hamas : media red herrings

Red Herring One

This is a fairly reasonable AP report ; Abu Zuhri is genuine, but the quote is deprived of context and could be a misrepresentation of something originally much more nuanced :

Hamas says it won’t necessarily accept the results of any Palestinian referendum on peace with Israel. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said Carter’s comments “do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.”

Red Herring Two

This is another AP report, which is turning up all over now. There is no Hamas spokesman called Abu Jandal. The only Abu Jandal I can find is Abu Jandal al-Azdi, a Saudi cleric, one of the first leaders of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, a Salafist critic of Hamas—and the newspaper is conveniently not specified:

A Hamas spokesman, Abu Jandal, told a newspaper linked to Hamas on Monday that previous attacks on the border crossings between Gaza and Israel were just ‘practice.’ Abu Jandal described the recent attacks as ‘a walk in the park’ and said upcoming attacks would be harsher.

Update : this sounds like the same guy:
Palestinian militants are spoiling for a fight with Israel
Charles Levinson, Lebanonwire, June 27, 2006
(Levinson is M-E Corresp. for the London Sunday Telegraph)
“This is not going to be like last time,” says Abu Jendel, military commander for the Al-Aqsa Brigades in southern Gaza. “We will surprise the Israelis.” Abu Jendel says the Israelis will encounter unprecedented levels of resistance, the result of ever worsening economic conditions and the regular reports of Palestinian civilians dying in errant Israeli air strikes or shelling. “They are going to confront an entire and united people,” he says. “We, the Palestinians, have more desire to fight now than ever before.”