Hamas Is Serious About Keeping This Truce
June 29, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I have always contended the time of “peace and safety,” spoken by the Apostle Paul, would not be fulfilled until the terrorist groups, and those nations controlling them, could see it was advantageous for them to stop their terrorist activities long enough to lull Israel into a false sense of security. I have been hoping since May the present scenario in the Gaza Strip would lead to a temporary cessation of terrorist activity from the hostile groups in and around Israel.
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
In January of 2001, in Archive Prophecy Update Number 3, I made the following statement:
Begin Quote from 2001
“[But there is something far more important in the peace process than who is the leader of Israel, and who is the leader of the Palestinians. I retired from the USAF/National Security Agency as a synoptic analyst. When one analyzes anything, it is imperative to advance from what controls the conclusion of the problem being examined. Some problems do not have a definite controlling factor, and all the factors, both incidental and insignificant, must be given the appropriate weight in making a forecast of the outcome.
However, this is not the c ase in m
aking a determination of when peace will come between Israel and the Palestinians. The controlling fac tor, which determines when a false peace will come
to Israel, rests solely with the terrorist groups that plague her. There can never be a period of peace, even false peace, without the approval of all the terrorist groups.
Yassar Arafat cannot control the terrorist groups, nor can any other single Arab leader.
The terrorist complex of Osama Bin Laden, the Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hisbullah, and Fatah are really controlled by leaders in Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Until these leaders finally come to the conclusion that the only way Israel can be driven into the Negev is by being lulled into a false sense of security, the terrorist groups will continue to operate, and the killing will continue.
I believe these terrorist groups will soon realize that if they really want to slaughter Jews by the hundreds of thousands, and drive the rest into the Negev, they will have to lull Israel into a brief period of false peace. When this happens, an agreement will be reached between Israel and the Palestinians. So my advice to those who want to get a feel of when the false peace will come is this: WATCH the terrorist groups. When their actions drop to zero, and stay there for a while, you may rest assured it has been as a result of meetings behind closed doors between the leaders of the aforementioned nations, and the leaders of the terrorist groups they sponsor.
I don’t pay much attention to any leader of Israel or the Palestinians. The terrorist groups are the key to a false peace in the Mid-East.
When they grasp that by appearing to cease their activities they will be able, at a later time, to kill many Jews, and drive the rest into the Negev, they will settle down and wait for the surprise attack against Israel from the north.
Ariel Sharon may try to put a “forced peace” on the Palestinians before the terrorist groups shut down. This was one of the options considered by his party in
the past. But it will not work. Watch for a cessation of terrorism.
Then, after a brief period of false peace, look for a vicious surprise attack from the north out of Syria.]”
End of Quote from 2001
Mahmoud al-Zahar is one of the extremists in the Hamas movement, and from comments he makes in the Haaretz excerpt which follows our heading, it is apparent Hamas is quite series about wanting to maintain the present truce agreement with Israel. The statements made Friday by the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh were also quite clear that Hamas desires a period of calm.
Just as I finished typing the preceding paragraph Saturday night, some renegade terrorist group lobbed a couple of mortar shells at Israel from the Gaza Strip, but Israel still plans to allow 80 truckloads
of food to cross into Gaza on Sunday. It actually appears both sides are trying to promote a time of calm between them.
Begin Haaretz Excerpt
Top Hamas official: We’ll stop anyone who breaks Gaza truce
By Fadi and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
June 28, 2008
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, told a Saudi newspaper on Saturday that his organization will move against any armed group that attempts to violate the cease-fire with Israel, including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Al-Zahar warned that any Palestinian group who deviates from the national consensus and harms the interests of the Palestinian people can no longer be considered a part of the resistance, but rather as someone who seeks to harm it.
Al-Zahar added that Hamas has recently arrested gunmen who fired missiles at the Karni crossing as well as at trucks carrying goods
that passed through the crossings.
“There are families who will turn their children into Hamas because they are acting against the law,” al-Zahar said.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday appealed to Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to honor the week-long truce with Israel, and stop firing at the Negev, for the good of the Palestinian civilian population.
Two mortar shells from Gaza hit the western Negev on Friday, exploding in open areas, despite the cease fire agreement. No damage or injury were reported.
“We expect everyone to respect the agreement so that the Palestinian people achieve what they look for, an end to this suffering and breaking the siege,” he told reporters outside a G
aza mosque after Muslim prayers.
The attack on Friday came one day after two Hamas also has demanded that Israel allow reopening of Gaza’s only border crossing with Egypt in the final phase of
the six-month truce deal.
The Rafah crossing has been sealed since the Hamas violent takeover over the Strip last June, confining Gaza’s people to the tiny seaside territory. Israel has said it would not allow reopening of Rafah until the soldier is freed.
Begin Jerusalem Post Article
Palestinians fire shells as Israel decides to open Gaza crossings
June 28, 2008
KHALED ABU TOAMEH and YAAKOV LAPPIN
THE JERUSALEM POST
Shortly after Israel decided to open all the crossings into Gaza Saturday night several mortar shells were fired by Palestinian terrorists at the Karni Crossing area.
It was unclear whether the shells landed in Israeli territory or fell short of the perimeter fence and there were no reports of wounded or damage.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna’i, in consultation with defense chiefs, decided to allow 80 truckloads of food to cross from Israel to Gaza on Sunday.
The crossings, including Karni, had been closed since Tuesday after Palestinians violated the Gaza cease-fire by shooting Kassams rockets at the western Negev.
A mortar attack on Israel Friday prompted Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip to issue new warnings to Palestinian armed groups there against violating the cease-fire with Israel and threatening to arrest anyone who does not abide by it.
This is the first time Hamas has threatened to arrest Gazans who fire rockets at Israel. The threat is seen as a sign of Hamas’s keenness to preserve the cease-fire and show that it is capable of enforcing its will on all the factions in the Strip.
Terrorists fired two mortar shells at Israel from northern Gaza on Friday, marking the end of a week marred by cease-fire breaches.
One shell hit near Kibbutz Kfar Aza while the second slammed into an uninhabited area. No injuries or damages were reported.
Sources in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas’s security forces arrested five Fatah militiamen Friday on suspicion of firing three rockets at Israel last week. The men were arrested in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, the sources said, noting that Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, said his movement’s position regarding the violations committed by Fatah and Islamic Jihad was “clear.” He said representatives of Fatah and Islamic Jihad had been summoned to meetings with Hamas officials who warned them against breaching the agreement.
“Some elements were working secretly to foil the [cease-fire] agreement,” Zahar told reporters. “They don’t want this agreement to succeed because they are working against the national interests of our people.”
Zahar also said some Palestinian “collaborators” and unruly factions were behind the attempts to foil the truce. He said that his movement had made it clear that anyone who violated the agreement would be arrested.
“We have reached an agreement with Islamic Jihad that anyone, even if he’s from Hamas, would be arrested and disarmed if he violates the agreement,” he said. “Those who violate the agreement will be accused of sabotaging the national program.”
Asked if he is not concerned that Hamas would be accused of serving Israel by arresting rocket-launchers, Zahar said: “Whoever makes such an allegation does not understand anything and is himself a collaborator with Israel. This agreement was reached on the basis of national consensus.”
Zahar revealed that Hamas has already arrested a number of Palestinians who fired mortars and rockets at the border crossings to the Gaza Strip or trucks supplying fuel. He also said some Gazan clans had handed over their sons who were accused of violating the truce and “harming the national interests of the Palestinians.”
Hamas’s Interior Minister, Said Siam, summoned representatives of Palestinian armed groups to an urgent meeting at his home on Friday night where he warned them against breaching the cease-fire.
“All those who accepted the agreement must now honor it,” he said after t
he meeting. “Anyone who acts otherwise will be held responsible and will be seen as serving the interests of Israel.”
Israel did not respond militarily to the mortars over the weekend, choosing instead to keep Gaza border crossings closed, as it had done throughout the previous week.
Kfar Aza has come under frequent mortar attacks in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Palestinian sources said a 17-year-old boy was shot dead by IDF soldiers in Beit Omar, north of Hebron. The IDF said soldiers opened fire after identifying a group of youths throwing Molotov cocktails at motorists on Highway 60.
The latest incident came after IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) men shot dead a senior Islamic Jihad figure and a lower-ranking member of the organization on Tuesday.
AP and JPost.com Staff contributed to this report
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