And with a big DUUHHHH...Palestinian Authority would fall to Hamas days afer West Bank pullout

World Tribune : TEL AVIV -- Israel's military projected Hamas would easily topple the Palestinian Authority soon after an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Officials said military intelligence has concluded that Hamas forces in the West Bank could conduct an operation similar to that of its takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. They said most PA forces and Fatah would flee any battle with Hamas units in the West Bank.

"Without the massive Israeli military presence in the West Bank, Hamas would take over the institutions and apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority within days," Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, chief of the military's Central Command, said.

Well....HAMAS did win the popular vote, and as we have seen, ...Religiously fueled racist genocidal murderers are more willing to act amorally than gangster mafiosi fueled racist murderers, and the mafiosi fueled racist murderers often find themselves attempting to fly off buildings after a friendly launch by religiously fueled racist genocidal murderers .

On Feb. 26, Shamni briefed President Shimon Peres during the latter's visit to command headquarters in Jerusalem. The general said Hamas was increasing its influence throughout the West Bank, including within the PA.

"Its presence is felt in hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities and mosques," Shamni said.

The military has been quietly urging the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to suspend plans for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank. The United States has been pressing Olmert to honor his pledge in 2006 to withdraw unilaterally from some 97 percent of the West Bank as part of the Bush administration's plans to establish a Palestinian state by early 2009.

I don't understand this at all. Gaza was a sina qua non litmus test of unilateral withdrawal. The idea is a gift to those who want not peace but to KILL ISRAEL. Condoleeza Rice is urging Israel to kill itself.

Military intelligence has determined that Hamas organized sleeper cells and a secret militia in most cities in the West Bank. Officials said such a network -- believed to include rogue PA officers -- would be operated within days of any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

The intelligence assessment has been shared by the Israel Security Agency. ISA director Yuval Diskin said Hamas was planning to capture the West Bank.

"They are trying to create a new balance of terror to create calm, so they can consolidate their strength in Gaza and then move to the next level: taking over Judea and Samaria," Diskin said on March 2.

The military assessment envisions immediate Hamas missile and rocket strikes after an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Military intelligence has determined that Hamas and its allies have established an infrastructure for missile production in several cities.

"For the first time in a decade, the Israeli military, intelligence services and police have managed to almost completely prevent terror attacks on the home front," Shamni said.

Israel's military has found missile production facilities and seized a Hamas-origin Kassam missile and launcher in Nablus. So far, Hamas has failed to launch effective missile and rocket strikes on Israel from the West Bank.

"Although there are no rocket attacks emanating from the West Bank, we've found rockets produced here, and this tells us that there are [rocket production] labs in the region," Shamni said.

Meanwhile, Israel's military has captured a huge amount of Hamas weaponry.

Military sources said Hamas combatants abandoned a large amount of weapons, munitions and equipment in their battles with Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip in early March. The sources said Hamas fighters kept the arsenal in the Jabalya refugee camp, north of Gaza City.

"They have everything that you would need to equip an army," a senior officer said. "They are well on their way to becoming another Hizbullah."

[On Tuesday evening, Israel's military reentered the southern Gaza Strip. About 25 armored combat vehicles, backed by attack helicopters, fought Hamas combatants near Khan Yunis and killed an Islamic Jihad commander, Yusuf Samiri, as well as two of his associates.]

In Jabalya, the sources said, Hamas left behind rocket-propelled grenades, launchers, assault rifles and body armor. They said most of the weapons and equipment had been manufactured in Iran.

Hamas was said to have acquired much of the weaponry in early 2008, when the 12-kilometer border wall with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was breached in at least seven places. The sources said Iran and Hizbullah had shipped the equipment weeks earlier to the northern Sinai coast.

The sources said Hamas has organized a 15,000-member military organized into four brigades. They said Iran and Hizbullah sent trainers from several Middle East countries, including Syria and Lebanon, to enhance Hamas combat skills.

During the battles in Jabalya, Hamas ordered children on the rooftops of military production facilities to prevent Israeli air strikes. Military sources said Hamas used the children as human shields to stop several Israeli strikes.

"We are working with our hands tied because of all these laws and because we are part of the free world and because this is part of our values," Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni told foreign diplomats on Tuesday.