Hamas Makes Islamic Jihad Members Sign Agreement NOT To Fire Rockets Into Israel

I don't know about the validity of this story but it has been carried by a number of sources so we'll go with it - it does make some sense since the Israelis have been more than willing to retaliate with great force at any rocket firings into souther Israel since Operation Cast Lead ended. Anyway, it is being reported that members of Hamas in Gaza detained members of Islamic Jihad and forced them to sign an agreement not to fire any more rockets into Israel. Here's some of the details from AFP:

Security forces of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza detained several Islamic Jihad activists and made them sign an agreement not to fire rockets at Israel, a Jihad leader said on Monday.
"At least 10 activists from the Al-Quds Brigades were arrested by the Hamas interior security," he said in reference to the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad.
"They were tortured and interrogated about the identities of those who fire rockets," he told AFP by telephone under condition of anonymity.
"Before they were released they had to sign an agreement not to fire rockets at the occupied territory," he said in reference to Israel whose existence both Hamas and its smaller Islamist rivals in Jihad oppose.

Now, the first reason that comes to mind for his is what I mentioned above, that Israel's recent response of bombings in Gaza after receiving Gazan rockets has been pretty severe. Another reason may simply be what wasn't reported during and after Operation Cast Lead and that is that Hamas was DECIMATED in that operation - reports are that Hamas lost as many as 750 to 1000 jihadists in that operation and we all know what happened to Hamas' infrastructure in Gaza - is there a single Hamas office or command center left? So, Hamas has reasons to be squeamish.

My final guess as to why Hamas may have done this is the ongoing negotiations to exchange IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, for Gazan prisoners in Israeli jails. Make no bones about it, Hamas is asking for the return of some very high value prisoners - and some of the most aggregious offenders against Israel - we may be seeing that Hamas really thinks they can get those bloodthirsty killers out of Israel and doesn't want to take chances of Islamic Jihad killing half a dozen Israelis before it happens.

Hamas makes Islamic Jihad vow not to fire rockets

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — Security forces of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza detained several Islamic Jihad activists and made them sign an agreement not to fire rockets at Israel, a Jihad leader said on Monday.
"At least 10 activists from the Al-Quds Brigades were arrested by the Hamas interior security," he said in reference to the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad.
"They were tortured and interrogated about the identities of those who fire rockets," he told AFP by telephone under condition of anonymity.
"Before they were released they had to sign an agreement not to fire rockets at the occupied territory," he said in reference to Israel whose existence both Hamas and its smaller Islamist rivals in Jihad oppose.
A Hamas police spokesman in Gaza City, Islam Shahwan, declined to comment on the report.
Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, is involved in Egyptian-mediated negotiations with Israel to try to consolidate a January 18 truce which ended a 22-day Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
The stated aim of the offensive, which killed more than 1,300 people, almost all Palestinians, was to significantly reduce the number of rockets fired at southern Israel, many of them by Islamic Jihad.