93 Hamas Men Arrested in West Bank Coup Attempt - Gili Cohen
The Israel Security Agency has interrogated 46 Hamas operatives in the West Bank over the past three months on suspicion of setting up a network of cells to commit attacks against Israel and to carry out a coup against the Palestinian Authority. Altogether, 93 Hamas members have been arrested since May for involvement in this network.
As a result of the arrests and interrogations, the security services have seized NIS 600,000 shekels ($171,000); 24 rifles, mostly M-16s; six pistols; seven rocket launchers; and a large quantity of ammunition. The head of the network was Riad Nasser, 38, of Deir Kadis near Ramallah, who did jail time in Israel in the past for his Hamas activities. Nasser was recruited by Saleh Arori, who did 16 years in an IDF prison and was subsequently deported and now lives in Turkey.
(Ha'aretz)
Abbas: Hamas Plot Threatens Unity Government - Yoav Zitun
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was following reports of a Hamas plot to topple the PA government with great concern, and that the information posed a serious threat to the future of the Palestinian unity government.
(Ynet News)
Coup Attempt Hatched by Hamas Official in Turkey
The Shin Ben said the plot was orchestrated by senior Hamas official Salah Arouri, who is based in Turkey and enjoys the support of the local officials there. The idea was to set up cells in major West Bank cities.
Hamas had no immediate comment to the claim. Hamas overtook the Gaza Strip in [a] 2007 [coup against] forces loyal to Abbas.
(Zaman-Turkey)
Hamas Seeks Islamic Caliphate, Not Palestinian State - Zvi Mazel
As an Islamic jihadi caliphate is strengthening its hold in the heart of the Middle East, the West seems intent on venting its frustrations on Israel, which is defending itself against Hamas, another radical Islamist group. Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, with the express purpose of destroying Israel and establishing an Islamic state on the ruins of the Jewish state.
Unfortunately, the West has yet to realize that Hamas is using the Palestinian problem and spouting fake nationalistic slogans in order to further its aims. Yet Hamas does not speak of creating an independent Palestinian state. Instead it says it is fighting "occupation," a word encompassing Tel Aviv and the whole of Israel.
Egypt is the last rampart of the Arab world against the barbaric Islamic state taking shape, as Iraq and Syria are in disarray.
The writer is a former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt.
(Jerusalem Post)
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Group Cancels Trip to Glasgow after City Flies Palestinian Flag
- Kerry Gill
Plans to bring 600 U.S. visitors to Glasgow have been abandoned because of the city council's decision to fly the Palestinian flag. The trip, which would have injected hundreds of thousands of pounds into Glasgow, and the Scottish economy, was a reward to 600 salesmen and women, and their spouses, from one of the top worldwide corporations.
But after reading about Glasgow's decision to fly the Palestinian flag over the City Chambers to show solidarity with Gaza, the New York-based vice-president of the company wrote to Glasgow's Lord Provost, Sadie Docherty, saying:
"I was...spearheading an event in Glasgow for 600 business visitors to be guests of your wonderful city. We were scheduling six days in Glasgow.... Having read your statement endorsing Hamas and its leadership due to the number of Muslims in your city, I have decided to cancel all plans for our trip."
(Express-UK)
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UPDATES:
A wake-up call -Jonathan Tobin
The news that Israel's security services foiled a plot by Hamas that was aimed at toppling the Palestinian Authority and its leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank will probably be ignored...
But rather than dismissing this as a minor story, those who are pushing Israel hard to make concessions to both Hamas and the PA should be paying closer attention to what the terrorists intend to do and the implication of their plans for a truce that would further empower the Islamists.
The details of what Israel's Shin Bet service discovered during the sweeps of the West Bank in May and June should curl Abbas' hair. The group that he had embraced as a partner in the PA as a result of the unity pact he signed in April wasn't planning on going along with Fatah's leadership as Abbas and Secretary of State John Kerry naively believed. Instead they set up new terror cells in all the major towns and cities of the West Bank whose goal was to ultimately set off a new conflagration with Israel with a series of massive attacks throughout the area including one on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
But the decision to acquiesce to any of Hamas's demands will have consequences for more than the future of Gaza. The assumption that Abbas can continue to hang on to the West Bank and maybe even assume some power in Gaza is based on the idea that Hamas is on the ropes and without options. But once the resupply of Hamas in Gaza begins, it will have serious implications for Abbas's future.
Those who have spoken of Hamas, as having evolved to the point where it is a legitimate political force and not a terror group should have had lost their illusions about the group amid the rocket launches and the discovery of the tunnels. But the revelation about the coup attempt should remove any doubt as to the Islamists' intentions.
The Obama administration, which has been eager to push Israel to do something to allow Hamas a way out of the conflict, should realize that the coup should end its illusions about Palestinian unity and the ability of Abbas to make peace while partnering with the terrorists.
[World Jewish Review]
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Bringing Abbas Back: Not a Good Idea - Khaled Abu Toameh
Those who believe that the reinstatement of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza would destroy or undermine Hamas and end rocket attacks on Israel are living under an illusion.
Many seem to have forgotten that even while he was in control of Gaza, Abbas could not stop the rocket attacks or disarm any of the terrorist groups. Even if the PA returned to Gaza, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups would not disappear. Abbas and the PA cannot return to Gaza unless Hamas and its allies are completely disarmed.
Abbas would probably love to retake control over Gaza. However, under the current circumstances, his return to Gaza would be seen by Hamas and other Palestinians as an act of treason. The last thing he needs is to be accused of returning to Gaza "aboard an Israeli tank."
Abbas still does not trust Hamas in spite of the unity agreement he signed. After the Hamas coup in 2007, Abbas revealed that Hamas had tried to kill him just before its militiamen seized control of the entire Strip.
Moreover, a plan by the Islamist movement to overthrow his regime in the West Bank was revealed this week.
(Gatestone Institute)
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