Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said Wednesday that the current international
and Arab landscape prevents the possibility that the new Israeli
coalition will launch military operations against Iran and Gaza, or
attempt to recapture the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.
Speaking
during an interview with the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency, Zahar
rejected claims that the addition of Shaul Mofaz, who served as IDF
chief of staff during the second intifada, would make the Israeli
government more warlike.
"Not one of the leaders of the
occupation can be classified as worse than the other. Attempts to
categorize them as doves and hawks is incorrect, they are all fond of
shedding Palestinian blood," Ma'an quoted Zahar as saying.
Zahar
contended that, although Israel desires to launch an attack on the Gaza
Strip and Hamas, the role of Egypt following the fall of Hosni Mubarak,
and the warnings of the current Egyptian leadership against a
large-scale military operation in Gaza, prevent Jerusalem from doing so.
The
Hamas leader also stated that US President Barack Obama was against an
Israeli military operation in Gaza, as he does not want such an
operation affecting his campaign to be reelected to a second term in
November. Zahar added that the US was not likely to endorse an Israeli
strike on Iran because of Tehran's abilities to retaliate against US
interests in the world.