A senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas warned that it would launch new operations "in the coming few weeks or days." "The resistance is still strong," Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi told BBC radio in London. "We will hear about operations in the coming few weeks or days."
He also denounced an agreement that led to Israeli forces lifting their siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.
Rantissi said that with his release, Arafat had given up "the last kind of sovereignty" and put an end to the Oslo peace process, negotiations and "any hope of an independent state. "If you are going to say that negotiation is a kind of struggle," he went on, "then Mr Arafat put an end for that kind of struggle, so now we have just one way, which is military struggle. "I think the Palestinians have no other option just to struggle for their liberation."
Rantissi said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government "did nothing except kill civilians" during their West Bank offensive. "We cannot accept occupation any more," he added. (Albawaba.com)
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