Terror leaders tell of 'imminent' plans to strike Israel from Gaza
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Terror leaders tell of 'imminent' plans to strike Israel from Gaza*
Posted: October 25, 2006
News From Israel
TEL AVIV – Terror groups allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip are
planning a series of large-scale attacks against Israeli positions near
Gaza "within the coming days," including rocket attacks, suicide
bombings against Jewish communities and raids of Israeli military posts,
several senior terror leaders in Gaza said today.
Palestinian and Israeli security officials said they are aware of the
attack plans. Israel said it beefed up security at Gaza border crossings.
The Palestinian officials said the threatened large-scale attacks, which
they claimed may be imminent, are meant to provoke an Israeli military
response in Gaza that would unite the Palestinians and thwart any
attempt by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to dissolve the
Hamas-led Palestinian government.
"The Israelis have misunderstood the period of calm in last few weeks
and months. This was the calm before the storm," Abu Abir, spokesman of
the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees terror organization said.
"The Palestinian resistance will carry out very soon a big offensive
that will include shootings of rockets for a distance farther then until
recently; it will include tunnel attacks and suicide attacks inside
Israel," Abu Abir said.
The terror leader urged Israel to respond with a Gaza assault.
"We wish Israel will come in (to Gaza) in a bigger way because we will
turn the entire area of the Israeli operation into a big cemetery filled
with Zionist soldiers," Abu Abir said.
The Popular Resistance Committees is an umbrella of several terror
groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Islamist sections of the Al
Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah
party. Israel says the Committees carries out terror attacks at the
direction of Hamas.
Abu Ahmed, the northern Gaza commander of the Al Aqsa Brigades, said
today that his group decided to participate in the coming spate of
threatened attacks from Gaza.
"The United States is pressuring Fatah leaders like (Gaza-based Fatah
strongman and former PA security chief) Mohammad Dahlan into
collaborating with them and dismantling the Palestinian government. We
will not let the U.S. dictate the future of the Palestinian people," Abu
Ahmed said.
Abu Ahmed said that while his cell of the Brigades will work with Hamas,
other Al Aqsa Brigades cells may not.
Asked whether his group is planning to attack Israel in order to stall
the dismantlement of the Hamas-led government, the Committees Abu Abir
replied, "No. But these attacks will mark to our people that the enemy
is Israel. Killing Israelis hurts the Americans and the Israelis and
this is who we should target. Not each other."
The last major Hamas-led attack from Gaza was a well-coordinated raid
through a tunnel of an Israeli military station at the Gaza border
during which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. The attack,
which took place in June, resulted in the first large Israeli ground
assault of the Gaza Strip since the Jewish state vacated the territory
last August.
Israeli security officials say they have received multiple attack
warnings against the same military station in recent weeks. They also
said they received warnings of possible tunnels dug from Gaza into
nearby Jewish communities.
Hamas won a majority of Palestinian parliamentary seats in elections
earlier this year. According to multiple press reports, Abbas has been
considering dismantling the Hamas-led PA. As Palestinian president,
Abbas has the authority to abolish the PA and establish an emergency
government that he would head for three months, at which point new
elections would be held. Under certain circumstances, Abbas can maintain
and lead the emergency government indefinitely, usurping Hamas' power.
Major Hamas-Fatah clashes are feared if Abbas dismantles the PA, said
Israeli and Palestinian security officials.
Last month, Hamas and Fatah engaged in heavy gunfights in Gaza, Judea
and Samaria after negotiations to establish a national unity government
between the two appeared to have fallen through.
Even if any Hamas-directed attacks are not carried out, Israel might
still conduct a major military operation in the Gaza Strip in the near
future, according to senior Israeli Defense Force officers speaking today.
The Israeli military is set to present battle plans for approval by the
government here later this week for a large-scale Gaza offensive,
including possible reoccupation of parts of Gaza, according to senior
IDF officers .
The IDF assault, a version of which includes reoccupying parts of Gaza,
is aimed at blocking Egypt-Gaza smuggling routes, confiscating weaponry
already transferred into Gaza, halting the rocket-firing at Jewish
communities and badly damaging Gaza's terror infrastructure.
The officials said the offensive is "crucial" for Israel's security and
would be the largest military operation launched against Palestinian
terror groups in Gaza since Israel evacuated the territory last year.
The statements follow the regular firing of rockets by Palestinians in
Gaza aimed at nearby Jewish communities and continued reports that
massive amounts of weaponry have been smuggled into the territory from
neighboring Egypt.
Meanwhile, if Abbas indeed dismantles the Hamas-led Palestinian
government, there are fears Hamas might target both Israeli and regional
United States interests.
A report in Time Magazine this past weekend quoted several anonymous
Hamas sources claiming the U.S. was urging Abbas to dismantle the PA.
The sources, speaking to Time anonymously, said clandestine meetings
were held in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to discuss the possibility
of targeting the U.S.
The report said the Israeli intelligence estimate is that, for now,
Hamas will restrain from targeting the U.S., but if its government is
toppled, such restraint could dissipate.
Speaking openly on Sunday, Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' so-called
military wing in Gaza, confirmed the Time report.
"The Americans are supporting Israel unfairly and are playing a leading
role in the conspiracy against the (Hamas led) Palestinian government.
All Palestinians feel a hatred toward the American government and
wouldn't mind attacks [against it], but for now we are limiting our
fight to Palestine," said Abu Abdullah, who is considered one of the
most important operational members of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs
Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department.
Abu Abdullah warned that if the Hamas government is "toppled" with the
help of the U.S., then "all options are open."