A senior Palestinian official called on armed groups fighting Israel to limit their operations to the territories the Jewish state occupied in 1967.
"In the Palestinian people's current situation, all the factions must realize the necessity of limiting the resistance to the territories of 1967," the Palestinian Authority secretary general, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, told AFP.
"In the debate on the attacks in Israel, we have to remember the national interest, Palestinian public opinion, and developments which have shown the necessity of not committing acts which isolate the Palestinian people on the international scene," Abdel Rahman said.
This strategy, he said, would allow the Palestinians to "win the battle" against Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. He added the Israeli leader was "exploiting the attacks in Israel to mobilize international public opinion, especially American, against the Palestinian people."
He specifically called for restraint from the Islamic group Hamas, which carried out the latest suicide bombing inside Israel. "I call on Hamas to limit its actions to the territories occupied in 1967 and end its suicide operations inside Israel. If it doesn't want to listen to the calls of the Palestinian Authority, it must listen to those of the Palestinian people ... or else it risks isolating itself from the rest of the resistance against the occupation," he said.
Top Palestinian officials claimed last week that Hamas had timed its latest suicide attack to thwart a possible ceasefire and to undermine the authority of Yasser Arafat.
Bassil Jabr, a spokesman for Arafat's Palestinian Authority, said the suicide bombing was aimed "not just against Mr Arafat, but against the entire Palestinian nation" and accused Hamas of deliberately trying to escalate the crisis for its own ends.
"The main political interest of Hamas these days is the same as Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's. Both are trying to do their best to prevent any progress in the peace process and to get rid of Arafat," he added.
Hamas and its spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yasin pledged that attacks on Israeli civilians would continue no matter what Arafat or the Palestinian Authority says, effectively undercutting the authority's ability to negotiate and providing Sharon with an excuse for further military incursions into the territories.
"We have no choice but to resist because the alternative is acceptance of occupation, subjugation and enslavement by the Jews. Would your people accept perpetual occupation," Yasin told journalists in Gaza after the latest suicide attack. "If you wouldn't accept it, how come your governments blame us for resisting the Israeli occupation, the most dehumanizing and evil of all occupations in human history?”
He accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians, especially children, in its unrestrained war of annihilation against the Palestinian people. "We repeatedly proposed that both sides refrain from targeting civilians, but Israel said 'No' and continued to murder and maim our civilians."
Asked if he was worried about a likely crackdown on Hamas by Palestinian Authority police, Yasin said resistance to the Israeli occupation would continue so long as the occupation itself remained "entrenched in our streets and our neighborhoods."
"We are willing to make more sacrifices for freedom. We want freedom for our people, nothing more." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
