Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, carried out its first
attacks since a tentative November truce on Monday, shooting an
Israeli utility worker near the border and launching two mortar
rounds at soldiers.
"The Qassam Brigades announce its responsibility for shooting a
Zionist (Israeli) and firing two mortar bombs against a gathering
of Zionist soldiers near Karni crossing," the statement by Hamas'
armed wing said, warning that "our strikes against the enemy will
continue."?
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office slammed the shooting
as a "terror" attack.
?
The Israeli electricity company employee had been on duty near the
Karni commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza when he was shot,
Israeli rescue services said.
This attack overshadows the nascent unity government, declared
two days ago, between Hamas and Fatah.
US: partial contact with new Palestinian
gov't
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack spoke out on Monday,
revealing that contact would be maintained by the US with certain
non-Hamas parties of the new Palestinian government, said on
Monday.
"Our position is that we are not going to suspend contacts
solely based on an individual's membership in the national unity
government. We are going to take a look at that on a case-by-case
basis," McCormack told reporters at a news briefing.
Washington has consistently been in contact with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas who is determined forge a lasting peace
settlement with Israel.
McCormack further confirmed Palestinian fears that the United
States would keep its international ban on financial aid to the
Hamas-led Palestinian Authority due to its refusal to recognize
Israel, to put down arms and respect previous Palestinian-Israeli
accords.
In response to the new Palestinian government, Stephen Hadley,
US President George W. Bush's national security adviser, announced
Sunday that Washington would refuse all dealings with the new
Palestinian government lest it give up violence and fully recognize
Israel.
"We will not deal with this government until it accepts those
principles," he said. "We'll be watching obviously for the words
and deeds of this government."
(China Daily via agencies, Xinhua News Agency March 20,
2007)
