Weekend Wrap, February 25, 2006

Abbas threatens to resign; Russian proposal on Iran still open; six stabbed.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
weekend wrap 88 (photo credit: )
weekend wrap 88
(photo credit: )
Abbas: I'll resign if Hamas doesn't recognize Israel Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Friday in an interview to the British television channel ITV-1 that if Hamas wouldn't recognize Israel and persisted in its terror activity, he would resign. Abbas also urged Israel and other nations not to "push Hamas into a corner." The interview will be aired on Sunday. Russian proposal on Iran still open Russia's nuclear energy chief said after talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Saturday that Moscow's proposal to ease the standoff with Tehran over its nuclear program "remains on the negotiations table," Russian news agencies reported. Al Qaida warns of further attacks Al-Qaida purportedly claimed responsibility for Friday's suicide bombing attempt on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia and warned that the group would attack more Saudi oil facilities, the terror group purportedly threatened Saturday in an Internet statement that claimed responsibility for the foiled attack on the Abiqaiq plant in eastern Saudi Arabia. Two suicide bombers tried to drive cars packed with explosives into Abiqaiq on Friday afternoon. IDF shelling Kassam launch sites The IDF arrested three fugitives overnight Friday in the West Bank. Two of the fugitives were identified as Hamas operatives, Israel Radio reported. In the Gaza Strip, IDF artillery continued on Saturday morning to shell Kassam rocket launch sites. On Friday, two Palestinian terrorists were reported wounded after the IAF shot at a car in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip in which terrorists were traveling on their way to launch Kassams towards Israel. Taliban leaders hiding in Pakistan President Hamid Karzai has handed intelligence to Pakistan that indicates Mullah Mohammed Omar, supreme leader of the Taliban regime ousted by US-led forces, and key associates are hiding in Pakistan, a senior Afghan official said Friday. The intelligence was shared during a visit by Karzai to Islamabad last week, and comes after a wave of suicide attacks that have fueled Afghan suspicions that militants are operating out of Pakistan. Fatah, Hamas slam Nablus operation Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and incoming Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh found something to agree upon on Friday, as both condemned the IDF's five-day-long Operation Northern Lights in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. Abbas warned the operation would endanger a cease-fire that has been in effect for a year, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency. Six people stabbed overnight Friday Six people were wounded in stabbing incidents in Tel Aviv and Herzliya on Friday night and early Saturday.