Article

2005-07-18 Israel-Palestine

The Paleos seem not to have passed up their chance to miss an opportunity...

GAZA: An Islamist militant from Hamas was assassinated by an Israeli sniper on Sunday, as Israel threatened a wide-scale ground offensive in the occupied Gaza Strip unless Palestinians stopped rocket attacks. Within hours, four Israeli settlers were wounded, two of them seriously, in a Palestinian mortar attack on Neve Dekalim, the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza. The Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the movement Hamas, said it fired two mortar shells at Neve Dekalim in the early afternoon to avenge the killing of one of its militants in the central Gaza town of Khan Yunis.

A Palestinian gunman was killed by Israeli troops on Sunday as he tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in the occupied Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said. The victim was shot dead as he moved towards the isolated settlement of Netzarim, just south of Gaza City, with an accomplice, the spokesman said. The duo refused to identify themselves. One militant pointed a gun at soldiers, who returned fire killing him. The second Palestinian managed to escape, the army said.

Said Saeam, 32, a wanted local leader in Hamasâs armed wing which claimed a torrent of anti-Israeli rocket attacks on Sunday, was shot dead as he left home in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis.

Escalating violence, which has killed 12 Palestinians and six Israelis in five days, has flung a spluttering truce into crisis and is to bring US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region at the end of the week to press for calm. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israelâs defence establishment had been given carte blanche to stop all rocket attacks. âI met defence officials and I repeated to them that there was no restriction on operations to stop attacks on (Israeli) towns,â he said. âWe will absolutely not tolerate the continuation of attacks against our towns, be they inside the Gaza Strip or on the border,â he added.

âIf the Palestinian Authority does not stop the attacks, we will have to take action in its place,â Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted as saying. He recommended that Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas be given 24 hours to restore calm before an Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, public radio said.

Sharon reiterated that Palestinian attacks will not hinder the pullout from the Gaza Strip set to begin next month. Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Sharon reiterated that he had charged police and soldiers with ensuring demonstrators did not force their way into the main Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif during the march. On Monday, thousands of opponents of Israelâs historic Gaza pullout are expected to march on the border crossing between Israel and Gush Katif in a last-ditch bid to impede the withdrawal.

The military has assassinated eight Hamas militants since Friday â the first targeted killings in seven months. Overnight, the Israeli army deployed thousands of extra soldiers and armoured vehicles on top of those already massed across the border with the Gaza Strip, military sources said. Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim threatened a large-scale land offensive in Gaza âwithin the next few hoursâ unless militants stopped rocket attacks. But other officials said any such operation was unlikely ahead of Riceâs expected arrival and before Mahmud Abbas had been given a chance to act against militants.

Posted by Fred 2005-07-18 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 ...Ya know, that 1:2 kill ratio should be a clue, but I doubt they'll pick up on it.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-07-18 00:46|| 2005-07-18 00:46|| Front Page Top

#2 Escalating violence, which has killed 12 Palestinians and six Israelis in five days, has flung a spluttering truce into crisis and is to bring US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region at the end of the week to press for calm.

scorecard, truce, pressing for calm. One need never leave the bar or do any actual reporting just hit the macro key and change the numbers, edit one or two words and a "reporter" can make it back to the bar by noon. Heck, he never even has to leave the bar - or the beltway - to fire this wisdom off. Of course it shows - but his editor likes it, so why kill yourself?

Posted by 2b 2005-07-18 08:02|| 2005-07-18 08:02|| Front Page Top

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