Security sources: Hamas is arming Islamic Jihad with Qassams
By Ze'ev Schiff and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents Last update -
12:10 13/04/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/848046.html

Security sources on Thursday said Hamas is supporting Islamic Jihad's rocket
attacks against Israel with behind-the-scenes activities that include arming
the organization's militants with Qassam rockets.

They said Hamas is emerging as the lynchpin of Palestinian terrorist
activities against Israel.

While Hamas is maintaining a front of abiding by the cease-fire with Israel
in the Gaza Strip, it is providing Qassam rockets to Islamic Jihad militants
who are targeting Israeli towns in the south, the security sources said.

Meanwhile, for the first time on Thursday, Hamas extremists openly
demonstrated against the leadership of the group.

A group of nearly 200 gunmen from the military wing of Hamas and the
Executive Force demonstrated in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip
against the unity government and declared that they will only abide by
orders from the former foreign and interior ministers, Mahmoud Al-Zahar and
Said Sayam.

Another reason for the mutiny revolves around disputes over the identity of
the Palestinian prisoners on a list provided to Israel recently, for a
possible exchange for the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Some of the demonstrators argued that the list of prisoners was prepared by
those prisoners' relatives.

A meeting scheduled Wednesday between Nizar Riyan, a senior figure in the
political leadership of Hamas, and members of the "rebels" ended with an
exchange of gunfire near Riyan's home.

According to security sources, Hamas has adopted a strategy of duality,
which will be maintained under all circumstances, including a situation of a
general cease-fire. On the basis of this strategy, a Palestinian
organization will continue violent activities against Israel notwithstanding
a cease-fire.

This was a similar strategy used by Yasser Arafat, who committed the PLO in
agreements to preserve cease-fires, but was always careful to retain his
ties with extremist organizations that would continue their terrorist
activities against Israel.

In the past, Israeli intelligence provided evidence exposing this strategy.

As such, so long as Hamas continues to cooperate with Islamic Jihad, sources
say that the value and reliability of a cease-fire agreement is dubious.

The cooperation between Hamas and Islamic Jihad involves an agreement not
only to turn a blind eye to the rocket attacks against Israel, but also to
provide the militants with the hardware.

It is believed that Hamas had provided Islamic Jihad militants with
Russian-made Grad rockets with a range of 16 kilometers, and which were used
to target Ashkelon on June 18, 2006.