Islamic Jihad: No Peace for Israelis

A masked gunman holds a homemade rocket during an Islamic Jihad press conference in Gaza City, in this Nov. 23, 2006 file photo. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza more than two years ago, and Israel has begun a fledging peace process with the moderate Palestinian forces now in control of the West Bank. So why is Islamic Jihad still raining down missiles on Israeli towns, provoking fierce retaliation and a new Israeli threat to cut off Gaza's electricity? (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, file) (Khalil Hamra - AP)

Getting to the interview required a long, labyrinthine car drive through the back alleys of the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis _ stopping every few blocks to wait for phone instructions on how to proceed. At times, men popped their heads out of doorways along the street to give the all-clear signal.

Abu Hamza spoke softly and methodically, making frequent eye contact with an American reporter. But there was no mistaking the bitterness of his words.

"Resistance must continue until we uproot the occupation from all the land of Palestine ... from the sea to the river," he said, outlining Islamic Jihad's position that a future Palestinian state must replace Israel, not live alongside it.

He bragged about an Islamic Jihad rocket attack last month that injured dozens of Israeli soldiers as they slept in tents at an army base near Gaza, saying the installation was targeted through studying Israeli military Web sites. There was no way to independently confirm his claim.

He said that Palestinian rocket fire forced Israel out of Gaza in 2005 and that he expected the same result in southern Israeli towns like Sderot and Ashkelon.

At one point, Abu Hamza said his group would consider a temporary halt to rocket fire if Israel stopped pursuing militants and opened Gaza's borders. But that statement was rendered meaningless by his subsequent assertion that other forms of "resistance" _ such as suicide attacks and roadside bombs _ would continue during any rocket truce.

Israeli intelligence officials declined to discuss Abu Hamza, saying they prefer not to divulge information about wanted militants who are still on the run.

But a top architect of Israel's military policy in Gaza was quoted Thursday in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot as saying the rocket attacks will have to be confronted with a major display of armed force.

"A ground operation is a question of timing," said Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, the Israeli army's recently reassigned deputy chief of staff.

Israel's frequent and lethal retaliation has prompted innovations by Gazan rocket launchers, including using trees as cover and timers to set off rockets.

To evade Israeli troops and aircraft, Abu Hamza said he and his fighters move frequently from place to place, change vehicles often and avoid using cell phones in open areas.

The interview with the AP took place in a house where toddlers laughed and played. Islamic Jihad has often been criticized for operating among civilians, exposing them to the risk of Israeli fire.

Abu Hamza denied the assertion by Israel and much of the world that Islamic Jihad gets money and other backing from Iran and Syria, calling it "completely ridiculous."

But Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Gaza's Al Azhar University, said there is no doubt Syria and Iran are involved.

"There are outsiders giving orders from outside the Gaza Strip, whether from Damascus or Tehran, for their own reasons," Abusada said. "They (Gaza militants) are doing this because they're getting paid for it."

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Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak contributed to this report.