Word: haniya
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...talk to Hamas until it halts all attacks on Israel - including those by other factions. Most international capitals won't receive Hamas' leaders, and pledges of funding from Iran, Russia and some Arab countries, even if delivered, won't make up the financial shortfall. Prime Minister Ismail Haniya lashed out at Israel and the West last Tuesday for trying "to force our people to kneel down." But his administration is searching for ways out of the current crisis, which might mean making conciliatory gestures to Israel. According to Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hamas as an organization...
Prime Minister Ismail Haniya lashed out at Israel and the West last Tuesday for trying "to force our people to kneel down." But his administration is searching for ways out of the crisis, which might mean making conciliatory gestures toward Israel. According to Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hamas as an organization will not recognize Israel and would seek only an "interim solution" to the current impasse, but spokesmen for the government, as well as some Palestinian officials, have suggested that almost all options could be on the table--including, perhaps, recognition in some roundabout form...
...focused as Hamas must be on establishing international ties, it must also watch rival factions at home, particularly the party it ousted from power, Fatah. Already Haniya's administration is sparring with President Mahmoud Abbas, who belongs to Fatah, over control of Palestinian security forces. And it is not just Fatah. A member of Islamic Jihad who called himself Abu Aziz told TIME his cadres will continue firing homemade Qassam rockets into Israel...
...brewing conflict with Fatah will test Haniya?who, as it happens, drives an ancient Toyota. His elevation has been courtesy of Israel's success in killing or arresting earlier Hamas leaders. Friends and Hamas colleagues say Haniya is soft-spoken and a good listener. He is described as a man with few enemies, which makes him a rarity in the politics of the Middle East. Haniya and Abbas are said to like each other. But as Zai Abu Amar, a legislator with ties to Hamas, says: "This is Haniya's first job in politics?and it's as Prime Minister...
...Hamas wants to clean the Palestinian house before talking to Israel, whose security officials say they expect it will take Haniya and his team at least a year to clear away Fatah's corruption. But Hamas may not have much respite; on March 28, Israel holds an election. The Kadima party of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, leading in the polls, plans to draw permanent borders between Israel and the Palestinian territories, whether Hamas is willing to negotiate or not. That would test Haniya like nothing else. And he must know that if his militants take up the gun again...