Hamas

Abu Mohammed goes to great lengths to enjoy his wine in Gaza. Risking the wrath of the enclave's Islamist Hamas rulers, he sneaks to the rooftop of an abandoned house to make his own nectar of the gods. Here in his secret hideaway, Abu Mohammed carefully turns grapes into home-made vintages he savours only in the privacy of his own home, far away from the disapproving eyes of Hamas police and Gaza's conservative society. "I started making my own wine after Hamas took power," says the 40-something civil servant who, like all the other Gaza bootleggers interviewed by AFP, declined to give their real ... Read Full Story

The leader of Hamas on Sunday warned against Israel's proposal to temporarily halt settlement construction in exchange for normalization with Arab countries, describing it as "dangerous." Khaled Mashaal also told reporters during his brief visit to Cairo that despite new German mediation efforts, there was still a long way to go in negotiations over the release of an Israeli soldier held by the militant group since 2006. "As you know there has been a development with the German mediation taking place with the knowledge of Egypt and in coordination with us," he said, referring to talks over a prisoner exchange including Sgt. Gilad Schalit. ... Read Full Story

The top Hamas leader said he is concerned about the postelection turmoil in Iran but does not think it will endanger Tehran's support for the Palestinian militant group. The unrest triggered by the Iranian president's disputed June 12 re-election has consumed the country's leadership, raising questions about whether it can maintain its strong influence in other parts of the Middle East, including through its support for groups like Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Iran is a top supporter of Hamas, and its leader, Khaled Mashaal, traveled to Tehran in February to thank the government for its backing during Israel's offensive in Gaza, calling it a ... Read Full Story

In the live-fire exercise, everything was carefully choreographed — Palestinian commandos, faces blackened, stormed a hide-out in an abandoned building, "wounded" one gunman and "arrested" a second. But is this corps, American-trained and steadily growing, ready for the real thing? President Barack Obama's hopes for a Middle East peace breakthrough may rest heavily on that question. The force being shaped for the West Bank is supposed to underpin the Palestinian government of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas against violent challenges by Hamas, other extremists and criminal gangs, while convincing Israel that having a Palestinian state for a neighbor will pose no threat. Israel says the ... Read Full Story

The top leader of the militant Hamas group said Tuesday that President Barack Obama's pressure on Israel to freeze construction in West Bank settlements was an essential step toward restarting peace efforts. The militant group — which is eager to win international acceptance of its rule in Gaza though it is shunned by the U.S. and others as a terrorist organization — has tried to sound more pragmatic since Israel's punishing three-week offensive early this year. Leader Khaled Mashaal's endorsement of Obama's push also included an appeal for the international community to consider Hamas a "positive element" in the search for Middle East peace. ... Read Full Story