Obama's 'Peace partners' Hamas Praises Recent Terror Attacks In Israel, Calls For Escalation And Launch Of New Intifada.

Hamas cartoon showing the synagogue massacre. The knife-wielding attacker says "Where are they?" (Facebook.com/palinfo, November 17, 2014)

Hamas Praises Recent Terror Attacks In Israel, Calls For Escalation And Launch Of New Intifada, Threatens: "The Palestinian Volcano Will Erupt In Occupation's Face" (Memri).

The wave of violence and terror taking place in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel in the past weeks has been welcomed and encouraged by Hamas. 

Taking advantage of rumors that Israel intends to change the status-quo at Al-Aqsa mosque, the movement called to oppose the occupation by every means. 

Hamas spokesmen praised the attacks, saying that they were a spontaneous and natural response to Israel's actions in Al-Aqsa, and called the attackers, some of whom were members of the movement or affiliated with it, "heroic martyrs" and models of courage and creativeness, urging other Palestinians to follow their example and continue the attacks.

Articles in Hamas newspapers and websites likewise glorified the violence and promised that the future would see attacks even more devastating and creative. Some also emphasized that the war underway today is a religious war, not a political one.

In addition, Hamas is making efforts to expand the unrest in Jerusalem to the West Bank and fan it into a new intifada. Its spokesmen are directing harsh criticism at the Palestinian Authority (PA), demanding that it halt the security coordination with Israel and allow the Palestinian public to voice its protest, resist the occupation and launch the "Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem Intifada."

This paper reviews the efforts of Hamas spokesmen and media aimed at escalating the unrest in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the name of defending the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Hamas Political Bureau Head Khaled Mash'al: The Volcano Will Erupt At The Occupation Very Soon.

Hamas Political Bureau head Khaled Mash'al called on all the Palestinian factions to oppose the occupation's actions in Jerusalem, and criticized the political weakness of the PA. 

In an interview with the Qatari daily Al-Sharq, he said: "[Israel] has a plan to harm Al-Aqsa mosque, to desecrate its sanctity, and to divide it [between Muslims and Jews, first], in terms of the times [during which each will be allowed to pray there] and later by [actually dividing] the space – with the ultimate aim of destroying [the mosque] and building the [Jewish] 'Temple.' Its recent closure to Muslims is a dangerous precedent. This prompts us to say that Al-Aqsa is now within the heart of the danger, and not [merely] facing it." 

Mash'al said further: "We believe that the response to these crimes and these plans to harm Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa should be expressed on two main levels [the Palestinian one and the pan-Arab one]. The first level is resistance and prompting the [Palestinian] people to rebel against the occupation, for this is what deters the enemy. This is not just the responsibility of Hamas, but of all the factions together and of the Palestinian leadership. Every Palestinian leader should shoulder his national, political and historic responsibility in the face of the severe and unprecedented danger threatening Al-Aqsa. On the second level, the entire [Arab] nation, including all its official and popular sectors, its leaders, movements, organizations, clerics, intellectuals and writers, and all Muslims and Christians who hold Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa dear, must initiate the consolidation of a serious stance, and voice its rage to the world in an open-ended [struggle]..."

He added, "Throughout the last century, the Palestinian people has never given up the struggle, the jihad, the resistance, and the martyrdom. At all times, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa were planted in the heart of our people, as in the heart of the nation. The problem is not the Palestinian people or its willingness to rebel or resist, but the weakness of the policy and of the official options. Resistance is the right of the Palestinian people, and this is uncontroversial. The very existence of the occupation warrants resistance, as do the settlements, the daily killing, and the arrests – as well as the Judaization of Jerusalem and the harming of Al-Aqsa mosque."

Asked whether he foresaw a third intifada, Mash'al replied: "There is seething below the surface, and some of [it has already erupted] to the surface, and all the obstacles and attempts to thwart and bury it will fail, Allah willing. The Palestinian volcano will not wait, but erupt in the occupation's face. Calm is required in the domestic arena, among the Palestinian people, but when it comes to the occupation... there is no place for calm, but only for resistance and struggle by all means."

Mash'al congratulated "the Palestinian public in Jerusalem, whose sons, daughters, children, and elderly are the first line of defense of Jerusalem and of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and all our holy places, [both] Christian and Muslim. We bless also our people within the 1948 [borders, i.e. Israeli Arabs], who have for the past few years made the Al-Aqsa mosque and Jerusalem into a main issue and a daily struggle. Together with the residents of Jerusalem, they are the first line of defense of Al-Aqsa."[1] Read the full 'Story' here.