Palestine's National Holiday: A Land of Hope?

Sunday is the anniversary of the symbolic Nov. 15, 1988 declaration of independence by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

On the Hamas side, despite an earlier decision to keep schools funded by Fatah open on independence day, it was declared that schools would be shut.

Hamas also targeted Israel with words that claimed that "Israel was trying to find pretexts to cover up its previous war crimes with a preparation of another war."

Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced last week that Hamas had launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea. In other words, it meant that Hamas could hit Tel Aviv if this rocket was fired from the northern border of the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said:

These claims are part of the Israeli lies to justify a new aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Such threats are coming under the title of incitement and creating pretexts in order to commit more new crimes against Gaza and cover up the previous crimes that were committed during the last war.

However, another Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said that he could not confirm or deny that the group had test-fired a rocket, "since such news come from the occupation [Israel]."

On the Fatah side, on Saturday, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam that the Palestinian Authority is considering seeking recognition from the United Nations Security Council of a Palestinian state along 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He also added that both United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Russia are supportive of this idea.

On the eve of the national independence day, on one hand, Hamas is directing its words against and trying to give a "non-aggressive" image vis-a-vis its rival party Fatah. On the other hand, Fatah is appealing to nationalist sentiments and trying to give new hope to its people. But the question is: does Washington find this idea useful as a leverage against Tel Aviv's continuing resistance to change? Such a move would strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hand in the eyes of Israeli public?

Israeli Intelligence: "Hamas is Stronger now!"

On Tuesday, Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced that Hamas had launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea- meaning it could hit Tel Aviv. He also told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas has accumulated an arsenal of rockets slightly larger than the arsenal it possessed before last winter's Operation Cast Lead.

Hamas offered two different responses. First, the allegation was not rejected publicly but Israel was blamed for manipulating the international community. In the beginning, a spokesman for the organization's military wing, Abu Obeida, said: "The occupation can say whatever it likes, and whatever it says is dubious." Later, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum stated that the diplomatic crisis triggered by the report "has led the Zionist enemy to make up excuses in an attempt to instigate public opinion against Hamas."

So, was this really a tactical manoeuvre to mislead the international community and strengthen Israel's hand in the face of increasing criticisms, or a confession that the offensive in Gaza was a big failure?