Hamas leader insists group won’t disarm
In a rare public appearance, Sheik Ahmed Yassin struck a defiant tone against incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who has complained of the “chaos of weapons” in the Palestinian areas, proposed a comprehensive truce with Israel and invited Hamas into his government.
The setting of yesterday’s news conference reflected Hamas’ growing concerns for the safety of its leaders. Yassin spoke to journalists at a mosque, presumably a site Israel would not attack because of religious sensitivities.
He also was not flanked by senior Hamas officials, as would have been customary. Mr Yassin, along with other Hamas leaders, has been marked for death by Israel. He survived a September 6 airstrike, and has only left his home once since then.
Mr Qureia has not said what steps, if any, he would take to get illegal weapons off the street, as required by the US-backed “road map” peace plan that envisions a Palestinian state by 2005.
Mr Qureia and other officials have said they won’t use force against the militants while Mr Yassin said that Hamas would not disarm voluntarily.
“The weapons that our people carry to defend our land and our people, nobody can confiscate them,” he said. “We can only talk about this after liberating the land. Taking weapons means surrender and defeat.”
Mr Yassin also said Hamas would not agree to a truce with Israel; a unilateral ceasefire declared by Hamas and other militants June 29 collapsed in a burst of violence several weeks later.
“There is no place to talk about a truce because the enemy is continuing his aggression, killing and settlement activities,” he said, but stopped short of saying there would be continued Hamas bombings and shootings.
Mr Qureia had also proposed that Hamas join his government. In the past, Hamas, the largest Palestinian opposition group, has said it wanted nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority, a product of interim peace deals with Israel the group opposes.
Mr Yassin also renewed his opposition to a broad coalition. “We refuse to be part of any government under (Israeli) occupation,” Mr Yassin said. “If this government wants to liberate our land and our sacred places, we will surely welcome it. But if it wants to push us to surrender, we will reject it.”
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, said a large-scale swap of prisoners with Lebanese guerrillas is closer than ever, but will still require Cabinet approval.
Mr Sharon also said Israel will not release Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti in the emerging deal with Hezbollah, and that Israel will insist on DNA testing of three bodies of Israeli soldiers that are to be handed over.
In the emerging swap, Israel would release several hundred prisoners, including Lebanese guerrilla leaders Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa
Dirani, in exchange for ailing Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2000.
Israel had seized Obeid and Dirani in 1989 and 1994, respectively, as bargaining chips for the release of Israeli airman Ron Arad, shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and believed by Israel to be held by Iran.
Also in Gaza, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed in a gun battle between Palestinians and Israeli troops searching for weapons-smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border. The firefight erupted when 20 Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers entered the Rafah refugee camp.
Mohammed Hamdan, a helper of the gunmen, was killed in the battle, hospital officials said, and more than a dozen Palestinians were wounded. Palestinian witnesses said troops razed two houses.
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