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Masked Palestinian Hamas militants practice during a training session in Jebaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, early Friday, Aug. 12, 2005. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have agreed to work together. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners August 13, 2005 |
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| Hamas practices marching. (AP) |
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In a show of force, Hamas founders and political leaders appeared Saturday on a stage together for the first time in a decade to tell the Palestinian people that the militant group's armed struggle will go on after Israel's impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
In a direct challenge to the Palestinian Authority, the Hamas leadership positioned itself in front of the group's logo and a green Islamic flag to send a message that they have the right to possess weapons and to claim responsibility for pushing Israel out of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas news conference comes just a day after the Palestinian Authority held its first official celebration -- with the attendance of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas -- of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
Speakers at the celebration made clear that all celebrations of the withdrawal would take place under the official Palestinian banner -- the red, black, green and white flag -- a message to Hamas which is planning military-style celebrations of its own. In a concession to the Islamic group, a passage from the Koran was added to the flag for the occasion.
Tensions between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are heating up in the days just before Israel begins its withdrawal, with each trying to claim victory for Israel's evacuation of 25 settlements.
In Gaza Friday, about 1,000 armed and masked Hamas combatants staged a training exercise in which they practiced infiltrating and attacking Jewish settlements. For the first time Hamas invited TV cameramen to film the training exercise. It wasn't clear whether this signaled an intent by the terrorist group to attack settlements during the impending pullout.
The release of the pictures of Hamas members rapelling from high-rise walls and jumping through hoops of fire was also seen as a challenge to the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas: "Our weapons are holy... even if they kill us all"
Hamas will continue its armed campaign and will not disarm, according to a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, ynet reported. "The Hamas movement won't disband its military wing, won't disarm, and won't hand in its weapons," he said .
"The area in which Israel will remain will be like the Shaaba farms in south Lebanon," said Sayid Siyam, another leading Hamas figure, referring to the small patch of land Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 War and which continues as a source of contention and violence with Hizbullah in the north. If Israeli soldiers did not pull back from Gaza's border passages, he said, Palestinians would see their presence as a "continuance of the occupation."
"Like in Shaaba, we will continue to work to liberate the areas in which the Israelis remain," Siyam said.
Other senior Hamas figures said they too would not hand their weapons in after the IDF's planned withdrawal from Gaza. "We must be able to continue to pressure Israel, so that it withdraws from further territories," said one Hamas leader.
The head of the Hamas operational wing, Ahmad Gandoor, said, "Our weapons are holy, this is a matter of holiness, and it's inconceivable that we will give up on these weapons, even if they kill us all. "
"The weapons at our disposal are not up for negotiations," said Gandoor, reported ynet. He denied that Hamas's weapons were a factor in the anarchic security situation in Palestinian territories, saying that "our weapons are not brought out at weddings. They are only there for the armed conflict."
Gandoor said that Hamas would not initiate attacks against Israelis, but would respond to any Israeli "aggression."
"Every Israeli operation will be answered by us. We won't allow a single Zionist enemy operation to pass with silence," said Gandoor, adding that Hamas people would not join the Palestinian Authority security forces, despite requests to do so by PA chairman Abu Mazen.
"In the course of the celebrations we will not forget that a large part of our land continues to be occupied," said Siyam.
PA sponsors "sailing" rally to celebrate Israeli retreat
Tens of thousands of Palestinians crowded into Gaza City's small fishing harbor Friday to celebrate the impending Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, waving flags and hearing promises from their leader, Mahmoud Abbas, that the West Bank and Jerusalem will be next.
Under the theme "Setting Sail for Freedom," the rally to celebrate Israel's withdrawal was the PA's first mass celebration of Israeli withdrawal. Organized by the government, it appeared to be part of an attempt by Abbas to seek credit for the pullout and defuse Hamas's claims that its attacks drove Israel out.
The celebrators chanted anti-Israel slogans, burned Israeli flags and fired off rounds of ammunition into the air.
Surrounded by security guards, Abbas spoke briefly to the crowd: "From here, from this place, our nation and our masses are walking toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas said.
The tensions between Abbas and Hamas became apparent when Cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan said the Palestinian flag must be the official banner at all celebrations. He did not refer to Hamas directly. The group has said it plans its own military-style celebrations, and is sewing thousands of its own green banners.
"This era is the era of unity, and the era that will end any competition or disagreement," Dahlan told the crowd.
The Palestinian celebration comes just two days before Israel is set to begin its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
The Palestinian Authority is anxious for a smooth handover that would prove its ability to control volatile Gaza after the Israelis depart.
The AP contributed to this report.
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