The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has rejected a security agreement reached between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel.
In a statement to Albawaba.com Sunday, spokesman for the group Mahmoud Al Zahhar said that such am agreement is not binding to his radical group, which has vowed to continue with the suicide and mortar attacks on Israeli targets.
Zahhar said Hamas functions on the basis of five principles.
"The Intifada and resistance is a right legitimized by religion as well as world laws," he said. "Secondly, the 1948 Palestine is an occupied land, and settlement should be completely removed and not only ceased."
According to the Hamas official, unity among the Palestinian people is a guarantee against the pressures placed on them. He also called for not rewarding the current Israeli government for its killing of Palestinians and demolishing houses and farms.
The spokesman stressed that the above five points are the criteria applied by the group when judging any agreement.
The spokesman voiced rejection of Israeli statements that settlement will stop, but "natural growth" will continue.
Hamas has announced that 10 suicide bombers of its fighters were ready to attack, four of who have already paid their lives for the cause.
"There are still six completely prepared to blast the enemy's security, even inside the so-called 1948 Palestine, which we consider as an occupied land," he said, adding that the PNA is not responsible for protecting Israel.
Asked if the Hamas-PNA honeymoon has ended with the agreement and the arrest of the groups leader Abdul Aziz Rantissi Sunday, the spokesman said Hamas "does not seek tension," in its relation with the PNA, adding that the detention of Rantissi came as "a misunderstanding of reports issued by certain parties that do not understand the meanings of words."
The Palestinian police arrested the Islamist leader for his "criticisms and threats" against the Palestinian Authority, it was reported.
During a large rally in the refugee camp of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip, Rantissi declared that his movement was opposed to the Jordanian-Egyptian peace plan and shouted out, while waving his Kalashnikov assault rifle: "This is our path."
MUBARAK ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT
Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a ceasefire, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters Sunday after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
"The Israeli and Palestinians have agreed to a ceasefire, on both sides," Mubarak said, cited by AFP.
It was not immediately clear exactly when the ceasefire would begin, reported The Associated Press.
The Egyptian President also told reporters that Israel will start easing measures against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank ahead of the ceasefire.
He added that peace negotiations are due to resume four weeks after it goes into effect, according to the AP.
PERES CLARIFIES, SAYS NO CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT REACHED YET
However, Peres,who confirmed the agreement at the presser, was quoted by The Jerusalem Post later as saying Israel and the Palestinians have not yet agreed to a ceasefire.
He said Israel and the Palestinians are deliberating how long a cessation of hostilities must last in order for the peace negotiations to resume.
The Palestinians are requesting that the ceasefire last four weeks, while Israel wants at least two to three months of quiet before returning to the negotiating table, the paper cited an Army Radio report as saying.
Mubarak added that peace negotiations are due to resume four weeks after it goes into effect, according to the AP.
The agency said that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon conveyed a message to Mubarak, telling him that negotiations would resume in a four-week time.
"Four weeks after the ceasefire, negotiations will start to find a solution to the situation and this will give hope that there will be stability," Sharon stated in the letter, cited by the agency.
TENSION AS IS IN THE FIELD
The announcement came as violent confrontations escalated in the West Bank and Gaza despite a series of radical steps taken by the Palestinian Authority, driven by President Yasser Arafat, to try to stop anti-Israeli attacks after clear threats of reprisals by the Jewish state, said reports. Nevertheless, violent confrontations were still underway leading to the injury of a Jewish settler and more mortar shells fired at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
In Nablus, a Palestinian man was killed by a bomb, which exploded as a school bus carrying children from a Jewish settlement passed through the West Bank, an Israeli military source said.
The source said an apparent car bomb went off near the autonomous Palestinian city of Nablus about 100 meters from an Israeli army position, leaving one dead man lying beside it, reported AFP.
Palestinian witnesses said a second Palestinian was injured in the face and hand by the powerful blast.
It was not immediately clear whether this was a suicide attack or an accidental explosion en route to carrying out an attack - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
