GAZA CITY, 25 September 2003 — Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin yesterday ruled out any prospect of a truce while Israel continues its “aggression” against the Palestinian people.
“Today is not the time to speak of a truce while the enemy continues its aggression,” Yassin said in a press conference here, his first since he survived an Israeli assassination attempt on Sept. 6.
He said the question of a truce, which was proposed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last week, had not been raised during recent talks between Hamas and Palestinian prime minister-designate Ahmed Qorei, who is due to unveil a new Palestinian government within days, with Israel and Washington warning he must prove his independence from Arafat.
These moves came amid reports that a Palestinian youth was killed and 11 injured in Israeli Army operation in Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying that the prisoner swap with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah would be submitted to the Cabinet. But a lawsuit filed by the family of the detained Israeli aviator threatens to scupper the deal.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad called off a seven-week-old truce on Aug. 22 after the assassination of Hamas co-founder Ismail Abu Shanab. The truce had already been effectively shattered by a Hamas suicide attack three days earlier on a bus in Jerusalem, which killed 23 people.
“In spite of the truce, the Israeli enemy did not stop its aggression, its massacres and its destructions for one moment,” added Yassin, who also ruled out joining a government under Qorei.
“Our objective is not to join the government but to liberate our land and the Palestinian people.”
Asked about a declaration by Qorei that he planned to end the “mess” of illegal weapons in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Yassin said his movement would refuse to surrender its arms to the Palestinian Authority.
Yassin also condemned US President George W. Bush, who in an address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday said, “Arab nations must cut off funding and other support for terrorist organizations”, such as Hamas.
Meanwhile, after nearly two weeks of tortured negotiations, incoming premier Qorei is to unveil a new Palestinian government. According to officials from the mainstream Fatah movement and sources close to Qorei, the announcement of the composition of the government, which must be approved by Parliament, could come as soon as today.
The Cabinet of Qorei, who is succeeding Mahmud Abbas, will be composed of 24 ministers, including 15 members of Arafat’s Fatah movement, the sources added. Keen to enlarge the support base of his government, Qorei is also expected to name in the government for the first time a minister from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which opposed the Oslo accords that paved the way for Palestinian autonomy.
As the behind the scenes activities continued so did the unrest. A 15-year-old Palestinian youth was killed early yesterday during an Israeli Army incursion in the southern Gaza Strip where the forces came under heavy fire, witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said.
At least 11 other people were injured, five seriously, during the operation around the Rafah refugee camp near the border with Egypt which began at around 1:00 a.m. (2200 GMT Tuesday).
Mohammed Hamdan died in hospital as a result of head injuries received from the shrapnel of a tank shell, according to Ali Moussa, a director of Rafah hospital. An Israeli military source said there had been a “massive exchange” of gunfire and that several Palestinian gunmen had been hit, but said it was not known if there were any fatalities.
In another development, Sharon said: “I intend to put approval of the prisoner exchange deal, if we reach an agreement, before the entire Cabinet plenum for it to decide,” Sharon said in an interview with the daily Maariv.
Sharon confirmed that the long-awaited deal was near but warned it was anything but wrapped up.
“We are closer than before, but it is still far from being finished,” he said. Palestinian newspapers reported Tuesday that Israel would release 400 Arab prisoners as part of the deal. Around 185 of them would be Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian while the rest Palestinian.
In October 2000, Hezbollah captured three Israeli soldiers — whom Israel believes are dead — in a disputed border area. They also seized businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum.
However, optimism that the exchange might be concluded soon were tempered yesterday when it was revealed that the family of Ron Arad filed suit against a Hezbollah prisoner due to be included in the deal.
According to legal sources, Arad’s family is suing Mustafa Dirani for around $20 million in compensation over mistreatment allegedly suffered by the Arad in detention.
