Hamas is escalating its attacks on fellow Palestinians to demonstrate that US presidential envoy George Mitchell's peace talks in the region, starting Tuesday, June 9, were a mission impossible so long as Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah were at war.
DEBKAfile's counter terror sources disclose that Monday night, three Palestinian female members of Hamas, one of whom wore a bomb vest, were captured in the West Bank town of Qalqilya on their way to kill Palestinian Authority security officers.
The reappearance of suicide bombers on the West Bank is extremely troubling, say military sources, because of the likelihood that they will next attack their old targets in Israel.
This supposition is well founded. On June 7, DEBKAfile revealed exclusively that the Islamist terror organization had been ordered by Damascus headquarters to unleash a new campaign of violence against PA and Israeli targets alike – a first in Palestinian annals.
Ahead of its foiled triple suicide attack, Hamas circulated the photos of six senior Palestinian security officers in Qalqilya over the caption: "These commanders are sentenced to execution." The most prominent was Hussam Sheik Hamed, who is accused of liquidating several Hamas operatives in the town last month. DEBKAfile's security sources emphasize that as matters stand today within the Palestinian camp, President Obama, the Saudi king Abdullah and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak can forget about making headway in their peace moves.
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal made this clear to Egypt's intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman who summoned him to Cairo from Damascus Tuesday to try and persuade the rejectionist leader to come to terms with the rival Fatah and give the Obama peace diplomacy a chance.
Meshaal refused point blank to call off Hamas' terror campaign against fellow Palestinians. As a pre-condition for reconciliation, he said the US-trained Palestinian Authority security force must end its crackdown on Hamas gunmen. He totally rejected President Obama's call from Cairo to give up violence, reinforcing the message carried by the Hamas-led massive cross-border assault on Israeli forces from Gaza Monday.
Meshaal had a special message for the Egyptian government too.
Shortly after his conversation with Gen. Suleiman in Cairo, Hamas staged its first ever Qassam missile strike on Egyptian security forces guarding the Sinai-Gazan border. This was Hamas' first missile attack ever against Egypt. It was meant to support a fresh Palestinian attempt to break through the border for the first time since January 2008. The missiles exploded 3 kilometers inside Sinai.
In Ramallah, guards escorting the convoy of Palestinian Authority secretary Saad al Rahim, opened fire on a vehicle racing at high speed on the same road, certain that a Hamas bomb car was about to ram them. The driver was severely hurt.
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Show/Hide comments
