Hamas leader calls for escalation of fighting

Speaking to reporters at his office in Gaza, the 64-year-old quadriplegic leader of Hamas said that there should be selective armed attacks against Israel, adding that the question of carrying out such attacks is a matter of time.

He said that the fighting with the Israeli soldiers should be developed, adding that "stones should turn to hand-grenades", and that the Intifada, or uprising, should change from an Intifada of stones to an Intifada of arms.

"The only language the Israeli enemy understands is the language of force and the language of confrontation, and it only believes in this kind of language," said Yassin, the founder of Hamas movement.

Yassin sent a message to the Islamic Conference convening in Qatar that the reason to begin the Intifada, or Al Aqsa uprising, is in the Israeli repressions and massacres committed against defenseless Palestinian people.

Hamas has rejected the peace process between Israel and the Arabs, and carried out a series of suicide bombing attacks four years ago that killed dozens of people in Israel.

Israel and the Palestinians have been fighting for more than 40 days in the West Bank and Gaza. More than 200 people have been killed, most of them are Palestinian stone-throwers getting shot by Israeli soldiers.

Yassin said it is stupidity and a big mistake to believe that stones could defeat rifles, helicopters and tanks. The fighting with Israel must change and become a completely armed one against Israel.

Asked why Hamas has not carried out attacks against Israel similar to those four years ago, Yassin said that there were attacks carried out which Hamas did not claim responsibility for.

"Selective attacks are coming soon," Yassin said, adding that Hamas armed wing Izel Dein Al Kassam which faced difficulties in the past, "is ready to work and act under all circumstances".

Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the help of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had been cooperating over the last five years to stop attacks carried out by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The PA had fought Hamas by arresting most of its militants, closing its social institutions and considering the movement as illegal organization. However, the PA released most of Hamas and Islamic jihad militants and political leaders after Israeli helicopter gunships attacked several Palestinian police stations in Gaza and the West Bank few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Palestinian medical sources in Gaza said a 19-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in clashes at the northern tip of the Gaza Strip.

The sources said that at least 10 people were injured in the Gaza Strip and ten others were injured in the West Bank during clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas.

(la/dpa)