GAZA, Aug. 27 - One of Israel's most wanted men, the Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif, issued a video on Saturday in which he warns the Palestinian Authority not to try to confiscate Hamas's weapons and promises Israelis that "all of Palestine will become a hell" for them.
"Today you have left the hell of Gaza in shame but have not gotten out completely, as you continue to occupy Palestine," said Mr. Deif, whose face is in shadow as he spoke in his hallmark deep voice and identified himself by name. "We tell the Zionists who have tarnished our soil, we tell you that all of Palestine will become a hell."
The video was released as details emerged here of a separate challenge to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Knowledgeable Palestinians disclosed in interviews that the release of a French television journalist on Monday was a result of a deal between Mr. Abbas and leaders of a prominent clan, who had kidnapped the journalist. Mr. Abbas released six members of the Issa clan from prison last week, including convicted murderers, to secure the release of the journalist Muhammad Ouathi, 46.
Until now, no motive had been given for the kidnapping. Mr. Abbas had been pressured by the French president, Jacques Chirac, to do all he could to free Mr. Ouathi, a television soundman.
Some senior Palestinian officials and some advisers to Mr. Abbas here, including a prominent psychiatrist, Dr. Eyad Sarraj, said that they had counseled him against the release but that he felt he had to act, even against the advice of his attorney general. Some considered the release a humiliation for Mr. Abbas and warned that it could lead to further kidnappings. They said the episode was an indication of the lawlessness that continues in Gaza and of the power of the clans, or hamullas.
Mr. Deif, 39, is the commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. He was born in Khan Yunis, lost an eye when the Israeli military rocket attacked his car in September 2002 and is accused of directing a series of suicide bombings and other attacks on Israel from 1996 to the present. Few images of him exist.
His video, which was delivered to news agencies in Gaza City, has a harsh warning for Mr. Abbas, who has called on Hamas and other radical militant groups, like Islamic Jihad, Fatah's Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the local Popular Resistance Committee, to disarm after Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.
"We warn all those who try to touch the weapons of those who liberated Gaza," Mr. Deif said. "These arms must be used to free our occupied motherland."
Mr. Abbas argues that negotiation and an end to the armed struggle is the best way to achieve an independent Palestinian state. He insists that the militants keep the truce and not give Israel any reason to attack them or torpedo any agreements.
But Mr. Deif's comments echo the Hamas claim that it is the "resistance" that has forced Israel to pull out of Gaza, primarily because of Hamas's rocket, mortar and suicide bombing attacks, and the Hamas insistence that the war must continue to free the West Bank, Jerusalem and, under the Hamas charter, all of British Mandate Palestine, including Israel.
"To the brothers of the Palestinian Authority, the liberation of Gaza has been realized thanks to the sincere actions of the mujahedeen, and as a consequence our weapons will stay in our hands," he says on the video.
His position was reflected in a huge Hamas march in the bright sun on Friday from Jabaliya refugee camp to Beit Lahiya to celebrate the supposed victory of Hamas in driving Israel out of Gaza. More than 5,000 people, including a number of young children, marched under green Hamas banners that vowed, "We will continue," carried flags that combined the Palestinian and Hamas standards and wore green Hamas baseball caps stating, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet."
One banner read in English, for the foreign press, "Four years of pain is better than 10 years in vain." But the Arabic version was clearer: "Four years of resistance is better than 10 years of negotiation."
Mr. Deif's brigades make up a well-equipped, well-trained and motivated army of at least 5,000 men, Avi Dichter, the former head of Shin Bet, Israel's counterterrorism agency, said in an interview.
On Friday, perhaps 500 of his men marched with antitank rockets, automatic rifles and submachine guns. The Palestinian Authority has said that militants should not carry guns in the street. Hamas marchers, unusually, did not fire their weapons into the air, even though a van with a loudspeaker played recordings of automatic weapons fire and of explosions that were described as the suicide bombings of martyrs.
New posters showed a Rambo-like masked Hamas fighter stepping on the red-tile roofs of Israeli settlement homes while small, black-clad settlers in side-curls fled in terror.
There were also many women marching, a number of them wearing full covering - swathed in black, including the hands, with slits to see through, and topped by the green Hamas caps. Some carried or led young boys and girls dressed in military uniforms, carrying plastic guns.
One mother, Naima Abdullah, 35, called herself "a daughter of Hamas" and said that she had "chosen the path of God." Hamas, she said, "played the largest role in the resistance," and she added, "Now it's time for Hamas to participate in the government of Palestine."
Samah Bader, 15, when asked why she would walk so far in the hot sun, said: "Happiness. Happiness makes the walking easy."
Ayshah Kahlout, 70, a refugee from Ashkelon, sat in the shade watching the men of Hamas march by with their guns. "I feel like ululating," she said. "I'm very happy. This is part of my land." Asked about the little children in uniform, she said, "I wish I could be pregnant again so I could bear more kids to be soldiers."
But pressed, she said the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza "is a tiny thing, and the evacuation of these little settlements, that's nothing." Hamas was exaggerating its deeds, Mrs. Kahlout said. "The real objective will be all the lands. And the Israelis still control the crossings, the airspace and the sea. This is not even one-quarter of the liberation."
Bush Calls for Terrorism Crackdown
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 27 (Reuters) - President Bush demanded Saturday that the Palestinians respond to the Israeli pullout from Gaza and parts of the West Bank by cracking down on terrorism.
"The way forward is clear," Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address. "The Palestinians must show the world that they will fight terrorism and govern in a peaceful way."
"We demand an end to terrorism and violence in every form because we know that progress depends on ending terror," he added.
