Hamas

On the first two conditions, to judge by the details published so far, Hamas seems to have given little new ground in Mecca.

One of his first moves as prime minister was to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas's victory in legislative elections.

Extreme privation did not prevent tens of thousands of defiant supporters in Gaza this week from celebrating Hamas's founding.

One Hamas official said the ball is in Israel's court. He said the captive soldier could be released in days, or years.

He said Israel has made a very generous offer to Hamas, but there have to be some red lines.

Even so, and despite last-minute quarrels, Hamas and Fatah appear now to be trying to stand together against their Israeli foe.

Hamas confirmed that its members had been arrested and accused the Palestinian authority of colluding with Israel to wipe it out.

Since the suicide bombing in Jerusalem over a week ago, Abbas has suspended talks with Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas.

As they stood chatting, an Israeli drone had fired a missile at a passing Hamas fighter on a motorbike three metres from the children.

In a way, Hamas may be evolving into a client (mini)state of a more Islamist-oriented Egypt.

A year-and-a-half later, after a short-lived spell in coalition with Fatah, Hamas violently took over the Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said the group would be willing to consider a new truce offer if its demands are met.

Abbas said the Hamas-led government must be given a chance to adapt to the basic requirements of the international community.

He said there would be a renewed attempt to reconcile Hamas and its rival Fatah, which counts Abbas among its leaders.

He said he had also been trying to fix a deal with Hamas over a prisoner exchange, including freedom for a kidnapped Israeli corporal.

The second stage, if it is clear that Hamas accepts Fatah's peaceful approach, would be to pull it into a revived peace process.

Blair: It would make it appear as if we were prepared to try to find a way forward without Hamas renouncing its desire to eliminate Israel.

He said he would try to convince Hamas to halt attacks against Israeli civilians, but in an unofficial capacity.

Mr Abbas , sitting in the West Bank, did not declare a state of emergency until Hamas militants were ransacking his Gaza home.

Israel tends to exaggerate for American consumption the extent to which Iran is the puppet master of Hamas and Hizbullah.

Meanwhile, with the pressures on them suspended, Hamas and Fatah would have a year to thrash out a deal on a joint government.

In his comments at the White House he made clear once again that he believes Hamas is using the people of Gaza to achieve militant ends.

"Hamas belongs within this democratic pluralistic system, not as a substitute for it, or a replacement or an alternative, " she said.

One Hamas official says the ball is in Israel's coup . He said the captive soldier could be released in days or years .

Hamas did not allow Fatah delegates from Gaza to attend the congress, although they were able to vote by telephone.

The United States has pushed the Israelis hard to do two things in the past two years: Do not negotiate with Syria and do not engage Hamas.

But a year later the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of Gaza and stepped up rocket attacks across the border.

To assert the right to retaliate against Hamas is not to say that it is just, or wise, to shell large swathes of Gaza.

But he said Hamas was not ready to recognize Israel.

He said he would take a tougher stand against Hamas than the ruling centrist Kadima party has done.

He wanted an uncompromising stand against Hamas, he said. "The first priority is to eliminate Hamas. "

He did not answer directly, but he said Hamas militants must stop rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.

A spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas says they are ready to resume dialogue with the Palestinian National Authority.

Some Gazans fear it is a ruse to lull them into a sense of false security before Israel's tanks roll back and try again to topple Hamas.

"I understand Israel's desire to protect itself, and that the situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas, " said Mr. Bush.

DESPITE mounting world pressure for an early end to the fighting, Hamas, like Israel, appears to be holding out for political gains.

"Israel tried to suppress (Hamas). They used all aggression . . . but still Hamas is stronger and gaining more power, " he said.

Fatah then won backing from the United States to turn the presidential guard into an elite force to counter that of Hamas.

The agency said the blast was the result of three bombs placed under a car whose owner is said to be a Hamas member.

Their call for a cease-fire joins that of the United States, which said Hamas must respect the truce.

Hamas said it believed suspects in a bombing that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl a week ago were hiding in the neighborhood.

But any cease-fire must have conditions in it so that Hamas does not use Gaza as a place from which to launch rockets, " he said. "

Once the strip was under Hamas's total control, Israel declared it a hostile entity, and prevented movement to and from the territory.

Israel did not send a representative and Hamas, shunned internationally as a terrorist organisation, was not invited.

Israel initially launched air strikes just over a week ago, pounding targets it said were linked to Hamas and its infrastructure in Gaza.

Israel said it had no choice but to launch an offensive against Hamas to stop such rocket attacks.

However, a statement from the ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip praised the attack, saying it would not be the last.

One Sudanese source said he had cultivated ties with Syria and Iran, as well as with Hamas in Palestine and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

Palestinians ran toward the home of a Hamas military leader after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Beit Lahia in Gaza.

He said it might be possible to persuade Hamas to accept a symbolic role in administering the border.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Mr. Olmert gave a renewed assurance Israel is targeting only Hamas and those affiliated with it.

In an interview on Europe1 radio, Kouchner downplayed the discussions, saying they did not amount to establishing relations with Hamas.

He said Israel will not negotiate with the Palestinian government supported by Hamas or House of Palestinian refugees.

Israel's Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said the country is currently engaged in an all-out conflict against Hamas.

But it really must be a solution this time that does not allow Hamas to use Gaza as a launching pad against Israeli cities.

Monday, Israel's defense minister said the nation was in an "all-out war" with Hamas, which rules Gaza.

The rally shows that Hamas remains firmly in control of Gaza after seizing power a year and a half ago.

But the Christians would not be human if they did not regard Hamas rather warily.

A year and a half after its election win, Hamas violently evicted Mr Abbas's Fatah from the Gaza Strip.

Armoured units stayed on the Gaza border, poised to go back in, the army said, if Hamas resumed its firing of rockets across the border.

Hamas said it would hold fire for a week to give Israel time to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas says it would stop firing rockets, at least for a period, if the blockade were lifted.

An-Nahar newspaper reported that some Hamas members were trying to dismantle the bomb when it exploded.

Hamas, he said, must end violence and recognize past agreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas man, seems to be backing those who want to curb his unruly interior minister.

A year ago Israeli aircraft destroyed a convoy in eastern Sudan that it said was carrying Iranian arms to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

It also said the indiscriminative firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas violated international humanitarian law.

Hamas Shawer, one of the brothers, says Chinese imports are "like a volcano - burning everything in its way" .

Israeli intelligence was said to be behind the assassination of a senior Hamas military leader, who was killed at a hotel in Dubai.

For the moment, Hamas rejects the idea as a trick for Mr Abbas and his foreign friends to undermine the elected government.

Many Palestinians have turned out for the funeral of a Hamas military leader who was assassinated yesterday by Israel.

One Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the group was open to another ceasefire, but wanted Israel's economic blockade lifted.

Just as the world was opening up to Gaza, Hamas hardliners are closing it down.

The White House is urging Hamas to agree to a ceasefire with Israel as a first step in halting the current Israeli air assault on Gaza.

Hamas has largely abided by a ceasefire for more than a year but says talks with Israelwould be a waste of time.

A return to the negotiating table would not be in the interest of the rival Palestinian militant group Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip.

In Lebanon three years ago, and today in Gaza, Hizbullah and Hamas seem to have invented a new military doctrine.

The infighting is some of the most serious since Hamas routed Fatah forces in the Gaza civil war a year ago.

It is not as if Hamas uses its social institutions to launch political or military activities, she adds.

But, Hamas has remained defiant, warning that it would turn Gaza into a graveyard for the Israelis.

In Washington, Israel's friends in Congress are pressing for a ban on US aid to any Palestinian government that includes Hamas.

In the past, Hamas has not been able to rein in all militant groups here and its authority will be tested by this move.

The U. S. has tried to rally Arab pressure on Hamas, only to see it grow stronger.

More to the point, we're working for a cease-fire now where Hamas must stop its rocket attacks on Israel.

Israel says Hamas has been weakened and is facing popular discontent but does not claim it is about to be overthrown.

The longer he stays away the more diplomatic ground he and the West seem to lose to Hamas and its friends.

Maine (Reuters) - President Bush on Sunday said the world must "deal harshly" with the Palestinian militant group Hamas .

The Islamic militant group Hamas, that rules Gaza, said the new ceasefire was requested by Egyptian mediators.

"The Palestinian security systems have no superiority, in terms of armament over Hamas, " said Mr. Nasser.

Egypt is trying to mediate a long term ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas which rules Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hiyeh said the deal is a great achievement for the Palestinian people.

At least three rockets struck southern Israel after Hamas said it was halting attacks, Israeli police said.

Hamas has shown less tolerance, fearful lest a turnout of thousands, including many women and a few rappers, posed a secular challenge.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe also said today (Monday) that Hamas should agree to a sustainable and durable cease-fire with Israel.

But the squeeze on Gaza has led to what Israel wanted to avoid: co-operation between Hamas and its rival party, Fatah.

They said it would not end quickly but that the objective was not to reoccupy Gaza or topple Hamas.

By declaring a unilateral ceasefire, Israel can argue that it is not legitimizing Hamas, which it considers to be a gang of terrorists.

A year later, in Gaza, Hamas violently ousted Fatah, its secular rival that had long ruled the Palestinian roost.

The United States urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties, and said Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel.

"Within two years, you'll be able to drive all the way from Gaza to Morocco, " predicts another Hamas minister.

The United States considers Hamas to be a terrorist group and has accused it of starting this latest round of violence.

And yet the authors think it is right for America to talk to Iran, a major sponsor of Hamas and Hizbullah, without preconditions.

"We're clever enough to understand the multiplier effect, " says a Hamas man.

When it comes to the Palestinians, that means continuing to put pressure on Hamas to recognise the state of Israel.

If Hamas holds its fire, the military "will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us" , Olmert said.

The militant wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for the deaths of the two Israeli soldiers, but says it was a defensive action.

Efforts should be kept up to persuade Hamas to accept a two-state deal and to stop rockets being fired from Gaza into Israeli towns.

(Along with the Taliban, Hamas was also one of the groups that had no kind words for Obama's winning the prize).

Then, he said, Hamas would sit down to talk about something more long-term.

She says the best way for that to happen is for Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza to stop firing rockets at southern Israel.

The raid is part of an intensifying Hamas crackdown on Fatah. Since the bombing, more than 200 Fatah activists have been arrested.

Months ago, Hamas declared that it would no longer recognize him as president after his four-year term technically ended last Friday.

Once they said there would be peace if only Israel let the Hamas terrorists back in.

He seems to want to continue to squeeze the Gaza Strip until its elected government, run by the Islamist movement, Hamas, is toppled.

The Syria's president called Israel's offensive "a war crime" . He added that Israel will not be able to finish off Hamas.

The force of the assault on Hamas may well secure for Israel a ceasefire that shields for a time its southern cities.

Israeli defence officials favour a clear agreement with Hamas even if it is not enshrined in a written document.

Hamas is strong in the West Bank as well as Gaza and could easily blow up any deal it did not like.

"You can't go on your own to apply for a job, " he said. "For me, Hamas is about employment. "

Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, recently boasted it had killed two Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

Earlier, the armed wing of Hamas, which controls Gaza, said it had fired several rockets towards Israel.

The aim, Israel says is to stop Hamas rocket fire into Israel and in the longer-term keep Hamas from being able to rearm.

Moreover, Hamas senses separate supply lines are an attempt to build alternative patronage networks and an economy outside its control.

Hamas will survive, and with it that strain in Arab thinking which says that a Jewish state does not belong in the Middle East.

Hamas denied it was responsible and said it would defend Gaza with "all its strength" .

Regardless of what one thinks of Hamas, the way that Israel has acted in the last few days is playing into Hamas' hands.

He said Hamas has declared a national holiday for Tuesday and is planning a big celebration in Gaza to welcome the prisoners home.

Palestinian analyst Wadia Abu Nasser says Mr. Abbas is not strong enough to take on the powerful Islamic militant group, Hamas.

But making Mr Dahlan a scapegoat would give Hamas an easy way out of the stand-off, and Fatah has decided not to give it one.

That may be possible in the early days of the new Administration because both Israel and Hamas may be ready for it by then.

In Damascus, Hamas announced that the six-month-old Gaza truce with Israel would not be renewed when it expires on Friday.

The United States does not have direct contact with Hamas, which it has designated as a terrorist organization.

Sometimes they help Salafist prisoners of Hamas to get out of jail.

What is not clear, however, is why Hamas took so long to crack down on the group after the Nahal Oz attack.

Israeli spokesmen said Hamas deliberately and cynically operated close to civilians. Hence the number of children killed in the fighting.

The trick now is to make statehood look real enough to Palestinians for the majority to abandon Hamas's bleak vision of war to the end.

"Any hint of co-operation with Hamas, " says an UNRWA man, "and half our funding would go up in smoke. "

In November and early December, Hamas stepped up the rocket attacks and then, unilaterally, formally announced the end of the truce.

As a part of their strategy, Hamas terrorists often hide within the civilian population, which puts innocent Palestinians at risk.

Hamas is being drawn closer inside the Iranian orbit and is more likely to take over the West Bank than lose its own base in Gaza.

Although pro-Israel groups accuse the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, the United States still contributes to it.

As a senior member of Hamas, al-Mabhouh usually travels under an assumed name and with a detail of body guards.

Intelligence officials briefing the cabinet suggested that violent unrest in Syria was a primary cause for a shift by Hamas.

Abbas is expected to serve until elections - a date which Hamas and Fatah have not been able to agree upon.

Ignoring anxieties in western capitals, Turkey has engaged with the Palestinian Hamas and with the Iranian-sponsored Hizbollah in Lebanon.

The Palestinian Authority hopes that a severely weakened Hamas would be forced by Egypt into a process of reconciliation with Fatah.

It has extended Egypt's state of emergency to the Gaza border, and arrested a senior Hamas commander passing through Cairo airport.

Israel has said one of the key objectives of its war on Hamas is to halt weapon smuggling.

Israel's assault in January on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip has failed to blot Hamas out of the equation.

The statement did not mention Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.

The body of a Hamas security officer in a destroyed building.

Hamas instantly blamed Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, confirming that the dead man was a founder of the movement's military wing.

Ministers said that Egypt was more serious than before about stanching the supply of missiles from Iran to Hamas.

He said Israel was justified in taking action against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The possible end this week of a truce between Hamas and Israel can only make things worse.

So Hamas may still claim to have won, or at least not lost, the battle.

Mrs Clinton wants to help Gaza recover from the battering it received during the recent war between Israel and Hamas.

The "realists" also advise putting pressure on Israel to deal in a more forthcoming way with the Hamas-dominated Palestinian government.

Abed - la said that in the next two days, Hamas militants have been forcing their family to stay downstairs.

The White House on Monday called on Hamas to halt rocket fire against Israel, so calm can be restored in Gaza.

Palestinian militants fired at least 12 rockets at Israel and Israeli warplanes targeted Hamas rocket launchers.

During the Palestinian intifada (uprising) that fizzled out in 2004, Hamas sent scores of suicide-bombers to blow up Israelis.

Meanwhile, lest Israel and its allies try to prise the economy away from it, Hamas is tightening its hold over supplies by land.

The office of Mr. Abbas issued a statement saying the bombing was part of an internal dispute within Hamas.

The blogger says members of Hamas were dancing around a dead body of a Fatah member, and that Islamic Republic' TV is silent on it.

Israel would be only too happy to let Mr Fayyad's men rid them of havens for Hamas and car thieves.

The U. S. has been calling on Egypt, Turkey and others to use their influence with Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel.

After seeing the injured women and children, I am more certain that Hamas is just a bunch of cowards who hide behind women and children.

Until now, Hamas has held the Islamist franchise in Gaza, fending off al-Qaida attempts to come on to its turf.

Hamas took advantage to claim some of the credit for that popular uprising.

The US has agreed to provide intelligence and equipment to help prevent Hamas smuggling weapons into Gaza through tunnels.

I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.

Whereas the Qassam Brigades once ruled the roost, Hamas's boorish interior minister, Fathi Hamad, now wants his own forces to do so.

Now even Hamas seems to concede that Israel is there to stay.

Indeed, on one reading of its motives, Hamas resumed fire to force Israel into a new truce on terms that would include opening the border.

The protests may have prompted Hamas to unleash its mortar barrage at Israel, to deflect attention from its own woes.

Indeed, the sneers of Hamas against Mr Abbas appeal to quite a few of the villagers.

And he said Hamas must cease what he called terrorist activities if it wanted to play a part in the future of the Palestinian people.

In any event, Hamas is still isolated from the main diplomatic game, as Fatah's more emollient negotiators strive to make headway.

Hamas has continued to fire rockets into southern Israel.

Israel's leaders need to recognize that if Hamas cannot be beaten militarily, then it must be engaged politically.

Mubarak has also held reconciliation talks between the Fatah Party and Hamas in an effort to create a unity government.

But insisting that Hamas recognises Israel outright before it can be deemed worthy of any kind of co-operation is pointless.

Mr Zahar says Gaza's forces would stay firmly under Hamas control during a proposed year-long interim period leading up to elections.

Far from deflating Hamas, the six-year-long boycott by most Western governments seems only to have won it influence.

Hamas tentatively endorsed the report, and said it would look into the charges.

Its aim, it says, was to stop Hamas firing rockets, with increasing range, at towns in southern Israel.

Mr Bernstein said that Israel's assertion that it was acting in self-defence against Hamas rockets should have been factored in.

And Israel has resumed its targeted assassinations, including one attack on the home of a Hamas member of parliament, killing eight people.

The Israelis stress that Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, is as much the West's enemy as it is Israel's.

But a villager adds menacingly, "If Hamas were in charge, not a single settler would dare raid our land. "

Ms. Wadi said that when she visited her mother, her two brothers fought bitterly because one backs Hamas and the other backs Fatah.

speaker : now , let ' s invite dr hamas ajan , the president of international weightlifting federation , present medals to snatch winners.

Senior Egyptian officials in Cairo said Israel and Hamas were "very close" to a cease-fire agreement.

Israeli officials see in all this signs that Hamas now fears isolation after its takeover of Gaza.

The U. N. chief got a first-hand look at the devastation left by three weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks on Hamas targets.

As things stand, however, the Americans and Israelis say they will cold-shoulder any Palestinian government if Hamas is part of it.

Hamas, triumphant at the turn of events, has urged the authority to break off the talks.

The Israeli government justifies the invasion as necessary to stop Hamas rocket attacks.

The Hamas-Fatah deal is good news, because peace between Palestinians could be a stepping stone on the road to peace with Israel.

So why make more enemies around the world by taking sides in these interminable struggles among Israel, Hamas, Fatah, and their neighbors?

For years, many in the international community have been complicit in a policy that aimed at isolating Gaza in the hope of weakening Hamas.

In rallies at Mr Abbas's West Bank headquarters, the yellow flags of his Fatah group are increasingly speckled with Hamas's green.

The groups, including Hamas and Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades , say their militants will not be armed during the vote.

Hamas, though hit hard by the air and ground campaign, remains the de facto force within the coastal enclave.

If Hamas's rockets are silenced, albeit for a while, Israel's voters may warm to those harsh qualities.

Meanwhile, the president of the Palestinian authority is urging Israel and Hamas to agree to an Egypt-broker truce.

If both sides agree to a cease-fire, Egypt would host a meeting between Hamas and Israel at a later date to broker a longer term peace deal.

For Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others, the problem is not so much Israel's presence in the West Bank; it is Israel's presence.

The United States and Israel will not negotiate with Hamas, which both countries have labeled a terrorist group.

We do not recognize any support for the agreement of Hamas a terrorist organization.

The possibility of a truce apparently is not slowing down Israeli air strikes or Hamas rocket attacks.

The targets of Israeli bombing raids in Gaza now includes smuggling tunnels, as well as a top Hamas security installation.

Olmert said that "we have reached all the goals of the war" and Hamas had "suffered a major blow. "

"The PA has ended the public existence of Hamas, " says a former finance minister of the brief Islamist government.

In March Islamist and other rivals of Hamas, out to spoil the movement's efforts, upped the number of rockets fired at Israel.

In the 14 months since the war ended, Hamas has swept up much of the wreckage.

But if violence ends and passions cool, it may yet be a way of nudging Hamas towards a new realism.

Hamas, in contrast, refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist and claims all of Palestine as a sacred trust for Islam.

The broader aim of the Gaza war, Israeli security experts argue, was to send a message to Hamas' sponsor, Iran.

He is going to Syria, he is going to meet with the head of Hamas, to engage with terrorists.

Former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger believes the United States will continue to abide by its "no talks with Hamas" policy.

But Israel and Hamas aren't the only forces with a stake in the conflict.

According to the Hamas interior ministry, one of the suspects threw a grenade at the other two, killing one of them and injuring the other.

Eric Fosse, a Norwegian doctor there, said Hamas fighters were a small minority of the casualties brought in.

A third of the Palestinian government, led by the Islamists of Hamas, has been put behind bars , while another third is in hiding.

It is also true that Iran and Syria, and Hamas and Hizbullah, have lately drawn closer in an anti-American front across the region.

Hamas is taking credit for his release to show that they brought security and law and order to Gaza. More about this later.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency government Sunday and outlawed Hamas militants.

Some former recipients of Hamas charities admit they have switched allegiance since the Islamists' social services have run dry.

Helping negotiate the Hamas-Israel deal fits nicely into such a strategy.

In a few days, the Hamas extremists are armed.

Most Palestinians who voted for Hamas also, judging by a raft of opinion polls, actually support the notion of two states.

In journalism, it then might require a few extra words to make distinctions, as with Hamas and Hizbullah's charity activity.

That brought suffering on the Palestinian people, but Israeli analyst Zvi Mazal says Hamas is in no hurry to make a deal.

But it really must be a solution this time that doesn't allow Hamas to use Gaza as launching pad against Israeli cities.

The Palestinians had a fair election in 2006 but the winners, the Islamists of Hamas, were not allowed to govern.

But the blockade suits Hamas, which "taxes" money and goods smuggled in and provides welfare services to the population.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is urging Syria to help broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Even if, by some miracle, the two men came close to agreement, Hamas is still absent from the table.

Hamas is also demanding that all six border crossings into Gaza be opened for a cease-fire to be concluded.

It is uncertain if other senior Hamas figures were in attendance after they were warned by Israel that they were also targets.

Hamas has not renounced the armed struggle. Does China take it as a terrorist organization?

America and Israel, as well as some Arab leaders, see a chance to isolate Hamas, which refuses to contemplate a permanent peace with Israel.

Hamas ousted the Fatah forces of U. S. -backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a civil war two years ago.

Today, Mr. Abbas heads a more moderate government in the West Bank, but Israel fears he could be toppled by Hamas.

The UN experts have been liaising with Hamas authorities in Gaza to arrange for the safe disposal of the munitions.

It has been wisely negotiating with Syria via Turkey, and engaging Hamas on a truce deal through the mediation of Egypt.

The people launching the rockets appear to be a mixture of hardliners within Hamas and assorted Islamist radicals from other movements.

Hamas-affiliated militants on the Gaza side of the border have been turning people back and telling them it is closed.