"There is no possibility to talk about this issue now," Rantissi

Additional Reporting By IOL Palestine, Cairo Staff

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, August 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israel and Palestinian resistance groups rebuffed on Sunday, August 24, a proposal by the Palestinian leadership for a new truce after the collapse of the seven-week-old truce, which is largely blamed on the incessant Israeli violations.

The Israeli government rejected as "not serious" the new proposal.

It demanded anew that resistance groups be dismantled, noting that "as long as terrorist organizations continue to exist there will not be the possibility of a real ceasefire," senior Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Palestinian officials said Saturday, August 23, a new truce was possible if the Israelis formally recognized it, pulled out of occupied towns and ended their practice of "targeted assassinations" of resistance leaders.

Osama al-Baz, the political adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, triggered the effort for a new truce Friday, August 22, in an impromptu visit to see Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Senior Hamas leader Abdelaziz al-Rantissi rejected out of hand the possibility of negotiating a new truce after the death of one of Hamas top leaders, Ismail Abu Shanab, which prompted the factions into formally calling off the fragile truce.

"There is no possibility to talk about this issue now," Rantissi told AFP. "The Zionist enemy should pay a high price for their crime."

"We accepted the calls from Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority for a ceasefire and we implemented a ceasefire," he said.

"But this ceasefire was not respected by the enemy and was violated; they assassinated political leaders and did not release prisoners."

A report released by a Palestinian human rights organization revealed on August 12 that Israel has in the last month alone killed seven Palestinians and carried out 854 violations of the truce. (Click to see a breakdown for Israeli violations).

The Israeli rejection came against a backdrop of continued aggressions against the Palestinians. 

On Saturday, 16 Palestinians were injured in the West Bank city of Nablus when Israeli troops fired rubber-covered bullets on a crowd of Palestinians.

The occupation troops were conducting search operations in Nablus, where it earlier arrested three Palestinians suspected of being involved in anti-Israeli attacks, a military source said.

Revenge

"The Israeli occupation must first pay dearly for the killing of Abu Shanab before negotiating a new truce," Yassin

For his part, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin said that his movement would not yield to any pressures or negotiate a new truce with Israel before avenging the assassination of Abu Shanab.

"The Israeli occupation must first pay dearly for the killing of Abu Shanab before negotiating a new truce," Sheikh Yassin told IslamOnline.net on Saturday.

"The Israeli missiles which killed Abu Shanab also killed stone dead the hudna (truce)…Abu Shanab's blood is a stigma to humankind," said Yassin.

He also said that Hamas would not sit on the fence over the incessant Israeli assassinations and demolitions of houses.

"Hamas will not give up and has no options other than victory or martyrdom."

On the U.S. decision on Friday to freeze and block the assets of six Hamas leaders and five pro-Palestinians charities, Yassin said that it signified that U.S. President George W. Bush "cherishes illusions" and "depends on incredible and misleading reports."

"It is nonsense…Hamas leaders have no accounts in any of the world's banks," he said. "The Bush administration had better freeze the funds used by Israel in building the settlements, killing the Palestinians and constructing the separating wall."

The 600km-long wall is also expected to cut occupied east Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank.

It will eventually snake some 900 kilometers (540 miles) along the West Bank and leave even larger swathes of its territory on the Israeli side and could cost up to $2.2 million a kilometer or a total of $1.8 billion, even though the Israeli economy is in dire straits.

Yassin further said that the United States has never sided with the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and stopped short of condemning the assassination of Abu Shanab.

"The Bush administration wants to see the Palestinians killing one another," he said.

On his future vision as the peace process is now on the edge, Yassin agreed that the situation was getting from bad to worse, warning that the parties concerned would all pay a price.

"But we cannot place in one basket those who pay the price for defending their freedom and those paying the price for their injustice," he explained.

Underground

Yassin also ruled out that Hamas would go underground if Israel kept on targeting the movement's political leaders.

"Hamas is a popular movement and the killing of its leaders does not mean the end of it…Many leaders were assassinated by Israel but it never died out," he said.

Asked about the Palestinian Authority intentions to disarm the movement, Yassin ridiculed the move, noting that a public referendum should be held first.

"The public opinion is known beforehand," he said, describing as "empty" any government decisions that lie outside the public mainstream.

He also slammed the disarmament as calls for suicide, vowing that the Palestinians would not lay down their weapons until they win back their freedom and holy places.

"We rush towards the U.S. phantom of creating a Palestinian state (by 2005)," he said.

Yassin further advised Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmmoud Abbas not to cherish illusions and think sensibly.

Conditional Truce

The Islamic Jihad, however, said that Al-Baz has not yet put forward any proposal to the Palestinian factions, noting that his movement would not oppose any suggestion that serves the interests of the Palestinian people.

Speaking to IOL, Islamic Jihad spokesman Khaled Al-Batch welcomed any Egyptian-backed proposal that would bring back the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.

He also said that all Palestinian factions are on board that no talks about an unconditional or unilateral truce should take place.

Well-placed Palestinian sources revealed to IOL that Al-Baz put forth an initial proposal for launching a new truce conditioned on a real and effective backing and monitoring from the United States.

Tunnels Closed

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority said late Saturday it had sealed three arms smuggling tunnels running between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and arrested some smugglers, in the first such action ever taken.

The three tunnels allegedly "used to smuggle arms and drugs" were closed, Palestinian security officials said, adding that nine illegal arms traders were arrested.

Israeli troops have frequently blown up tunnels running under the border town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, and have demolished hundreds of Palestinian houses in the area, claiming they are used by smugglers as well as Palestinian fighters.

This comes as tensions appeared rising within the Palestinian leadership Sunday with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement mulling a push to take the job of interior minister away from the Palestinian premier. 

A senior Fatah source told AFP the movement's central committee was considering a proposal to seek the nomination of Nasser Yusuf, a general with ties to Arafat in the past, to the interior post held by Abbas as well.

The interior minister has control over Palestinian security services and the proposal was certain to be resisted by Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan.