Free Republic

A Western intelligence source speaking exclusively to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday revealed that it was Hamas that bombed homes and vehicles belonging to Fatah officials in Gaza last Friday, and made sure to forge a false claim of responsibility by the Islamic State in Gaza. The source also revealed that the incident—that caused damage but no injuries—was conducted by Hamas’ military branch, the Izz ad-Din al-Kassam Brigades, without a prior “heads-up” to the political leaders of Hamas. …

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Friday evening with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, following the disappearance of three yeshiva students near Hevron. During the conversation, Netanyahu told Kerry that the boys’ disappearance was directly related to the Palestinian Authority (PA) signing a reconciliation pact and forming a unity government with the Hamas terrorist group. "What is happening on the ground since Hamas was added to the government is a deterioration of the situation. This is the direct result of allowing a murderous and racist terrorist organization into the government," Netanyahu told Kerry, according to Channel 2 News. Netanyahu...

GAZA — For 14-year-old Aseel Radi, the promised reconciliation between warring Palestinian political factions is viewed through a forlorn fountain in a crowded market on the eastern side of Gaza City. Aseel used to visit the fountain in what is known as Palestine Square with her father, Maher, a member of the Fatah faction’s armed wing who was killed by militants from its rival, Hamas, during the bloody six-day battle for control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Now, only a few bricks remain of the broader basin, which is filled with trash. The lights have been turned off and...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry admitted on Thursday that the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas had been unexpected. Speaking in Ethiopia, where he said it was time for the United States to take a “pause” in Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace talks, Kerry said that the deal announced last week took the U.S. by surprise, according to The Associated Press (AP). That deal, he noted, “came as a complete and total unannounced event, without any heads-up, so to speak, at the moment of important negotiations.” …

According to Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the so-called reconciliation deal reached by rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to form a “unity” government in the coming weeks may be a good development that is consistent with continued peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He reached this conclusion based on the word of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Serry said President Abbas assured him, during a meeting he held with President Abbas in Ramallah, that the reconciliation agreement will be implemented under President Abbas’s leadership and on the basis of...

Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians in separate surgical air strikes and armed clashes throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Among those killed were senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad field commanders. The Palestinians claimed at least one child was killed. Two Israeli soldiers were also wounded during the course of the fighting when a terrorist cell approached their tank in northern Gaza. The soldiers used machine guns mounted on the tank to attack their assailants, but were lightly injured when the Palestinians responded with an anti-tank missile. Meanwhile, a rocket launched from northern Gaza landed near the southern Israel town of...

Despite the "ceasefire" agreement purportedly reached in London yesterday, Hamas announced today that it would continue to murder Israelis. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a leading Hamas figure in Gaza, denied today that all the terror organizations had agreed to call off attacks until after the Israeli elections. Yasser Arafat was reported yesterday to have agreed to enforce a "no attack" period until the elections, during which civilians of pre-1967 Israel would be exempt from being murdered. Arab affairs journalist Tzvi Yechezkeli told Arutz-7 today that though Arafat signed on the agreement, "this doesn't mean that the other terrorist groups agree to...