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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Sharon threatens major offensive after attack |
| 2005-10-27 |
| Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister, on Thursday threatened a major military offensive against Palestinian militants after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed five people in the coastal town of Hadera. âOur action will be broad and will not stop until it brings about a cessation of terrorism,â he said, shortly after Israeli planes fired missiles at areas of the northern Gaza Strip from which militants have launched rockets and mortars into Israel. Mr Sharon, who last month oversaw the unilateral withdrawal of settlers and soldiers from Gaza, said there could be no moves towards peace with the Palestinians for the time being because of what he called the absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority to fight terrorism. The open-ended Israeli offensive was likely to target Islamic Jihad activists in the northern West Bank. The army on Thursday arrested the father of the 21-year-old Hadera bomber and nine other suspects. They were the latest of several hundred suspects who have been rounded up in the West Bank since the Gaza withdrawal. Islamic Jihad is a small military organization that does not share the electoral aspirations of Hamas, a larger Islamic movement. The Islamic Jihad bomber blew himself up at a market in Hadera on Wednesday, two days after the Palestinian groupâs West Bank commander was shot dead in an Israeli army raid. It was the first such attack inside Israeli since August 28 and since Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip the following month. Islamic Jihad threatened retaliation after an undercover unit killed Luay Saâadi, its West Bank military commander, and Majed Askar, another militant, in an operation in Tulkarem, about 12 miles south-east of Hadera. The army said the two men were responsible for the deaths of at least 10 Israelis. The bombing followed tension on the border between Israel and Gaza, as the army shelled militant targets in response to Islamic Jihad rocket attacks from the territory. Islamic Jihad and other militant groups agreed to abide by a period of calm at the start of this year but reserved the right to retaliate against what they considered Israeli aggression. Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, in a statement delivered hours before Wednesdayâs bombing, condemned this selective strategy and said: âNo one has the right to respond here and there, unilaterally.â Addressing the Palestinian cabinet, he said: âThe occupation is criminal but we cannot give Israel excuses to attack us.â Mr Abbas, who last week held talks in Washington with President George W. Bush, is under strong US and Israeli pressure to crack down on militants, but has so far resisted demands to disarm them by force. This year there has been a marked reduction in attacks inside Israel that Palestinian officials say is a consequence of the truce by militants. Israeli officials say security forces continue to receive warnings of planned attacks and that the relative calm is thanks to the security barrier that now encloses most of the West Bank. Hadera, where Israelâs coastal strip is at its narrowest, was a frequent target of attacks earlier in the Palestinian uprising that began five years ago. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #3 Low class Troll alert! Once upon a time the various species of Trolls were described here, but I can't remember them now. Frank G, .com, do you remember? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-27 14:18 |
| #2 will it ever end, nah... they just like to kill each other too much. |
| Posted by: bk 2005-10-27 12:18 |
| #1 Threatens? Just do it. How many more dead Israelis are required before enough is enough? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-10-27 11:43 |