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Shades of Terror
[Jerusalem Post] Khaled Abu Toameh - The latest truce initiative launched by some Hamas representatives is seen as a direct result of the economic sanctions on Gaza and Israeli threats to target leaders of the Islamist movement in response to rocket attacks on Israel. Hamas leaders are beginning to feel the heat, and that's why some of them are now openly talking about the need to do something "for the sake of the higher national interests of the Palestinian people." Hamas' leaders are said to have been in a panic following the recent killings of top Islamic Jihad operatives by the IDF. "Most of the Hamas leaders are afraid for their lives and don't want to join [slain Hamas leaders] Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi," a former Hamas sympathizer said this week. Yet others in Hamas, led by Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siam, remain as defiant as ever and want to continue the fight against Israel regardless of the price. There is no doubt that at the end of the day most Hamas representatives would welcome a lull in the fighting. Hamas needs some breathing space to consolidate its grip on Gaza and prevent a total collapse of civil and security institutions there. But the crucial question that needs to be addressed is whether Hamas would be able to enforce a truce with Israel, given the fact that Islamic Jihad and other armed groups [in addition to Syria and Iran] are completely opposed to the idea. When Abbas once tried to stop the rockets, he was condemned as a traitor working for Israel and the CIA.