Word: gaza
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Israel's assassination of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Hamas' leader in Gaza, has thrown the Islamic movement's chiefs into a panic. Coming less than a month after Israel eliminated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Rantisi's killing forced underground Gaza's political leaders. It also dangerously deepened fissures between the group's military and political factions. Fighters in its military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, fear that surviving political leaders are less committed than Rantisi was to attacking Israel, say senior Hamas sources in Gaza. Izzedine al-Qassam members want to strike back at Israel soon to avenge Rantisi's death...
...military's new independence was signaled last week when Mohammed Deif, head of the military wing, had his cadre launch an unsanctioned barrage of missiles at Gaza settlements. Hamas leaders tell TIME that Deif, who lost an eye in an Israeli assassination attempt in 2002, will now look increasingly to powerful Hamas moneyman Khaled Meshaal for instructions and financial support. The group's chief fund raiser, who splits his time between Qatar and Syria, has become more assertive. When political leaders in Gaza were about to select a moderate as their new chief, he ordered them to delay the appointment...
...ever more acute. The latest run of bad news started last week with an open letter from 52 retired senior diplomats, blasting the British Prime Minister for following too meekly in Bush's footsteps, both in endorsing Israel's plan to impose unilateral terms in the West Bank and Gaza, and in doing nothing visible to shift the American approach to the occupation of Iraq. "If [British influence] is unacceptable or unwelcome [in Washington], there is no case for pursuing policies that are doomed to failure," the ambassadors thundered. Downing Street tried to paint them mostly as "camels," Arabists with...
...fastidiously scripted statement derived from months of negotiation, President George W. Bush had just endorsed Sharon's controversial plan to annex territory in the West Bank and deny Palestinian refugees the right to return to Israel. In exchange, Sharon promised to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip. The agreement broke with decades-old U.S. policy. But it appears that shift arose at least in part from the Bush Administration's being outmaneuvered by Sharon at the negotiating table...
...Rantisi strike is certain to intensify Palestinian fury against Israel and the U.S. "The assassination was the outcome of the Bush-Sharon meeting," said Abdullah Shami, a leader of Islamic Jihad. A Palestinian official in Gaza said protesters were calling for retaliation against "American interests." U.S. officials take a different view. They insist Arab leaders had prior warning of the pact. "The rest of the [peace] process is going nowhere fast," notes a senior State Department official. "This is something real--moving people, tanks and troops." Perhaps, but just days after the deal was made came the bloody reminder that...