On Feb. 26, Shamni briefed President Shimon Peres during the latter's
visit to command headquarters in Jerusalem. The general said Hamas was
increasing its influence throughout the West Bank, including within the PA.
"Its presence is felt in hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities
and mosques," Shamni said.
The military has been quietly urging the government of Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert to suspend plans for a unilateral withdrawal from the West
Bank. The United States has been pressing Olmert to honor his pledge in 2006
to withdraw unilaterally from some 97 percent of the West Bank as part of
the Bush administration's plans to establish a Palestinian state by early
2009.
Military intelligence has determined that Hamas organized sleeper
cells and a secret militia in most cities in the West Bank. Officials said
such a network -- believed to include rogue PA officers -- would be operated
within days of any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
The intelligence assessment has been shared by the Israel Security
Agency. ISA director Yuval Diskin said Hamas was planning to capture the
West Bank.
"They are trying to create a new balance of terror to create calm, so
they can consolidate their strength in Gaza and then move to the next level:
taking over Judea and Samaria," Diskin said on March 2.
The military assessment envisions immediate Hamas missile and rocket
strikes after an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Military
intelligence has determined that Hamas and its allies have established an
infrastructure for missile production in several cities.
"For the first time in a decade, the Israeli military, intelligence
services and police have managed to almost completely prevent terror attacks
on the home front," Shamni said.
Israel's military has found missile production facilities and seized a
Hamas-origin Kassam missile and launcher in Nablus. So far, Hamas has failed
to launch effective missile and rocket strikes on Israel from the West Bank.
"Although there are no rocket attacks emanating from the West Bank,
we've found rockets produced here, and this tells us that there are [rocket
production] labs in the region," Shamni said.
Meanwhile, Israel's military has captured a huge amount of Hamas
weaponry.
Military sources said Hamas combatants abandoned a large amount of
weapons, munitions and equipment in their battles with Israeli troops in the
northern Gaza Strip in early March. The sources said Hamas fighters kept the
arsenal in the Jabalya refugee camp, north of Gaza City.
"They have everything that you would need to equip an army," a senior
officer said. "They are well on their way to becoming another Hizbullah."
[On Tuesday evening, Israel's military reentered the southern Gaza
Strip. About 25 armored combat vehicles, backed by attack helicopters,
fought Hamas
combatants near Khan Yunis and killed an Islamic Jihad
commander, Yusuf Samiri, as well as two of his associates.]
In Jabalya, the sources said, Hamas left behind rocket-propelled
grenades, launchers,
assault rifles and body armor. They said most of the weapons and equipment
had been manufactured in Iran.
Hamas was said to have acquired much of the weaponry in early 2008, when
the 12-kilometer border wall with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was breached in at
least seven places. The sources said Iran and Hizbullah had shipped the
equipment weeks earlier to the northern Sinai coast.
The sources said Hamas has organized a 15,000-member military organized
into four brigades. They said Iran and Hizbullah sent trainers from
several Middle East countries, including Syria and Lebanon, to enhance Hamas
combat skills.
During the battles in Jabalya, Hamas ordered children on the rooftops of
military production facilities to prevent Israeli air strikes. Military
sources said Hamas used the children as human shields to stop several
Israeli strikes.
"We are working with our hands tied because of all these laws and
because we are part of the free world and because this is part of our
values," Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni told foreign diplomats on
Tuesday.
