The Star-Ledger · Newark, NJ · 2 September 2010

CP-2010-035

Hamas head strongly denounces peace talks

Obama decries attack on Israelis

By Diaa Hadid and Karin Laub / ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Transcribed from the clipping

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip rejected compromise with Israel in a fiery speech yesterday, a day after gunmen killed four Israelis in a strong reminder that the Islamic militant group cannot be ignored in any Mideast deal.

President Obama denounced the West Bank ambush as he launched a two-day summit marking the first Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in nearly two years. “The message should go out to Hamas and everyone else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us,” he said after greeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s shootings, a vivid reminder that the Iranian-backed group may be locked out of the peace negotiations but remains a key player in determining their outcome. Late yesterday, gunmen wounded two Israelis in a drive-by shooting in the northern West Bank, the military said.

Assailants in a car overtook an Israeli vehicle and opened fire, seriously wounding an Israeli man. The vehicle crashed, injuring a woman. In a text message to reporters early today, Hamas claimed responsibility. The method resembled Tuesday’s fatal shooting in the southern part of the territory.

In an interview just before yesterday’s shooting, Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar indicated that more attacks could be expected. “Our resistance is continuous,” he said. “We have to concentrate on the West Bank in order to achieve (its) liberation.”

Earlier, in an address to Hamas members, Zahar said the movement would resist peace efforts and criticized the Palestinian president for joining the negotiations.

“Today marks the start of direct negotiations between someone who has no right to represent the Palestinian people and the brutal occupier, to provide a cover for Judaizing Jerusalem and stealing the land,” Zahar said.

How this transcription was made

Date confirmed on the page (folio).

Context added by this archive

AP wire copy. Useful as a control alongside the Bennett items: the same paper, very likely the same day, describing Palestinians. The paper's own nouns are 'Islamic militant group', 'Iranian-backed group', 'gunmen', 'assailants', 'Gaza strongman'. The word 'occupier' appears once, in Zahar's mouth.

Note the paper names the Israeli casualties by nationality but gives no Palestinian names or numbers; no ordinary person on either side is named.

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