Hamas Leader Calls for Increased Efforts Against Israel from West Bank

Hamas’ leader-in-exile has called for an increase in anti-Israel efforts from the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Speaking to a Damascus conference of anti-American politicians from the Arab world, Khalid Ma’shal claimed, "Our inalienable rights are threatened with extinction if the scene in the West Bank does not change by launching the resistance against the Israeli occupation and the settlements.” The already-considerable tension between Fatah and Hamas heightened after Fatah forces began to arrest Hamas operatives in the West Bank following an August 31^st terrorist attack that left four Jews dead. Ma’shal mocked the training of security forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority by U.S. General Keith Dayton and the P.A.’s participation in the U.S.-brokered peace talks, which he called “a process of daily humiliation.”