Hamas rejects talk of ceasefire with Israel
( 2003-09-25 08:39) (Agencies)
The Islamic militant group Hamas on Wednesday rejected calls by more moderate Palestinian leaders for a cease-fire with Israel and said it would not hand in its weapons or join the Palestinian government.
Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was wounded in an Israeli missile strike earlier this month, briefly emerged from hiding to make his comments in a mosque after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian youth during a raid in the Gaza Strip.
His remarks further dimmed hopes that militant groups will soon be disarmed under a U.S.-backed peace "road map" which has stalled after making little progress toward ending three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
"Talking truces is completely rejected by our side now," Yassin said, shrugging off calls for a cease-fire by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his relatively moderate prime minister-designate, Ahmed Qurie.
Qurie and Arafat have refused to use force against militant groups but are obliged to rein them in under the road map, which sets out steps to establish a Palestinian state by 2005.
Israel has already ruled out a cease-fire, saying the militants would use it to regroup. An earlier truce announced by militants lasted only seven weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon laid the blame on the Palestinians for the failure of attempts at peace.
"We are witness to the failure of every attempt to progress (toward peace). In order to progress, Palestinians need to carry out reforms and dismantle terrorist organizations," he said.
Palestinians say Sharon's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are responsible for the derailed peace process.
"CHAOS OF ARMS"
Qurie has said he regretted the "chaos of arms" in Palestinian areas but Yassin told reporters: "Nobody can take our arms away until the land is liberated, the holy places are liberated, and we have a state and an independent entity."
Dismissing calls by Qurie for Hamas to be part of the government he is forming, Yassin said: "We do not share in governments under (Israeli) occupation."
Yassin also denounced a speech by President Bush to the United Nations on Tuesday as a declaration of war on Islam. Bush said the Palestinian cause was being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds."
Hopes of a quick end to the violence have faded after a new wave of suicide bombings in Israel by Islamic militants and Israeli missile strikes which have killed 12 Hamas leaders.
Witnesses said an unarmed 15-year-old Palestinian was killed by a tank shell in the latest violence in southern Gaza. Israeli forces also wounded 11 people, including gunmen who fired on soldiers who entered the Rafah refugee camp.
Israeli military sources said it was an operation to search for arms smuggling tunnels and that the soldiers came under fire. Palestinians said the incursion followed Palestinian mortar fire at a Jewish settlement near Rafah.
Bush's comments at the U.N. General Assembly in New York appeared aimed at Arafat's leadership, but French President Jacques Chirac said the former guerrilla leader was the only one who could impose a peace deal on Palestinians.
Palestinian leaders criticized Bush's remarks. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the favorable remarks were of "very great significance."
The United States and Israel accuse Arafat of fomenting violence, an allegation he denies.
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