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Suicide bombing in Tel Aviv (photo: Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 27, 2007 |
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Hamas officials on Sunday offered diverging opinions about their intentions to renew suicide bombings in Israel and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), according to Haaretz. The conflicting statements could indicate an internal dispute among officials, or may just be a clumsy attempt to appease the West and regain millions of dollars in aid.
A political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Ahmad Yousef, told Haaretz that the Shin Bet security service's assessments that the group is intensifying efforts to undermine diplomatic dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority through a series of sizeable terrorist attacks are inaccurate.
"There is no change in the Hamas position. Israel is threatening us and attacking us - we are only responding to provocations. But we do not intend to initiate any action, like the resumption of suicide bombings," Yousef said.
In direct contradiction, Fawzi Barhum, spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, told Haaretz that the organization intends to use any means to achieve its aims.
Barhum's frank pronouncement is more in line with Sunday's intelligence briefing, in which the deputy head of the Shin Bet said the Hamas leadership in Damascus has instructed West Bank-based militants to attempt a large-scale attack inside Israel.
"There are efforts by Khaled Meshal [Hamas' Damascus-based political bureau chief] and the Hamas leadership abroad to formulate a plan to undermine the diplomatic efforts between Abbas and Israel," Y., the deputy head of the Shin Bet, told the ministers.
Hamas has grown increasingly frustrated since it took over the Gaza Strip in a bloody putsch in June. The European Union, the United States and Israel have cut off aid and severed diplomatic relations with the organization. Many people in Gaza are blaming Hamas for the deteriorating situation.
The Shin Bet official said that this fact increases the probability that Hamas will change its policy on terrorist attacks, shifting its weight from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and possibly also abroad.
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