The Hindu : Israel engages Hamas in battle, talks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003

International

International

Israel engages Hamas in battle, talks

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA June 13. In battling the extremist Palestinian organisation, Hamas, Israel appears to be reinforcing its armed campaign with discreet behind-the-scenes talks mediated by Egypt.

According to media reports, the Egyptian intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, began talks with the Hamas in Gaza on Thursday with the aim of persuading the group to hold fire against Israelis for a period of one year.

Israel has rejected the Hamas' earlier proposal for a three-month ceasefire, as it apprehends that the militants will use this period to regroup.

The U.S. is fully backing the Egyptian mediation, as it does not want to get directly involved in talks with the Hamas. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the lawyer of the detained Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, is expected to convey a message on behalf of Mr. Barghouti and Khaled Mashall, the head of Hamas' political bureau, to Mr. Suleiman.

While Israel is backing Mr. Suleiman's latest initiative, the dominant view in the Israeli establishment appears to be in favour of reinforcing the military pressure on the Hamas.

The Israeli Deputy Defence Minister, Zeev Boum, said on Friday that Israel would battle the Hamas to the "bitter end." The Israeli military establishment has considered, in the past, the systematic destruction of the Hamas infrastructure in Gaza.

The Israeli Defence Ministry has also said that the top Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who controls the armed wings of his powerful Fatah faction, could also be expelled soon.

Israel has, besides the Hamas, also begun to target senior leaders of the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad group.

Israeli undercover troops on Thursday killed Salah Jaradat, Islamic Jihad commander of West Bank Jenin district and his deputy.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, has said that the wave of Israeli military attacks against the Hamas is meant to strengthen the hands of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas is disinclined to use force against the Hamas, fearing that such a move could lead to a Palestinian civil war.

With the spurt in recent violence, which has claimed 38 lives in the last three days and threatened the U.S.-sponsored peace "road map", the Bush administration is sending one of his senior diplomats to Jerusalem on Saturday.

John Wolf's visit is likely to be followed by another meeting in Aqaba next week, where the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is expected to confer with his counterparts from the "quartet" group to save the "road map."

The quartet comprising the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations has defined the peace plan that envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state by 2005 as a pre-condition for bringing lasting peace to the region.

The U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is in favour of deploying a "buffer force" of U.N. peacekeepers in the area.

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