An interesting statement yesterday from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who is currently sequestered in a spider hole somewhere in Gaza. From the Jeruslam Post:
For the first time since the beginning of the IDF military operation in the Gaza Strip, Hamas on Monday openly signaled its willingness to accept a cease-fire with Israel.
The message from Hamas was issued by its prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who has been in hiding since the beginning of the offensive.
Haniyeh's remarks contradict fiery statements made by Hamas leaders in Syria and Lebanon.
Haniyeh said in a televised speech that Hamas would cooperate with any initiative to stop the offensive and reopen the border crossings into the Gaza Strip.
"We will deal positively with any initiative aimed at ending the offensive," he said.
However, Haniyeh said that Hamas would also continue to fight against the "occupation forces" of Israel.
"We are confident that eventually we would achieve victory and crush the aggression," he said. "The intifada must continue because the occupation is continuing to kill."
In other words: "Israel, please stop killing our terror leaders and destroying our smuggling tunnels and rocket launching capabilities and allow ius to rearm so we can fight you another day." As for the conflicting signals coming from Hamas leaders in Gaza and those based in Damascus and Lebanon, here's more from the J Post:
Iran is exerting heavy pressure on Hamas not to accept the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, an Egyptian government official said on Sunday.
The official told The Jerusalem Post by phone that two senior Iranian officials who visited Damascus recently warned Hamas leaders against accepting the proposal.
His remarks came as Hamas representatives met in Cairo with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman and his aides to discuss ways of ending the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas representatives reiterated their opposition to a cease-fire that did not include the reopening of all the border crossings into the Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesmen said on Sunday.
The spokesmen said Hamas voiced its strong opposition to the idea of deploying an international force inside the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian official said that the two Iranian emissaries, Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, and Said Jalili of the Iranian Intelligence Service, met in the Syrian capital with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Shallah.
"As soon as the Iranians heard about the Egyptian cease-fire initiative, they dispatched the two officials to Damascus on an urgent mission to warn the Palestinians against accepting it," the Egyptian government official told the Post.
"The Iranians threatened to stop weapons supplies and funding to the Palestinian factions if they agreed to a cease-fire with Israel. The Iranians want to fight Israel and the US indirectly. They are doing this through Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon".
The official pointed out that the Iranians were applying "double standards" regarding the current conflict - on the one hand, they encouraged Iranian men to volunteer to fight alongside Hamas; on the other hand, Iran's spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, told the volunteers that they would not be permitted to join the fight against Israel.
"The Iranians never fired one bullet at Israel," he said. "But now they are trying to appear as if they are participating in the war against Israel. The leaders of Teheran don't care about the innocent civilians who are being killed in the Gaza Strip".
I wonder if the people of Gaza are starting to catch on that their Hamas overlords are little more than Iranian puppets. And if they are, I wonder how they feel about it. In the meantime, Hamas says it will accept a Turkish force to monitor the situation (i.e. smuggling tunnels) along the Egypt/Gaza border. That's heavily problematic for two reasons. Number one, the Egyptians will be none too happy to have a foreign force on their soil. They think they can handle that area just fine (although they haven't to date). Number two, Tukey's Islamist leadership has become increasingly antagonistic toward Israel as of late (see here and here).