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Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been praised by Saudi-funded dhimmi pseudo-academic John Esposito as a champion of a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” But numerous statements of Qaradawi demonstrate that he anything but a “reformist” or a genuine champion of “democracy, pluralism and human rights” – and is, in fact, positively Hitlerian in his Jew-hatred and bloodlust.

During the uprising against the Mubarak regime, a Muslim website published a chapter from Qaradawi’s book Laws of Jihad, including this passage: “One of the forms of jihad in Islam is jihad against evil and corruption within [the Islamic lands]. This jihad is crucial in order to protect society from collapse, disintegration, and perdition — for Muslim society has unique characteristics, and if these are lost, forgotten or destroyed, there will be no Muslim society.”

Qaradawi also enjoys a reputation as a moderate beyond just Esposito: the former Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is himself widely assumed to be a “moderate” despite evidence to the contrary, has hailed Qaradawi as a “very very well known Islamic jurist, highly regarded all over the Muslim world.” And another Muslim leader whose moderate bona fides have been questioned, the vaunted “Muslim Martin Luther” Tariq Ramadan, wrote a foreword to one of his books in 1998, and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone welcomed him to the city in 2004 and praised him repeatedly, despite the fact that during that visit Qaradawi explained to the BBC that suicide attacks against Israelis were not actually suicide at all, but “martyrdom in the name of God.” (Qaradawi has since been banned from Britain, as well as from the U.S.)

And the things that Qaradawi tells the millions of Muslims that he reaches are anything but moderate. In January 2009, during a Friday sermon broadcast on Al-Jazeera, he prayed that Allah would kill all the Jews: “Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.” He also declared: “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler.”

Oh, and he is a mediator for the U.S. Government.

"Qaradawi Meets Hamas Leaders, Predicts 'Victory,'" from IPT News, February 8 (thanks to Wimpy):

A Hamas delegation headed by the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of Gaza met Yusuf al Qaradawi, the highly influential Muslim Brotherhood theologian, in Qatar Saturday. In the love fest which followed, as reported on Qaradawi's website, "His Eminence also gave the people of Gaza and Palestine the good news that victory is near and at the door."

Along with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the delegation included Yehya Al-Sinwar, a top security strategist, and his deputy Rawhi Mushtaha, recently released from long terms in Israeli prison as part of the prisoner swap. They invited Qaradawi to visit Gaza, where he could broadcast over Hamas's media outlet, al Aqsa TV. They also prayed that God would extend the Sheikh's life to allow him to pray alongside them in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque....

In a 2009 speech before the Arab Spring Qaradawi was less optimistic and merely hoped to die fighting the Jews: I'd like to say that the only thing I hope for is that as my life approaches its end, Allah will give me an opportunity to go to the land of Jihad and resistance, even if in a wheelchair. I will shoot Allah's enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus, I will seal my life with martyrdom."

Hamas, of course, remains openly committed to the destruction of Israel, and the propaganda from the Palestinian Authority's media outlets tells us plenty about their intentions. Obviously, this government cannot negotiate for "peace" in good faith, but the pressure will remain on Israel to compromise with an even more hostile Palestinian entity than before.

An update on this story. "Palestinians take step toward unity," from Associated Press, February 6:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – After months of wavering, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took a decisive step Monday toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move Israel promptly warned would close the door to any future peace talks.

In a deal brokered by Qatar, Abbas will head an interim unity government to prepare for general elections in the Palestinian territories in the coming months. The agreement appeared to bring reconciliation — key to any statehood ambitions — within reach for the first time since the two sides set up rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007.

Monday's deal, signed in the Qatari capital of Doha by Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, put an end to recent efforts by the international community to revive long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the terms of Palestinian statehood. Abbas appears to have concluded that he has a better chance of repairing relations with Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group, than reaching an agreement with Israel's hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu quickly condemned the Doha deal. "It's either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can't have them both," he said in a warning to Abbas, who has enjoyed broad international support.

In moving closer to Hamas, Abbas risks losing some of that backing and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid.

Qatar, awash with cash from vast oil and gas reserves, assured the Palestinians that it would help limit any political and financial damages, according to Palestinian officials close to the talks.

Whether the Palestinian Authority loses any of the roughly $1 billion in foreign aid it received each year may partly depend on the interim government's political platform and Hamas' willingness to stay in the background.

The new government is to be made up of politically independent experts, according to the Doha agreement. If headed by Abbas, devoid of Hamas members and run according to his political principles, it could try to make a case to be accepted by the West. Abbas aides said they were optimistic they could win international recognition....

That Muslim Brotherhood? The moderate, "largely secular" one? This is, of course, not so much a departure as moving from one department to another: Hamas' charter describes itself as "one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine," and the leader of the Brotherhood in Egypt, Mohammed Badie, has praised Hamas as a role model.

"Source: Hamas' Meshaal Sets Sights on Brotherhood Post," from the Investigative Project on Terrorism, January 27:

Hamas' out-going politburo chairman is leaving the Palestinian terrorist group to take a "high position in the Muslim Brotherhood movement," a "well-informed source in Hamas" told the Nazareth-based Arabic-language Al-Sinnara last week.

The move would see Khaled Meshaal—the longtime Damascus-based leader of Hamas—transition to a new, more international role, as head of the "Supreme Council of the [Brotherhood] movement." The Council is said to be "responsible for political issues," according to the report. It remains to be seen whether the article is referring to the group's Guidance Bureau, which largely deals with the movement's political affairs, or with another body altogether.

If true, the news would help explain why Meshaal has been so adamant about not seeking re-election. Earlier reports noted that the group made an official plea for Meshaal "to reconsider" his stance.

"This is a public matter that the Hamas institutions should decide, and not an individual person," the group said.

Not a day later, an informed Palestinian source told Ynet that Meshaal's request to withdraw from the one-man race was denied by the group's Shura Council, and that he would indeed continue to serve as the politburo chief.

It has been speculated that if Meshaal exits, the post could go to Hamas' Gaza-based Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, or Hamas' original political bureau chief, Mousa Abu Marzook.

Hamas has been in a state of flux in recent months, and unrest in Syria could force the group to find a new home base for its political leadership.

Meshaal's purported move appears to have the blessing of higher-ups in the Brotherhood. According to the Al-Sinnara source, longtime Brotherhood spiritual advisor, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is in support of the leadership jump.

But deep down, they really, really want peace. To think otherwise would be "Islamophobic."

"Top official says Hamas will never renounce jihad," from AFP, January 23:

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel.

The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked the movement's leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, who has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas, for prioritising "peaceful resistance."

"We are fighting for our dignity and rights. Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices," said Zahar, quoted on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

Hamas will "never give up its armed struggle against the Zionist enemy," he said during a speech in Zeitun, a neighbourhood in east Gaza, in honour of the "martyrs" of Israel's December 2008-January 2009 Cast Lead operation against the enclave....

In the West, the neutral and non-combatant nature of charities like the Red Cross is sacred, and along with ethical considerations, is meant in part to protect it from becoming a target in war. Under Islamic law, there is no such distinction: charity also exists to aid those fighting in Allah's cause (Qur'an 9:60). It is thus to be expected that Hamas would have no qualms about exploiting the sanctuary of the Red Cross and making its workers human shields, just as we have seen other jihadist conflicts with fighters reportedly hiding or escaping in ambulances.

Most ironically, of course, Hamas has sought protection from a group whose symbol would disappear under Sharia.

Death to the infidels! No, wait-- save us, infidels! "Hamas lawmakers arrested at Red Cross in Jerusalem," from the Associated Press, January 23:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say they have arrested two Hamas lawmakers who had been hiding inside a Red Cross compound in Jerusalem.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the men were wanted for "Hamas activities." He would not elaborate.

Khaled Abu Arfa and Mohammed Totah sought refuge in the compound more than a year ago to escape Israeli arrest. Police nabbed them when they ventured outside Monday.

Red Cross officials confirmed the men had been holed up inside.

Israel, along with the U.S. and European Union, lists Hamas as a terror group. Israel frequently arrests Hamas lawmakers. Last week Israel arrested the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament.

The Palestinian parliament has not functioned since 2007 due to the arrests and infighting between Hamas and the Fatah party.

This ought to complicate Hamas' attempts to reconcile with Fatah, though, as this report notes, it could also conceivably result in an even more virulent jihadist conglomerate with which Israel would be expected to negotiate. "Hamas, Islamic Jihad debate joining forces," from Agence France-Presse, January 18:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main Palestinian Islamist movements, are holding talks about merging their two factions, sources from both movements said Tuesday.

They could call it Even More Islamic Jihad.

At a meeting with top officials from Islamic Jihad, Gaza's Hamas-affiliated prime minister, Ismail Haniya, called for "opening a serious dialogue to achieve the merger of the two movements," his office said in a statement.

Islamic Jihad confirmed that talks to merge the two factions were already underway.

"An in-depth dialogue has actually begun, both internally and externally, with the aim of uniting," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP, referring to the group's leadership which, like Hamas, is based in both Gaza and Damascus.

All previous attempts to merge the two Islamist movements had ended in failure, Shihab noted.

He indicated that the current talks were taking place "at the highest level" among the leaders of both factions in Gaza and Damascus, as well as among Islamist prisoners currently being held in Israeli jails.

Uniting the two movements would be "in the interest of both the Palestinian cause and the future of the Palestinian liberation movement, particularly in light of the Arab Spring," Shihab said.

The latest statements represent the first time for Hamas and Jihad to speak publicly about merging.

The two factions have long held opposing views on government, with Jihad boycotting the last Palestinian elections in 2006 that were swept by Hamas.

The initiative to explore a merger comes as Hamas and its Fatah rival, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, struggle to implement a reconciliation deal signed in April 2011 that has made little progress on the ground.

There are also moves to reform the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which is internationally recognised as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to allow Hamas and Islamic Jihad to join it.

It also comes in the wake of a series of electoral successes for Islamist parties in Egypt and Tunisia following the political upheavals brought on by the Arab Spring.

"There's still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that." - Condoleezza Rice, January 2007.

"Gaza Shiites claim Hamas persecution," by Ibrahim Barzak for the Associated Press, January 17:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A member of Gaza's tiny Shiite minority says followers were beaten by Hamas police during a religious ceremony last week.

The man said police burst into a house of a fellow Shiite during a gathering to commemorate the suffering of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. The man says about 15 worshippers were beaten and briefly detained. He declined to be identified fearing further harassment.

Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Ghussein said Tuesday that the men were planning "criminal acts."

It's the first time Gaza's Shiite community, believed to number several dozen, has claimed harassment by the territory's Sunni Muslim rulers.

Despite theological differences, Hamas has traditionally had warm ties with Shiite Iran.

The relationship has reportedly not been as warm in the past year, however. Iran was said to have reduced funding to Hamas due in part to its lack of support for Syria's Assad.

More aggression from those whom the U.S. and European leaders still insist want peace. "Hamas Calls for Escalation in Internet Hacking Against Israel," by Saud Abu Ramadan and Jonathan Ferziger for Bloomberg, January 15 (thanks to David):

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Palestinian Hamas movement called for an escalation of Internet hacking against Israel, saluting Arab programmers who have managed to infiltrate Israeli computer systems.

“Penetrating Israeli websites means opening a new field of resistance and the beginning of an electronic war against Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said today in a statement e-mailed to reporters in the Gaza Strip....

Now, that is what Amazon would call a "Statistically Improbable Phrase." It occurs at 1:29 in the video, among many other chants about crushing and driving out the Jews (not "Zionists," but Jews), and so on. More on this story. Video clip from MEMRI.

"Ennahda was at first slow to condemn their actions, earning the criticism of leftist and liberal groups which already regard the Islamist party with suspicion." Said one expert: "I think a lot of people will see that hesitancy as a mark of their true intentions."

Ennahda had quite the dilemma: how to mollify Western backers and keep up appearances without enraging constituents?

There is damage control from Hamas, too, but even the Associated Press catches Ismail Haniyeh in a lie. An update on this story. "Tunisia's Islamist party slams anti-Semitic chants," by Bouazza bin Bouazza and Paul Schemm for the Associated Press, January 9:

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The head of Tunisia's moderate Islamic party condemned anti-Semitic slogans chanted Monday by a handful of ultraconservative Muslims during the arrival of a top Hamas official that have alarmed the local Jewish community.

It was the latest action by a small group of ultraconservative Muslims over the past few months to have embarrassed the government in what was once one of the more secular countries in the Arab world.

Rachid Ghannouchi reiterated the policy of his Ennahda party, which heads the country's new government, that Tunisia's Jews are "full citizens with equal rights and duties."

"Ennahda condemns these slogans which do not represent Islam's spirit or teachings, and considers those who raised them as a marginal group," Ghannouchi said in a statement.

Videos circulated online showed crowd members greeting Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Gaza government, at the airport in Tunis on Thursday chanting "Kill the Jews" and "Crush the Jews." The chants came from Salafists, ultraconservative Muslims who have been making their presence felt in Tunisia recently.

"It is worse then [sic] bad, it is catastrophic for Tunisia — particularly in regard to the repercussions that these attitudes provoke abroad," Roger Bismuth, president of Tunisia's Jewish community, told The Associated Press.

He said he was received late Monday by Ghannouchi and Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who promised to resolve the situation — possibly with an address to the nation.

Perez Trabelsi, the head of the Jewish community on the island of Djerba where most live, described the slogans as "unreasonable" and said the government "could not let it pass."

After decades of being oppressed by Tunisia's secular dictators, Ennahda won elections and has been at pains to demonstrate its moderate credentials and belief in universal rights and freedoms for all Tunisians.

They have been repeatedly embarrassed by ultraconservative Islamic groups that have emerged since hard-line President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted from power last year in an uprising in Tunisia that led to revolts around the Arab world.

The groups have attacked university campuses and staged sit-ins over female students not being allowed to attend classes in the conservative face veils and have demonstrated over a variety of moral issues in cities.

Ennahda was at first slow to condemn their actions, earning the criticism of leftist and liberal groups which already regard the Islamist party with suspicion.

"I think if Ennahda doesn't come up with some way of being unequivocal in its rejection of some of these ideas and tactics it really does risk damaging its credibility with some of its coalition partners, progressive voters and international donors," said Chris Alexander, an expert on Tunisia from North Carolina's Davidson College, noting the danger of the party's slow response up until now.

"I think a lot of people will see that hesitancy as a mark of their true intentions."

At a rally in a sports complex for Haniyeh on Sunday, supporters of the banned ultraconservative Hizb al-Tahrir party called for death to Israel, but did not repeat their anti-Jewish slogans.

As if that's an improvement.

For his part, Haniyeh told The Associated Press on Sunday night that he disagrees with the anti-Semitic slogans. "We are not against the Jews because they are Jews. Our problem is with those occupying the land of Palestine," he said. "There are Jews all over the world, but Hamas does not target them."

Despite the comments, Hamas' founding charter is filled with anti-Semitic references and conspiracy theories about the Jews.

Yigal Palmor, the spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said the chants revealed Haniyeh's true sentiments. "If he was greeted with anti-Semitic chants, then there must be a reason why his local friends thought this might please him," Palmor told the AP in Jerusalem....

From our We Tried to Tell You Department, which, you'll recall, tried to tell you. "Gaza leader promises 'difficult days' for Israel," from Agence France-Presse, January 8:

The prime minister in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Sunday promised "difficult days" for Israel, and at a rally in Tunis urged Arab Spring revolutionaries to fight for an independent Palestine.

Ismail Haniya received an ovation from the crowd of some 5,000 men, women and children gathered in a stadium waving Palestinian, Tunisian and Hamas flags.

"Israel no longer has allies in Egypt and in Tunisia, we are saying to the Zionist enemies that times have changed and that the time of the Arab Spring, the time of the revolution, of dignity and of pride has arrived," he said to loud cheers.

"We promise you that we will not cede a single part of Palestine, we will not cede Jerusalem, we will continue to fight and we will not lay down our arms," he said. He urged "the people of the revolution to fight the army of Al-Quds" as Jerusalem is known in Arabic.

"To Tunisia we say: 'It is us today who are going to build the new Middle East'."

Haniya insisted "We will not recognise Israel", as the crowd chanted: "Death to Israel", "The Tunisian revolution supports Palestine", and "The army of Mohammed is back".

Some wiped their feet on the Star of David.

Haniya arrived in Tunis on Thursday for a five-day visit at the invitation of the new Islamist-led Tunisian authorities. He has also visited Egypt, Sudan and Turkey and will next travel to Qatar and Bahrain.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by Western powers.

Haniya's visit does not sit well with representatives of the Palestinian Authority led by president Mahmud Abbas. One source told AFP: "The Palestinians are furious."

Jews in Tunisia asked the government earlier Sunday to take steps to avoid a repeat of anti-Semitic slogans chanted during the Hamas leader's visit.

"No Tunisian should be insulted, and the government must take measures to ensure this incident is never repeated," Peres Trabelsi, a representative of Tunisia's small Jewish population, told AFP after the incident.

And the chief rabbi of Tunis, Haim Bittan, said: "Certain members of the community were frightened after this incident, but you have to make a distinction between the situation in the Middle East and here."

Not "Zionists," but "Jews":

Islamist activists welcoming Haniya were heard chanting slogans like: "Kill the Jews, it is our duty", along with anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian messages.

"There are no Zionists in Tunisia and we don't want to be mixed into the problems of the Middle East," said Trabelsi. "Tunisia is our country."

Tunisia has one of the Arab world's largest Jewish minorities, numbering about 1,500 individuals in a population of more than 10 million.

The population has shrunk drastically from the 100,000 Jews who lived in Tunisia after independence in 1956....

So much for the reported tactical retreat from aggressive, micromanaging Sharia enforcement in Gaza. The temptation will always be there, of course, since "morality" policing is a cheap, lazy way to look busy and shore up the legitimacy of the government as a pious Islamic outfit.

"Hamas cracks down on fortune-tellers, mannequins," from Ma'an News Agency, January 1:

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Hamas-run government has launched a series of campaigns targeting fortune-tellers, mannequins and cigarette vendors in the Gaza Strip.

Police sources told Ma'an that 142 fortune tellers were forced to sign an agreement at the Ministry of Interior pledging that they would not practice their craft.

As well as predicting the future, fortune tellers sell amulets for protection and are sometimes called on to solve personal or family problems.

Another campaign targets boutiques displaying lingerie on mannequins. Police officials told Ma'an that security forces inspected clothes shops across the Gaza Strip and warned owners not to display naked mannequins, lingerie or "indecent advertisements."

Police are also targeting vendors selling smuggled cigarettes and tobacco, confiscating their goods, police suorces said.

In a crackdown on car and motorcycle theft, police have distributed a database of stolen vehicles to all police stations across the coastal enclave.

Meanwhile, owners of taxi firms have been warned not to allow any former security officers to work as drivers, police officers said.

One of the greatest obstacles the PA and Hamas face is that the archaeological evidence does not line up with Islam's revisionist account of history, which appropriates the major figures of Judaism and Jesus himself as prophets and messengers of Islam. Islam's claim on the territory depends on that, and on Muhammad's "night journey" to what was initially an unnamed "farthest mosque." Of course, that doesn't mean they don't try to erase history to suit their purposes, even changing their own story, as this commentary notes.

We are not aware, however, that the Rabbi Abraham Cooper who authored this commentary is an "anti-" Ibrahim Hooper specially engineered by the Global Zionist Conspiracy Laboratories.

"Beyond Christmas and Hannukah -- Who Will Protect the Faithful?" by Rabbi Abraham Cooper for Fox News, December 30:

This year’s overlap of Christmas and Chanukah brought startlingly different, but ultimately connected, developments overseas. In Nigeria, word of five suicide bombs by an extremist Muslim sect murdering and maiming Christians at prayer, and wiping out whole families, cast a pall on many of the faithful. Meanwhile, archaeologists working in Ir David—the ancient neighborhood adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock, announced a discovery validating the historicity of a heritage central to Jews but also important to Christians.

Bearing two Aramaic words meaning “pure for G-d,” a rare, coin-sized clay seal was found not far from the site of the Beit Hamikdash – Holy Temple where Judaism’s holiest rituals were practiced until it was destroyed by the Romans two thousand years ago.

The seal of ritual certification was similar to the seal on a jar of untainted oil that the Maccabees--heroes of the Hanukah story--were so desperately looking for when they secured the Holy Temple from the occupying Greeks. Such seals were likely in use when Jewish pilgrims came to visit the Holy Temple. Such discoveries deepen the connection to the past for today’s religious pilgrims to Jerusalem, Christians as well as Jews.

For Jewish families, the seal’s discovery also serves as another concrete confirmation of Judaism’s near-miraculous continuity and of our people’s millennial-old link to David’s City.

Unfortunately, Palestinians loathe such discoveries. Because the seal with the words, “pure for G-d”, also debunk the lies of a global campaign of religious-and-historical Denial spawned by the Palestinian leadership. Simply put, the Palestinians insist that today’s Jews and have no authentic connection to the Holy Land dating back to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or to the biblical Prophets and Kings of Israel.

Indeed, the serial denial of the Jewish people’s legitimacy is the one core issue that Palestinian President Mohammed Abbas and the Muslim Fundamentalist Hamas can agree upon.

Even as Abbas steps up his efforts to merge his Fatah Movement with the Muslim Fundamentalist Hamas—whose founding Charter fuses traditional religious anti-Semitism with the secular, genocidal Jew hatred of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has accelerated its broader campaign to expunge Jewish history and identity from the Holy Land.

Leveraging the voting muscle of Arab and Muslim states at the UN, a committee of the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recast as a mosque, the iconic Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem—recognized by Christians as well as Muslim for centuries as a venerable Jewish site.

The Palestinians’ historical amnesia about Jewish roots also extends to archaeological evidence of King David and King Solomon’s ties to Holy City. This is a radical break from the Islamic past when Muslim recognition of the Jews’ sacred connection to Jerusalem and its holy sites was traced back to the Caliph Omar in the seventh century and extended all the way up to 1953 when the Supreme Muslim Council’s guide to Al-Haram Al- Sharif (The Temple Mount) declared: “It’s [sic] identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute.”

In his ‘historic’ speech before the U.N. General Assembly seeking international recognition for a unilaterally declared Palestinian State, used the world stage to invoke the ‘Holy Land’ as the place from where the prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven and where Jesus was born, but pointedly omitted any reference to Abraham, Moses, King David or Jeremiah. Not a hint of censure from the diplomats representing 192 nations.

Hand-in-hand with the historic amnesia, is the Palestinian Authority promotion of classic anti-Semitism. Evidence the recent article, published in the UNESCO-funded Palestinian youth magazine, Zayzafouna. In it, a ten-year-old Palestinian girl is purported to have had a dream in which Hitler told her, “Yes. I killed them [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who spreads destruction all over the world.” Brought to international attention by Palestinian Media Watch, nothing was done about the article until a protest by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the United States ambassador, forced UNESCO to end its funding of the magazine. But the hatred remains— fuelled by a mixture of hateful secular and religious ideologies.

As events in 2011 proved, the international community’s silence over campaigns of religion-inspired hatred, won’t bring peace to Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land, or restore Christmas as a public holiday in Gaza, nor protect Copts in Egypt, Catholics in Nigeria, or Christians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Silence only fuels the spread of more toxic bigotry in the name of G-d.

We can only hope and pray that in 2012, democratic governments, international agencies and NGOs will finally find the step up and construct a firewall of truth and civility to protect the faithful and their right to a future.

Haniyeh is trying to look more statesman-like with this regional tour. There is, curiously, not a peep in this report about Bashir's status as a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur. Then again, Bashir is consistently protected by the OIC and the Arab League. In this regard, Haniyeh is following the party line, and Hamas also has its own long-standing presence in Sudan, as noted below.

If an Israeli makes a face at a Palestinian, it is an urgent matter for the UN. But Bashir's history? Not a word. "Gaza premier, Hamas leaders meet Sudan's Bashir," from Agence France-Presse, December 29:

Gaza's Hamas premier Ismail Haniya held talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Thursday on his first official regional tour since the Islamists' 2007 power seizure in the Palestinian enclave.

Haniya, who arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday, was joined in the meeting by other high-ranking Hamas leaders -- the first time they had met as a group with Bashir, whose country has close ties with Hamas.

The Palestinian group has long maintained a base in Sudan, where its exiled chief Khaled Meshaal is a frequent visitor.

Meshaal joined the hour-long talks with Bashir, as did key Hamas figures Mahmud Zahar, a former foreign minister, and Mussa Abu Marzuk.

"From the Arabs and Islamic countries we want finance and political support to confirm that Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state," Haniya told reporters after the meeting.

He also came to Khartoum for the Al-Quds Forum, an annual gathering which focuses on Jerusalem, the eastern sector of which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed shortly afterwards....

They state their aspirations quite openly, but Western authorities remain determined to ignore them. "Hamas leader Haniyeh: Goal is destruction of Israel in stages," by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, December 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

At a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh said that Hamas may work for the "interim objective of liberation of Gaza, the West Bank, or Jerusalem," but that this "interim objective" and "reconciliation" with Fatah will not change Hamas' long-term "strategic" goal of eliminating all of Israel:

"The armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel]... We won't relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine."

Click to view

In his speech, Haniyeh also promised that Hamas will "lead Intifada after Intifada until we liberate Palestine - all of Palestine, Allah willing. Allah Akbar and praise Allah."

Two days later, contradicting Haniyeh's statements, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal had agreed that:

- "There will be no military resistance."
- "The permanent solution is on the '67 borders."

According to Abbas, Hamas agrees to a permanent solution on the '67 borders. However, Haniyeh said that Hamas agrees to a temporary solution on the '67 borders as a first stage only.

For many years, the PLO promoted a "stages plan" that would first create a Palestinian state on the 1949 - 1967 armistice lines, and then work from that position to destroy Israel.

Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki recently stated that this remains the goal for Fatah as well, but that "you can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."...

And the world is willingly fooled.

Hamas' own charter describes itself as "one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine." And Hamas is committed to the destruction of Israel.

Some "role model" for the "moderate" and "largely secular" Ikhwan. Then again, the Muslim Brotherhood has already organized its own rally where participants shouted "One day we'll kill all the Jews."

Hamas, for its part, has made an apparent tactical retreat from some of its more aggressive imposition of Sharia, more in line with the larger Brotherhood's gradualist approach. "Muslim Brotherhood: Hamas is our role model," by Roi Kais for YNet News, December 27:

Gaza's Hamas premier was in Egypt Monday on his first trip outside the blockaded territory since the Islamists overran it in 2007, saying his meeting with his Islamic ideological mentors threatens Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh discussed Mideast politics with the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which has emerged as the biggest winner in the first parliamentary elections in post-uprising Egypt, capturing nearly half of the seats so far.

Hamas is considered an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie met Haniyeh at the group's newly inaugurated headquarters in a Cairo suburb.

"The Brotherhood center has always embraced issues of liberation, foremost the Palestinian issue," Badie said, according to Egypt's state Middle East News Agency.

He added that Hamas has served as a role model to the Brotherhood in its reconciliation with the Fatah movement and in closing the recent prisoner swap deal with Israel.

That only happened because Hamas kidnapped Gilad Shalit. Again, some role model.

The Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s, but it supports Hamas in its "resistance" against Israel.

Hamas is considered a terror group by Israel, the US and EU, killing hundreds of Israelis in attacks, including suicide bombings. The West insists that before it deals with Hamas, the group must renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing peace accords. Hamas has refused.

'Meeting threatens Israeli entity'

Haniyeh described Hamas as the "jihadi movement of the Brotherhood with a Palestinian face." He said his visit to the Brotherhood center would confuse and frighten Israel.

"Our presence with the Brotherhood threatens the Israeli entity," Haniyeh said according to MENA.

Israel has expressed concern that a new Egyptian government under Islamist influence might cancel Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Hamas took Gaza by force in a brief, bloody civil war in 2007, expelling forces of the rival Fatah, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and Egypt responded by blockading Gaza. Badie criticized the blockade during his meeting with Haniyeh, according to MENA.

Egypt has been heading efforts to reconcile the two rivals. They came to some agreements last week in talks in Cairo. Hamas was represented by its supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, who is based in Damascus.

Haniyeh said during his visit to the Arab League that reconciliation with Fatah is a "strategic" matter that should not be hindered by American and Israeli objections. Israel has said the closer Fatah gets to Hamas, the further it moves from a peace deal....

Weary dhimmi Western authorities are ready to talk with Hamas, despite its unmitigated bloodlust. It is useful to recall why Hamas is considered a terror group in the first place: consider the "Glory Record" that used to be on its website. You can still see it here, via the Wayback Machine. Just in case that is not accessible, here are some excerpts in which Hamas considered attacks on Israeli civilians something that gave it "glory":

Hamas operations -The Glory Record

[...] 3. Boureen Operation: The militant Hamdan Hussein Al:najar, a member of Hamas, killed the Israeli settler Ya'coub Berey using a big rock as his weapon. The militant was shot down as a martyr after he had ambushed an Israeli patrol using the dead settler's weapon.

[...] 6. Bus No. 405 Operation: Militant Ahmed Hussein Shukry, a member of Hamas, was able to lead an Israeli soldier to a secluded place in Tel Aviv where the militant hit the soldier with a chisel and killed him on 8 September 1989. The following day, the militant got on bus No. 405 and stabbed the driver to take over the bus; however, the passengers were able to stop the militant.

[...] 12. Keryat Youval Operation: The militant Mohammed Mustafa Abu Jalala stabbed four Israelis and injured another at a bus station in Keryat Youval in Jerusalem before he was arrested by the Israeli forces.

13. Askalan Road Operation: While driving a taxi, the militant Jameel Ismail Al:baz, a member of Hamas, ran over a group of Israelis waiting on this road on 19 July 1991. He was able to kill corporal Nadaf Der'ey and injure another soldier. Then the militant was able to escape but he was later arrested by the Israeli forces.

[...] 15. Shailou Operation: A military group belonging to Al Qassam Brigades attacked an Israeli bus carrying some settlers on their way to Tel Aviv to participate in demonstrations organized by the extremist party Likud against the peace process. The bus was completely destroyed; two Israelis were killed and five more were injured.

[...] 17. Eid Al-maskhara Operation: The militant Ra'ed Al:reefy attacked an Israeli crowd in Jaffa on 17 March 1992. He was able to kill 2 and injure 21 Israelis who gathered to celebrate Eid Al:maskhara, also known as Al:boureem.

18. Beit Lahya Operation: On the third anniversary of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's arrest, a group belonging to Al Qassam Brigades attacked an Israeli settler at Beit Lahya and shot him down then withdrew safely.

[...] 21. Carlo Factory Operation: Four militants belonging to Al Qassam Brigades broke into a citrus packing factory (Carlo) near Nahal Oaz at 2:30 p.m. on 25 June 1992. Three militants stabbed two Israelis while the other was guarding. The Hamas members wrote some slogans and considered this operation as a gift for Yitzhak Rabin on the occasion of winning the Israeli elections.

[...] 26. Al Haram Al-Ibrahimy Operation: Two militants belonging to Al Qassam Brigades attacked an Israeli group near Al Haram (the Shrine) in Hebron. One of the militants attacked the group while the other was on guard. The Israeli forces admitted that only one Israeli was killed and another was injured although the Israeli authorities were shocked by this audacious and well-planned operation. Thereafter they arrested many members of Hamas.

[...] 49. Martyr Hatem Al:muzein Operation: Despite the intensive existence of the Israeli forces, the Curfew and the military siege, a member of Al Qassam Brigades stabbed a 38-year-old Israeli settler, Sha'ya Doytch, from Kfar Yam, a settlement of Ghosh Qateif at 7:00 a.m., while he was working at his greenhouse west of Jan Oar. He was taken to Sarouka Hospital in Beir Sheiba'a, but he died one hour later.

[...] 56. The Revenge Operation: As soon as the Israeli forces announced the execution of the six heroes, Al Qassam Brigade militants put explosives in a 15-storey shopping centre in Tel Aviv on 16 May 1993. The building was completely destroyed and several Israelis were killed and others injured. The Israeli forces admitted that one Israeli had been killed and 40 were injured as a result of a gas bottle explosion in order to cover up the operation.

[...] 61. The Two Martyrs, Hatem Al-muhtaseb and Ya'coub Mutaw'e Operation: It was a violent clap for Rabin when a commando group belonging to Al Qassam Brigades hijacked a bus on HI-25 west of Jerusalem at 7:30 a.m. on 1 July 1993 during the rush hour. The group was able to penetrate the security siege and reached the target bus from 100 metres from the Israeli police headquarters. However, the passengers were able to leave the bus because something wrong happened and so the group engaged in battle with the Israeli forces. Meanwhile, the militants Maher Abu Srour and Mohammed Al-hindy hijacked another car driven by an Israeli lady after the militant Othman Saleh had been injured. They bombed the car and all three were killed in addition to another Israeli soldier and lady that were on the bus. The militant Othman Saleh was taken captive although he was unconscious and kept saying "Allahu Akbar" while the Israeli forces were investigating him. A manifest was found on him with the following demands:

A. The bus must be driven to the Lebanese borders.
B. Al:sheikh Ahmed Yassin must be safely released immediately.
C. Fifty captives belonging to Hamas, 50 belonging to the other Palestinian formations such as Fateh, Al:jehad Al:Islamy and the Democratic Front, etc., must be released.
D. Al-sheikh Abdelkareem Obeid must also be released.

[...] 67. Downtown Hebron Operation: During these serious conditions in which the disgraceful peace treaty was signed, the militants belonging to the Martyr Abdallah Azzam group ambushed an Israeli bus at the Hebron-Keryat Arba'a junction on Sunday, 12 September 1993. The militants shot the soldiers down and took their papers and weapons, including an M-16 rifle and a Klashenkoff after which they withdrew safely.

[...] 69. Askalan Operation: Al Qassam militants were quite active in the 1948-occupied territories when the militant Ala'a Al-kahlout stabbed an Israeli bus driver while travelling from Askalan to Asdoud on Sunday, 12 September 1993. The militant detonated all the explosives he had on the bus causing injuries to several Israelis. One of the passengers was able to shoot the militant down who was later martyred. The Israeli forces admitted that the bus driver was killed and three Israeli passengers were injured.

[...] 77. Beit Kahel Operation: In revenge for the bloodshed caused by the Israeli aggression and attacks on the Palestinian towns, villages and camps, Al Qassam Brigade militants ambushed Rabbi Haim Drucman's car, a prominent chief of the racial Zionist movement, Gosh Amunim and an ex-member of Parliament. They fired at his car near the Beit Kahel junction at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, 7 November 1993. The driver was killed but the Rabbi, who is responsible for the settlement process, was seriously injured.

78. Hebron Operation: As part of the war waged by Al Qassam Brigades against the Israeli settlers, a group belonging to the battalion attacked a vehicle belonging to an Israeli settler near Hebron on Monday, 6 December 1993. Two settlers were killed and three were injured.

79. Hamas Operation: Two militants belonging to Al Qassam Brigades used a car to drive over an Israeli vehicle near Beitonia, southwest of Ramallah, at the industrial zone on Wednesday, 22 December 1993. They killed two and injured three other Israelis from Doulb, who were also in the car.

[...] 82. Al-khdeireh Operation: During the Israeli memorial day celebrations of the Israelis killed in the Arab-Israeli wars and one week after the revenge operation, the militant Ammar Amarneh, a member of Al Qassam Brigades, blew up an Israeli bus belonging to Eaged working on line 8 at Al:khdeireh, northwest of Tulkarm, on 31 April 1994. Five Israelis were killed and more than 32 were seriously injured.

[...] 85. Dezenkov Street Operation: In an immediate reaction to the previous operation, the militant Saleh Abdelraheem Sawy bombed an Israeli bus at Dezenkof Street in downtown Tel Aviv on 19 October 1994. The explosion was rather violent, leaving 22 Israelis dead, 47 injured and seriously damaging many shops. Israelis were confused and shocked by this operation, causing Yitzhak Rabin to shorten his visit to London.

Hamas took all that off its website years ago, but it hasn't changed: "Hamas Marks 24th Anniversary, Says It Killed 1,365 Israelis," by Jonathan Ferziger and Saud Abu Ramadan for Bloomberg News, December 15 (thanks to Benedict):

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Hamas marked 24 years since its founding as an Islamic movement dedicated to fighting for Palestinian independence, while the group's armed wing said it killed 1,365 Israelis in that period.

More than 100,000 Hamas supporters gathered today in Gaza City's al-Katiba park, where they celebrated the anniversary with balloons and flags in green, the group's color, as bands performed tributes to the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. The movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

"The armed resistance and the armed struggle are our only choice to liberate the land, to liberate all of Palestine from the sea to the river and expel the invaders," Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, told the crowd. He was referring to the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and calls for the Jewish state's destruction in its charter. The movement ousted forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction from Gaza in 2007 to gain full control of the seaside enclave after winning parliamentary elections the year before. A three-week operation that Israel began in December 2008 to halt rocket fire from Gaza left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

Military Operations

The armed wing of Hamas, known as the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement in which it said 1,848 of its fighters have been killed by Israel and its members have killed 1,365 Israelis since the group's founding on Dec. 14, 1987.

Hamas militants have carried out 1,117 attacks against Israel, including 87 suicide bombings, and have launched 11,093 rockets at Israeli targets, according to the e-mailed statement.

Israel condemned Hamas for celebrating the violence, without confirming the number of attacks and victims.

"The fact that Hamas is an unrepentant, murderous terror organization should come as a surprise to no one," Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a telephone interview.

The Islamic jihadists of Hamas desperately want war with Israel, and they'll get it, eventually. And so of course they project their aggression onto Israel, as Islamic supremacists always project their faults and evils onto their victims.

An update on this story. "Israel closure of al-Aqsa mosque ramp 'a declaration of war,'" from the Telegraph, December 12 (thanks to Twostellas):

Israel's closure of a wooden access ramp to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Hamas has warned.

Israel on Sunday night closed the Mughrabi ramp leading to the mosque compound in the Old City over public safety concerns in a move which was immediately condemned by Palestinians officials and Jordan, which is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

"This is a serious step that shows the Zionist scheme of aggression again the Al-Aqsa mosque," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

"This is a violent act that amounts to a declaration of religious war on the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem," he said, calling for "Arab and Muslim mobilisation to stop this serious event."

Jerusalem city council says the ramp poses a fire hazard and could collapse onto the women's prayer section by the Western Wall.

But Muslim leaders fear its demolition could destabilise the mosque compound and accuse Israel of failing to coordinate its renovation with Waqf, which oversees Islamic heritage sites....

Sinai threatens to become an intentional blind spot and site of selective sovereignty within Egypt, perhaps not unlike Pakistan's frontier provinces. As described below, the area is largely demilitarized according to the Camp David Accords, but this situation may at some point be used to make Israel choose between an area "militarized" by jihadists, or again by Egypt.

Heads, Egypt wins, tails, Israel loses. "Hamas sets up rocket production line in Sinai," by Yaakov Katz for Jerusalem Post, December 11:

Hamas has established forward bases and rocket production facilities in the Sinai Peninsula in an effort to protect them from Israeli air strikes, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

By establishing the facilities in Egypt, Hamas aims to protect its assets since it believes Israel will not strike targets inside Egypt due to the affect it would have on bilateral relations.

Any attempt to resist or pre-empt attacks can be spun as an act of war on Egypt.

Israel has called on Cairo to increase its efforts to restore order in Sinai and to prevent attacks, but the Egyptian military has held back from dismantling the Hamas infrastructure in the peninsula.

More than a dozen Egyptian army battalions allowed into Sinai with Israel’s permission (required because of limits placed on Egyptian forces there under the peace treaty) are still operating there, although with limited success in stopping terrorist activity and arms smuggling to the Gaza Strip.

Recent arms smuggled into Gaza have included advanced weaponry stolen from Libyan military storehouses such as Russian- made shoulder-to-air missiles.

Israel’s primary concern with Sinai is that it is being used by Palestinians to launch attacks into Israel while taking advantage of the open southern border.

The IDF has beefed up its forces along the border and recently established a new regional brigade that is responsible for defending Eilat and nearby areas.

On Thursday, the IDF bombed a car traveling in northern Gaza and killed a senior Aksa Martyrs Brigades operative who the army said was plotting an attack.

The terrorists were supposed to cross from Gaza into Sinai and then into Israel, similar to the attack that took place in August when eight Israelis were killed.

The bombing of the car is part of an IDF understanding that since it cannot operate in Egypt it needs to stop such attacks while they are still in the planning stages in the Gaza Strip.

While Hamas is believed to be involved in planning some of the attacks that have triggered Israel’s high alert along the border with Egypt, it is not participating in firing rockets at Israeli communities. That is being done by smaller groups that do not heed Hamas’s authority.

For the moment, the Muslim Brotherhood wing known as Hamas appears to be aligning its behavior more closely with its increasingly influential big brother next door, where gradualism is the name of the game. "Hamas in Gaza says it's learning from Arab Spring," by Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh for the Associated Press, December 11:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Bans on women smoking water pipes in public and male coiffeurs styling women's hair are no longer being strictly enforced in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, apparent signs of greater tolerance as the Islamic militant group acknowledges mistakes in seeking to impose a religious lifestyle.

In explaining the change, several senior members said Hamas has matured in five years in power and learned lessons from the Arab Spring. Islamic groups that have scored election victories in the wake of pro-democracy uprisings in the region now find themselves trying to allay fears they seek Islamic rule.

Since seizing Gaza, Hamas had largely silenced opponents and tried to impose stricter religious rules on an already conservative society. Modesty squads asked young couples seen in public to show proof of marriage, told beachgoers to put on more clothes and ordered shopowners to cover up mannequins. High school girls came under pressure from teachers to wear headscarves.

In recent months, there's been a change in atmosphere, say rights activists and even political rivals of Hamas.

"Things are freer than before," said Nasser Radwan, whose family restaurant is one of the places where women again come to smoke water pipes.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said "some mistakes were made" under Hamas rule, though he blamed individual security commanders and overzealous activists, not the government, for heavy-handed tactics.

"They don't represent the ideology and policy of the Hamas movement," Barhoum said. "Our policy is that we are not going to dictate anything to anyone."

Huda Naim, a Hamas legislator, said the movement took its cues from the pro-democracy revolts sweeping the Arab world, but also has learned it needs to be more tolerant of others.

It can crack the whip again anytime it chooses.

It's not clear whether the changes are tactical, or whether they represent a true shift that will lead to more political freedom. Hamas has shut down offices of political rival Fatah, arrested activists and strictly controls the local media. However, in recent months, it has permitted rivals, including Fatah, to stage rallies that were previously banned. [...]

According to Article 2 of its own charter, Hamas "is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine."

Hamas is the only wing of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood movement that has had a chance to rule, and its performance is of interest following the Brotherhood's strong showings in recent elections in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. The Brotherhood faces concerns in the West and among local secular groups that the Islamists, despite their embrace of democracy, might gradually try to establish strict theocracies.

Two prominent Hamas figures in Gaza said change was being encouraged by the Brotherhood. The movement's leadership in Egypt confirmed contacts, but denied it's telling Hamas how to govern.

Top Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who runs the group from Syrian exile, told Gaza leaders of the movement at a meeting in Cairo last month that he was impressed by the political success of the Brotherhood in elections in North Africa. "Mashaal said we need to learn from these experiences in dealing with other parties and social groups, and that one-party rule is outdated," a Hamas official said.

Mashaal's political bureau told Gaza activists in a memo that restrictive measures are tarnishing the movement's image, said a second Hamas figure. He said the Brotherhood has voiced similar criticism....

Also of interest in this report is that, however unsurprisingly, Libyan weapons have indeed made it to Gaza's jihadists. "Israeli official: military could topple Hamas," by Josef Federman for the Associated Press, November 13:

REIM MILITARY BASE, Israel (AP) — Weeks after a new round of fighting with Gaza militants subsided, a senior Israeli military official said Sunday that Israel is ready and able to topple the territory's Hamas government, though it has no immediate plans to do so.

The official also said Gaza militants have steadily built up an already formidable arsenal, in part with weapons smuggled out of Libya, and now have rockets capable of striking Tel Aviv, Israel's cultural and business hub.

"If we have to conquer the whole Gaza Strip, we'll do it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under Israeli military guidelines. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation.

Israel's volatile front with Gaza, a crowded seaside strip along Israel's southwest flank, has been largely quiet since an Israeli military offensive three years ago. The operation, launched in response to heavy barrages of rocket fire, killed some 1,400 people, including hundreds of civilians, and inflicted heavy damage on Hamas.

But since then, Hamas has restocked its arsenal, and fighting has sporadically flared up, most recently late last month when one Israeli and 10 Gaza militants were killed over several days of violence.

Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hamas, along with smaller militant groups, now possess sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, the official said. He said they also have rockets capable of reaching the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Gaza, meaning that Israel's main population center is now within range.

The official said many arms have flooded into Gaza in the wake of the Libyan revolution, with looted weapons making their way through Egypt's Sinai peninsula and into Gaza through the border tunnels. He said the weapons shipping is taking place despite improved efforts by Egypt's new government to stop the smuggling.

He said the weapons have not changed militants' abilities, since armed groups already possessed these arms. But he said the amount of weapons has grown substantially.

One beneficiary, he said, is Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed group that sometimes rivals Hamas. Islamic Jihad was responsible for most of the latest wave of fighting against Israel.

"Hamas has more of everything and good stuff, but the Jihad ... got stronger by far, not stronger than Hamas, but it's a very strong organization now," he said.

Abu Ahmad, spokesman for Islamic Jihad's military wing, confirmed his group had beefed up its capabilities, including the new use of mobile rocket launchers. But he said there is still "a big difference between our humble arsenal and the occupation army's weapons."

"What I can say here is that the occupation army commanders and soldiers will find themselves in trouble if they commit any folly against Gaza," he said. "We have many new things that will be used if there is a new Zionist escalation."

For the past three years, Israel has generally been in a tit-for-tat cycle against militants, responding to rocket fire with pinpoint strikes against the attackers. Israel holds Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, for all attacks that emanate from the territory.

The official cited several scenarios that could trigger a heavier Israeli response against Hamas, including a deadly rocket attack on a school or school bus, a kidnapping of an Israeli soldier or the introduction of a new strategic weapon.

He warned, however, that a broad operation would carry a heavy price that would likely include military and civilian casualties both on the Israeli and Palestinian sides. "If you want a bigger achievement, then you pay a bigger price," he said.

Hamas will do all it can to maximize civilian casualties in Gaza for propaganda purposes.

Performing the Hajj pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, making this the highest possible reward: "The Hajj grant was provided by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz at the request of the Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, following their release in the Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal agreed last month. The costs are being borne by the Saudi monarch."

Once again, imagine the deplorable moral and political compromises we could avoid if not for the dependence on Saudi oil. "Saudi King's private aircraft to take ex-prisoners for Hajj," from Middle East Monitor, November 4:

An aircraft provided by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has been put at the disposal of ex-prisoners from Gaza in order to fly them to the kingdom to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. A senior official of the Ministry of Prisoners and Freed Detainees in the Palestinian Authority, Ziad Abu Ein, confirmed that he and his colleagues are working on the necessary travel documents and passports. The ex-prisoner pilgrims will be exempt from any fees involved.

Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio on Thursday, Mr. Abu Ein said that the private plane will land at El-Arish airport in northern Sinai before taking Gaza's ex-prisoners for Hajj. According to Abu Ein, those ex-prisoners in other parts of Palestine and other countries will be taken for Hajj separately. The exception, he added, are those in the occupied West Bank who remain under a form of house arrest imposed by the Israelis, which prevents them from leaving the country. They have been advised not to attempt to leave the country as that will give the Israeli occupation authorities an excuse not to let them back into the country. The women prisoners, said Mr Abu Ein, will travel together as a group to overcome difficulties arising from women having to have close male relatives (“muhrim”) with them when travelling to Saudi Arabia.

The Hajj grant was provided by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz at the request of the Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, following their release in the Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal agreed last month. The costs are being borne by the Saudi monarch.

Lather, rinse, repeat: after a certain period of calm, the jihadists in Gaza decide to see how far they can push against Israel again. Hamas is putatively in control of Gaza, but will not accept responsibility for attacks launched from the territory. They hope instead to reap the benefits of plausible deniability for the attack in a situation where jihadists can open or cease fire at will, and no one can be held responsible.

Hamas and its sympathizers will do all they can to cast Israel as the aggressor for not playing that game. "Man injured in Ashkelon rocket attack dies from wounds," by Yaakov Laapin, Lahav Harkov, and Tovah Lazaroff for the Jerusalem Post, October 30:

A man was killed and four people were wounded when southern Israel was bombarded with long-range Grad rockets fired by Islamic Jihad from Gaza on Saturday.

The rocket casualty was later named as Ami Moshe, 56, of Ashkelon. Moshe was on his way home to his family when the air raid siren went off. He left his vehicle and ran for cover, but was mortally injured by flying shrapnel from the rocket fired at a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon. He was rushed to the Barzilai Medical Center in the city, but doctors were unable to save his life. Moshe was able to answer a call from his concerned wife and tell her that he had been injured before being evacuated to hospital.

Security chiefs searched for a way to contain the situation on Saturday, as the Air Force went into action to strike terror cells preparing rockets for launch in northern and southern Gaza.

IDF confirmed killing 10 Islamic Jihad members on Saturday. It struck four terror targets in Gaza between 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday night. The targets included a terror cell in southern Gaza planning to fire a projectile, a terrorist planning a rocket strike, and two rocket launch sites in northern Gaza. An additional terrorist in southern Gaza planning a rocket attack was also struck from the air on Saturday night. Furthermore, a cell in northern Gaza was also hit by the Air Force.

Some 200,000 school children will stay at home as classes in Ashdod, Beersheba and Kiryat Malachi were canceled by local officials, and the IDF Home Front Command asked people who live within 40 kilometers of the Gaza Strip to stay near structures protected against rockets.

On Saturday, 35 projectiles, including Grads and mortar shells, were fired at southern communities, hitting built-up areas in Ashdod, Ashkelon and regional councils across the region. A number of the rockets caused extensive damages to buildings.

The IDF struck a rocket-launching cell in Rafah, in the southern Strip, following the upsurge in attacks, reportedly killing two terrorists.

Hamas is responsible for what takes place in Gaza,” the army said....

The interview was but one parting shot of psychological warfare. The report below says Shalit had been "freed," but that armed, masked Hamas members were still in the area, and as shown above, they were still in the room.

The questions range from asinine to abusive. The Egyptians and Hamas could not help but make Shalit, as obviously frail as he was, jump through one more hoop where he must have worried Hamas might change its mind or add additional complications if he said the wrong thing.

The director of Egyptian state TV, which has already shown its readiness to be party to abuses of human rights recently, claimed in a New York Times report that it was just too juicy a story to pass up. Shalit was not "free" at that point, however, and what the Egyptians could also not pass up was the chance to stand between the hostage soldier and his family and country that much longer.

"Israel 'shocked' at Egypt TV Schalit interview," by Tia Goldenberg for the Associated Press, October 18:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials harshly criticized an Egyptian television interview with soldier Gilad Schalit minutes after Hamas militants freed him in a prisoner swap Tuesday, saying the questioning was inappropriate and insensitive.

In the interview aired on Egyptian state television, a gaunt, sallow and uncomfortable looking Schalit appeared to struggle to speak at times, and his breathing was noticeably labored as he awkwardly answered questions. The footage, along with earlier Egyptian TV video showing Schalit being transferred to Egypt, were the first images seen of the soldier after more than five years in Hamas captivity.

Armed Hamas militants were in the area during the interview. One of them stood behind Schalit's chair, wearing a a black face mask, a green headband of the Qassam brigades — Hamas' military wing — and a video camera in his hand.

"You have known what it is like to be in captivity," the interviewer Shahira Amin said to Schalit. "There are more than 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Will you help campaign for their release?" she asked.

"What has the experience brought you? Has it made you stronger?" she asked at another point. And, brushing aside the fact Hamas had barred anyone from visiting Schalit, she asked him why he only gave one interview while held captive.

An Israeli official questioned the ethics of the journalists involved.

"We are all shocked that a so-called interview was forced on (Schalit) before he could even talk to his family or set foot on Israeli soil," the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a sensitive diplomatic matter, but said the sentiment was widely shared in official Israeli ranks.

Israeli security officials told Israeli YNet News that the interview was a violation of the deal for Schalit's release.

However, an Egyptian security official said the Egyptian information minister asked the intelligence chief for an exclusive interview with Schalit. According to the official, Israel allowed only one cameraman from Egyptian TV to film inside the tent where Egyptian and Israeli intelligence officials were meeting with Schalit. It was not a condition in the deal but a request from Egypt. The interviewer said it was not coerced.

An ashen-faced Schalit answered a range of questions on his captivity and what he thought of the 1,027 Palestinian prisoners released for his freedom.

He was then handed over to Israeli officials and only then given a medical examination, where doctors determined he showed signs of malnutrition and lack of exposure to sunlight....

It isn't over until Shalit is back on Israeli soil. One hopes Israel has stipulated that Hamas hand over Shalit first, and only then will the other prisoners will be exchanged. The Palestinian jihadists, for their part, will certainly try to abduct another Israeli soldier. That was believed to be one of the goals in the Eilat jihadist raid earlier this year. "Shalit deal to include 1,027 security prisoners," from YNet News, October 11:

1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be released in the framework of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that would bring IDF soldier Gilad Shalit home.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen said that in the first phase of the swap, Israel will release 450 prisoners. Two months later, Israel will choose an additional 577 prisoners it wants to release.

All Palestinian female prisoners held in Israeli prisons are included in the list of 450 including Amina Mona, a young woman who lured a lovestruck Israeli teenage boy by the name of Ophir Nahum to a Palestinian city over the Internet, only to have him killed by waiting terrorists.

Israel will release 110 prisoners to the West Bank (14 to east Jerusalem) while 131 will return to their homes in the Gaza Strip.

Of the 450 prisoners to be released in the first phase, 280 are serving at least one life sentence.

However, Israel scored a major victory as nearly all top Palestinian terrorists will not be freed in the exchange, including:

Marwan Barghouti who was sentenced to five life sentences for his role in the murders of Israelis during the al-Aksa intifada

Abdullah Barghouti who is serving out 67 consecutive life terms for building the bombs that murdered 66 people

Ahmed Saadat who headed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was responsible for the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze'evi

Hassan Salama, a Hamas leader who was convicted of murdering 67 Israeli citizens

Abbas a-Sayed, mastermind of the Park Hotel suicide bombing in which 30 Israelis were killed on the eve of Passover 2002

Ibrahim Hamed, who was found guilty of involvement in terrorist attacks that led to the death of 82 Israelis

"450 is a large number but 300 are leaving the area to Gaza or overseas," Cohen said.

And they will be given a hero's welcome in Gaza for their acts of murder.

As Netanyahu subsequently observed, Khamenei's remarks demonstrate the need for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, whereby its neighbors would at least have to go on record pledging that they will co-exist with Israel as it is, and not simply as a land area for which they have other eventual plans.

"Hamas: 'Resistance' against Israel is only option left for Palestinians," from Haaretz, October 1:

Hamas leader Khaled Meshal told an international conference in Iran on Saturday that "resistance" was the only option left for the Palestinians.

Meshal was addressing the "5th International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada" in Iran’s capital Tehran.

"Palestinians must resort to resistance no matter how costly it is, until Palestine is free and Israel is destroyed," Meshal said.

They've certainly done a fine job of squandering untold amounts of resources. If that much wealth had been put toward something constructive, Gaza and the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority could be like Dubai, Singapore, or Monaco.

For that matter, after that much blood and treasure, the demise of Israel would be a pyrrhic victory for the jihadists. Hamas and the PA would be stuck with themselves, and they cannot get along even with a common enemy to unite against.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also spoke at the conference on Saturday, assailed a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, saying the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations is doomed to fail.

Khamenei told the conference, which was attended by other by senior Palestinian militant leaders as well as Mashaal, that the Palestinians should not limit themselves to seeking a country based on the pre-1967 borders because "all land belongs to Palestinians."

"Our claim is freedom of Palestine, not part of Palestine. Any plan that partitions Palestine is totally rejected," Khamenei told the conference.

"Palestine spans from the river (Jordan) to the sea (Mediterranean), nothing less."

Khamenei claimed that a two state solution would mean "giving in to the demand of the Zionists" and that it would "trample the rights of the Palestinian people" to live on their land.

Khamenei also called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that should be removed.

Hamas has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the Palestinian bid for statehood in the UN, led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Last week, Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused Abbas.of relinquishing Palestinian rights by seeking recognition for a state in the pre-1967 borders.

"The Palestinian people do not beg the world for a state, and the state can't be created through decisions and initiatives," Haniyeh said. "States liberate their land first and then the political body can be established."

Samer Allawi "offered to use his position as a reporter to promote Hamas interests," and "traveled to Qatar and met with additional Al Jazeera reporters, who the Shin Bet said were Hamas operatives, and discussed the possibility of using their position to advance Hamas by criticizing the US military in Afghanistan."

How many more operatives are there? Does al-Jazeera care to find out? "Al Jazeera journalist admits to being Hamas operative," by Yaakov Katz for the Jerusalem Post, September 26:

During a Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) interrogation, former Al Jazeera Afghanistan bureau chief Samer Allawi said he traveled to Syria to help a terror group.

Allawi reached a deal with the Israel State Prosecutor’s Office on Sunday, under which he will receive a suspended sentence of three years, after he confessed to conspiring in Hamas operations.

Allawi, a Palestinian, was arrested in August on the border between the West Bank and Jordan.

He said he was recruited into Hamas in 1993 and served there until 2004 in a senior committee that oversees Hamas operations abroad, and is responsible for fundraising.

In 2001 and 2003 he traveled to Syria where he reported on his activities to Mousa Aba Marzook, deputy to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, in Damascus.

Aba Marzook offered Allawi to become an official Hamas representative in Iran, but he rejected the offer.

During the interrogation with the Shin Bet, Allawi said he attended a meeting in 2000 in Saudi Arabia in which he said he would be part of a terror operation on behalf of Hamas. He also offered to use his position as a reporter to promote Hamas interests.

In 2006, Allawi traveled to Qatar and met with additional Al Jazeera reporters, who the Shin Bet said were Hamas operatives, and discussed the possibility of using their position to advance Hamas by criticizing the US military in Afghanistan.

During his interrogation, the Shin Bet said he also discussed his activities as a member of the mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1988 to 1992, during which he said that he participated in a rebel raid on an Afghan military base and participated in guerrilla operations against Soviet forces.

The latest escalation in the Turkish Temper Tantrum. Erdogan has also publicly considered visiting Gaza, and clearly does not care on either point how he is bolstering Hamas. "Turkish warships will escort aid vessels to Gaza: Erdogan," by Sami Aboudi for Reuters, September 8:

CAIRO (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it would escort aid ships to Gaza and would not allow a repetition of last year's Israeli raid that killed nine Turks, setting the stage for a potential naval confrontation with its former ally.

Raising the stakes in Turkey's row with Israel over its refusal to apologize for the killings, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Al Jazeera television that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources in the Mediterranean.

"Turkish warships, in the first place, are authorized to protect our ships that carry humanitarian aid to Gaza," Erdogan said in the interview, broadcast by Al Jazeera with an Arabic translation.

"From now on, we will not let these ships to be attacked by Israel, as what happened with the Freedom Flotilla," Erdogan said.

Referring to Erdogan's comments, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "This is a statement well-worth not commenting on."

Relations between Turkey and Israel, two close U.S. allies in the region, have soured since Israeli forces boarded the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara aid ship in May 2010.

Ankara downgraded ties and vowed to boost naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean in the escalating row. Israel says it acted legally against ships that tried to breach its blockade on the Palestinian enclave which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas group.

Israel has said it will enforce the blockade, which it says is needed to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said earlier on Thursday that Israel and Turkey will eventually mend fences rather than become foes, describing their unprecedented dispute over Gaza as "spilled milk."

Noting that an inquiry commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had vindicated the blockade, Barak predicted that wider Middle East upheaval would help bring Israel back together with its Muslim ex-ally.

"Ultimately this wave will pass. We recognize reality. They recognize reality," Barak told Israel Radio. "We are the two countries that are most important to the West in the region ... I am certain that we can overcome these (disagreements)."

But Erdogan appeared to raise the heat, saying NATO member Turkey has taken steps to patrol the Mediterranean, and vowed to stop the Jewish state from exploiting natural resources in the area.

"You know that Israel has begun to declare that it has the right to act in exclusive economic areas in the Mediterranean," Erdogan said, apparently in reference to Israeli plans to exploit offshore gas reserves found in areas that are also claimed by Lebanon.

"You will see that it will not be the owner of this right, because Turkey, as a guarantor of the Turkish republic of north Cyprus, has taken steps in the area, and it will be decisive and holding fast to the right to monitor international waters in the east Mediterranean," he said.

Turkish-occupied Cyprus. Only Turkey recognizes the "republic of North Cyprus."

Good thing Hamas declared this ceasefire, eh? War Is Deceit, after all. "7 rockets hit south; IDF retaliates," from Ynet News, August 24:

Rockets explode near Ashkelon, Ofakim and Eshkol Council after Islamic Jihad vows to avenge death of terrorist in IAF air strike. No injuries reported. IAF targets Islamic Jihad terrorist cell in Gaza, kills one

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire was breached again Wednesday as seven rockets hit southern communities. A rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip exploded in an open field south of Ashkelon Wednesday evening. Minutes later, two additional rockets hit an open area near Ofakim. Shortly thereafter, two other rockets landed near the Eshkol Regional Council, which later saw two extra Qassam landings....

In "Hamas-linked group eats up your taxes" In WorldNetDaily, August 23, Pamela Geller discusses a disturbing program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

The line between mosque and state continues to blur under the Obama administration.

What happened to the foundational principle of separation of religion and state? Do we not even so much as pretend anymore? The White House's official website Aug. 10 posted a story entitled "Islamic Relief USA Starts Its First Summer Food Service Program," boasting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now helping this Islamic group get its program started. What kind of help is the USDA giving to Jewish and Christian charitable groups? Islamic Relief USA has ties to Hamas. How many other groups with ties to terror organizations are working with the USDA? And why is the United States government subjugating itself in this way?

The story featured a photo with the caption: "Max Finberg, Director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships at USDA, and IRUSA's Abed Ayoub cut the ribbon launching summer feeding program at An Nur (Photo courtesy of IRUSA)." Reporter Marissa Duswalt quoted Kareema Dickens, the principal of An Nur School in Lanham, Md., as giving "heartfelt remarks." Dickens said: "We are very grateful to USDA for helping us feed our students this summer and letting us know about this wonderful program. We hope to continue this partnership and serve meals to our students throughout the year."

I equate "Islamic Relief" with dhimmi pain. This is jizya, the poll tax imposed upon non-Muslims by their "Islamic betters," who are commanded by the Quran to make sure that the dhimmis pay it with "willing submission" and "feel themselves subdued" (9:29).

Islamic Relief USA is a spinoff of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), which is headed up by Dr. Hani Al-Banna. Al-Banna was formerly with the Muslim Aid (MA), a London-based Islamic "charity" based in London that was a "partner organization" with the Al-Salah Islamic Association, a Hamas fundraising machine headed up by Ahmed Al-Kurd, whom the U.S. government officially designated as a terrorist. Muslim Aid also worked with groups linked to Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan.

IRW received $50,000 from a front for Osama bin Laden in 1999, and has given millions to the jihadists in Chechnya. And IRW official Iyaz Ali has admitted to aiding Hamas while serving as project coordinator at IRW's Gaza branch in late 2005 and early 2006. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that "incriminating files were found on Ali's computer, including documents that attested to the organization's ties with illegal Hamas funds abroad (in the U.K. and in Saudi Arabia) and in Nablus. Also found were photographs of swastikas superimposed on IDF [Israeli Defense Force] symbols, [as well as photos] of senior Nazi German officials, of Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as well as many photographs of Hamas military activities."

Read it all.

The jihadists know the double standard that is in place means that while Israel will observe the "lull," the world will indulge Hamas and its fellow travelers a few slip-ups -- in other words, a few free shots. And here they are.

"Lull breached; rockets hit westeren [sic] Negev," by Shmulik Hadad for YNet News, August 23:

The fragile armistice declared by the Gaza terror groups was breached once more Monday evening, as several rockets were were fired from northern Gaza at Israel's southern communities.

Four Qassam rockets were fired from northern Gaza at the area: One landed south of Ashkelon causing no harm; and three others exploded in open areas at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.

The Color Red alert sounded across the western Negev just seconds before the projectiles landed.

It will be temporary, as the ceasefire is always intended to be temporary under Islamic law, to allow the Muslim side to re-group and re-arm. Again, the practical effect is that the jihadists can more or less decide when hostilities begin and end as it suits them, knowing also that Israel will be held to the higher end of a double standard in actually observing the arrangement. As they say in Israel, "we cease, they fire."

"Israel and Hamas agree Gaza truce, officials say," from BBC News, August 22:

Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which governs the Gaza Strip, say they have agreed to a ceasefire after five days of violence.

The latest clashes began when militants crossed into southern Israel and killed eight Israelis on Thursday.

Subsequent Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 15 Palestinians. One Israeli was killed in rocket fire from Gaza.

The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the UN, US, EU and Russia - has called for restraint.

Informal truce

A Palestinian official said that Hamas had agreed to ensure that the ceasefire was recognised by smaller militant groups in Gaza - which were responsible for most of the rockets fired at southern Israel in the past few days.

Prior to the announcement, Israeli media reported that 12 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel overnight. No injuries resulted.

But on Monday, Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) - last to agree to the truce - agreed to halt rocket fire against Israel as a "temporary" measure "for the sake of the Palestinian people".

Earlier, Israel's army radio reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet had decided the military would stop its air strikes on Gaza if militants there halted their attacks.

Like similar arrangements in the past this is not a formal agreement, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem....

How about a word along those lines to Gaza?

Of course not. All of the Palestinian factions know that if Israel cannot hold Hamas accountable as the entity that is, after all, putatively in control of Gaza, there will exist a perfect arrangement of plausible deniability among jihadist groups: everyone benefits, and no one can face consequences if no one can be held responsible.

Pass the buck, and watch the rockets fly. "Barrage of rockets from Gaza strike Israel; sites in Gaza targeted," from CNN, August 21:

Jerusalem (CNN) -- A barrage of rockets and mortars fired into southern Israel continued Sunday, the latest in a four-day escalation of violence sparked by a series of attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers Thursday.

By noon Sunday, 20 incoming rockets had been reported by Israeli officials.

An eighth victim died from Thursday's attacks, Israeli police said Sunday. He was identified as Yitzhak Sela, a 56-year-old bus driver.

The attacks on buses, cars and security personnel killed six other Israeli civilians and one soldier and wounded more than 30 people, authorities said.

Since then, nearly 100 rockets have been fired into Israel, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav (Poly) Mordechai said Sunday. At least one Israeli was killed in an attack in Beer Sheva, authorities said. [...]

The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in a statement Sunday, said Israel's "rogue behavior must end."

The Palestinian government "calls upon the Israeli government to cease and desist in its use of its unjustified aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and to respect international law and refrain from revenge, terror, and collective punishment tactics," the statement said.....

Once again: how about a word along those lines to Gaza?

It was only Friday that Hamas declared the truce was off. As the Israeli response has escalated, and they may face actual consequences for the latest bombardment of southern Israel with rocket fire, they've changed their minds.

It is a calculated move, of course, hoped to have the practical effect of allowing Hamas and jihadists who feel threatened enough to play along to declare when hostilities begin and end as it suits them. They know that Israel will be held to an international double standard where it will be expected to adhere to any truce, while the jihadists can make virtually any excuse they like for continuing rocket fire on a lower level of intensity. As the saying in Israel goes, "We cease, they fire."

More on this story. "Report: Gaza groups discuss ceasefire," by Elior Levy for YNet News, August 21:

Leaders of Gaza's militant groups convened in Cairo Sunday to discuss a possible cease-fire with Israel, according to an Islamic Jihad official.

Just a short while later reports emerged of the meeting, two mortar shells were fired at Eshkol Regional Council, and Palestinian sources in Gaza reported airstrikes had resumed.

According to sources, seven people were injured in an Air Force bombing of a Hamas outpost. A training camp belonging to Al-Ahrar Brigades was also bombed, as well as an open area near Nuseirat refugee camp, reports say. No casualties were reported in the latter strikes.

In online messages published in forums linked to Hamas and Fatah, the Gaza Strip government allegedly informed all Palestinian factions about a lull agreement, calling them to stop firing at Israel, which reportedly goes into effect on 9 pm Sunday.

According to Islamic Jihad official Ahmed Mudalal, the discussions were based on a lull agreement draft sent by United Nations envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry. Mudalal clarified that the Palestinian factions do not plan on handing Israel a lull agreement "free of charge," adding they will demand an immediate halt to Israel attacks in Gaza.

"The Islamic Jihad, as well as the rest of the Palestinian factions, are trying to spare our people from the agony of war," emphasized Mudalal. "However if it's enforced upon them, then the people must show patience and the resistance must protect ithem [sic] with all its might."

Possilbe [sic] cease-fire?

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad's Secretary-General Ramadan Abdullah Shallah is said to be arriving in Cairo for consultations with Hamas and Egyptian officials, according to a report in Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper.

The report further stated that talks about a possible cease-fire had already started up on Saturday, after Hamas officials claimed they were not interested in escalating the already heated situation between them and Israel.

Quoting a top-ranking Palestinian official, the report claimed Hamas was trying to persuade the Islamic Jihad's military wing to stop attacking Israel.

However Jerusalem officials claimed Sunday they have no knowledge of such plans for a cease-fire or a lull agreement with the Palestinians.

If there is any truth to this at all, Hamas is not doing this because deep down, they really, really want a Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with Israel. It is solely that Hamas is trying to get Islamic Jihad to stop because the clueless dhimmis are giving them Israel on a platter as it is, so why complicate matters?

"'Hamas talking to Islamic Jihad in effort to halt rockets,'" from the Jerusalem Post, August 21:

Hamas has been holding talks with the Islamic Jihad over the weekend in an effort to convince the terror organization to stop firing rockets into Israel and resume the de facto truce that has been in place for two years, Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported on Sunday.

According to the report, Hamas leaders from Damascus told Egyptian officials that the group is not interested in an escalation with Israel at the moment, saying it does not believe it is in the interest of the Palestinians.

Hamas, in talks with Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, said that it wanted the crossings with Israel re-opened so that goods and commodities could enter Gaza during Ramadan, Al-Ahram said.

Hamas's armed wing, the Izzadin al-Kassam Brigades, the report added, was not participating in the rocket fire that saw over 80 projectiles fired into Israel from the Strip over the weekend.

Speaking with Israel Radio Sunday morning, an IDF spokesman said that while Hamas was not itself firing rockets, the IDF holds it responsible for all activity taking place in and emanating from the Gaza Strip.

It was a one-way truce anyway, as Hamas and other jihadist groups continued to lob rockets into Israel all the while. The world never expected or demanded Hamas to act like a real government, while demanding a level of restraint from Israel that would allow virtually no response to the jihadist faux-state in Gaza but inaction.

Under Islamic law, a hudna is never intended to last, and its purpose is to allow the Muslim side to regroup and re-arm until they think they are in a position to succeed when hostilities resume. Hamas has spent its time doing just that, stockpiling all the weapons and explosives it could -- all the more so since the Egyptian revolution.

Israeli intelligence estimates that "Hamas and Islamic Jihad have obtained more than 10,000 rockets and missiles – including a large stockpile of Iranian Fajr-5 rockets that can reach Tel Aviv." Longer-range rockets can be stored farther from the Israeli border, so that "in order to effectively stop rocket fire into Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv, the IDF will have to operate throughout the entire Strip." Hamas' propaganda machine will be standing by to peddle its wares to international news outlets, of course.

Eventually, however, Hamas will bite off more than it can chew in the current round of the conflict as well, and plead again to return to the ceasefire to repeat the process, just as it did in March, after the Israeli response when one of Hamas' more advanced rockets struck a school bus.

One question remains: will the Hamas fighters cut and run as badly this time, or fire poorly while paralyzed with fear? "Hamas calls off truce as rocket fire continues from Gaza," from the Jerusalem Post, August 20:

Hamas announced early on Saturday they were no longer committed to a more than two-year de facto truce with Israel since the end of a war in early 2009.

They may also suppose that a renewed conflict may give them the chance to angle for sympathy at the U.N. ahead of the statehood spectacle looming in the coming weeks.

The statement was broadcast over a Hamas radio station in Gaza after Israel pounded the Strip for two days with air strikes in response to rocket salvoes and attacks on Thursday that killed eight people.

"There is no longer any truce with the enemy," the statement said in a move seen as paving the way for Hamas to escalate the violence with Israel.

The IAF launched an airstrike late Friday night against a terrorist cell in the central Gaza Strip after the cell fired a rocket into Israeli territory, the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement. A direct hit was identified in the strike, the statement added.

Minutes earlier, the Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip toward Ashkelon.

Earlier, three rockets exploded in the Eshkol Regional council Friday night over a period of several hours. No injuries or damages were reported.

In the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, an explosion occurred near a local kibbutz Friday evening. Local officials said a Kassam rocket landed in an open area. No injuries or damages were reported.

An hour earlier, two rockets fired from Gaza fell in northern Lachish not far from Kiryat Malachi. No injuries were reported although the explosion sparked a fire, which spread to an empty building. The building was lightly damaged before firefighters put out the fire.

Police have asked members of the public in the affected areas to follow instructions from the home front command. [...]

"If anyone thinks the State of Israel will resign itself to this, they are wrong," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a brief television address about the most deadly attack in Israel since 2008.

The U.S. finally drew the line with Hamas' intrusive "audits" of aid organizations, and the group backed down.

But the "audit" game was only part of a larger move by Hamas to intimidate aid groups through sustained harassment at every turn, in order to remind them who they work for, at least if Hamas has its way. "Hamas imposes new restrictions on aid workers," from the Associated Press, August 16:

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian rights groups are condemning new orders by Gaza's Hamas rulers that employees of civil society groups register with authorities before traveling for work outside the Gaza Strip.

Gaza rights activist Hamdi Shakoura says the move is meant to restrict the freedoms of non-governmental groups. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights also issued a statement Tuesday criticizing the new orders after meeting with a network of aid groups in Gaza.

Hamas' Deputy Interior Minister Kamel Abu Madi says employees must register with authorities two weeks before leaving and explain why they are traveling. They must also identify their hosts and list the names and details of all participants in any program they will attend.

Hamas' power play failed for now, and they have backed off enough to keep the aid coming. To lose $100 million in aid would surely entail some political fallout for the jihadist faux-state, as lavish U.S. spending on Gaza is the one form of "pork" that is completely halal.

But it appears to be a non-deal in the long run. Hamas has apparently not conceded its "right" to engage in the conduct that threatened the largesse in the first place. "Hamas official: We reached deal with US on Gaza aid," from the Jerusalem Post, August 13:

A day after the United States said it had cut aid to Gaza, a Hamas official said the Islamist group and the United States have reached a compromise that will allow USAID to continue its operations in the Gaza Strip, AFP reported.

The deal was reached by Hamas and USAID “through the United Nations,” the Hamas official said.

On Friday, a US official told Reuters that the US had suspended operations of the aid organizations it funds in the Gaza Strip because Hamas had demanded confidential information about their work.

“USAID-funded partner organizations operating in Gaza are forced by Hamas’s actions to suspend their assistance work. [They] were put on hold effective August 12,” said the official, who is based in the region.

He added that “through a series of measures [Hamas] has imposed over the past months, it has created an environment which jeopardizes the ability of nongovernmental organizations to provide assistance to Gaza’s most vulnerable residents.”

The official, who declined to be named, said Hamas had demanded access to files and records of NGOs, which would reveal financial and administrative information, details of staff members and information on beneficiaries.

He said that Hamas had shut down the International Medical Corps, an NGO and USAID partner organization, after its officials objected to “unwarranted audits.”

“We are disappointed that Hamas has once again chosen to put its political agenda ahead of the welfare of the Palestinian people,” the official said, calling on the group “to cease its interference... so that we can resume our humanitarian and development activities in Gaza.”

Palestinian-based NGOs funded by the European Union have in the past also complained of Hamas meddling in their affairs.

Hamas administration official Taher Nono said an understanding had been reached which would allow independent auditing teams to inspect the files of NGOs, but he added that Hamas had the right to monitor their work in the territory.

The International Medical Corps would be allowed to reopen its offices in the next day or two, he added.

Responding to the USAID decision to suspend its partner organizations’ work, Nono said, “Such a decision sounds odd a day after the understanding was reached... we reject any foreign intervention in Palestinian affairs.”

Can't buy me love:

The US official said some 600,000 Gazans – about a third of the population of the coastal strip – were receiving some $98 million worth of assistance from USAID projects in health, education, construction and infrastructure.

"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and Muslims our soldiers..." - Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

This arrangement has the added use of drawing military attention to ostensibly civilian targets for propaganda purposes. And the intrepid mujahedin? Not so intrepid after all, apparently. Perhaps that's why Hamas issues black uniforms to some of its fighters. They don't show stains as much. "Top Hamas engineer tells all," by Ilana Curiel for YNet News, August 12 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Hamas engineer Dirar Abu Sisi, nabbed by Israeli security forces earlier this year, provided interrogators with priceless information on Hamas' modus operandi, the terror group's readiness for a clash with Israel and attempts to improve its rocket range.

Abu Sisi? That's too easy.

According to interrogation excerpts, cleared for publication Thursday by the Beersheba District Court following Ynet's appeal, the Hamas engineer described the terror group as an orderly hierarchical organization that aims to learn from its mistakes and adapt to changing regional realities.

The engineer told interrogators that following Operation Cast Lead Gaza, top Hamas terrorist Mohammed Deif and the group's military wing commander Ahmed Jabari found Hamas' operations to be lacking and decided to make Abu Sisi in charge of establishing the organization's new military academy.

"An analysis of the war with Israel was undertaken. It found that a large number of Hamas activists ran away from their positions. A failure occurred in decision-making coupled with an inability to use arms during the battle – because of fear," he said. "A program of study had to be created, in order to improve the situation."

Terror studies at mosques

The new academy was tasked with imparting combat methods and tactics to Hamas terrorists, Abu Sisi said. Hamas men were undertaking their studies at mosques, while passing their final exams in known Gaza universities or in mosques.

"The books and academic materials did not bear the Hamas name or logo," he said. Instructors include university lecturers, education ministry officials, merchants and others.

Abu Sisi is believed to be Hamas' rocket expert. He joined the terror group in 2002, despite working for the Palestinian Electric Company, which forbade its employees from joining any group.

"I assisted Hamas in developing their missile capabilities, by identifying and handing over mathematical equations that improve the metal pipe's ability to withstand pressure and heat," he said. "I was present when a missile was test-fired at the sea in Khan Younis."

The terror group was lacking materials that could improve their rocket range and later smuggled it in from Egypt through tunnels, he said.

Rocket info on the Internet

Abu Sisi's interrogation revealed that he acquired plenty of information on improving rocket range via the Internet, including the YouTube website.

"I know nothing about explosives. I only calculated the pressure and heat…I downloaded the formula from the Internet," he said, adding that he also downloaded software pertaining to the rocket's structure.

Hamas would send its activists for further instruction overseas, Abu Sisi said. Selected graduates of the academy reached military academies in foreign countries, he said, including Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Iran.

During his interrogation, Abu Sisi expressed his regret for joining Hamas.

"I greatly regret my affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas Movement, my work to develop the missile range, my part in establishing Hamas' military academy, and all the information I handed over to Hamas that can threaten the security of Israel and its citizens," he said.

"I know the missiles are lethal and take the lives of others, without distinguishing between Arabs and Jews," he said.

The way Hamas fires, they certainly don't. Even recently, their rockets have managed to land on Bedouin communities.

Abu Sisi was kidnapped in Kiev and brought to Israel in February. His indictment sheet comprises nine counts, including membership in a terror organization, murder, attempted murder and arms production.

Like their brethren in Somalia's al-Shabaab, the thugs of Hamas want to monopolize the supply of aid for their own purposes. "US threatens Gaza aid cutoff after Hamas crackdown," by Matti Friedman for the Associated Press, August 12:

JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.S. will cut $100 million in American aid money to Palestinians in Gaza if the territory's Hamas rulers continue with "unwarranted audits" of local American nonprofit organizations, a state department official said Friday.

The American threat came in response to a growing attempt by Hamas to exert control over the international organizations that support the many impoverished Palestinians among Gaza's population of 1.5 million people.

This week, Hamas shut down the U.S.-financed International Medical Corps after it refused to submit to a Hamas audit.

The State Department informed Hamas on Thursday that aid worth $100 million would be halted if the International Medical Corps were not allowed to operate freely.

"If they are not allowed to reopen and operate then obviously we are looking at USAID to suspend all operations until the IMC is allowed to reopen," said a state department official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. "These are unwarranted audits and amount to an increase in harassment of humanitarian relief staff."

The U.S., which considers Hamas a terrorist organization, does not have direct contact with the group.

Hamas has told nonprofit groups that they must be registered with the Gaza government and provide financial records.

Mohammed Awad, the Hamas minister of planning in Gaza, said the organizations had agreed to have their accounts vetted through a Hamas-appointed accountant.

"We are not saying there is corruption in these organizations but we are trying to put things in order and to ensure that these organizations are providing services to citizens," he said. "These organizations entered this land on this basis."

Hamas — an Islamic group backed by Iran — has been slowly spreading its influence to local groups that had remained outside its control, possibly viewing them as a political threat....