‘Cooling Off’ Time Declared Hamas Halts Attacks, But Israelis Skeptical

The founder of the radical Islamic group Hamas said Sunday that militants have halted attacks on Israel for the time being.

But Sheik Ahmed Yassin told The Associated Press that the “cooling off” period will last only if Israel stops its punitive measures against Palestinian civilians - such as economic closures, house demolitions and land seizures.

“We have stopped - and many times we’ve stopped for months - but the Israelis still continue their attacks against Palestinian civilians,” Yassin said. “Why don’t they stop?”

If Yassin’s declaration translates into an end to Hamas terrorist bombings in Israel, one of the main impediments to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts would be removed.

But the message was sometimes contradictory, and Israel reacted skeptically.

David Bar-Illan, an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel welcomes the “change of tone” in Yassin’s statements but said there are too many strings attached to make his ceasefire proposals credible.

A senior official said on condition of anonymity that Israeli intelligence indicated a Hamas cell was planning another bombing attack in Israel.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for two recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem - one in an open-air market and the other in a pedestrian mall. All together, 28 people were killed, including five suicide attackers.

Six weeks have passed since the last attack.

Yassin, 61, spoke at his simple one-story house with a corrugated plastic roof in the Sabra district of Gaza City, where overnight rains had turned the dusty streets to mud. A burlap bag from a food aid program served as a doormat.

The walls outside - covered with festive blue-and-red graffiti - bore testimony to a new wave of popularity Yassin is enjoying after his release from an Israeli jail. He was released in exchange for two Israeli Mossad agents caught in Jordan after a botched attempt on the life of another Hamas leader.

Since his release, Yassin has spoken frequently of a truce with Israel and signaled moderation to his followers by meeting in his home with an Israeli rabbi.

But Yassin has spoken with equal emphasis of continuing the “jihad,” or holy war, to reclaim Palestinian land and build an independent Palestinian state. The Hamas slogans on his home proclaimed the spiritual leader a “mujahid,” or warrior, and the “sheik of the intifada,” the six-year uprising against Israeli occupation.