Hamas: We're prepared to end cease-fire and confront Israel
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel Last update - 10:14 19/11/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1038582.html

Hamas' military wing announced Tuesday it was "prepared for a confrontation
with Israel" and for the end of the cease-fire with Israel. But political
sources said the cease-fire was expected to go on.

Hamas' Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades threatened to "turn the cease-fire
tables on the heads of the Zionists," they said in a statement. Abu Obeida,
the alias of a spokesman for the military wing, threatened that Hamas would
"retaliate fiercely" should Israel resume its targeted-killings policy, as
some defense officials have said were advisable after the cease-fire.

By contrast, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said that since the
cease-fire was not a unilateral move, both sides should honor their part.

Meanwhile, in what could be seen as an indication of relative calm in the
area, the Gaza regional division of the Israel Defense Forces received a new
commander Tuesday in a military ceremony near the border with the Strip.

The ceremony in which Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eisenberg replaced Moshe Tamir was
supposed to take place last week, but was postponed because of Palestinian
rocket fire. Tamir was replaced as commander of the regional division
deployed around Gaza after having served for two years and three months.

Militants fired rockets from the Strip into Israel Tuesday as well, but in a
lower frequency than last week, when hostilities threatened to quash the
cease-fire, which is due to expire next month. The Popular Resistance
Committees and the Popular Front assumed responsibility for the rocket fire.

Three Qassam rockets exploded Tuesday in an open field in the northern
Negev. Militants later fired mortar rounds at an IDF force operating near
the fence on the Palestinian side of the border. No casualties or damage to
property were reported in either incident.

The IDF Spokesman said the soldiers were searching for explosive devices
which militants had placed to detonate near IDF patrols.

Military sources said they believed that Hamas was not directly behind the
rocket fire and hostilities, but rather one or some of the smaller
Palestinian militant movements. The officers think Hamas is pressuring
smaller Palestinian factions in an attempt to preserve the cease-fire.