Hamas spokesman Mahmoud al Zahar called on the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria to allow terrorists to launch rockets at all of Israel. Short-range Kassam rocket fired from Arab villages in western Samaria could easily reach and explode in Netanya and metropolitan Tel Aviv.
Speaking with the Arabic Al Quds newspaper published in Jerusalem, Zahar criticized the Fatah-led PA for searching for Hamas terrorists instead of encouraging the “resistance,” the Arabs' code word for terrorist attacks on Israelis.
PA security forces and the IDF occasionally have discovered rockets or explosives for rockets in communities in Judea and Samaria. However, rock throwing and firebomb attacks in PA-controlled areas have continued unabated. One Israeli vehicle sustained damage in a rock attack near Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, Sunday morning.
Zahar, in an unusually aggressive tone against Fatah, accused party leader PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of taking power away from Hamas in Judea and Samaria by virtue of its allegedly helping Israel maintain the “occupation.”
Hamas overthrew Fatah control in Gaza three years ago in a bloody militia war, in which dozens of Fatah terrorists were killed or wounded.
The interview was conducted as Hamas and Fatah dig in their heels on an Egyptian-sponsored effort for the two parties to return to a unity government. Zahar maintained that countries, including several Arab states, have cut off ties with Hamas to gain favor with the American government.
He said Hamas is not interested in “forfeiting rights” in order to gain meetings with officials in the Obama administration.