Hamas: deadlier rockets can be developed in short time

Gaza, 2007 Nov 24, Al-Manar
 
Hamas can make the rockets it fires at the occupied territories much deadlier by packing them with more explosives, a senior official in the Islamic resistance group said in a statement Saturday.

Hamas opposes a US-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis, Maryland saying the time is not right for negotiations with Israel because the Palestinians are weak and divided.

Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel, says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is leading the Palestinian delegation in Annapolis, does not have a mandate to negotiate.
 
In a statement sent to reporters, the official Ahmad Yousef said that the Qassam rockets currently being fired have "limited effect because they don't carry lethal warheads."

"They can be developed in a short period to create sufficient terror and fear and make the Israelis live in pain no less than what our people live through because of the repeated incursions into our villages and cities in the West Bank and Gaza," wrote Yousef, an adviser to Hamas dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

Yousef also said Israel has rejected repeated truce offers by Hamas, prompting Abbas to establish a new government in the West Bank.