Hamas, Showing Split, Hints It May Extend Israel Truce

Marking 21 years since its founding, hundreds of thousands of Hamas supporters rallied in Gaza City on Sunday. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

From International Herald Tribune:

GAZA: Hamas leaders in Gaza on Sunday left open the possibility of renewing a tenuous truce with Israel that is due to expire Friday, putting themselves at odds with a statement by the exiled political leader of the group in Damascus, Syria.

Khaled Mashal, the exiled leader, told Hamas's satellite television station Al Quds in an interview broadcast Sunday that "the truce was limited to six months and ends on Dec. 19."

But Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group had not made its position final. The local Hamas leadership was to meet with representatives of the other Palestinian armed groups on Sunday night and afterward formulate an official policy, Zahar said by telephone.

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Hamas Warns Israel Truce Coming To End

Palestinian Hamas supporters attend a rally marking the 21st anniversary of Hamas in Gaza December 14, 2008. Hamas will not renew a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip that expires later this month, said a statement issued by the group in the Syrian capital on Sunday. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

From The Washington Post:

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The exiled leader of Hamas was quoted as saying on Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist group would not renew a six-month-old truce with Israel that expires on Friday, but other Hamas officials were less definitive.

"There will be no renewal of the calm after it expires," a statement issued in Damascus quoted Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal as telling a television station run by the group.

Meshaal is based in the Syrian capital. The statement gave no more detail.

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My Comment: There never really has been a truce ..... It appears that Hamas is getting ready to resume a new offensive against Israel, and are calculating that a President Obama may be sympathetic to their cause.

The Gaza Strip -- One Year After The Hamas Takeover

From The New York Times:

GAZA — Cursing God in public here — a fairly common event in this benighted and besieged strip of Palestinian land — can now lead to prison. So can kissing in public. A judge ruled last week that a bank could not collect its contracted interest on a 10-year-old loan because Islam forbids charging interest.

One year ago, gunmen from Hamas, an Islamist anti-Israel group, took over Gaza, shooting some of their more secular Fatah rivals in the knees and tossing one off a building. Israel and the West imposed a blockade, hoping to squeeze the new rulers from power. Yet today Hamas has spread its authority across all aspects of life, including the judiciary. It is fully in charge. Gazans have not, as Israel and the United States hoped, risen up against it.

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News On Gaza From Other Sources:
Bridging the Fatah-Hamas divide -- BBC News
Gaza 'genius' helps besieged city survive a year of Israel's blockade -- The Independent
As Hamas Power Grows, Life For Gazans Worsens -- Worldsblog MSNBC
Gaza 'hurt by Palestinian feud' -- BBC News
Gaza prisoners in bid to lift ban on family visits -- The Independent
Hamas says bomb-makers caused fatal blast in Gaza -- The Independent
Explosion in Gaza destroys home of a Hamas commander, killing 5 -- International Herald Tribune
Hamas: Explosion in Beit Lahiya preparation for ‘quality’ attack -- Ynet News

My Comment: Hamas is not only a religious and social movement, it also has a very effective military/police/enforcement part to it. For the forseeable future, Hamas is there to stay in Gaza.