Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Africa
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
North America
Search
Search:
Tens of thousands mass in Gaza for Hamas anniversary
AFP - 2 hours 32 minutes ago
GAZA CITY (AFP) - - Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters massed in Gaza City of Sunday to mark the 21st anniversary of the creation of the Islamist movement which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip last year.
Busloads of demonstrators flooded into the city from across the densely populated territory, waving the green flags of the Islamic Resistance Movement.
"Hamas has gone from stonethrowing to guns and rockets, from a support base of a few thousand people to a backing of millions in Arab countries and around the world," one of the movement's top officials in Gaza, Mahmud Zahar, boasted on the Hamas website.
"It has succeeded in striking at Israel's national security."
Hamas won an upset victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006 but remains blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by both the European Union and the United States as well as Israel.
Hamas television put the turnout for the afternoon demonstration in Katiba Square in the city centre in the hundreds of thousands.
The head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, was due to address the rally, which was intended as a show of strength in the Islamists' standoff with the West Bank-based administration of president Mahmud Abbas.
Haniya was expected to set out the Hamas position on a troubled six-month-old truce with Israel which runs out on Thursday after weeks of persistent violence.
The Islamists accuse Israel of failing to honour its side of the bargain by easing its crippling blockade of aid-dependent Gaza.
Israel accuses Hamas of failing to stop militant groups from raining rockets and mortar rounds on its southern towns.
"There is no sense in extending the truce while the enemy is not respecting it and is keeping Gaza in a state of siege," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum, without saying whether the Islamists intended to declare it over.
Senior Israeli defence ministry official Amos Gilad, who led the Israeli side in the Egyptian-brokered negotiations for the original truce, was in Cairo on Sunday for talks on extending it.
Despite a spate of tit-for-tat attacks since November 4 that has prompted some Israeli ministers to call for a major ground offensive against Gaza, Gilad has repeatedly spoken out in favour of extending the truce, arguing that there is no military solution.
"Experience shows that military operations don't always solve problems in the Middle East," he said late last month. "You have to find the optimal solution. To date no appropriate military solution has been found for the Strip."
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (0 votes)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Related Articles: World
At least 51 killed in Egypt bus crashAFP - 33 minutes ago
The Nation's WeatherAP - 1 hour 41 minutes ago
Russian opposition attempt to rally in MoscowAP - 36 minutes ago
Tens of thousands mass in Gaza for Hamas anniversaryAFP - 2 hours 32 minutes ago
More outages possible in ice-ravaged NortheastAP - 2 hours 43 minutes ago
Enlarge Photo
Palestinian supporters of the Islamist Hamas movement ride in cars waving the movement's green flag during a rally on December 13 to mark the 21st anniversary of Hamas's founding in Gaza City ahead of the main celebrations expected Sunday. Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters massed in Gaza City of Sunday to mark the anniversary.
Most Popular – World
Viewed
US carmakers mull options as White House vows aid
Actress Jennifer Aniston appears naked in GQ magazine
Russia crowned Miss World 2008 in African event
Fortis bank, saved from collapse, again on shaky ground
Rich and powerful top Madoff's fraud victims: report
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular