Palestinian security chief exasperated over Hamas truce violations
AFP
Date: 05-19-05
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip (AFP) - The Palestinian commander tasked with preventing rocket attacks on Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip expressed exasperation at Hamas's continued violations of a truce agreement but insisted he will not be forced into a direct confrontation.
Israel on Wednesday launched its first air strike since January against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip who were preparing to fire mortars at a Jewish settlement.
A Hamas member was wounded and later died, less than 24 hours after the death of another Hamas militant in southern Gaza.
The violence has threatened a fragile de facto truce Palestinian militants have been observing since January and which was cemented by a landmark Middle East peace summit in February.
As senior Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Jerusalem in a bid to prevent the situation from unravelling, the head of the southern division of the Palestinian national security services said Hamas was not sticking to their side of the bargain
"Many times, they say they are in the cool-down, but then they do something on the ground," General Jamal al-Qayed told AFP from his office in Khan Yunis.
"All the factions, all these people have agreed to stop (attacks) to keep things calm. They gave their word; they should keep their word," said the Palestinian head of Gaza's southern command for national security.
However, Qayed insisted that his officers were not going to spark direct confrontation with militants by cracking the whip.
"I'm not going to make a fight with the factions. I have to stop them, not kill them. I have orders to prevent them, not to fight them," he said Thursday.
"If you want me to stop them, give me something," he told AFP, condemning continued Israeli checkpoints, Wednesday's air strike and a reluctance to release Palestinian prisoners.
The upsurge in violence followed the death of a Hamas fighter on the border between Gaza and Egypt Tuesday night, in circumstances which remain disputed.
While Hamas said the victim was killed by the Israeli gunfire, Palestinian security sources believe the Islamist organisation orchestrated the incident to undermine the quiet on the ground and provoke an Israeli response.
"Hamas feels it would be useful for them in the elections so they fabricated this situation, a senior official said of upcoming legislative polls, in which the radical group aims to carve out a major role in the new parliament.
"They sent this guy to the border with a bomb in his hand and it exploded," the source added.
At Thursday's funeral for the victim of the air strike, a member of Hamas's armed branch, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, insisted that the movement was "also against a civil war".
"But it's not fair to blame al-Qassam for launching mortars at Israeli settlements, because the Israelis have violated the truce," said the 22-year-old masked fighter who gave his name as Abu Sohaib.
He also criticised the security services for trying to prevent rocket attacks. Three members of the security services were lightly wounded late Wednesday when they stepped into prevent Hamas from unleashing more mortars from Khan Yunis.
"Our message is that if they (the security services) try to attack us, we will retaliate," Sohaib added.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has come under increasing pressure from Israel to launch a crackdown against the likes of Hamas but he is well aware that such a move would likely strengthen Hamas's standing ahead of the July elections, as well as provoking more internecine strife.
"Currently, the situation is rather sensitive. Temporary quietness is very fragile, and a very tiny spark of fire could trigger large violent clashes," Abbas told the official Chinese news agency on a trip to Beijing.
Source
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