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Hamas claims evacuation is victory for the suicide bombers
By Con Coughlin
(Filed: 21/08/2005)
All week long, as Israeli soldiers and settlers fought running battles in the soon-to-be-dismantled Jewish settlements, their Palestinian neighbours could hardly contain their delight.
In the teeming slums of Gaza, Palestinian officials marked the end of 38 years of Israeli occupation by organising poetry and painting competitions, which summed up the Palestinians' view of Israel's unilateral decision to forcibly remove 9,000 settlers from their homes.
Palestinian militants celebrate the withdrawal from Gaza
Palestinian militants celebrate the Gaza withdrawal
One entrant, Rasha Salim painted a large picture of a shining sun as a symbol of hope after the withdrawal. "The shining of the sun symbolises the defeat of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip," said the artist, proudly displaying her work.
In the poetry category, an entry by Ibtisam Mustafa was singled out for particular praise. "O brigades, be prepared, Gaza has been restored. Start preparing to liberate the rest of the land. Drive the Zionists out. O Hamas, let's liberate Jerusalem with the help of your soldiers and glorious rockets."
Middle East factfile
While Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, tries to argue that the Gaza withdrawal is an important step towards reviving the dormant Middle East peace talks, Palestinian militants apparently have little interest in achieving their goals through peaceful dialogue.
In Palestinian-controlled Gaza last week, virtually everyone The Sunday Telegraph spoke to said that Israel's indihar, or retreat, had been forced by the scores of young suicide bombers who have killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians in the five-year-long intifada, or uprising.
"The Israelis are leaving Gaza because they can no longer tolerate the bloodshed we have inflicted on them," said Mohammed Khatif, a local shop owner.
"We will continue the struggle until we have reclaimed all the land of Palestine."
Five founding Hamas members made a rare group appearance in a Gaza restaurant to assert their right to continue the armed campaign.
"Our land, including Jerusalem, is still occupied, the refugees are still deported, the wall and the settlements are still eating more of our land," said one leader, Ismail Haniya.
In Beirut, a Hamas spokesman, Khaled Mashaal, was defiant. "The resistance and the steadfastness of our people forced the Zionists to withdraw," he declared last week. "The armed struggle is the only strategy that Hamas possesses. As long as Palestinian lands remain under occupation, Hamas won't lay down its weapons."
To counter the threat posed by Hamas militants, Tony Blair has authorised a team of MI6 counter-terrorism experts to be deployed to Gaza on a secret mission to persuade Hamas to observe a ceasefire.
British intelligence officers believe that such a lull would allow Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian leader, to resume discussions with Israel over the "road map", the blueprint for a peace deal backed by President George W Bush and Mr Blair.
Mr Bush and Mr Blair have committed themselves to a two-state solution for the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, but the Israelis are refusing to enter detailed discussions with the Palestinians until the latter unequivocally renounce terrorism.
Mr Blair, in particular, has invested much political capital in trying to negotiate a deal to create an independent Palestinian state, which he believes would eliminate one of the root causes of Islamic terrorism.
The secret Gaza mission is being led by Alistair Crooke, a former MI6 officer who received an MBE for his work negotiating a Hamas ceasefire during the early stages of the intifada.
Mr Crooke has been heavily criticised by the Israeli government for arguing that Hamas should be treated as a serious negotiating partner in the peace talks.
The Israeli foreign ministry formally asked Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, to withdraw the MI6 team during his visit to Jerusalem in June.
While Mr Straw told the Israelis that he would scale down the operation, security officials in Gaza confirmed last week that the MI6 operation is continuing.
MI6 has a long history of entering into negotiations with outlawed terror groups, notably with the IRA in the 1980s. That dialogue ultimately resulted in Sinn Fein's leaders giving up the armed struggle for political negotiation.
Whether MI6 can replicate that success in Gaza is another matter entirely. As most world attention focused on the emotional scenes unfolding at the Jewish settlements last week, the security situation in Gaza took a serious turn for the worse.
The United Nations was forced to withdraw all its foreign staff from Gaza indefinitely after Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two of its workers and held them hostage for several days. The hostages were eventually released after a gun battle.
Last week a French journalist was abducted in Gaza by masked gunmen. His whereabouts are unknown.
Security officials in Gaza believe that the abductions are the work of rival factions of the Fatah movement, the dominant political force in the Palestinian Authority, aimed at undermining Mr Abbas.
He is keen to use the Gaza withdrawal as a basis for negotiating the removal of Israeli settlements from the occupied West Bank. Concerned that militant groups will launch terror attacks in an attempt to sabotage any talks with Israel - Fatah hardliners oppose "road map" negotiations - he has ordered a crackdown.
Such is the overall chaos within the Palestinian Authority that another team of MI6 officials is advising its security forces on setting up a command and control infrastructure to instil a measure of discipline. Unlike the Hamas operation, it has Israeli approval.
During the Gaza withdrawal, there were no reports of serious clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. Yet despite the relative calm of recent weeks, Israeli security officials fear that once the dust has settled on disengagement, Palestinian militants will seek to launch a new wave of terror attacks. While Mr Abbas focuses on negotiations with Israel, support for Hamas is growing in Gaza and the West Bank. Tens of thousands of Palestinians turned out for a Hamas-sponsored rally in Gaza last week; only a few hundred for a rally in support of Mr Abbas.
With many Palestinians genuinely believing that the intifada forced Israel's withdrawal in Gaza, there is widespread support for using similar terror tactics to prompt the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank.
"We feel that this is the lull before the storm," said a senior Israeli security official. "If that is how the Palestinians see the Gaza withdrawal, we don't hold out much hope that they will commit themselves to political dialogue.
"But if they think they can drive us out of the West Bank they had better think again. There will be no tolerance from Israel for Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank."
