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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas shoots Israeli, breaking own truce |
| 2007-03-19 |
| GAZA (Reuters) - The armed wing of Hamas said its gunmen shot an Israeli near the Gaza Strip on Monday, effectively breaking a truce with Israel declared by the Islamist group in November. An official in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office called the shooting a "terror" attack. The Israeli electricity company employee was working near the Karni commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza when he was shot and seriously wounded, Israeli rescue services said. "The (Hamas) Qassam Brigades announced its responsibility for shooting a Zionist (Israeli) and firing two mortar bombs against a gathering of Zionist soldiers near Karni crossing," the statement by Hamas's armed wing said. "Our strikes against the enemy will continue," it added. The attack occurred two days after Hamas formed a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. It was the first claimed by Hamas's armed wing since the November truce, which it had upheld. Other groups, such as Islamic Jihad, stayed out of the truce and continued to fire makeshift rockets into Israel from Gaza. Olmert has vowed to boycott the new government in its entirety, including non-Hamas ministers, saying its platform does not meet international demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals. "This is precisely the type of terror that the new Palestinian government steadfastly refuses to condemn, thus rejecting a principle condition placed upon it by the international community," the official in Olmert's office said. A year-old diplomatic boycott of the Palestinian government eased on Monday when Norway's deputy foreign minister met Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza. The unity government says it will "respect" previous interim peace agreements with Israel. Its platform does not recognize Israel and asserts that Palestinian resistance in "all its forms" is a legitimate right. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 While a Ceasefire™ can only be broken by the Jooooos, apparently either side can break a truce. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-03-19 21:39 |
| #2 What's with Reuters? I thought a truce was only broken when the Israelis retaliate. |
| Posted by: WhitecollarRedneck 2007-03-19 12:19 |
| #1 An official in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office called the shooting a "terror" attack. These Jews are so prone to overreacting. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-19 11:47 |