There are accusations floating around the Arab world that the Islamist terrorist group Hamas has been using suicide bombings against Israelis in order to exert political pressure in its negotiations with Yasser Arafat?s Fatah terrorist group. Furthermore, media reports suggested that Egypt was itself exerting pressure on Hamas to temporarily cease suicide bombings. Such rumors and reports led the Arab Internet gateway and news website Albawaba.com to pose questions on the issue to Hamas leader ?Abdel ?Aziz Rantisi.
The terrorist leader ?denied as ?baseless? the accusations that his movement has been blackmailing Fatah through exploiting the issue of suicide operations inside Israel, in order to achieve political gains from the dialogue between the two factions,? the website reports. The denial is in contrast to accusations made by ?many Palestinian political sources... [that] using the military operations inside Israel as a tool for achieving political gains that would open the doors for them for more participation in the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization, dominated by Fatah.? Rantisi bristled, ?Hamas is far superior to working for selfish and very trifle objectives.... Hamas cannot allow shedding one drop of blood for personal or selfish objectives.? On the other hand, almost lending credence to the rumors by insinuation, Rantisi told his Internet interlocutor, ?halting the operations will minimize the importance of the dialogue.?
Albawaba.com reports that Rantisi ?acknowledged that the dialogue with Fatah, which started last November, had no specific agenda agreed upon by the two sides.... Rantisi renewed his rejection of the reports that described the dialogue... as concentrating only on the halt of the operations launched by Hamas.? Not only has Yasser Arafat not discussed halting ?martyrdom operations,? according to the Hamas spokesman, but neither has Egypt or Syria. Albawaba notes that Syria hosts the Hamas politburo in Damascus and quotes Rantisi as saying, ?There have been no pressures by our brothers in Egypt.?
The Arab Internet site also asked for the Hamas reaction to statements by Palestinian sources that some officials in both movements have attempted to make the Fatah-Hamas dialogue fail. ?For our part,? Rantisi said, ?there is not a single leader who does not believe in or [who] refuses the dialogue...?
The terrorist leader ?denied as ?baseless? the accusations that his movement has been blackmailing Fatah through exploiting the issue of suicide operations inside Israel, in order to achieve political gains from the dialogue between the two factions,? the website reports. The denial is in contrast to accusations made by ?many Palestinian political sources... [that] using the military operations inside Israel as a tool for achieving political gains that would open the doors for them for more participation in the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization, dominated by Fatah.? Rantisi bristled, ?Hamas is far superior to working for selfish and very trifle objectives.... Hamas cannot allow shedding one drop of blood for personal or selfish objectives.? On the other hand, almost lending credence to the rumors by insinuation, Rantisi told his Internet interlocutor, ?halting the operations will minimize the importance of the dialogue.?
Albawaba.com reports that Rantisi ?acknowledged that the dialogue with Fatah, which started last November, had no specific agenda agreed upon by the two sides.... Rantisi renewed his rejection of the reports that described the dialogue... as concentrating only on the halt of the operations launched by Hamas.? Not only has Yasser Arafat not discussed halting ?martyrdom operations,? according to the Hamas spokesman, but neither has Egypt or Syria. Albawaba notes that Syria hosts the Hamas politburo in Damascus and quotes Rantisi as saying, ?There have been no pressures by our brothers in Egypt.?
The Arab Internet site also asked for the Hamas reaction to statements by Palestinian sources that some officials in both movements have attempted to make the Fatah-Hamas dialogue fail. ?For our part,? Rantisi said, ?there is not a single leader who does not believe in or [who] refuses the dialogue...?