Roundup: Fatah and Hamas Reach Agreement to End Violence, Palestinian Poll, Ahmadinejad Warns European Governments, Egyptian Police Intercept Arms, IDF Cite Need for Full-Scale Gaza Operation, Mubarak Discusses Islam
News: A Selection of Must-Read News Stories on the Conflict. Updated Daily.
October 20, 2006
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Fatah and Hamas Agree to End Violence
As the end of the Ramadan holiday nears and the Eid il-Fitr holiday approaches, Palestinians are hopeful that the agreement reached between Hamas and Fatah on the cessation of hostilities will hold.
The agreement, which was reached through the mediation of Egypt’s permanent security delegation to Gaza, calls for an immediate cessation of violence and an end to incitement and mudslinging on Palestinian media outlets.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said: "These efforts have been crowned by an agreement between Hamas and Fatah to stop tensions between the two sides and to bring the security situation under control."
Palestinian Poll
A recent poll taken by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion found that, among other things, most Palestinians support early elections, hoping that a new government would pull the Palestinian Authority out of its current political crisis and support the public sector employees and works strike.
Also, about a third believe United States intervention is responsible for the current crisis, while 27% believe it is the result of Hamas policies. Interestingly, despite the desire for form a new government, current Prime Minister Ismael Haniyyeh, a member of the ruling Hamas, was given the greatest amount of trust for forming a national unity government, far beyond President Mahmoud Abbas, who found himself in 8th place.
Ahmadinejad Warns European Governments Against Backing Israel
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran added a threatening edge to his verbal onslaught on Israel today by warning European governments to withdraw their support or face getting "hurt" in a storm of retaliation.
He also called Britain and the United States "enemies of Iran" whose attempts to block the country's nuclear programme at the UN security council were "illegitimate".
Mr Ahmadinejad was speaking in Tehran at the annual Qods [Jerusalem] day rally, staged by Iran's Islamic regime to propagate its ideological opposition to Israel. He repeated predictions that Israel would soon disappear but, in a fresh warning, said European countries could pay a much higher price than the US for their backing.
Egyptian Police Intercept Arms
As the Israeli Defense Forces continued what it describes as a search for arms-smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip, Egyptian police reportedly intercepted a large arms shipment en route to the territory. Egyptian police said they arrested three Bedouin trying to smuggle nearly 200 crates of automatic weapons and ammunition from Egypt into Gaza.
IDF Cite Need for Full-Scale Gaza Operation
IDF officials said that in order to fight comprehensively against the smuggling of weapons into the Palestinian territories, Israel needs to embark on a full-scale operation in the Gaza Strip.
Army Radio reported that the officials also advocated sending IDF troops into the heart of Rafah.
Former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. (res.) Doron Almog said that a military incursion would not suffice. "There is a need for a permanent IDF presence in the area," he said.
Mubarak Discusses Islam
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that the Islamic world was facing cruel and incorrect accusations, but said Muslims themselves must take some responsibility for others' erroneous impressions.
Mubarak made the comments in an address to senior Egyptian officials and Muslim clerics on the 27th day of the holy month of Ramadan, which Muslims believe marks the night of the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.
"Shouldn't we Muslims shoulder part of the responsibility of these wrong ideas about Islam? Have we fulfilled our duty in correcting the image of Islam and the Muslims? What did we do to face a terrorism that wears Islam's cloak and targets the lives of the people," Mubarak said in the remarks that were televised live.
