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Friday, November 2, 2007       Free Headline Alerts

Hamas proposing deal to Israelis

TEL AVIV — Hamas has sought an Israeli guarantee to end military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials said the Palestinian Islamic movement has been intensifying missile strikes from the Gaza Strip to pressure Israel to end military operations, Middle East Newsline reported. The officials said Hamas has proposed an end to the daily missile salvos should Israel agree to withdraw from the Gaza border area as well as from major cities in the West Bank.

"Hamas wants freedom of movement in exchange for a suspension missile strikes," an official said. "This would give Hamas the capability to build its force free from Israeli pressure."

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Officials said Hamas leaders have rejected international appeals for a unilateral ceasefire with Israel. They said Hamas has concluded that a suspension of Israeli military operations would enable the acceleration of missile and rocket production to prepare for a major conflict with the Jewish state.

On Thursday, Israel's military announced the discovery of seven weapons tunnels that extended from Egypt to the Gaza Strip. The military said the tunnels were used by Hamas to smuggle insurgents as well as weapons, and comprised part of the "Hamas' weapons supply mechanism."

Military sources said they assess that dozens of other tunnels were in the area. They said 25 Palestinian insurgents were killed in the Gaza Strip this week in Israeli operations, four of them on Thursday.

A leading Knesset member has warned that Egypt was helping Hamas develop its military infrastructure. Former Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz said Egypt has teamed with Iran to sustain a low-level conflict against Israel meant to culminate in a major war.

The sources said Hamas has also sought to develop missile production facilities in the West Bank. They said the Islamic force would exploit any Israeli withdrawal from West Bank cities to renew missile and rocket development and production.

On Friday, the Palestinian Authority was scheduled to deploy 300 police and security officers in the West Bank city of Nablus. The deployment of the troops, trained in facilities in Jericho, would follow the acquisition of 50 jeeps by Palestinian security forces loyal to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

"We are allowing the building of a military force in Gaza that in the end will abduct Israeli soldiers," Israeli [Res.] Maj. Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal, a former head of Ground Forces Command, said.

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