Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh wants the other armed groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets into Israel.
The group, worried about the potential for Israeli retaliation, has spent weeks trying to broker a Gaza-wide cease-fire. Haniyeh said in late November that he had reached a deal, but Islamic Jihad and the PFLP quickly denied those reports.
We told you yesterday, with some skepticism, that Hamas claimed to have brokered a deal with armed groups in Gaza that would end rocket attacks on Israel.
Those armed groups spoke out today (عربي) and denied the report. The Qassam Brigades -- the military wing of Hamas -- said no deal had been signed; the PFLP said it had not "neutralized any form of legitimate resistance"; Islamic Jihad also issued a denial.
But Hamas' interior minister, Fathi Hammad, insisted that his government is still interested in a cease-fire -- to provide the people of Gaza with an opportunity to rebuild, he said. Any agreement would allow Palestinian groups to respond to Israeli attacks.
Israeli jets, meanwhile, wounded eight Palestinians in early-morning raids that targeted a smuggling tunnel and two alleged bomb-making facilities.
Not sure how seriously to take this, but Hamas' interior ministry claims to have reached a deal with other armed groups in the Gaza Strip. The agreement would ban all rocket fire into Israel, except in response to Israeli military operations in Gaza. (I can't find any mention of the agreement in Arabic media yet.)
The announcement comes just hours after a Qassam rocket landed in the Negev, which perhaps undermines its credibility a bit. The rocket caused no damage or injuries. It was probably fired in retaliation for an Israeli air force attack on Thursday, which blew up two smuggling tunnels and an alleged "weapons lab"; the air raid, in turn, was a response to a Qassam launch on Wednesday.
While Fatah is focused on politics, Hamas is focused on another allegedly-imminent war with Israel. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the group, said Israel is trying to "justify a new aggression" in Gaza.
Barhoum seems to be responding to Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the IDF's chief of staff, who said yesterday that Israel would launch a sequel to Operation Cast Lead unless people stop firing rockets from Gaza.
As I mentioned earlier, a Qassam rocket from Gaza landed in southern Israel yesterday -- at the same time Ashkenazi was giving his speech. Israeli media have recently been reporting that Hamas has new rockets with a 60-kilometer range, which would put Tel Aviv within range. Israeli intelligence claims the rockets came from Iran, though they haven't provided any proof.
Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, has an interview (عربي) in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam in which he says the PA might ask the United Nations Security Council to formally recognize a Palestinian state along 1967 borders.
Steve Clemons just posted an interview with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal. Meshal promised to form an "honest and neutral investigative committee" to look into the Goldstone Report's conclusions.
I'll believe it when I see it, of course, but that's encouraging to hear. And it might eventually shame Israel into conducting its own investigation; the only committee Netanyahu is forming right now is one tasked with refuting the report.
One quote from the interview that I want to highlight:
"Hamas does not want to target the civilians. Hamas defends itself, but because it has simple abilities and its rockets are inaccurate in targeting, so it reaches the civilians, but we do not intend to do that."
Clemons doesn't push Meshal on this claim, but it's pretty clearly bullshit. As Human Rights Watch has documented, Hamas routinely fires rockets at areas with no military presence, and Hamas leaders have praised attacks that target civilians.
The biggest story this morning, which we blogged separately, was a double suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed nearly 30 people, including the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan: Diplomats from several countries, including the U.S. and France, are pressuring Afghan president Hamid Karzai to accept the results of the Electoral Complaints Commission's recount.
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah are willing to "work together" after the results are announced. That announcement could come as soon as today or tomorrow.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, is testifying on Capitol Hill this morning; we'll be live-blogging the hearing.
According to prepared testimony released before the hearing, the U.S. plans to withdraw about 4,000 troops from Iraq next month. That's a small fraction of the 124,000 troops currently in Iraq, of course.
Odierno will also talk about the reduced number of contractors working in Iraq: There are 115,000 contractors working there now, down from 149,000 in January. Al-Arabiya has more on what to expect from his testimony.
Also today, a sad and bizarre story out of Afghanistan: A girl was killed by a box of leaflets dropped by a British plane. The box should have broken up in mid-air, according to British officials.
I'm curious: Why is anyone dropping leaflets on a country that is largely illiterate? What's the point?
Suicide bombs in Peshawar and Bannu killed more than a dozen people and wounded more than 150.
The Peshawar suicide bomb went off on a busy street near banks and a wedding hall; according to Dawn, the area isn't far from "residential quarters" for military officers.
In Bannu, a suicide bomber targeted a police station, killing at least six people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack. A third attack in Gilgit, a town in northwest Pakistan, injured at least four people, according to wire reports.
I finally got around to reading Netanyahu's U.N. address, which received a lot of praise in Israel and elsewhere. I wasn't impressed, for two reasons.
Netanyahu shouldn't have taken the bait and engaged Ahmadinejad in a debate about whether the Holocaust actually took place. It happened. Anyone who believes otherwise does not deserve to be taken seriously. By engaging with Ahmadinejad's insane claims, Netanyahu gave them a hint of legitimacy.
For a world leader -- a Jewish one, at that -- to stand on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly and "make the case" for the Shoah cheapens its memory, in my opinion.
Happy Thursday morning. Today's U.N. General Assembly meeting schedule includes both Turkey and Israel, scheduled to speak around 1:00 p.m. EST.
The so-called "P5+1" countries have handed Iran an Oct. 1 deadline for preparing a response to demands that it stop enriching uranium.
"We expect a serious response from Iran and will decide, in the context of our dual track approach, as a result of the meeting, on our next steps," British Foreign Minister David Miliband said, reading a statement agreed by Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there would be "consequences" if Iran did not "reply substantively," though she didn't elaborate on what they might be.
Iranian officials said today that the latest report on their nuclear program, released yesterday by the IAEA, "confirmed" that the program is peaceful.
"The report emphasized ... that Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful," said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA. "It shows Iran has continued its cooperation with the agency ... but at the same time will not accept any political pressure to take measures beyond its legal commitments," he said.
Our analysis of the reports took a more skeptical view. The report concluded that Iran has slowed its uranium enrichment, and gave IAEA inspectors access to the Arak heavy water reactor. But it said Iran still refused to answer questions about the possible military applications of its nuclear technology.
The IAEA report will be used in September negotiations about possible economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
Good Monday morning to you. We'll be following a series of deadly bombings in Iraq today that killed more than 40 people -- details on that in a subsequent post.
Israeli fighter jets bombed an alleged arms smuggling tunnel in the Gaza Strip last night. The IDF told Yedioth Ahronoth that the bombs destroyed the tunnel; Reuters quoted a Hamas spokesman who said there were no injuries in the bombing.
The bombing came a day after Palestinian terrorists launched a Qassam rocket into Israel from Gaza. The rocket landed near a kibbutz, causing no casualties or damage.
66 percent of Israelis support illegal construction in east Jerusalem, according to a new poll published by Tel Aviv University. Just 27 percent of Israelis oppose it.
The poll found modest support for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who received a 53 percent approval rating. U.S. president Barack Obama received lower marks: 46 percent said he is "more sympathetic" to the Palestinians, with just 7 percent describing him as "pro-Israeli." Those numbers have shifted since Obama's Cairo speech two months ago, though, when 55 percent of Israelis said he was "pro-Palestinian."
38 percent of Israelis said they trust Obama to "maintain Israeli interests," up from 26 percent two months ago.
