Hamasinfo.net website, January 22, 2012
Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israeli territory
Rocket Fire -- Monthly Distribution
Mortar Shell Fire -- Monthly Distribution
The Israeli Air Force attack in the Rafah region
Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, in front
Hamas security forces at a training exercise
Mustafa Barghouti at the meeting in Beirut
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Overview
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Important Terrorism Events Israel’s South
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This past week there was an increase in rocket and mortar shell fire from the Gaza Strip into the western Negev. Four rocket hits were identified and four mortar shells were fired. There were no casualties and no damage was done. A network calling itself the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade’s Ayman Judeh Squad claimed responsibility for two of the rockets (Al-Qalaa Communications Network, January 19, 2012).
On the night of January 18 an IDF force operating the southern Gaza Strip apprehended three Palestinians attempting to infiltrate into Israel through the security fence. One of them had a fragmentation grenade in his pocket (IDF Spokesman, January 20, 2012).
Rockets and Mortar Shells Fired into Israeli Territory 1
Rocket Fire — Monthly Distribution
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Mortar Shell Fire — Monthly Distribution
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Terrorist Attacks Prevented
This past week IDF forces prevented terrorist attacks from the Gaza Strip:
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On January 18 Israeli aircraft, in collaboration with an armored force, fired at a terrorist squad placing an IED in the northern Gaza Strip. During the attack an IED was seen to explode. It was in the possession of the terrorist operatives who apparently meant to place it near the security fence to attack IDF soldiers (IDF Spokesman, January 18, 2012). The Palestinian media reported that two Palestinians were killed and three more wounded in the attack in the Beit Hanoun region, northern Gaza Strip (Safa News Agency and the Paltoday website, January 18, 2012).
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Israeli aircraft attacked a terrorist squad in the southern Gaza Strip which was identified a short time before it launched rockets (IDF Spokesman, January 21, 2012). According to the Palestinian media, eyewitnesses reported that the target of the attack was a squad of Popular Resistance Committees’ military-terrorist wing operatives who were near the border with Israel. The Palestinian media reported that the operatives were not harmed in the attack (Sawt Al-Quds Radio, Ma’an News Agency and the Paltoday website, January 21, 2012).
The Israeli Air Force attack in the Rafah region
(Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website, January 21, 2012).
Israeli Air Force Attacks
In response to the rocket and mortar shell fire attacks of the past week, Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked a number of terrorist targets, among them a site for the manufacture of weapons in the central Gaza Strip, two terrorist tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip and another terrorist tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip (IDF Spokesman, January 24, 2012).
Judea and Samaria
The Situation on the Ground
This past week the IDF carried out routine counterterrorist activities in Judea and Samaria, detaining Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities and confiscating weapons. There were also a number of attempts to attack IDF soldiers at the roadblocks:
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On January 21, 2012: At a roadblock near the Shuafat refugee camp, northeast of Jerusalem, a young Palestinian man stabbed a Border Policeman. The policeman sustained minor wounds and the stabber fled (Ynet, January 21, 2012).
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On January 22, 2012: Security guards at the Qalandia roadblock north of Jerusalem noticed that a Palestinian holding a bag. He took an axe out of the bag and ran toward them. They fired a warning shot and as he continued in their direction, they shot at his legs, inflicting minor wounds (Ynet, January 22, 2012).
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Headquarters Revealed in the Jenin Region
According to an Israel Security Agency report, in a joint ISA-IDF action, in recent months ten Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives were detained in the Jenin region. They belonged to a regional headquarters and were involved in terrorist activities and planned to attack IDF soldiers, shoot at settlements and abduct Israelis to be used as a bargaining chip. They had also been involved in riots and in manufacturing IEDs and explosives. In their possession were found potassium (used in the manufacture of IEDs), a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a magazine for the rifle, 150 bullets and money. They detainees have been indicted.
The detainees’ interrogation revealed information about the structure and activities of the PIJ in Judea and Samaria:
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A regional PIJ headquarters operated in Judea and Samaria. It was located in northern Samaria and had contacts with the PIJ headquarters in Syria. The regional headquarters also maintained ties with operatives in the Gaza Strip and a charitable society called The Soul of Jerusalem (which has been outlawed in Israel), which in the past transmitted allowances and salaries to operatives who had been released from Israeli jails and the families of prisoners.
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The regional headquarters received large sums of money from PIJ headquarters in Syria to finance its activities, including purchasing and manufacturing weapons.
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The headquarters directed the terrorist operatives’ military activities. It was also involved in student activity on the various university campuses, including recruiting operatives and conducting propaganda activities (Israel Security Agency, January 22, 2012).
Hamas Palestinian Legislative Council Chairman Detained
Aziz Dweik, chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Hamas member, was detained by Israel on January 19 at a roadblock south of Ramallah on his way to Hebron. Palestinian sources, especially the de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, denounced the detention (Hamas’ Palestine-info website, January 20, 2012).
Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, in front
of a picture of Aziz Dweik (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website, January 21, 2012)
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Hamas’ Internal Affairs and Political Activity
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Ismail Haniya Visits Arab-Muslim Countries
Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, returned to the Gaza Strip from visits to Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia. The visits received extensive sympathetic media coverage, and he repeatedly stressed his extremist positions regarding every aspect of the conflict with Israel.
At a press conference held in Rafah on his return to the Gaza Strip and in a report to the Hamas administration, Haniya boasted that the outcome of the visits was positive with regard to both the official and popular aspects.2 He said that the visits symbolized "breaking the political blockade" of Hamas and the Palestinian government, and boasted that Gaza had a revolutionary role in the Arab Spring. He added that he was planning another round of visits to other Arab and Islamic countries which had invited him.3
Khaled Mashaal Announced He Would Not Seek Another
Term as Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau
Speaking before Hamas’ Shura Council at a conference in Sudan, Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, said he would not seek a third term as bureau head4 (QNN Network, the Facebook page of the Palestinian media, January 20 2012).
An official Hamas announcement confirmed his statement. Elections to the post of political bureau head are supposed to be held in a few months. According to the announcement, Khaled Mashaal emphasized that he would continue to serve the Palestinian people and the Hamas movement. It was reported that senior figures in the Hamas movement had asked him to change his mind and that in any case, the final decision would be in the hands of the Shura Council (Hamas’ Palestine-info website, the official website of its information bureau, January 21, 2012).
If he does not offer himself as a candidate, it is generally accepted that he will be replaced by another movement head. Among the names mentioned were Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy political bureau head, who has apparently moved to Cairo with his family (Al-Hayat, January 17, 2012); Osama Hamdan, in charge of Hamas’ external relations; Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip; and Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas figure in the Gaza Strip (Al-Yawm Al-Saba’a, January 20, 2012).
Khaled Mashaal’s Visit to Egypt
During his visit to Egypt Khaled Mashaal met with the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and other senior movement members. He met with Dr. Ahmed Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party and congratulated him on his party’s victory in the parliamentary elections. Dr. Morsi said that the Palestinian cause was one of the factors motivating the revolution in Egypt because there were many who objected to the way the Mubarak regime had handled it. He said the party would do everything it could at every level to support the Palestinian cause, including the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and implementing the Palestinian refugees’ "right of return" (Freedom and Justice party website, January 21, 2012).
It was also reported, according to sources close to Jordan’s royal office, that Khaled Mashaal would visit Jordan on January 29. He is expected to arrive from Doha, accompanied by the heir to the Qatari throne. A delegation of high-ranking Hamas figures will have arrived and be waiting for him in Jordan (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website, January 23, 2012).
Ismail Haniya’s Visits to Turkey and Egypt (Additional Information)
A high-ranking Hamas figure said that Ismail Haniya’s visit to Turkey had made it possible for the movement to relinquish its Iranian financial aid. According to the source, Turkey promised Hamas it would conduct a project to support and rebuild the Gaza Strip in collaboration with the de-facto Hamas administration. The source also stated that in the upcoming week Hamas would open an official office in Turkey (Al-Sharq, January 17, 2012).
According to the Saudi Arabian daily Al-Sharq, during Ismail Haniya’s visit to Egypt he met with the head of Egyptian General Intelligence. The two agreed that Hamas’ security forces would inspect the tunnels more closely, especially with regard to the smuggling of arms from the Gaza Strip to the Sinai Peninsula, the infiltration of wanted Egyptians into the Gaza Strip and the smuggling of vehicles stolen in Egypt. In return, the Egyptian regime promised to ease conditions at the Rafah crossing and to increase the number of Palestinians who could use it, lengthen its hours of operation and examine the issue of exporting goods from Gaza through it (Al-Sharq, January 23, 2012).
Hamas security forces at a training exercise
(Hamas’ Palestine-info website, January 19, 2012)
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Fatah-Hamas Relations
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Contacts for a Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation
Activities continue to achieve a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, among both the leaders and the various committees appointed to deal with the issue. In the Gaza Strip the so-called "freedoms committee" met with Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration. They discussed freedom of movement to and from the Gaza Strip and the issue of the Palestinian prisoners. A list of gestures Hamas was willing to make to Fatah was reported, among them the restoration to the Gaza Strip of 70-80 Fatah activists who had fled when Hamas took over and the reemployment of 26 workers from the passport department who had been prevented from returning to work (Ma’an News Agency, January 21, 2012).
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Propaganda Events
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The Global March to Jerusalem
Another meeting was held in Beirut to prepare for the so-called "Global March to Jerusalem" (GMJ). It was attended by march organizers, including Feroze Mithiborwala, an anti-Israeli Indian activist who played a prominent role in organizing the march from Asia; and Zaher Birawi and Muhammad Sawalha, two Hamas activists who found asylum in Britain. Also in attendance was Paul Larudee, an American of Iranian extraction who lives on the West Coast and who has been involved in various anti-Israeli activities in the territories (within the ISM), as well as in the flotilla campaign.
The meeting lasted for two days, and discussed the organizational structure of the march and preparing the public for it, an activity which has already begun. Mustafa Barghouti, one of the march’s organizers, said that the mass popular "resistance" movement had become a "national Palestinian consensus" and was "the main lever in national Palestinian strategy" (Al-Quds TV, January 17, 2012).5
Left: Mustafa Barghouti at the meeting in Beirut (GM2J website, January 24, 2012).
Right: The meeting in Beirut (GMJ Facebook page, January 22, 2012).
The organizers met with the members of the Lebanese network who had participated in the Nakba Day and Naksa Day events in 2011. The Lebanese said that they would participate in the global march to Jerusalem (GMJ Facebook page, January 22, 2012).
The march’s website in North America opened registration for people interested in participating in the march. There is an online registration form, and respondents are asked to answer a number of questions including whether they had ever been to "Palestine," had participated in "non-violent" activities and had ever been forbidden entry by the Israeli authorities and could finance their journey (GM2H website, January 24, 2012).
1 The statistics do not include rockets and mortar shells fired which fell inside the Gaza Strip. As of date January 24, 2012.
2 However, Haniya’s rivals claimed that the tour was a great waste of "public money." Dr. Yusef Rizka, Haniya’s political advisor, rejected the claims, saying that the governments of the various countries had paid for the visits and that they had resulted in many achievements, costing the Hamas administration "only small change" (Hamas’ Felesteen, January 13, 2012).
3 A bulletin summarizing Haniya’s visits to Arab-Muslim countries is available in Hebrew on the ITIC website and will shortly be available in English.
4 According to a new Hamas rule, the head of the political bureau cannot serve more than two terms.
5 For further information see the January 23, 2012 bulletin "The networks waging the campaign to delegitimize Israel are planning a series of propaganda displays for 2012, some of them in the upcoming months. They intend to hold marches (promoted by Hamas), a protest fly-in to Ben-Gurion International Airport, a flotilla and propaganda events for the ‘Israeli apartheid week.’"
