Zakariya Zubeidi
Photo: Reuters
Fatah commader rejects calls for calm
Senior Fatah military commander, Zakariya Zubeidi, takes responsibility for bomb attack against Israeli soldiers in Jenin, vows not to heed ceasefire calls by president Mahmoud Abbas
A top commander of Fatah's military wing took responsibility on Thursday for a bomb attack against Israeli soldiers in Jenin, vowing to carry out similar attacks against the Israeli army in the near future.
Zakariya Zubeidi, a commander in Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who is wanted by Israel for a series of terror attacks, said his group would not heed calls by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to halt attacks against the Israeli army.
"There will be no calm between our group and the IDF even if Abu Mazen declares so," said Zubeidi, using Abbas's nom de guerre.
In Thursday's attack, gunmen detonated a bomb under a passing military vehicle and opened fire at Israeli soldiers. No one was injured in the attack.
"There is no room to speak about a ceasefire. We will continue to fight the occupation and to fight the IDF as long as they enter our cities," Zubeidi said.
He accused Israel of being uninterested in either a ceasefire or a political breakthrough: "The Palestinian resistance was created to achieve political gains for the Palestinians and not to achieve a ceasefire. Talk of a ceasefire are nor serious because we don't see a serious political process on the horizon that can secure the rights of the Palestinians."
"Unfortunately the Palestinian internal political situation is also unclear and not united is helping Israel to continue evading a real political process. The lack of unity among the Palestinian is serving Israel and this situation is leading to a lack of a real political initiative that will allow us to speak about a ceasefire. So long the IDF is entering Palestinian cities there is no chance of a ceasefire," Zubeidi said.
Abbas has been pressing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to halt military operations in the West Bank, a move he says will give him enough political leverage to sway armed groups there to stop attacks against Israel.
