Senior Hamas leader calls for third intifada

The excuse this time is the planned building of settlements in East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Post:

A senior Hamas leader called on Tuesday for a third intifada and the resumption of suicide bombings against Israel.

The demand came in response to the government's recent decision to approve the construction of hundreds of housing units in east Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim.

Ahmed Halabiyeh, director of the Jerusalem Department in Hamas, said that armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, should initiate a confrontation with Israel over its plans to build new apartments in Jerusalem and its suburbs.

The Palestinians, he added, should resort to various methods of resistance, first and foremost "martyrdom operations in the heart of Israel."

He urged Palestinians to "ignite a third intifada to save the Aksa Mosque and Jerusalem."

The "enemy is waging a fierce onslaught on Jerusalem and accelerating plans to Judaize the city geographically and demographically," he told reporters in Gaza City.

Israel, he charged, was spreading the "cancer of settlements to all parts of Jerusalem."

The Hamas official also accused Israel of working to undermine the foundations of the Aksa Mosque to bring about its collapse so it could replace the structure with the Third Temple.

Halabiyeh urged Arabs and Muslims to declare a state of full mobilization to "liberate Jerusalem, the Aksa Mosque and Palestine."

Evidently, the Hamas dunce isn't much of an engineer. If he was, he would know that "trying to undermine the foundations of the Aksa Mosque" is silly and physically impossible given the distance between the planned construction and the mosque. But the gullible kids who will taunt Israeli soldiers and throw rocks and bottles in their direction hoping to get them to open fire will believe anything.

It should also be noted that the construction is taking place on Israeli soil and would probably remain so in any agreement between the Palestinians and Israel. The threat of intifada, however, is real and is not good news for Prime Minister Netanyahu heading into next month's elections.