Israel Matzav

Report: Khaled Meshaal willing to fight Israel to the last Gazan

Nobody elected him. He lives hundreds of miles away in a luxury hotel in Qatar. So why should anyone be surprised that Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal is the main force behind Hamas' refusal to agree to a long-term truce?

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has been the central force preventing a long-term truce between Israel and the Palestinians to halt more than a month of hostilities on the Gaza front, Channel 2 quoted an Israeli diplomatic source as saying on Thursday.

The leader of the Palestinian delegation to cease-fire talks, Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed, announced on Wednesday just before midnight that a 72-hour truce would be extended for five additional days to give the sides more time to work out a long-term agreement.

The Palestinians reportedly had asked for a 72-hour extension of the truce, but Israel had insisted on a five day extension to prevent the cease-fire from ending on the Sabbath.

According to the Israeli official quoted by Channel 2, a long term deal could have already been reached, but Mashaal "was and remains the source of friction that is torpedoing a deal."

Mashaal, who resides abroad in Qatar, is enmeshed in a disagreement with the local Hamas leadership in Gaza, the report added.

If I were a Gazan, I'd be outraged at this. Meshaal has no idea what conditions are like on the ground (for that matter, for a long time, neither did the Hamas leadership in Gaza, which has been hiding out under Shifa Hospital). But being ruled from afar like that is outrageous. Talk about colonialism....

Labels: cease fire, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Khaled Meshaal, Operation Protective Edge

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:39 PM