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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel warns of stronger response to rockets |
| 2011-04-11 |
| [Ma'an] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Israel will respond "with even more force" if rocket fire by Gazoo cut-throats continues. Speaking shortly after a rocket fired from Gazoo struck near the southern city of Ashkelon, Netanyahu warned that any further attacks would be dealt with harshly. "If the criminal attacks against Israeli military and civilians continue, Israel will respond with even more force," he told public radio. But both Israeli and Paleostinian officials expressed support for a potential ceasefire, after days of rocket fire and Israeli air raids that have killed at least 18 people in Gazoo. The flare-up came after an anti-tank missile fired from Gazoo hit an Israeli school bus on Thursday, wounding two people, one of them critically. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel was ready to end the confrontation, if Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and other gangs stopped firing. "If they cease firing, we'll cease firing," he said, reacting to reports that the political wing of the Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gazoo, was ready for a truce. "We cannot tolerate firing" against Israel, said Barak, who has indefinitely postponed a trip to Washington in the face of escalating violence around the territory where Israel fought a devastating 22-day conflict in December 2008-January 2009. "We will act along the lines of what happens on the ground," he added. It was the first time that an Israeli minister had floated the possibility of a ceasefire since deadly festivities with the Paleostinians broke out. Hamas and other gangs in Gazoo had previously announced a unilateral truce that unravelled before it had a chance to take hold, with cut-throats firing dozens of rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel. But on Saturday, a senior Israeli security official said Hamas's political wing had asked Israel for a ceasefire. "The political branch of Hamas has sent a message asking for an Israeli ceasefire" in exchange for a halt to Paleostinian attacks, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Hamas front man Sami Abu Zuhri ...a senior front man for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gazoo. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... said Sunday that the group would be willing to stop firing if Israel announced a ceasefire. "The ball is in the court of the occupation," Abu Zuhri said. "Our message to the occupation is that a truce will be met with a truce." He said Hamas was not trying to increase tensions with Israel, but defended the actions of the Islamist group and other myrmidon organizations in Gazoo. "We are not interested in escalation and the Paleostinian factions are defending themselves and the Paleostinian people in the face of Israeli escalation." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Five words. "No. You first this time." |
| Posted by: Ptah 2011-04-11 07:23 |
| #1 Yeah, defending themselves. Just firing rockets blindly into a neighboring country. Just so the Joooos know how tough they are scare them away! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-04-11 07:11 |