Hamas feels the diplomatic heat

2006-04-18 22:26

Gaza City - Hamas's failure to condemn the first suicide attack inside Israel since it took power in the Palestinian Authority has increased the diplomatic pressure on its already beleaguered government.

The radical Islamist movement had held off suicide attacks for more than a year.

Its continued refusal to renounce the use of violence had already resulted in aid cuts from the West even before Monday's bombing in Tel Aviv, carried out by the smaller Islamic Jihad movement.

The Palestinian Authority, when governed by the Fatah movement, routinely condemned attacks in Israel which cost civilian lives. But after the first such attack on its watch, Hamas pointedly refrained from doing so.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya told a weekly cabinet meeting: "The continuing (Israeli) occupation and aggressions are at the root of the cycle of violence.

"Peace and security in the region will flow from the end of the occupation and the recovery of all our rights."

'Hamas must make a clear stand'

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan took note of the contrasting reactions to the bombing by Hamas and the moderate Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, who was unequivocal in his condemnation.

Spokesperson for Annan, Stephane Dujarric, said "He (Annan) calls on the Palestinian Authority to take a clear public stand against such unjustifiable acts of terrorism, noting that president Abbas has done so and regretting that the new government has not."

Hamas has been desperate to build bridges with Annan.

Palestinian foreign minister Mahmud al-Zahar sent Annan a letter this month, in which he wrote of a Palestinian desire for peace and independence side-by-side with its neighbours, while not specifically mentioning Israel.

The Islamists secured a diplomatic coup last month when they visited Moscow at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.

Russia has argued it would be a mistake to boycott Hamas, but it also delivered a rebuke by warning against buck-passing.

Hamas acknowledges heat turned up

Hamas took a tongue-lashing from Washington, where White House spokesperson Scott McCellan accused Hamas of trying to "defend or even applaud the barbaric act of terror".

The Palestinian cabinet secretary, Mohammed Awad, acknowledged the heat was being turned up: "There is no doubt that the pressure is increasing."

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri struck a note of defiance after Washington's reaction, saying it simply proved its pro-Israeli bias: "Reinforcing the pressure on the Palestinian government will only exacerbate the tensions in relations between the United States on the one side and the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim people on the other.

"Hamas and the Palestinian people will not buckle in the face of political pressure and blackmail."

- AFP