The belligerent speech delivered by Hamas' Damascus-based political
leader Khaled Meshaal Tuesday, Aug. 24 only confirmed the information
reaching Israel and the Palestinian Authority intelligence services
that the extremist Palestinian group is set for large-scale terror
attacks against Israeli and Palestinian West Bank targets. debkafile's
intelligence and counter-terror sources report Hamas is setting its
sights on torpedoing the direct Israel-Palestinian negotiations Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are to launch
in Washington on Sept. 2.
Hamas is said by our sources to be
preparing to activate its West Bank networks for coordinated strikes
against a major target inside Israel and another associated with Abbas'
power base or the US- and British-trained Palestinian security forces.
However, if those networks are thwarted by the preventive measures set
in motion meanwhile, Hamas will resort to attacks from the Gaza Strip
which it controls or further South from Sinai, across the leaky
Egyptian-Israeli border.
Hamas last attacked Israel on Aug. 2, sending a cell from its military wing, the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, to infiltrate Sinai through the arms tunnels running under the Gaza-Sinai border for a rocket attack on the twin Red Sea towns of Israeli Eilat and Jordanian Aqaba. This attack was more extensive than admitted at the time. Our military sources report that seven Iranian-made Grade missiles were fired, hitting the two towns. Two also knocked over two Egyptian military observation towers on the Israeli border and left casualties.
Israeli and Palestinian security officials do not rule out a Hamas strike from Lebanon or even from the Mediterranean Sea.
Meshaal's speech Tuesday, shortly before the iftar meal breaking the
Ramadan fast, was exceptionally vicious. Never before, had he dared
vent his fury on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King
Abdullah. For the first time, Khaled Meshal not only openly criticized
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah but
threatened them: Should they refuse to boycott the US-sponsored
Israel-Palestinian negotiations, he said, "The results… will be
catastrophic for the interests and the security of Jordan and Egypt."
The Hamas leader showed he was even prepared to jeopardize the
lifelines given his organization by both Arab governments: Egypt
provides Hamas officials and military leaders with their only exit
route from Gaza, while Jordan tolerates Hamas' extensive political
organization, which has always been careful not to upset its delicate
ties with the royal family and risk its freedom of action there.
Meshaal had only venom to pour on Mahmoud Abbas, who he predicted would
end up like Yasser Arafat (a reference to Hamas' allegations that
foreign parties including Israel poisoned him in 2004). He depicted the
PA Chairman as an enemy of Islam, accusing him of setting loose
Palestinian security forces on mosques, Islamic charitable
associations, cultural centers and Koran study groups.
Allowing the Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin to visit Jenin -"the city of martyrs - was unconscionable, Meshaal said, and so was permitting Israeli officers to be present at training courses for Palestinian security officers.
The direct talks with Israel, he said, aimed at "liquidating" the Palestinian cause.
Meshaal's speech was the last straw, Palestinian and other Arab intelligence officials said Wednesday: The breach between him and Mahmoud Abbas must be seen as final and irrevocable.