Hamas Leader Calls for Suicide Bus Bombings in Israel, Third Intifada
by JNS.org
A senior Hamas leader has called to renew the Intifada against Israel and to resume suicide bombings in the Jewish state in response to Israeli construction beyond Israel’s pre-1967 borders (the “Green Line”), particularly in eastern Jerusalem.
Ahmed Halabiyeh, director of the Hamas’s Jerusalem Department, said Palestinians should resume “martyrdom operations in the heart of Israel” and “ignite a third intifada to save the Aksa Mosque and Jerusalem.” In a denial of Jerusalem’s Jewish roots, he added that Israel is “waging a fierce onslaught on Jerusalem and accelerating plans to Judaize the city geographically and demographically,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
While the Palestinian Authority has said that Israeli plans to build new housing projects in Jerusalem will impede the reaching of a two-state solution to the conflict, Hamas’s statements went further. Halabiyeh urged Arabs and Muslims to declare a state of full mobilization to “liberate Jerusalem, the Aksa Mosque and Palestine.”