Palestinian Hamas Vows More Attacks on Israel

28/03/2001| IslamWeb

[A Palestinian boy carries an M-16 gun during a Hamas demonstration against Israeli occupation in the West Bank town of Tulkarem June 22, 2001. Read caption below].

NUSAIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Islamweb & Agencies) - The Palestinian Islamic Resistance group Hamas said on Tuesday it was determined to keep attacking Israelis ``everywhere,'' underlining the right of the Palestinians under international law to resist occupation
``Our Hamas mujahideen (fighters for a just cause) will strike the Zionists everywhere. Hamas rejects the cease-fire as long as the Zionists are present on our land,'' said Hamas leader Salem Salama.
Salama told thousands of supporters at a rally in Gaza's Nusairat refugee camp that his group would not fall in line with a U.S.-brokered plan to halt nine months of resistance to occupation which has claimed more than 600 lives.
``Our movement rejects the Tenet document, the Mitchell report and the plan by (Secretary of State) Colin Powell which aims to abort the blessed Intifada (uprising),'' he said, referring to a series of American proposals allegedly aimed at moving the sides toward peacemaking.
Hamas men burned an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and another resembling the United States of America before a scheduled meeting between Sharon and President Bush over Middle East peacemaking.
Salama said Hamas was responsible for detonating a roadside bomb near a Jewish settlement in northern Gaza Strip early on Tuesday.
Palestinian resistance groups have been refusing to rein in an uprising that erupted against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank last September when peace talks deadlocked.
Sharon reiterated on Monday that his government will not take further steps toward resuming negotiations with the Palestinians before a complete cessation of what he calls violence and the Palestinians call resistance.
Palestinian officials lashed out at Sharon, blaming the current bloodshed on provocations. 
Eight Palestinians and six Israelis have been killed since Israel and the Palestinians approved officially approved the U.S.-brokered agreement to halt the fighting on June 13.
At the Gaza rally on Tuesday, several Hamas members fired automatic rifles in the air as others marched in a paramilitary parade.
``We pledge to God that we will continue the Intifada and the military operations and will force the Zionists to taste the bitterness of defeat,'' a masked member of Hamas's armed wing vowed over a loudspeaker.
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PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian boy carries an M-16 gun during a Hamas demonstration against Israeli occupation in the West Bank town of Tulkarem June 22, 2001. Israel reported new Intifadha confrontations in the West Bank and Gaza on Thursday and Palestinians told of revenge attacks by Jewish settlers, as Washington struggled to save a cease-fire facing collapse after 10 killings in a week. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
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