Author Topic: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks  (Read 687 times)

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Offline Americanhero1

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Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« on: December 22, 2008, 11:38:55 AM »
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Hamas agreed on Monday to hold fire against Israel for 24 hours, but warned it would resume suicide attacks if the Jewish state launched an offensive against its Gaza stronghold.

The Islamists and other armed factions in Gaza have accepted "a calm for a 24-hour period following Egyptian mediation in exchange for the delivery of aid from Egypt," senior Hamas official Ayman Taha told AFP.

But Taha warned that Hamas would resume suicide attacks if Israel made good on its threats to unleash a major assault against the Gaza Strip, where the Islamists seized power in June 2007.

"It is our right as an occupied people to defend ourselves from the occupation by all means possible including suicide attacks," he said.

The last time Hamas carried out a suicide attack in Israel was in January 2005.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment on the Hamas statement, saying "we have not received any announcement, neither directly or indirectly, nor via Egypt."

Israel on Monday kicked off a campaign to muster international support for any major offensive to try to halt rocket fire from the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Tensions have mounted since the expiry on Friday of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas in and around Gaza.

In a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, said the government would respond to continuing rocket fire, Palmor said.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the main governing Kadima party, has ordered Israeli ambassadors around the world to emphasise that Israel "will not hesitate to react militarily if necessary" to protect its citizens.

She is also due to meet foreign ambassadors to Israel and speak with her counterparts abroad.

"The world must understand that the situation in southern Israel is intolerable for hundreds of thousands of citizens exposed to rocket fire," Palmor said.

"We cannot remain with our arms crossed. Either the international community intervenes or we will have to act," he told AFP.

The public relations effort came a day after Israel threatened a major offensive against the impoverished territory that has been ruled by Hamas since June last year.

The two frontrunners in the race to become prime minister after a snap election in February -- Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the opposition Likud party currently leading in opinion polls -- both vowed to oust the Islamist movement, sworn to the Jewish state's destruction.

Violence around the enclave has escalated since Friday, when Hamas said it would not renew its truce with Israel, which came into effect after months of Egyptian mediation.

Since then, the army has carried out several air strikes, killing one militant and wounding several Palestinians, and militants have launched several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, wounding a handful of people.

Despite the bellicose rhetoric, observers say the Israeli government is wary of launching a major offensive less than two months before the general election for fear it would not be able to score a decisive victory against Hamas.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak, a former army chief, has made it clear he sees no reason to rush into a large-scale military operation, dismissing calls for an offensive as "the babble of politicians who have never seen war in their lives."

Israel responded to violence that erupted around Gaza in early November by tightening its blockade of the territory and blocking deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies.

The over-crowded and aid-dependent land of some 1.5 million people has been subject to Israeli blockades and repeated raids since 2006, when Hamas won parliamentary elections and later joined in a deadly cross-border raid which saw militants capture an Israeli soldier, who remains hostage to this day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081222/ts_afp/mideastconflictgaza_081222124026

Offline Dr. Dan

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Re: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2008, 01:19:13 PM »
Only reasonable people will understand Israel's need to protect herself.  We need to stop worrying about what the world thinks of us.
If someone says something bad about you, say something nice about them. That way, both of you would be lying.

In your heart you know WE are right and in your guts you know THEY are nuts!

"Science without religion is lame; Religion without science is blind."  - Albert Einstein

Offline GoIsraelGo!

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Re: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2008, 04:30:16 PM »
Only reasonable people will understand Israel's need to protect herself.  We need to stop worrying about what the world thinks of us.
^5 Dan , Israel does not need approval from her Enemies !


                                                                                HAPPY CHANUKAH !    Dox

Offline Daleksfearme

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Re: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2008, 05:52:37 PM »
OK, so its "lets have a truce so that we can round up some poor brainwashed kid to kill himself and a bunch of Innocent people."

I always thought that the concept of a truce was to allow a breathing space for each side as a prelude to a peaceful solution.

Another great example of the "peaceful" religion
"You must not have looked in the new dictionary for the word Genocide, Because Right next to it is a picture of me with a capton that reads...over my dead body!"

The Doctor

Offline zachor_ve_kavod

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Re: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2008, 06:26:35 PM »
If Hamas wants so badly to commit suicide, Israel should be kind and help them.  I would certainly be compassionate enough to put them out of their misery.

Offline Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks

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Re: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2008, 07:27:42 PM »
The only reason Hamas is still alive as we speak is because Israel is dominated by moronic, brainwashed Tel Avivniks who care about Hamas' "rights" more than not being blown to smithereens just in walking down the street. How pathetic.

Offline GoIsraelGo!

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Re: Hamas agrees 24-hour Gaza truce, threatens suicide attacks
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2008, 01:32:43 PM »
If Hamas wants so badly to commit suicide, Israel should be kind and help them.  I would certainly be compassionate enough to put them out of their misery.
Shalom Zachor and Happy Chanukah ! Your post is excellent.
I hope the conservatives in Israel finish off Hamas once and for all!
It is total insanity to negoiate with Terrorists.

                                                                                               Dox