(Ha'aretz) Arnon Regular - In an interview with a local Gaza news agency, senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar threatened both open confrontation with the PA and continued attacks on Israel from Gaza after disengagement. Zahar warned: "The Palestinian Authority and Fatah need to know that what they are doing now is playing with fire. They will bear responsibility for ignoring Hamas and the [other] factions and for their insistence on managing the withdrawal alone. We will not serve as a fig leaf on this matter, nor will we allow it [the PA] to steal the achievements of the street and Hamas - the sacrifice of its [Hamas'] sons and its leadership to liberate the land of Gaza - just so that this land will be distributed to some individual or another." Zahar hinted that Hamas would be willing to use force against the PA to prevent it from running Gaza after Israel's withdrawal: "Just as we did not accept the occupation of the land, we will not allow it to be allocated to anyone who did not play a part in liberating it," referring to the PA. "We will not give our weapons to anyone, and we will not enter the PA's jails," he added.
2005-07-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive