http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/world/middleeast/25mideast.html
Hamas Dismisses Israeli Concessions to Abbas Published: December 25, 2006 JERUSALEM, Dec. 24 --- Hamas, the militant Islamic faction that leads the Palestinian government, on Sunday dismissed as inconsequential the Israeli concessions made a day earlier to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president. Hamas was also critical of Mr. Abbas for his willingness to work with Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, at a time when Mr. Abbas had broken off negotiations working toward a Palestinian unity government with Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas. Mr. Olmert and Mr. Abbas held their first formal meeting Saturday night, and the Israeli leader made gestures intended to bolster Mr. Abbas, of the Fatah movement, in his power struggle with Hamas. The most significant step was to transfer $100 million in tax revenue that Israel has collected on behalf of the Palestinians but started withholding after Hamas won legislative elections in January and then took over the government. Israel's cabinet unanimously approved the transfer on Sunday, to be used for Palestinian humanitarian needs. However, the immediate effect of the Saturday night meeting was to strain further the already fraught relations between Mr. Abbas and Hamas. Fatah and Hamas gunmen have battled repeatedly in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, though the past few days have been calm. "President Abbas should have met with Prime Minister Ismail Haniya to form a national unity government," Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for Hamas, said Sunday. Mr. Olmert, speaking at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, said he expected to hold additional meetings with Mr. Abbas. "Our intention is to begin ongoing negotiations in order to advance the peace process that we want so much," Mr. Olmert said. At the meeting Saturday, the Israeli leader also pledged to remove some West Bank checkpoints and to allow more trucks to travel to the main cargo crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. There was no agreement on the release of Palestinian prisoners, an issue the Palestinians consider very important. Israel's position has been that Palestinian militants must release an Israeli soldier they captured in June before a significant number of Palestinian prisoners are freed. However, at the Israeli cabinet meeting, several ministers raised the possibility of releasing at least some Palestinian prisoners before the Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha, which begins Saturday. Israel has done so in the past, and Mr. Olmert said he was willing to consider the proposal in the coming days, an official who was at the meeting said. Since Hamas came to power in the spring, Israel has been withholding tax and customs revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, and the money now totals about $500 million. Before Israel cut off the money, it was sent to the Palestinian Finance Ministry for general budget expenditures. Now it will be channeled through Mr. Abbas's office. While the money could restock hospital supplies and meet other pressing Palestinian needs, it falls well short of the $150 million or more needed to cover a single month of the Palestinian Authority's budget. "The money withheld by Israel is Palestinian money, and Israel has no right to control it," said Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government. "It's ours, and they use this money to pressure the Palestinians." Hamas has always refused to deal with Israel and has argued that negotiations with it have produced few gains for the Palestinians. Over all, Palestinians seemed less than impressed with the meeting's outcome. "In the Palestinian view, the Israeli concessions to Mahmoud Abbas are very minor," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al Azhar University in Gaza City. "Also, this will definitely have a negative effect on his relations with Hamas." In another development, the militant Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. Israeli officials say the persistent rocket fire will lead to an Israeli response. Taghreed El-Khodary contributed reporting from Gaza. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
