Amid deteriorating humanitarian and economic conditions in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the group's Damascus-based leader, Khaled Meshaal, has appealed not for humanitarian aid but for more weapons and fighters to carry out terror attacks against Israel.
"We ask all the people in surrounding Arab countries, the Muslim world and everyone who wants to support us to send weapons, money and men," Meshaal said Wednesday at a pro-Palestinian gathering in Qatar, just hours after Israel agreed to the Quartet's fiscal initiative that aims to aid the Palestinians in the bankrupt Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Hamas is a terrorist organization responsible for killing more than 600 civilians in violent attacks over the last 38 years. The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority recently received a $50 million aid pledge from Iran, which already gives $2 million annually to another terrorist group, Islamic Jihad. Both Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for an attack on a Tel Aviv restaurant last month that killed 11 people and injured more than 60 others. One of the dead was 16-year-old Daniel Wultz of Weston, Fla., who died from his wounds Sunday. Hamas condoned the attack as self defense.
When Hamas emerged victorious in January's PLC elections, the Quartet stipulated that monetary assistance and diplomatic ties would be conditional upon Hamas agreeing to three terms: recognition of Israel's right to exist; cessation of terrorist activity; and acknowledgement of previous peace agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority.
Six weeks after assuming control of the government, Hamas officials still refuse to meet any of the Quartet's preconditions and continue to support terrorist activities. For example, Israeli security services released information on Thursday that terrorists taking orders from senior Hamas officials in Gaza were ordered to set up a terror cell that would kidnap soldiers and perpetrate attacks in the West Bank and Israel. Razak Ahmed Mahmad Sha'aban and Gama Ibrahim Issa Azam infiltrated Israel from the Sinai and were instructed by Imam Mansur, the head of Hamas in Jabalya, to travel with other Gaza-based Hamas affiliates to Ramallah where they would set up camp. Azam told investigators that the operation was managed by militants in the Hamas leadership. Sha'aban had been released from an Israeli jail in 2002 after serving a five-year sentence for his involvement in terrorist operations and kidnappings.
Despite Hamas' intransigence, the Quartet agreed this week on a last-minute effort to save the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority from total collapse and to accelerate the delivery of crucial goods, such as medicine and food, to the Palestinian people. To this end the Quartet devised a "temporary international mechanism" whereby vital monetary assistance would bypass Hamas and be channeled directly to Palestinians in need.
Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh reacted by criticizing this step intended to ease Palestinian suffering, declaring, "The Quartet committee still put conditions, and repeats it every now and then, to push the government to make concessions that harm Palestinian rights by recognizing the legitimacy of the occupation."
By contrast, Israeli FM Tzipi Livni said Israel would only support a proposal to transfer tax funds to the Palestinian people "for direct humanitarian needs, such as medicines, such as health needs." Despite the security risks, Israel has also taken other steps to provide aid to the Palestinians. For example, Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba continues to treat Palestinian patients on a daily basis even after attempts by members of Palestinian terrorist groups to destroy the facility.
On several occasions, Palestinian terrorists have tried to enter Israel camouflaged as medical patients. In June 2005 Wafa Bas, a Gaza resident, was arrested at Erez crossing wearing an explosives belt. Bas had been treated at Soroka and was scheduled for an appointment at the hospital that day. She presented valid medical documents to the terminal officials to make her way across Erez with plans to blow up the same hospital at which she had been treated. On March 7, Samih Maher Salameh Haddad, 21, was caught trying to penetrate Erez security with false medical papers.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told reporters on Tuesday, "Israel does not want to see Palestinian suffering," and said that when possible, medical supplies were being sent into Gaza through the Karni crossing. But distribution of those relief supplies to Gaza via Karni relies on security cooperation by the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority - and that cooperation has not been forthcoming.
The Karni crossing is the main point for transferring commercial goods in and out of Gaza. But on numerous occasions, Palestinian terrorists have exploited it to wage terrorist attacks against Israel, forcing temporary closures and preventing essential goods from reaching the Palestinian people.
In a March 26 Cabinet meeting, then-Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel wanted to help the Palestinians, but not if it meant risking innocent lives. "While it is Israel's policy to allow the Palestinian population to receive its humanitarian needs, when there is a conflict of interests between the lives of Israeli soldiers and civilians and humanitarian needs, especially when there is an alternative and temporary solutions at the other crossings, the security of Israeli soldiers is paramount," Mofaz said.
Following heightened security threats, including several stabbing and shooting incidents as well as rocket attacks, the Karni terminal was closed on February 21 to all transports. However, this terminal wasn't the only crossing available for transporting goods to Palestinians, particularly at a time when innocent lives were at stake. Mofaz noted during the March 26 government session that "It is important to inform the international community that there are temporary alternatives regarding the passage of humanitarian aid via the Kerem Shalom crossing and that the Palestinians are rejecting this for reasons that are not substantive." After assessing the security impasse, Israel reopened the crossing on March 9, but temporarily sealed it again throughout March until early April due to additional alerts. During that time, supplies did reach Gaza from Egypt via the Kerem Shalom terminal.
By late April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that Karni was open more frequently than at the beginning of the month. However, on April 26 Israel was again forced to close the crossing after an incident in which Palestinian security personnel prevented terrorists driving an explosive-laden vehicle and another car carrying gunmen from breaching the terminal wall and infiltrating into Israel. An inquiry into the incident revealed that the attack was perpetrated by the Palestinian Resistance Committees, a terrorist group to which several senior Hamas officials belong. The PRC members had been planning to duplicate the January 13, 2005 attack at the crossing in which six Israeli civilians were killed. One week earlier, PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadana was appointed to lead the Palestinian police force. Samhadana is wanted by Israel for his terrorist ties and his involvement in several terrorist attacks including the October 15, 2003 bombing in which three American private security contractors were killed in an attack on a U.S. Embassy convoy in Gaza.
Additional terrorist attacks that were prevented or carried out at the Karni terminal include:
- December 14, 2005 - Four terrorists affiliated with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PRC drove a car packed with explosives toward the Karni crossing. The IDF opened fire on the speeding vehicle and the car detonated.
- December 7, 2004 - One IDF soldier was killed and four others injured when an explosive charge detonated near an IDF convoy.
- March 14, 2004 - Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorists perpetrated a double suicide bombing at the Ashdod Port in which 10 civilians were killed and 12 injured. The terrorists were able to infiltrate Israel via the Karni crossing by concealing themselves in a container transport.
- April 15, 2003 - Two Israeli civilians were killed and three Israeli civilians were injured when a terrorist passed through Karni and assaulted them with gunfire and grenades.
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