be here, proud of Hamas and its claims of victory over Israel in November. The conflict ended without an Israeli ground invasion and in a cease-fire brokered by Egypt, leaving Hamas with the sense that it had stood up to Israel despite the deaths here and the loss of many of its largest rockets.

The rally was also an entertainment for those with young children, providing a sense of excitement in what can be a difficult life here.

Many expressed the hope that Hamas and Fatah could finally reconcile in the interests of a Palestinian nation. Some Fatah representatives were invited to the rally, but few yellow Fatah flags, let alone Palestine flags, were seen in the waves of Hamas green. But Fatah flags were often attached to poles also bearing Hamas and Palestine flags.

People recalled that at an earlier rally here marking the cease-fire, a senior Fatah leader, Nabil Shaath, praised “the resistance” for its victory over “the enemy” and added, “The war has turned Hamas into a legitimate partner for Fatah.”

Abu Muhammed, 43, said he thought that the day showed Hamas’s new sense of self-confidence and demonstrated that “the mood is going toward reconciliation.” Nearly everyone in Gaza wants the two factions to reconcile, he said. The split “only favors Israel,” he said.

Mr. Meshal is thought to be more favorable to reconciliation with Fatah than is Mr. Haniya. But Mr. Haniya also basked in Mr. Meshal’s presence.

A man named Wissam, who refused to give his surname, said Hamas was trying to show its dominance, but for him, “It’s one day for one movement in Gaza, but there are other movements.” Every faction, he said, “wants to show that they are the biggest and most important in the field.”

After pushing Fatah out of Gaza in 2007, Hamas banned Fatah anniversary celebrations.

Wissam wanted all the factions to celebrate together on one day, he said. When reminded that there was already a Palestinian national day, he shrugged and said, “That day is considered to be Fatah’s.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/world/middleeast/khaled-meshal-hamas-leader-delivers-defiant-speech-on-anniversary-celebration.html?pagewanted=1

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Hamas has already offered to accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 armistice lines. Did Israel accept it, or even negotiate with Hamas ? No. So you can expect the rhetoric to continue until Israel does sit down and negotiate.

By the way, let's have a peep at the Likud Charter, just for giggles:

a. “The Jordan river will be the permanent eastern border of the State of Israel.”

b. “Jerusalem is the eternal, united capital of the State of Israel and only of Israel. The government will flatly reject Palestinian proposals to divide Jerusalem”

c. “The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river.”

d. “The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting.”

But clearly, it's different when Israel does it.

[OriZ 3,157]

Even when they do suggest it(which happens rarely) they also say two other things...that in return Israel will get a long term "houdna", they stress that it will not be a peace agreement as they will never recognize Israel but rather a ceasefire(no thanks). The second thing is that they will not give up any part of the right of return which they know means the end of Israel.

Likued charter is irrelevant to me being I'm not a supporter of Likud..

Edited December 9, 2012 by OriZ

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-grows-jittery-palestinian-uprising-182531555.html

Israel grows jittery of new Palestinian uprising

By By JOSEF FEDERMAN | Associated Press – 1 hr 53 mins ago

JERUSALEM (AP) — The rising confidence and bellicosity of Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, combined with rapidly deteriorating relations with Israel's would-be peace partner in the West Bank, are raising jitters in Israel that a new Palestinian uprising could be near.

A number of prominent voices urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to take steps to ease the tensions and bolster the Western-backed Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu's political rival, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, warned that renewed violence might not be "far off."

But the Israeli leader stood tough. Poised for re-election, it appears unlikely he will float a bold new initiative anytime soon. "We in the government have no illusions. We want a true peace with our neighbors. But we will not close our eyes and stick our heads in the sand," Netanyahu told his Cabinet.

Over the past month, Netanyahu has taken a series of steps that appear to have unintentionally emboldened the rival Palestinian leaderships in Gaza and the West Bank.

In mid-November, Israel carried out an eight-day military offensive in Gaza in response to months of intensifying rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory.

Although Israel claimed to inflict heavy damage, the operation failed to halt the rocket fire before an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took hold and Hamas emerged intact. Hamas has claimed victory, won newfound recognition across the Middle East and boosted its popularity with the Palestinian public.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Gaza over the weekend to welcome the movement's exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal, as the Islamic militant group celebrated its 25th anniversary with rallies, speeches and displays of weapons.

It was the first time Mashaal has ever been to Gaza, and his presence in the seaside territory was a reflection of the group's rising clout.

Mashaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997, is now confident enough to enter Gaza and walk around in public, thanks to his group's warm relations with the new Muslim Brotherhood-dominated regime in neighboring Egypt.

Mashaal, known as a relative pragmatist inside the movement, showed no signs of moderation during the three-day visit. In speech after speech, Mashaal praised Hamas fighters for standing up to Israel and repeated the movement's original goal of wiping Israel off the map.

"God willing, we shall liberate Palestine together, inch by inch," Mashaal told university students on Sunday, referring to the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and Israel. "We started this path and we are going to continue until we achieve what God has promised."

Hamas seized control of Gaza in mid-2007, ousting forces loyal to Abbas. Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed.

The Palestinian rift has pushed Abbas into an uneasy alliance with Israel, with both sides united in their opposition to Hamas. But Israel's ties with Abbas have also frayed as peace efforts remained frozen. Abbas and Netanyahu blame each other for the deadlock.

Fed up with the impasse, Abbas last month won U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

While the move did not change the situation on the ground, it was seen as an international endorsement of the Palestinian position on future borders with Israel.

It also amounted to international rejection of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Netanyahu responded by announcing plans to build thousands of new settlement homes, sparking fierce international condemnations.

The tensions further escalated over the weekend when a Palestinian security officer briefly scuffled with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron. The incident quickly attracted some 250 Palestinian protesters. A second clash developed elsewhere in the West Bank.

Israel's Channel 10 TV showed video from the second clash on Sunday under the headline, "Third Intifada?" using the Arabic word for uprising.

Speaking at a business conference, President Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate, said the events in Gaza over the weekend showed that Abbas is a peaceful and desirable alternative to Hamas.

"We have two clear choices, nobody is perfect but one is right and the other is wrong. We have to choose between Mashaal and Abbas," Peres said.

Olmert, speaking at the same conference, accused Netanyahu of undermining moderate Palestinian elements.

"We methodically hurt the ones who do want peace. We help raise the radical elements instead. The result of this policy could be the collapse of the Palestinian Authority government very rapidly, which would create the worst intifada we've seen thus far. We are not far from it," Olmert warned.

Olmert's government conducted a year of peace talks with Abbas in 2008 that resulted in closing many gaps but no final accord.

Netanyahu showed no signs of bending. Speaking to his Cabinet, Netanyahu said the celebrations in Gaza over the weekend exposed "the true face of our enemies."

"They have no intention of compromising with us. They want to destroy our country, but they will obviously fail," he said.

He also said it was "interesting" that Abbas "has issued no condemnation" of the Hamas comments. "To my regret, he strives for unity with the same Hamas that is supported by Iran."

Netanyahu's tough approach has gone over well with the Israeli public. With elections scheduled for Jan. 22, opinion polls forecast Netanyahu winning re-election as leader of a coalition dominated by hard-line nationalist and religious parties.

The Palestinians have launched two uprisings against Israeli occupation. The first erupted exactly 25 years ago, on Dec. 9, 1987, and lasted nearly six years. The second, deadlier uprising broke out in late 2000 and stretched for about five years. More than 3,000 Palestinians and more than 1,000 Israelis died in the fighting.

Palestinian officials in the West Bank have signaled they have no desire to return to the days of the uprising, when armed militant gangs controlled Palestinian cities, Israeli military raids were common and Israeli troops strictly controlled movement throughout the West Bank.

"We are not ready for war. The only way forward is peace," Abbas told Arab leaders at a gathering in Qatar on Sunday.

Majed Swailim, a Palestinian political scientist, said Palestinian disappointment in failed peace efforts could lead to anti-Israel street protests in the West Bank in the coming months. But he did not expect an open armed rebellion.

"People here don't want to repeat the violent intifada because they know that Israel can paralyze life in the entire West Bank," he said.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-president-appeals-urgent-arab-aid-161329208.html

Palestinian president appeals for urgent Arab aid

By By ABDULLAH REBHY | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The Palestinian president is urging Arab nations to provide major financial assistance to cover a new monthly $100 million budgetary shortfall after U.N. recognition of Palestinian claims to statehood — the result of a punitive Israeli measure.

The appeal by Mahmoud Abbas reflects the severe financial fallout from last month's landmark vote in the U.N. and a fresh push by Palestinians to take advantage of the international momentum to rally Arab backing for peace talks and possible concessions by Israel.

Israel halted the tax transfer funds — customs duties collected on behalf of Palestinians — after last month's U.N. vote to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

"We are in a collapsing state now. We can't pay our salaries. So you have to offer this safety net. Do you agree, are you committed and how much will you pledge?" he told Arab League delegates meeting in Qatar's capital, Doha. "We have to know your position soon."

Abbas has been facing added pressures after rival Hamas in Gaza received major pledges of aid from Qatar's emir in October.

Last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on wealthy Arab countries to send $240 million a month to keep the government afloat.

Since its creation in 1994, the Palestinian Authority has always had trouble paying its bills, owing to Israeli restrictions and its own inefficiency and corruption. Israel said it would use the $100 million to pay down the huge debts the Palestinian government owes Israeli entities, especially the electricity company.

Although there were no public promises of funds at the Doha meeting, Palestinian officials said they were encouraged by Arab League plans to create a special committee to help guide future negotiations with Israel. The move appeared as a direct swipe at the failure by the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., UN, European Union and Russia — to move Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ahead and rein in Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

"This is a new day," said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, referring to the UN vote. "This requires a new Arab plan."

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Even when they do suggest it(which happens rarely) they also say two other things...that in return Israel will get a long term "houdna", they stress that it will not be a peace agreement as they will never recognize Israel but rather a ceasefire(no thanks). The second thing is that they will not give up any part of the right of return which they know means the end of Israel.

Likued charter is irrelevant to me being I'm not a supporter of Likud..

Hamas' rhetoric about not accepting the other state is not substantially different from that of Likud or Yisrael Beiteinu. And Palestinians are fully expected to negotiate with them. The difference between the two sides is: Israel has the power to back up its words with overwhelming force - Israeli threats to lay waste to Palestinian areas are very real. For Hamas, it's just empty words.

And you also have to consider that Gaza is still under occupation and blockade - they've just been brutally attacked and buried more than 160 of their people. What do you expect them to say before there is even a peace treaty - that they bow to Israel's might to dictate whatever it wants ? You said Israel's occupation and settlement enterprise don't mean that Israel doesn't want peace; and that Cast Lead and the 2006 Lebanon war don't mean that Israel doesn't want peace. Why are Hamas' boastful yet essentially powerless words more threatening (and a bigger obstacle to negotiations) than the very real incredible force used by Israel in its completely disproportionate acts of war against Gaza and Lebanon that each killed more than 1200 people ?

For all the big talk (meant to rally a hometown audience that has been badly wounded,) the fact is: Hamas can't do much to Israel, except resist and be a minor annoyance.

The right of return is the inalienable right of all refugees all over the world. Israel's ethnocentric fears that ROR would destroy its illegally and artificially created Jewish majority is irrelevant to that basic human right. So if Israel wishes that Palestinian refugees would waive their right, then it needs to offer them some kind of compensation that refugees would be inclined to choose over ROR. There are plenty of refugees that would accept monetary compensation, especially coupled with the ability to move to the new viable & contiguous Palestinian state. There are only a minority of refugees who would insist on returning to what is now Israel. But continuing to dismiss them is no incentive for the refugees to abandon their quest to fulfill their internationally recognized rights.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Arab states agree on $100 million in monthly aid for Palestinian Authority

The 'financial safety net' is meant to help President Abbas's government cope with an economic crisis after the UN granted de facto statehood to Palestine.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Likued charter is irrelevant to me being I'm not a supporter of Likud..

I forgot to mention something here. Not all Palestinians in Gaza (or the West Bank) are supporters of Hamas, either. Yet the Palestinian people are held collectively responsible for the "crime" of electing Hamas, and are being collectively punished.

Israel elects hardliners who openly say that the land from the river to the sea is Israel, and Palestinians are supposed to overlook that and negotiate with them.

Palestinians elect hardliners who openly say that the land from the river to the sea is Palestine, and they're terrorists and Israel can't sit down and negotiate with them.

[OriZ 3,157]

The issue wasn't whether Likud says the same things or not, it was what does Hamas actually say. Do they say they want peace and want only a state on the 1967 borders in return for ending the conflict, which is what you implied, or do they say otherwise. Nor do they talk about compensation for the refugees like you, but as a right that they will NEVER abandon.

Btw, the current likud platform for these elections, especially after Netanyahu's Bar Ilan speech, does include an acknowledgement of a Palestinian state in the west bank. It might not include Jerusalem, they might not even actually mean what it does say, but at least it says it. Hamas' charter does not. Neither did any Hamas leader have a speech such as Netanyahu's Bar Ilan speech(again, we're talking rhetoric and not if he will actually stand behind it or not).