Hamas refused to disarm under any truce deal with the Palestinian Authority. “We will not drop our arms, whatever the circumstances,” Mahmoud Zahar, the undeclared leader of the Islamic terrorist group, said at a Gaza Strip prayer rally Thursday. But he signaled that Hamas could suspend its attacks if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas guarantees that Israel will scale back military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.