Word: gaza
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Despite the commander's hard line, others in Islamic Jihad may be more flexible. A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zohri, claimed that Gaza's new rulers would soon talk with other militant groups to persuade them to abide by a Hamas cease-fire with Israel. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, said that Hamas could, if it wanted, stop the rocket attacks out of Gaza. "But nobody will be the protector of the Israeli border" he vowed, meaning that Hamas would never agree to act as Israel's policeman in Gaza, a role that Abbas' militia at least pretended...
...commander named Abu Ahmad agreed on Thursday to meet a TIME correspondent and two other journalists in an empty office borrowed by Islamic Jihad in downtown Gaza. Abu Ahmad appeared in the doorway in a black vest and matching black jeans like a gunslinger. In his thirties, Abu Ahmad is far older than the teenagers he dispatches to martyrdom...
During the fighting last week in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah gunmen, he said that Islamic Jihad had refrained from firing rockets at Israel. "We decided to stop launching rockets until we could see what developed," he explained. His organization's penchant for brave but foolhardy attacks has made it immune to realpolitik, and it may take some persuading by Hamas to convince Islamic Jihad to hold off its attacks...
Already, Islamic Jihad has jumped back into the fray. With Hamas' takeover of Gaza scarcely hours old, Islamic Jihad unleashed a barrage of eight rockets on the Israeli towns. "There was an incursion by the Israelis into Gaza, and we decided to retaliate," Abu Ahmad explained...
...cities and towns. All we have to do is launch one attack in the West Bank and Israel will double back on all of its promises to Abbas." The only answer, the commander said, was for Abbas to renew ties with Hamas and give up on trying to split Gaza off from the West Bank. "This is what the Israelis want, and we Palestinians, as usual, will be the losers...