#4 Take note, this article leaves the impression that it's the Israelis' actions that are pouring "cold water" on optimism over Mazen's election. Typically, IDF actions are in response to some sort of provocation, such as shootings, bombings, or rocket attacks, and nowhere is it mentioned that the IDF actions were unprovoked (which the author would likely have gone to great pains to point out if there wasn't any discernible provocation), so the reasonable assumption is that the Paleos killed were involved in some kind of attack.
Stumbling over rubble and viewing razed homes left by a vast army incursion in October, Solana described it as âvery movingâ but also slammed Israelâs response to the rocket attacks as âdisproportionateâ.
So, would Solana support the IDF firing rockets into Palestinian territory in response? Somehow, I would think not.
"Those responsible are not the ones who have been punished,â he said.
Oh? And how, pray tell, does he know this? Because they told him so? |
The Israeli Army killed four Palestinians in an upsurge of violence in the West Bank and Gaza yesterday, pouring cold water on the optimism that has greeted the election of Mahmoud Abbas as the new Palestinian leader. Two members of the Islamic Jihad were killed in the Morag settlement in the southern Gaza Strip, one of 21 due to be dismantled later this year. And two Hamas fighters were killed in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The violence was the worst flareup since moderate former Prime Minister Abbas, who has repeatedly called for end to the armed struggle, was elected president of the Palestinian Authority on Sunday. Commenting on yesterday's flareup and the killing of another Palestinian a day earlier, Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qorei condemned "the army's assassination of two Hamas activists and an activist from the (Fatah-linked) Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades". "This does not show positive intentions on the part of the Israeli government," he said.