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June 2, 2006
Israel: Hamas Leader's Sisters Are Israeli Citizens
Surprising news from today's Telegraph reveals that three sisters of Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh (pictured) live in Israel as citizens. The three sisters moved to Tel Sheva in Israel 30 years ago and have full Israeli citizenship. The Telegraph even states that some of their offspring have even served in the Israeli army.
Haniyeh's sisters, Kholidia, Laila and Sabah live in the small desert town in the south of the country. Khlidia's blind Bedouin husband, Salameh Abu Rukayek was against having his wife interviewed. "It is private business and you are not welcome asking questions about my wife," he said. "Our life is normal here and we want it to continue."
The story of how the Haniyeh sisters moved to Tel Sheva was told by a Bedouin, 50-year old Yousef Abu Ruqia: "In a small community like ours there were not enough women to go round, so some of the men would go and look for wives elsewhere. The Haniyeh sisters were Palestinians living in Gaza. Back then it was possible for people to visit Gaza easily, so Kholidia was the first to be married and move to Tel Sheva, and then Laila and then Sabah."
He spoke of the Hamas leader, whose organisation has bombed Israeli civilians and has refused to acknowledge Israel, visiting the town, 25 years ago: "There was another brother, Khaled, who came here to work laying tiles and each year, at the holiday after Ramadan, Ismail would come and visit his brother and sisters."
The two other sisters, Laila and Sabah are now widows, but remain in Tel Sheva as Israeli citizens. The Telegraph states that it it is not known when Ismail Haniyeh last met his sisters: As he is a Hamas prime minister, contact with him could, under Israeli law, be illegal.
A new Israeli law is now being examined by the supreme court, to see if it is legal. Effectively, it bans any Palestinian women over the age of 25, and men over 35, from applying to join their spouses in Israel.
There may be some hope for the impasse between the Palestinians and Israel. While Hamas, the "elected government", refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist, even though Palestinians are reliant upon Israel, relations between the Israeli and Palestinian diplomatic communities are less than diplomatic.
According to a Palestininan writer for Southwest News Herald, Hamas is currently in a state near collapse, diplomatically and financially isolated, and in a state of conflict with Fatah.
Earlier this month, Palestinians currently imprisoned in Israel drew up a document, stating that if Israel should return the lands occupied in 1967, and allow Palestinians "rights of return", they were prepared to contemplate a two state solution, accepting Israel's legitimacy and sovereignty over its own territory which existed before the 1967 war.
The Jerusalem Post states that Al Quds, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said yesterday that they would accept the prisoners' National Reconciliation Document. Sheikh Bassam al-Sa'di, a senior figure in Islamic Jihad, had been one of the co-signees of the document.
However, no official members of Fatah or Hamas were involved in creating the document.
Chron.com states that today, three Egyptian security officers had crossed the Israeli border, and shooting broke out. Two of the Egyptians were killed. Who fired the first shots, and why the Egyptians were there, is unknown. In a few days, the Eyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, is due to meet his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 2, 2006 7:21 AM
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