[New York Times] Steven Erlanger - Yuval Diskin, the chief of the Israeli internal security service, said Monday that the Islamic movement Hamas had sent dozens of men from Gaza to Iran for military training. "We know that Hamas has started to dispatch people to Iran, tens, and a promise of hundreds....I see this as the strategic danger, more than any weapons smuggled into Gaza." Diskin also said that Fatah is continuing to fragment under weak leadership from Mahmoud Abbas, and would lose another election, if it were held now, to Hamas. "Fatah is disintegrated and nearly destroyed, with no strong leadership." Hamas, part of the larger Muslim Brotherhood, would never change its fundamental beliefs, he said, and he contended that Hamas' offer of a long-term truce was intended to allow the movement to consolidate its control over the Palestinians and to mask a buildup of military armaments and power that would eventually be aimed at Israel.
2007-03-06 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive