Thousands of angry protesters across the Arab world railed against Israel's deadly attacks on Gaza today, as the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, backed the UN security council's calls for an immediate end to the violence.
Demonstrations erupted in countries including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iran, Iraq and Turkey, with many protesters waving banners demanding a stronger response from Arab nations to the air strikes, which have left at least 280 people dead.
Stone-throwing protesters in Hebron, Ramallah and other West Bank towns confronted Israeli troops firing rubber bullets and teargas. A Palestinian medic said a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire during an angry demonstration in the West Bank village of Naalin.
Miliband said the UK supported "an urgent ceasefire and immediate halt to all violence" and that he and the prime minister, Gordon Brown, were following the developments with "grave concern". A rise in rocket attacks by Hamas and yesterday's "massive loss of life" in Gaza made this a "dangerous moment", Miliband said, adding that the "deteriorating humanitarian situation is deeply disturbing".
The US, however, said that Hamas should take the first step to end the violence. "We believe the way forward from here is for rocket attacks against Israel to stop, for all violence to end," said the US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad.
In Beirut, a Hamas official spoke to a crowd of about 1,000 people who gathered with Lebanese and Palestinian flags. His speech was met with cries of "death to Israel" from some in the crowd. In the capital of Syria, more than 5,000 people marched towards the central Youssef al-Azmeh square. In Amman, Jordan, around 5,000 lawyers marched to demand the Israeli ambassador's expulsion and the closure of the embassy, and there were also protests outside the Israeli embassy in Turkey.
Protesters burned Israeli flags and fired AK-47s in the air at demonstrations across Iraq. "We have been waiting for an action from Arab leaders for almost 60 years," said Jaleel al-Qasus, the Palestinian envoy to Iraq, at a protest in the Baladiyat district of Baghdad. "Our efforts have been in vain."
There were also demonstrations in the Iraqi cities of Samarra, Falluja and Mosul, where a suicide bomber killed a teenage boy. The Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a leading opponent of the US in Iraq, backed the demonstrations. "The massacre of innocents in Gaza is proof of what we are saying. All this is happening with backing of the American government and colonial states," he said in a statement.
There were also protests in the typically quiet streets of Dubai, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Palestinian consulate.
In New York, the UN security council avoided apportioning blame in a cautiously worded statement that called for "an immediate halt to all violence". "The members called on the parties to stop immediately all military activities," said the council's current president, Croatia's ambassador, Neven Jurica. He said both sides should address "the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza", stressing "the need for the restoration of calm in full".
The call for an end to violence was repeated by leaders across the world. Pope Benedict warned that "the native land of Jesus cannot continue to be witness to so much bloodshed, repeating itself without end," while Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, said through its foreign ministry that Israel's attacks "will prompt new tensions".
The secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said his organisation was shocked by the "unimaginable and unacceptable" air strikes. Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, described Israel's assault as a "crime against humanity". In one of the most aggressive responses, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree to Muslims, ordering them to defend Palestinians, according to state television.
"All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world's pious people are obliged to defend the defenceless women, children and people in Gaza in any way possible," Khamenei said in a statement reported on state television. "Whoever is killed in this legitimate defence is considered a martyr." Iran refuses to recognise Israel, which has accused it of supplying Hamas with weapons.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, blamed Hamas, a rival to his Fatah movement, for sparking the Israeli attacks by failing to extend the Egyptian-brokered truce that came to an end last week. "We talked to them [Hamas] and we told them, 'Please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop,' so that we could have avoided what happened," he said in Cairo after talks with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak.
The US president-elect Barack Obama made no statement. His spokeswoman Brooke Anderson told the New York Times Obama had spoken about events with the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, but that "there is one president at a time".
Posted by: john frum ||
12/28/2008 15:34 ||
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#1
seething meter is reading "meh", we've seen better protests and riots over friggin cartoons. Sorry Paleos, nobody loves you
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2008 15:45 Comments ||
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#2
"We have been waiting for an action from Arab leaders for almost 60 years"
Funny, I have the same thought about Daisy and Donald Duck.
#3
Thousands of angry protesters across the Arab world railed rolled their eyes and shrieked yet again in impotent spittle-spewing rage against Israel's deadly attacks on Gaza today,
That should be more accurate.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
12/28/2008 17:52 Comments ||
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#4
OMFG! Am UpRoar? Damn, no one said nothing about a damn uproar. Halp! The Arab Street is COme alive!
#6
Arab league hasn't even met yet. Egypt and KSA not too fond of Hamas these days. Tzahal probably has at least 7 days to work before pressure to let up builds. And sending in humanitarian aid at the same time as the attacks is a very nice touch, to take the winds out of the left's sails.
Covering just 365 square kilometres and home to 1.5 million people, Gaza is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. So it is unlikely that Israel would be able to launch a military offensive against Hamas militants, who have fired hundreds of rockets across the border in recent days, without inflicting terrible casualties on the civilian Palestinian population. But, say Israel's leaders, the threat to their own civilians leaves them no choice.
Air strikes were duly launched on Hamas targets in Gaza yesterday and scores have been killed. An operation by Israeli ground forces could be imminent.
It is a depressingly familiar scenario, a cycle of provocation and reprisal that periodically escalates into full-blown war. There is no simple account of events leading up to the current confrontation that does justice to the amassed sense of grievance on both sides. But two specific events have played a decisive role: the decision earlier this month by Hamas to end a six-month ceasefire and elections in Israel due in February.
In reality, the "ceasefire" was a tempering of aggression on both sides rather than a cessation of hostilities. Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni has declared the rocket attacks "unbearable" and asserted that the Hamas administration in Gaza must be "toppled".
Ms Livni's hawkish stance is conditioned in part by the aspiration to become prime minister. Her Kadima party is trailing in opinion polls, behind Likud, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, a determined hardliner.
The standing of incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert never recovered from the disastrous war he waged against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. Then, too, Israeli civilians came under attack from rocket fire and the army was sent in to rout militants over the border. But it did so with such indiscriminate force that, despite tactical gains, international outrage forced a prompt withdrawal. For Israel, it was a moral and strategic defeat.
Mr Olmert wants strikes against Hamas to be more effective, which in theory means they would be forensically targeted. But that is not easy. Besides, as a six-month economic blockade on Gaza demonstrates, the welfare of ordinary Palestinians is always subordinate to Israeli security objectives. The blockade has accelerated the decline of Gaza's population into hunger and poverty. Israel insists Hamas is to blame, saying sanctions will be lifted when the rocket fire stops.
But the blockade suits Hamas, which "taxes" money and goods smuggled in and provides welfare services to the population. Under siege, its monopoly is secure. There is, meanwhile, no mechanism to negotiate a way out of this impasse. It is not just Israel that does not talk to Hamas. The EU and US also refuse contact.
That is because Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Its founding charter claims the Holy Land exclusively for Islam and calls for the complete annihilation of Israel. For all that the international community might wish for Israeli restraint, no government in the world would tolerate an enclave on its border run by an organisation ideologically motivated and heavily armed to kill its citizens. From the Israeli perspective, painful compromises already made - pulling down Jewish settlements in Gaza - resulted in less, not more security. That feels like a betrayal.
But an equivalent betrayal is felt on the Palestinian side. Compared with Gaza, there have been modest improvements in conditions in the West Bank under Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But there is nothing like the progress towards statehood that would allow Mr Abbas to claim his more moderate approach works better than the militant line taken by Hamas.
Even those Israeli and Palestinian politicians who are minded to negotiate are boxed into uncompromising stances, and for both the main reason is Hamas. But attempting to remove the problem with military power will not work. Hamas craves confrontation because its support increases when ordinary Palestinians are collectively punished, as has happened under the blockade. There are compelling reasons why Israeli politicians do not try to talk Hamas out of its militancy. But the near certainty of failure is also a more compelling reason not to try force instead.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/28/2008 12:26 ||
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#1
Years of talking have produced nothing. Talking only kills more people but over a longer period of time.
Gaza residents on Sunday breached the border fence with Egypt in several places and hundreds have crossed the frontier prompting Egyptian border guards to open fire, said officials and witnesses on both sides of the border.
Perhaps the Egyptians are well aware of the unsavory reputation of the Gazooks?
A resident of the Gaza Strip side of the border, Fida Kishta, said that Egyptian border guards opened fire to drive back the Palestinians. Residents have also commandeered a bulldozer to open new breaches.
Funny how it's a big problem when the Israelis drive bulldozers through stuff but not when Paleos do it ...
The border breach came shortly after Israel Defense Forces aircraft bombed more than 40 tunnels linking the blockaded Gaza Strip with Egypt's Sinai desert.
"The air force just attacked over 40 tunnels found on the Gaza side of the border. Those tunnels, we believe, were used for smuggling weapons, explosives and sometimes people," an IDF spokeswoman told reporters.
#7
Gaza residents on Sunday breached the border fence with Egypt in several places and hundreds have crossed the frontier prompting Egyptian border guards to open fire
A classic pincher movement by Israel's new allies.
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/28/2008 12:41 Comments ||
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#8
Their "Arab brethren" are finally getting tired of their sh!t?
#9
It's not Palestinians in general but Hamas in particular that the Egyptian government is squeezing. Mubarak has made several public statements lately about the danger that Iran poses to the Middle East.
#11
This website I'm about ot link is from a PoV from a Isreali citizen, with info and links. He's updating as things happen and I founf it very informative.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/28/2008 13:22 Comments ||
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#12
Good thing I tripled my popcorn order.
They're backing another boxcar up my specially approved neighborhood siding right now. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2008 13:23 Comments ||
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#13
Fedex has space allocated for Rantburgers all over the world for popcorn to supply their needs. Barbara---expect a truckload of Fedex boxes coming to your house for orders.
This is it, folks. Full tilt boogie popcorn mission.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2008 13:44 Comments ||
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#14
FedEx has already notified me to expect 2 of their trucks at the loading dock early tomorrow morning.
I've called the third shift for the Industrial-Strength Popcorn Popper™ back from vacation early. Nobody's complaining about it, either - they all recognize the importance of our mission.
We'll be ready when the trucks arrive. Go IAF!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2008 13:55 Comments ||
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#15
A classic pincher movement by Israel's new allies.
I am channeling Lucky and he approves of this message. Also smiles at purdy much everyone. Only has a few seconds, velo against DevilBikers. Gotta go... OUT!
Whereas Saturday, the Israeli bombers struck with missiles, Sunday, dropped CBU-24 bunker busters which detonate 30 minutes after penetration on the Philadelphi tunnels.
Assuming anyone was turned towards them in the first place.
Whereas Saturday, the Israeli bombers struck with missiles, Sunday, dropped CBU-24 bunker busters which detonate 30 minutes after penetration on the Philadelphi tunnels
Gave them 30 minutes to get out, eh? I wonder if even the US would have given them that much slack. I don't wonder if the Paleos would have given the Israelis that much slack had the tables been turned.
#20
Mubarak has the same opinion of Hamas that he has of the Islamic Brotherhood. Can't imagine why ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2008 17:55 Comments ||
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#21
Gezz, is there a more pathetic group of people who are otherwise intelligence and hardworking...the violent jihad thuggery thing has really screwed these people. Lesson for the West.
#3
Don't get fooled people. Egypt is doing the actual "not allowing the wounded to leave Gaza." Egypt can care less about the number of Hamas wounded. This is just your typical "put on a good face" propaganda from Egypt.
#7
those aren't wopunded and if they are they are walking wounded, what makes you think Hamas even gives a shit about even their own woumded they would rathe rkeep them for the propaganda purpose if nothing else sounds like you got a hard on for Hamas too me
#8
Let's look at this objectively, folks. Hamas has been pushing Israel's buttons for months. They don't have much to go after the Israelis with except a bunch of jihadi idiot-bots. So they play the humanitarian crisis card. They cause enough trouble to close the border, to stop supplies, to stop fuel and electricity. Instant humanitarian crisis. Then they push Iareal's buttons a little too much, and the IAF takes out their HQ. Now their staff is being degraded. They got the propaganda, but they are losing the brains, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2008 13:52 Comments ||
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#9
"They got the propaganda, but they are losing the brains, too."
Brains? This is Ham-Ass we're talking about here, AP.
What brains?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2008 13:58 Comments ||
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#10
"brains"
relatively speaking?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2008 14:04 Comments ||
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#11
Ok OK. Bloody nit pickers ye all are. Retract the term "brains" and insert "middle management." Correct all communiques. That is all. Now back to my popcorn.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2008 14:21 Comments ||
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#14
CBS showed pix last night of wounded little children being carried from the rubble. I might have felt sorry for them but for two things:
1) standard propaganda technique
2) IAF bombed Hamas HQ. What were little children doing there?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/28/2008 16:33 Comments ||
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#15
What were little children doing there?
Taking care of the puppies, kittens and baby ducks, what else?
(You'll know they got hit good if they have that psychotic Farful, or whatever that Mickey Mouse knock-off's name is, staggering onto the set of that kiddie program wearing a sling.)
(Xinhua) -- Switzerland on Saturday joined a chorus of international criticism against Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed more than 200 Palestinians, the official Swissinfo news website reported.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry acknowledged that Israel has a right to protect itself but condemned Saturday's attacks on Gaza City as "excessive," according to the report.
The ministry has also called for a ceasefire from all sides and for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into the blockaded area immediately, Swissinfo said.
Israeli warplanes pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes on Saturday to retaliate for rocket fire from Hamas militants, according to media reports.
The bloodshed took place at a time when the international community, including the Quartet which groups the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia, is making painstaking efforts to seek a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflicts -- a Palestinian state to live in peace with a secure Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 01:30 ||
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#2
Switzerland can go to hell. Switzerland is the country that demanded the Nazis put a J on the passports of their Jewish citizens, so that the Swiss would know whom to exclude at their borders. More recently, their sacred banks were caught shredding the records of accounts held by Nazi-era Jews, lest they have to actually return to the account holders or their heirs the money they had so long considered their very own, the basis of their national wealth. Then there were all those Red Cross inspectors who had no problem with Auschwitz and the other concentration camps where eleven million were killed because they fell into one or another of the many Nazi-condemned groups... or more recently the Red Cross inspectors who said nothing about the prison camps for Muslims in Bosnia.
My mother went to medical school in Geneva for her own amusement after getting her degree, and subsequently said the Swiss will sell anyone anything who has money enough. It was ironic, that, because it turns out my mother had absolutely no money at the time, and went on some sort of guilt scholarship. Still, while she was there she realized how very glad she was to have become an American citizen; she was no longer tied to Europe's smugly mad traditions, but was freed to become what she could make of herself as a citizen of a country where history and family background are only so important as you, yourself, choose to allow.
So Switzerland can go to hell for so graciously permitting Israel to defend herself so long as no Palestinians are touched in any way by their actions. It seems to me that a few well-placed ARCLIGHT runs around the Alps would serve a useful purpose to remind the Swiss of their place in the hierarchy of nations. A bit of damage to the outline of the Matterhorn would not go amiss as a daily reminder in years to come that they are no longer protected by inaccessibility from the anger of the outside world.
#6
OK, now I gots to come up with a recipe for NUKE. Gotta think.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/28/2008 9:51 Comments ||
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#7
"It seems to me that a few well-placed ARCLIGHT runs around the Alps would serve a useful purpose to remind the Swiss of their place in the hierarchy of nations."
Hot double-damn, tw! I love it when you get testy.
Everybody drink up! Popcorn's on the house. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2008 10:21 Comments ||
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#9
It seems to me that a few well-placed ARCLIGHT runs around the Alps would serve a useful purpose to remind the Swiss of their place in the hierarchy
Nah, let's go after them in a Q-Ship...
(sorry, I bee good now)
#10
This is boilerplate Foreign Ministry stuff for public (Arab consumption).
It is what is said privately that is important.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/28/2008 11:49 Comments ||
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#11
The Swiss aren't whining as much but have been hit as hard in their banking shorts like most of the rest of the world, so they're assuaging those bank account holders who've got large deposits from looted aid and humanitarian programs, a little business they pickup up on during and after WWII
#17
I don't remember the Swiss complaining about the Palestinian abuses of Israel that received Israel's excessive restraint in recent years. This is just payback that is long overdue.
#20
The Swiss Foreign Ministry acknowledged that Israel has a right to protect itself but condemned Saturday's attacks on Gaza City as "excessive," according to the report. The ministry has also called for a ceasefire from all sides and for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into the blockaded area immediately, Swissinfo said.
No problem. Excessive is obviously subjecting and can be quibbled over. Israel WILL accept a ceasefire - AFTER Hamas has been hard enough to change the terms of that ceasefire. And humanitarian aid is already going through.
(Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir here Saturday called for a united Arab stand against the ongoing Israeli aggressions on the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with the Qatari al-Jazeera television, al-Bashir also called for an urgent Arab summit meeting, hoping that strong statements would come out of the meeting to condemn the Israeli action. The Arab countries which was normalizing their ties with Israel must stop the process, said the Sudanese president, terming it as "Israel attempts to split the Arab and Palestinian parties."
Al-Bashir also urged the Arab countries to review their relations with the United States.
There's an idea. Break relations with us. See if we care.
Also on Saturday, the Sudanese government issued a statement to strongly condemned Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip, urging the Jewish state to immediately stop the aggressions.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 01:28 ||
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(Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Saturday criticized Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip as "disproportionate response." "The Brazilian government calls on the parties to refrain from further acts of violence and extends its sympathy to families of the victims of the bombing of this morning," an official statement said.
The statement also expressed the Brazilian government's regret that violence in the region had affected mainly the civilian population and undermined efforts for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 01:27 ||
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#1
[Herman Wheque2343 has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Herman Wheque2343 ||
12/28/2008 2:54 Comments ||
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#2
FREE Streaming TV Shows, Movies, Music (over 6 million digital tracks), Unlimited Games, Money, and College Educations (Stanford, Oxford, Notre Dame and more) http://www.InternetSurfShack.com
#5
The Brazilian criticism of Israel has to do with the BRIC trade cooperation. The R and the C in the acronym BRIC stands for Russia & China, respectively. Brazil is a major trading partner with Russia and China. Hamas receives weapons from Russia and China via Iran.
So naturally, Brazil has to side with her trading partners, since the Brazilian economy is in the tank or some other reason my feeble brain is missing.
#6
If Brazil had done their job and taught the Palis to samba the nights away with feather head dresses and their bare asses hanging out, then the Palis wouldn't have time to launch rockets at Israeli towns. So really, this is all Rio's fault.
Posted by: ed ||
12/28/2008 11:52 Comments ||
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#7
I don't think I'd want to see bare asses hanging out in Gaza
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/28/2008 14:52 Comments ||
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Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, has called for Palestinians to wage a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.
Khaled, bravely in Gaza on the front lines against Zionist oppression, calls for an intifada that he will lead himself ... no, that's not right.
In an interview on Al Jazeera, Meshaal said: "We called for a military intifada against the enemy. Resistance will continue through suicide missions."
Meshaal said Hamas had accepted "all the peaceful options, but without results." He said that for there to be any talks with the people of Gaza, "the blockade must be lifted and the crossings [from Israel] opened ... notably that in Rafah," which leads to Egypt.
Meshaal was referring to a blockade imposed on Gaza after Hamas full seized control of the overcrowded, impoverished strip from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007.
Meshaal said he was open to reconciliation with Abbas, but demanded that the Palestinian president cease peace negotiations with Israel. "Neither rockets nor suicide operations are absurd, but negotiations are," he said.
Hamas has not carried out a suicide attack on Israel since January 2005.
The first intifada, or uprising, broke out in 1988, and was followed by the 1993 Oslo peace accords, which led to a certain degree of Palestinian autonomy with the creation of the Palestinian Authority. A second intifada broke out in 2000 and eventually ran out of steam three years later.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:44 ||
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#1
Meshaal said he was open to reconciliation with Abbas, but demanded that the Palestinian president cease peace negotiations with Israel. "Neither rockets nor suicide operations are absurd, but negotiations are," he said.
This makes the decision much easier, that he's a warmonger.
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 ||
12/28/2008 13:59 Comments ||
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#2
because the 2 previous ones worked out so well
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/28/2008 14:56 Comments ||
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#3
Third? When did they end the second one? I must've missed it...
At least one Palestinian was dead and three others were injured in a tunnel collapse on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, medical sources told Ma'an.
Put in another workmans comp claim to Mutual of Gaza ...
The Ministry of Health's Dr Mu'aweyah Hassanein told Ma'an that paramedics have not yet managed to recover the body of 23-year-old Walid Khaled Al-Shorbagy, who was killed in the collapse.
Al-Shorbagy? What kind of Paleo name is that?
I find it delightfully euphonious, a valuable enrichment of the language. Now we can say not only "deader than Tut" and "deader than a rock," but also "deader than Shorbagy."
This article starring:
WALID KHALED AL SHORBAGY
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:43 ||
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#1
At least they don't have to dig a hole and bury him. Allan's already done that. Allan is great.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/28/2008 9:29 Comments ||
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#2
OK, folks, this was a difficult news item to commemorate in a limerick, but here goes, *ahem*:
There once was a man named Shorbagy
Who found tunneling a bit of a draggy
He found himself deep
Like a wolf-cornered sheep
With his guts spread around all zig-zaggy
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/28/2008 14:04 Comments ||
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Ma'an -- Leaders and citizens of Israel's neighboring Arab countries condemned an airstrike that killed at least 150 Palestinians and injured more than 200 others on Saturday.
Egypt
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned the attacks, holding Israel responsible for those killed and demanded that the semi-successful ceasefire between militants in Gaza and the Israeli army be renewed.
"Egypt will forge ahead with its contacts to create a favorable atmosphere for renewing the truce and attaining inter-Palestinian reconciliation in a bid to end the suffering of the Palestinian people," a statement from the president's office said.
Moments after the first 30 airstrikes at noon on Saturday, a high-level Egyptian official told Al-Jazeera that the Israeli operation was "an unprecedented massacre."
Jordan
Jordan's King Abdullah II called for an immediate end to "all militant activities" in a statement issued from his palace. The statement insisted that the attacks "targeted innocents among the civilians, including women and children. The king insisted that "violence will only escalate the crisis and will not bring security to Israel."
"Jordan will exert every possible effort along with influential powers in the region and beyond to put an end to the Israeli military operations," said Nasser Judah, the kingdom's state minister for Media Affairs and Communication.
Judah added that only negitions will lead to peace and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state "on Palestinian soil."
Meanwhile, hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets when news arrived about the airstrikes. Gathering at the United Nations headquarters in Amman, Jordanians demonstrated by waving Hamas banners and shouting slogans about the Israeli attack and the occupation, in general.
Lebanon
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora called the strikes "tragic and criminal."
Lebanon "strongly denounces and rejects the criminal operation in the Gaza Strip," a statement from Senior's office said.
The Lebanese prime minister called on the Arab League and other heads of state to immediately convene in an emergency session to adopt a "united Arab stand to face aggression."
He also insisted that the United Nations adopt "deterring and necessary measures against Israel for its continuous violations of Palestinian and Arab human rights."
Seniora also announced a "Lebanese, Arab and international solidarity campaign to stop the attack and rescue the victims."
Syria
In Syria's Damascus-area Al-Yarmouk Refugee Camp, dozens of Palestinians protested the attack, vowing to continue the fight against Israel, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa, himself from Egypt, condemned the airstrikes and called for an emergency session to discuss a united Arab response to the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:42 ||
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#1
Think of Oslo Accords as an experiment designed to answer the question "Can we make Peace with Arabs, or should we go for without?", Ahmads.
Ma'an -- All Palestinian sides have condemned the Israeli attacks on Gaza, calling the action a "massacre," and encouraging Palestinian factions to rally in support of the people in the Strip.
Communicating through his spokesperson Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he "condemns the Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip." His spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh added that Abbas "calls on the Israeli government to stop these attacks immediately, and to stop such massacres."
Member at the executive committee for the PLO Taysir Khaled accused Israel of using weapons in Gaza that are banned internationally and condemned the Israeli attack. He called for immediate intervention to stop the military action, which he said has been in the works for months.
The Jenin branch of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades sent a statement saying their fighters "would not be handcuffed," and would retaliate "in the right place at the right time." The group declared a state of high alert in order to defend the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip against Israeli aggression.
The Brigades' spokesperson called on all concerned sides including the whole international community to intervene and stop Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades also put all its fighters on alert asserting that Israel will pay a heavy toll for their heavy handed attacks.
Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Muhammad Dahlan echoed Abbas' statements, calling the Israeli move a "bloody massacre," and called on all factions to unite and oppose the Israeli violence. He added that the international community must act swiftly to stop the attacks and the deaths of more civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:42 ||
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#1
http://com/?rf=4c617467616c656a3
Posted by: mers ||
12/28/2008 6:38 Comments ||
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#2
including the whole international community to intervene and stop Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip
International community is busy with the looming financial crisis right now.
Ma'an/Agencies -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday ordered the Foreign Ministry to "take emergency measures" to spin the air force's attacks in the Gaza Strip to the international community, according to Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.
Livni told senior Foreign Ministry officials to "open an aggressive and diplomatic international public relations campaign," the paper added.
The Israeli foreign ministry instructed ministry officials on vacation for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah to immediately return to their posts abroad in order to "mount public relations campaigns in their station countries," Ha'aretz said.
The paper added that Livni told diplomats to lobby local media and public officials over the airstrikes, which Israel says were in response to ongoing Palestinian rocket fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:40 ||
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Ma'an - Commissioner General of UNRWA Karen AbuZayd expressed her "horror" at the extensive destruction in the Gaza Strip Saturday, and communicated her "deep sadness at the terrible loss in human life," in a press statement.
The UNRWA said in the statement that it "strongly urges the Israeli Government to heed calls for ceasing its bombardment on Gaza." And reminded Israel that it is a signatory of "international conventions that protect non-combatants in times of conflict," and added that "these conventions are worthless if they are not upheld."
The organization said it would "exert all efforts to respond as quickly as possible to relieve suffering and pain."
They said that Saturday's "killing and destruction...follows weeks of a tight blockade that prevented UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies from assisting the population and mitigating the difficult economic situation. The population is already paying the price of the prolonged blockade, 1.5 million people are unable to fulfill their basic needs, and they now face military escalation."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:40 ||
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#2
Buckle your seatbelt beoyotch, the fun has just started. You freakin' fools can never leave well enough alone. Take your medicine. I hope they kick your dumb asses into the sea. I would like to see miles and miles of rubble with nothing left alive and moving. This is the only "real" solution to the problems you continue to cause.
#6
Sorry about the double post - for some reason I got Roadside America and thought the first one didn't pass muster so I added some text to the second one...
Ma'an -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is "deeply alarmed" by Saturday's "heavy violence and bloodshed" in Gaza, said a statement from his spokesperson Saturday evening.
The statement also expressed concern over the "continuation of violence in southern Israel."
Ki-Moon appealed to all sides to stop the violence.
In the statement Ki-Moon was said to "firmly reiterate Israel's obligation to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law," and further condemned their "excessive use of force leading to the killing and injuring of civilians."
He likewise condemned the use of violence by Palestinian militants and said he was "deeply distressed that repeated calls on Hamas for these attacks to end have gone unheeded."
He also called for aid to be sent to Gaza immediately.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:39 ||
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#1
I guess he feels he needs to protect his phoney-baloney job. Why doesn't he try being deeply alarmed by a population that allows Kassam missiles to be launched at Israelis as if they were lollipops?
Ma'an -- Palestinian Ambassador to Austria Zuheir Al-Wazir appealed to the Austrian government to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli massacres committed against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Al-Wazir said Austria could urge the EU countries to play an important role in the Palestinian crisis and stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Senior officials in the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern over developments in the region and said the Minister is working on a statement on the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:38 ||
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Ma'an -- The blame for Saturday's catastrophic loss of life rests with Hamas, according to a statement from the White House.
Bush administration officials did not call on Israel to end an operation that killed over 200 Palestinians in a matter of minutes.
The United States did call on Israel to "avoid civilian casualties," according to news accounts, but it did not join the increasing calls for an end to the deadly operation, which has killed hundreds and left hundreds more injured.
If Palestinians want the violence to end in Gaza, Hamas must stop firing projectiles into southern Israel, the US maintains. A projectile killed one Israeli and injured five others on Saturday.
"Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop," White House assistant Gordon Johndroe said on Saturday. The spokesperson was speaking from the US state of Texas, where outgoing President George W. Bush is vacationing at his ranch.
"Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people," Johndroe said.
"The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:38 ||
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#1
[Herman Wheque2343 has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Herman Wheque2343 ||
12/28/2008 2:55 Comments ||
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Ma'an - Fourteen Palestinian human rights originations banded together to warn the world of the consequences of Israel's current attacks on Gaza, stressing Israel's violation of human and internationally recognized rights.
The group called on the international community to work urgently and seriously to protect Palestinians from Israeli airstrikes and siege, and to ensure civilian safety in Gaza.
In a Saturday press conference the group called the day's violence in Gaza a "dangerous and unjustified escalation," that targeted "Palestinian security department buildings in the residential areas in Gaza." They warned that casualties would be high because Gaza hospitals have few medical supplies.
The group slammed the Israeli decision to target de facto government police during their 11:30 graduation ceremony since it is also the time when Palestinian school children head home for the day.
The Human Rights organizations said the decision represented a "criminal intention of deliberately causing mass casualties and destruction in addition to intimidating civilians."
They urged the signatory countries on the Geneva Fourth Convention to hold an urgent meeting to discuss ways and procedures that might make Israel to respect this convention and implement it in the Palestinian territories. Moreover, they said, a tribunal should be convened to charge Israel with war crimes.
The fourteen organizations were:
Al-Haq
Al-Damir
Ad-Dair for Prisoners and Human Rights
Al-Mizan for Human Rights
Defense for Children International
Insan Center for Democracy and Human Rights
The Independent Organization for Human Rights
The Al-Quds Center for Legal Assistance
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judicial System
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
Women's Center for Legal Assistance and Guidance
Women Studies Center
PNGO
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:37 ||
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#1
Well, at least we agree that criminal intent is bad. I guess all we need to do now is define what constitutes criminal intent. Without resorting to the Holy Crayon.
Members of the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), were targeted by Israeli warplanes in eastern Gaza Saturday night. The group was east of Gaza City on a mission to launch shells at Israeli targets when they were spotted by Israeli aircraft flying low over the area. The Israeli plane released shells on the area but all activists escaped the attack unharmed. The NRB affirmed that they will continue their resistance activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:36 ||
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#1
they will continue their resistance activities
after changing their underwear and pants
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2008 7:31 Comments ||
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Ma'an -- Not a single Gazan turned up at Rafah crossing Saturday despite an Egyptian promise to open the crossing and accept wounded Palestinians for treatment in Egyptian Hospitals.
Between three and six hundred Palestinians were injured in Israeli airstrikes throughout the day, and Palestinian hospitals have almost entirely run out of medical supplies. The dead were carried home in cardboard boxes because Gaza City hospitals ran out of sheets.
Palestinian medical sources said mild to moderate cases were turned away for lack of doctors and supplies, and reported bodies in hallways after morgues filled up. Despite Egypt's offer to accept wounded Gazans medical sources said the condition of most of the injured was too fragile to make the trip to Rafah.
Only if Egypt sent helicopters would the majority of serious cases be able to accept the offer, said Head of Emergency and Ambulance Services in the Ministry of Health Muawiya Hassanain.
Hassanain appealed to Arab states to send medical supplies so cases could be treated without being moved, and Saturday night Egypt made a second promise to send four loads of medical supplies to Gaza hospitals.
The caretaker Ministry of Health praised the Egyptian stance and Minister of Health Fathi Abu Moghli called on the international community to continue supplying Gaza with medical equipment to ensure civilians get treatment and the number of casualties is reduced.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:36 ||
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#1
Try laying down a few artillery salvos where the tunnels are and see how many stream across all of a sudden.
Ma'an -- Death shrouds the hallways of Gaza City's Ash-Shifa medical compound Saturday, its smell creeping in from all corners. Amputated bodies are strewn throughout hallways because morgues in the city can no longer accommodate the dead.
The heart [urp] bleeds ...
"Doctor Bob! Doctor Bob! The only part of him left that's any good is his elbow! Everything else is mangled!"
"I guess we're gonna have to amputate!"
In one corner a man stands with his seven year old son in a cardboard box because the hospital ran out of sheets to cover the dead with. This is how he will carry him home and bury him.
Life's tough when you start a war with somebody.
Another man stands dazed, in shock after watching his son Mohammed killed during his graduation ceremony at the de facto police headquarters. The father of one of Mohammed's classmates stood next to his son as he was decapitated. The man is still screaming. In the packed hospital waiting room a mother sits silently staring into the distance; her son was pronounced dead shortly after she brought him in.
Despite the ugly scene at the medical compound people poured in, seeming not to notice the horror of blood and body parts they hurriedly try to pick out clothing or personal items of loved ones hit by Israeli missiles somewhere in the Gaza Strip.
Twelve year old Ayaman is screaming at his father who tries to prevent him from seeing the bodies of his uncle and brother, torn to pieces under sheets. "I'm not afraid to see them," he screamed. In a rage as his father holds tight, Ayman catches the hand of a resistance fighter; "shell and kill them as they did to us," he says.
Who the hell writes this crap? Goebbels?
Yaha Muheisen stops searching for his son's body for a moment to speak to Ma'an's reporter. "whatever Israel did it will not defeat us," he says, "it will not weaken our power."
We can't fight worth shit, but our power to seethe can't be matched!
Forty-year-old mother Nawal Al-Lad'a did not find the bodies of her two sons in the medical compound, so she left to look amid the rubble. Husam Farajallah, a university student, was at the hospital collecting the body of his relative. He called what happened in Gaza a "black day" in the lives of all Palestinians, and wondered how the world could watch and do nothing.
Why not? They watched and did nothing as the Paleos were shelling civilians in Israel.
Medics in Gaza lied confirmed that the majority of those killed in the day's attacks were civilians, including men, women and children. Most were cut to pieces, making the job of doctors and medics difficult, and the task of giving bodies back to families painful and gruesome.
The carnage among the puppies, kittens, and baby ducks was particularly atrocious.
The medics working in the field continue to dig up bodies from the densely populated urban areas of Gaza City.
The scenes remind many Palestinians of the images that came out of the Sabra and Shatila massacres from Beirut in 1982, when thousands of Palestinians were killed by the Lebanese Phalangist militia.
They managed to get that tidbit out there early, didn't they ...
As the death toll climbs and no word on a halt to the attacks has come from Israel, Gazans fear for their lives and loved ones.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:35 ||
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#1
I'm sorta confused here. Are these the same folks who party in the street and throw candy every time a bomb goes off in an Israeli bus or some sniper manages to get a head-shot in on some kid in one of the settlements?
#3
You mean like the civilians who surround the houses of known terrorists as human shields against bombing? Or the civilians who party in the street and throw candy every time a bomb goes off in an Israeli bus or some sniper manages to get a head-shot in on some kid in one of the settlements? Or the civilian mothers who encourage their kids to be suicide bombers?
#4
aha! A pro-Paleo troll. I laugh and sneer at terrorists getting their due. Civilians? FOAD. I remember the paleo trash handing out candy and ululating in the streets after 9/11. The entirety of Gaza could be wiped from the Earth and I wouldn't feel bad, sorry.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2008 7:36 Comments ||
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#5
Shermanize Gaza. Make them howl and wish they'd never started this war.
#6
Perhaps we should be more open to alternative viewpoints. OK Cherelet, what's your genius solution for the bunch of pricks who call themselves "Palestinians". Or do you just think you're so superior that the rest of humanity needs you to point out that the situation is bad but not quite superior enough to come up with an viable solution yourself.
#7
It is worthwhile to keep in mind that hamass is a wholely owned subsidiary of Shia murder incorporated otherwise known as Iran. Hamass is nothing more that a sunni version of Lebanon's hezbollah. Iran now has two fronts in it's war against the West (Little Satan included).
#9
Tenille, you realize that Hamas located their arsenals and bases in civilian areas specifically to get their people killed, and they would not do this unless idiots like you rewarded them with propaganda support?
#10
The people fully support and give aid to Hamas and cheer and celebrate when Israeli and western civilians are blown to pieces. Therefore, the civilians of Gaza are the enemy as well.
#11
Wasn't it these Civilians who elected HamAss as their government? These same cheer when a HamAss sponsored rocket kills a civilian in Israel (But I guess _those_ civilians don't matter to you since the're jewish).
Unlike HamAss, Israel does not deliberately target and murder civilians. In fact they take extraordinary measures to give fair warning ahead of time up to and including calling the residents of the target area ahead of time. HamAss on the other hand deliberately plants secondary bombs to kill those who arrive (first responders) to help the victims of the first bomb.
The civilian deaths are not the fault of Israel but of HamAss for deliberately placing their ammo dumps and bases in the center of civilian populations as well as firing rockets (deliberately targeted at civilians) from civilian centers.
This is pretty good, given the propaganda driven practice of locating terrorist facilities next to schools, mosques, apartment buildings and the like.
The complicit media and peace movement must, of course, bear responsibility for the deaths of human shields, since this strategy would be worthless without their predictable cooperation.
#14
Hamas asked for it. They are not interested in peace. Terrorist have a lot of offspring and that's who are screaming revenge. I'm glad this is contained in Gaza where Hamas rules.
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 ||
12/28/2008 13:43 Comments ||
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#15
Cherelet,
I plead guilty. Have mercy on me, Honorable Kos Kiddie.
#16
Cherelet, I don't know what you mean by "civilians". There's nothing civil about this culture of death that elected Hamas, encourages suicide bombing of civilians, and launches ceasefire rocket attacks against their neighbor.
#17
Cheret: Yeah, kinda similar to some people on this blog cracking jokes and cheering on the death of civilians in that respect.
Rifle-toting Palestinian gunmen in ski masks are civilians? That's a new one. I do remember Palestinians handing candy and celebrating after 9/11, though - when Arab Muslims killed almost 3,000 Americans, 95% of them civilians. The only problem with the Israeli attack is that the tally of dead Palestinians doesn't come with more zeros at the end.
Israel will employ measures to counter the ongoing Palestinian rocket fire on the western Negev, but such measures will not include an invasion of the Gaza Strip, President Shimon Peres told the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in a report published on Saturday.
"Israel will take all steps demanded of it in order to stop the rocket fire," he said. "We will not go into Gaza. There are other ways - we didn't leave Gaza in order go back."
"The problem is that Hamas wants to do in the West Bank what they did in Gaza, to start another uprising," Peres continued. "[Hamas] is the one which is preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Without Hamas, there would've already been a Palestinian state."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:33 ||
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC > DELIVERY OF S-300 RUSSIAN AIR DEFENSE MISSLES TO IRAN TO ISRAELI TURNING POINT!?; + PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > ISRAEL MAY BE PLANNING A JOINT STRIKE WID INDIA AGZ PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES???
* WORLD MIL FORUM > IFF ISLAM COMES TO DOMINATE THE WORLD, CHINA AND THE CHINESE PEOPLE WILL BE IN A WORSE/VERY BAD SITUATION; + IFF CHINA AND RUSSIA FORMALLY PARTICIPATE IN AFGHANISTAN, FOLLOWED BY IRAN, GWOT AND WORLD PEACE WILL TRULY BE ******** [obscene = you-know-what]???
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday night vowed that Israel would not accept a ceasefire with Hamas. "For us to be asked to have a ceasefire with Hamas is like asking you to have a ceasefire with al Qaeda. It's something we cannot really accept," Barak said in an interview with Fox News Barak added that a ground operation might follow the air strikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:31 ||
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In the heaviest military strike against the Gaza Strip since the 1967 Six Day War, the Israel Air Force bombed over 170 targets on Saturday, killing more than 230 Palestinians, as Israel launched "Operation Cast Lead," aimed at putting a stop to Hamas rocket attacks against the South.
In two waves, over 100 fighter jets and attack helicopters dropped dozens of smart bombs and hundreds of tons of explosives on Hamas training camps, headquarters, weapons storehouses, underground missile silos and command-and-control centers scattered throughout the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian officials said that at least 15 civilians were among the dead in Gaza.
In response, 80 Kassam rockets, Grad-model Katyushas and mortar shells pounded southern Israel throughout the day. One rocket scored a direct hit on an apartment building in Netivot, killing 58-year-old Beber Vaknin and wounding several others.
As ground forces amassed outside Gaza ahead of a possible ground operation, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that Saturday's aerial bombardment was just the opening salvo of a long operation that defense officials told The Jerusalem Post would likely last several weeks. "There is a time for a cease-fire and a time to fight," Barak said. "Now is the time to fight."
Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge. Hamas "will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal called on West Bank residents to rise up against Israel in a renewed intifada.
Soldiers from the Paratroop and Golani Brigades were deployed along the Gaza border ahead of the possible ground offensive. Defense officials said that anyone and anything identified with Hamas was a potential target.
At least two senior Hamas commanders were killed in the air strikes. One was identified as Maj.-Gen. Tawfiq Jabar, commander of the Gaza Strip police, who was killed at the Gaza Police Academy during a graduation ceremony; 70-80 Hamas operatives were reported killed in that attack.
Officials said that Israel did not plan on conquering the Gaza Strip or toppling the Hamas regime, but would likely continue the air strikes together with limited ground assaults against Hamas infrastructure and Kassam launch sites.
"We will not stop until Hamas halts its rocket attacks and terrorist activity," one senior defense official said.
The operation was given three goals - to stop Hamas's rocket attacks against Israel; to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza; and to stop Hamas's terrorist activity against Israel.
"Our purpose is to hit Hamas in such a way that will force it to halt any firing and other hostile activities against Israeli citizens and against the IDF," Barak said. "We will do everything it takes to defend our citizens and bring about a significantly improved situation along our border."
The IDF opened the underground military command-and-control center located at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi manned the post together with several top generals throughout the day. OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan was inside the IAF underground command-and-control center nearby.
"The goal of the operation was to shock, awe and deceive the Palestinians," a senior IDF officer said Saturday, referring to Barak's decision to open the crossings on Friday - done to deceive Hamas into believing that Israel was delaying a military response to the rocket attacks.
Reports that the cabinet planned to convene on Sunday to discuss the situation in Gaza were also aimed at deceiving Hamas.
The air strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza. Black clouds of smoke rose above the Strip, ruled by Hamas since June 2007. The IDF said it had avoided striking at targets next to schools and inside densely-populated apartment buildings, but urged Gazans to stay away from Hamas infrastructure.
The IDF Central Command also went on high alert out of concern that Hamas terrorists would try to infiltrate Israeli cities to perpetrate suicide bombings. Military sources said there was also worry that Hamas would try to kidnap soldiers in the West Bank and that Hizbullah might attack along the northern border.
Olmert cautioned Israel's enemies against trying to take advantage of the fact that Israel was busy in Gaza.
In a televised speech, Mashaal warned Israel that it would not achieve by fighting what it had been unable to achieve through diplomacy.
While the Damascus-based Hamas leader maintained that his organization was interested in renewing the cease-fire with Israel, he said this would only be possible if Israel and opened all crossings in and out of the Strip.
Mashaal defended his group's actions and the continued rocket attacks on Israel that led to the IAF offensive, saying Israel - and not Hamas - was responsible for the renewed bloodshed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:30 ||
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#1
and Khaled, hiding under his daughter's bed in Damascus, is oh so brave with his comrade's lives.
P*ssy
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2008 7:40 Comments ||
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#2
"jets and attack helicopters dropped dozens of smart bombs" i.e. bunker busters
This is a major blow to Hamas, not because of the amount dead. Hamas never gets phased about the "number" of deaths. They can always import more Hamas members (from Iran & Hezbollah controlled areas of Lebanon).
Israel til date, refused to use "bunker busters" in the Gaza strip. This is a major blow to Hamas because their underground CC have been completely wiped out in the Gaza Strip. Essentially, you just have a bunch of ants running around without a mound to hide.
Once the Hamas CC is wiped out, I really hate to say this, the Palestinian Authority under Abbas can take over. I am not a big fan of terrorist group PA, but I would rather have PA take over than Hamas. By the way, the PA is rooting for Israel to take out the Hamas CC. "the enemy of my enem......" The PA can "take care" of the roaming ants, once the Israeli operation is finalized.
One of the reasons I prefer PA over Hamas is because the PA are Sunni Muslims and Hamas, Shiites. Hamas is more dangerous due to their Shiite brethren in Iran re-supplying with advanced weaponry. The Shiites (Iran) would never provide weapons to the Sunni's (PA). The Shiites consider Sunni's as apostates.
However, since the PA is recognized by the UN, the PA can get weapons to fight Israel from the EU, Egypt, and the Sunni areas of Syria. Egypt gets advanced weaponry from the U.S. as part of the Jimmy Carter "peace" deal, many moons ago. The IDF can stamp down the PLO/PA resistance with two hands tied behind their back and blindfolded.
At least five Palestinians were killed as IAF aircraft continued to hammer Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip late Saturday night and early Sunday.
Palestinians said aircraft targeted a mosque near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, destroying it. Two bodies were retrieved from the rubble. The army said the mosque was a base for terrorist activities.
Isn't 'mosque' the Arabic word for 'weapons depot'?
Palestinian sources reported early Sunday morning that IAF aircraft had targeted the Al Aqsa TV station used by Hamas. The studio building was destroyed, but the station remained on the air with a mobile unit, the sources said.
Palestinians counted about 20 air-strikes in the first hours of Sunday.
On Saturday night, an IAF aircraft attacked a Kassam launching crew in, killing three of its members. Palestinians said four others were wounded in the attack.
More than 170 targets were hit by IAF aircraft throughout Saturday. At least 230 Gazans were killed and over 780 were wounded, according to Palestinian sources. Officials said at least 15 civilians were among the dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:30 ||
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#1
Palestinian sources reported early Sunday morning that IAF aircraft had targeted the Al Aqsa TV station used by Hamas. The studio building was destroyed, but the station remained on the air with a mobile unit, the sources said.
Posted by: Herman Wheque2343 ||
12/28/2008 3:03 Comments ||
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#3
I guess they'll have to go back to reading the Sunday Comics or beefing up the K-12 with an extra hour or two a day of hate-filled propaganda classes until the next cease-fire allows them to rebuild the transmitter.
In an urgent letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the UN Security council, Israeli UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev on Saturday night defended Israel's decision to embark on a military operation in the Gaza Strip in order to put an end to rocket attacks on the South.
"Israel is taking the necessary military action in order to protect its citizens from ongoing terrorist attacks originating from the Gaza Strip and carried out by Hamas and other terrorist organizations," Shalev said, adding that Hamas "holds the sole responsibility for the latest events."
Israel, she continued, "has exhausted all means and efforts to reach and maintain quiet and to respect the state of calm... Israel's response is aimed solely against the terrorists and their infrastructures in the Gaza Strip. It is not intended against the civilian population. Israel is committed to prevent a humanitarian crisis."
Shalev asserted that "No country would allow continuous rocketing of its civilian population without taking the necessary actions to stop it."
World reaction to Israel's sudden, massive strike against terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip ranged from immediate condemnation and a call to halt all attacks to cautious acknowledgement of Israel's right to defend its citizens. Some international powers spoke against Hamas's bombardment of communities in southern Israel since the cease-fire ended last week; others wrung their hands over the humanitarian suffering in the Strip.
In a statement released Saturday, Ban called for an immediate halt to all violence in both Gaza and southern Israel.
"While recognizing Israel's security concerns regarding the continued firing of rockets from Gaza, Ban firmly reiterates Israel's obligation to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law and condemns excessive use of force leading to the killing and injuring of civilians. He condemns the ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants and is deeply distressed that repeated calls on Hamas for these attacks to end have gone unheeded," the statement continued.
Ban has reiterated his previous calls for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into Gaza to aid the distressed civilian population.
Quartet Representative Tony Blair, speaking Saturday in response to events in Gaza, said: "The terrible events and tragic loss of life in Gaza require, in the immediate term, the introduction of a genuine calm in which the rocket attacks aimed at killing Israeli civilians and the Israeli attacks on Gaza cease so that the suffering of the people, which is severe, can be lifted.
"Then, as I have said many times before, we need to devise a new strategy for Gaza, which brings that territory back under the legitimate rule of the Palestinian Authority in a manner which ends their suffering and fully protects the security of Israel."
President Nicholas Sarkozy of France, who holds the rotating European Union presidency, said he "firmly condemns the irresponsible provocations that have led to this situation, as well as the disproportionate use of force," according to an e-mailed statement.
The EU itself has also urged an immediate halt to Israeli air strikes and Palestinian attacks in and around Gaza and the lifting of Israeli blockades in the area, saying in a statement that the 27-nation bloc "condemns the disproportionate use of force" from both sides. "There is no military solution in Gaza," the EU statement said, urging a lasting truce.
The EU statement also urges the "reopening of all checkpoints and the immediate resumption of fuel and humanitarian aid deliveries."
In Germany, the foreign minister condemned Hamas for abandoning the cease-fire with Israel and urged the group to "immediately and permanently stop the insufferable rocket attacks on Israel."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed concern with the situation in Gaza and called on Palestinian factions to halt rocket attacks on Israel.
"I call on Gazan militants to cease all rocket attacks on Israel immediately. These attacks are designed to cause random destruction and to undermine the prospects of peace talks led by President [Mahmoud] Abbas."
"I understand the Israeli government's sense of obligation to its population," Brown said. "Israel needs to meet its humanitarian obligations, act in a way to further the long-term vision of a two-state solution, and do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties."
Conservative Party leader David Cameron called the violence "horrific," but said that though he understood Israel's right to protect its citizens, both sides must show restraint. "In the end, the only progress will be political progress and a settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That is what's desperately needed," he added.
The Foreign Affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrat Party, Ed Davey, described the Israeli strikes in Gaza as "disproportionate and unacceptable."
The Vatican's spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, told Vatican Radio on Saturday that Israel's offensive would be a "very serious blow" to Hamas but could also cause many innocent victims and damage peace prospects in the Holy Land.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:30 ||
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#1
The only "defense" Israel should offer to any of these clowns is "FOAD."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2008 11:15 Comments ||
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Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip admitted Saturday that they were caught by surprise by the massive IDF operation in the Gaza Strip and accused the Palestinian Authority and Egypt of "collusion" with Israel.
The officials also expressed deep disappointment over the failure of the Arab and Islamic world to exert pressure on Israel to halt the operation. Until the last minute, Hamas was convinced that the threats to launch an IDF operation were mere rhetoric in the context of the upcoming election campaign in Israel.
In Ramallah, the PLO executive committee called for a general strike and a day of mourning Monday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to protest against the Israeli "massacres." Meanwhile, Egyptian and PA officials who strongly condemned the IDF drive also held Hamas responsible for the latest cycle of violence by continuing to fire rockets at Israel.
Hamas's top leaders have not been seen in public since last Thursday, when news about an impending IDF operation began spreading.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia and headed to Amman for talks with King Abdullah about the latest developments in the Gaza Strip. Abbas's office issued a statement strongly condemning the Israeli "atrocities" and calling for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
A Hamas official told The Jerusalem Post that the reason why security installations in the Gaza Strip had not been evacuated before the attack was because the Egyptians had assured his movement that there would be no Israeli attack in the coming days.
"Only hours before the attack, the Egyptians told our representatives that they were under the impression that Israel would not launch an operation," the Hamas official said. "We believe the Egyptians deliberately deceived us because they had given Israel a green light to attack."
Another Hamas official told the Post that Abbas and his top aides had long been urging Israel to bring down the Hamas government so that they could return to the Gaza Strip.
The official pointed out that both Abbas and the Egyptians had announced shortly before the Israeli attack that they were engaged in attempts to resume "national dialogue" between Fatah and Hamas.
"The Egyptians even made it clear to us that they had convinced Israel not to attack the Gaza Strip," he said. "Abbas also wanted to reassure Hamas by talking about his intention to renew the reconciliation talks with us."
Taher a-Nunu, spokesman for the Hamas government, accused "third parties" of involvement in the Israeli effort to overthrow Hamas. However, he refused to name the third parties.
A Hamas minister later said that the spokesman was referring to Egypt and the PA.
Nunu told reporters in Gaza City that Hamas would not "raise a white flag" and would not make any political concessions as a result of the IDF operation. He also stressed that Hamas would not accept the conditions set by the Quartet for dealing with his government - first and foremost that it recognize Israel and renounce terrorism.
"The Hamas government will remain steadfast in the face of all the conspirators and we defend our people who voted for us in a free election [in January 2006]," he said. "This aggression will only increase our determination to pursue the path of resistance against the occupation."
Mussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official based in Damascus, claimed that some Arab parties had pushed Israel to launch the attack. "We are astonished by reports according to which some parties have been urging Israel to wipe out Hamas," he said. "We are also shocked to hear officials in Ramallah and Cairo blame Hamas for the Israel aggression."
Abu Marzouk claimed that the IDF operation was designed to force the Palestinians to succumb and make political concessions. "The Israeli enemy won't succeed in achieving its goal," he said. "In the past, they launched a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip and imposed blockades which didn't work."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:30 ||
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#1
About two hours ago a Hamas goon said they would move to assassinate PA and Egyptian officials as well as Livni and Barak.
Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah said Saturday that they were prepared to assume control over the Gaza Strip if Israel succeeds in overthrowing the Hamas government.
"Yes, we are fully prepared to return to the Gaza Strip," a top PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "We believe the people there are fed up with Hamas and want to see a new government."
Another PA official said Fatah had instructed all its members in the Gaza Strip to be prepared for the possibility of returning to power. "We have enough men in the Gaza Strip who are ready to fill the vacuum," he said. "But of course all this depends on whether Israel manages to get rid of the Hamas regime."
I just love it when a plan comes together ...
The two officials voiced hope that the current IDF operation would end Hamas rule in Gaza. They said that the PA was also prepared to dispatch security forces from the West Bank to replace the Hamas militiamen. However, they denied Hamas allegations that the PA had urged Israel to launch a massive attack to overthrow the Hamas government.
Also Saturday, Fatah called on its supporters in the Strip to storm Hamas-controlled prisons to release Fatah detainees. The call came as most of Hamas's security installations were demolished by IAF planes. Fatah representatives in the West Bank said that Hamas was holding more than 250 Fatah men in its various prisons throughout the Gaza Strip. They expressed fear that Hamas would use the detainees as human shields against the Israeli air strikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:30 ||
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In response to Saturday's IAF air strikes on Hamas in Gaza, Palestinians fired over 80 rockets and mortar shells at areas throughout the western Negev. In Netivot, 58-year-old Beber Vaknin was killed and five people were wounded - one seriously - when their house was hit by a rocket. All the wounded were evacuated to Beersheba's Soroka Hospital.
"After the first rocket landed, people wanted to see what had happened," one of Vaknin's neighbors told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night. "He went outside to look around when the rocket hit, and he was killed by the shrapnel. The medics said the shrapnel pierced his heart."
Vaknin was unmarried and held a clerical position in the southern town. "He was a solitary, elderly guy," the neighbor continued. "He has brothers, one here in Netivot, but otherwise, he didn't have any family."
Later a rocket hit a house in the community of Mivtahim, seriously wounding one person and lightly wounding another. A Magen David Adom team treated them at the scene.
In Ashkelon, at least 10 rocket strikes were reported, with one hitting an apartment building. For the first time ever, a Kassam rocket struck Kiryat Gat. The "Color Red" warning siren also sounded in Ashdod, although no rockets were reported to have landed there.
Nobody was hurt in any of the other attacks. Israeli citizens living within a 20-kilometer radius of Gaza were ordered to remain indoors as Kassam warning systems blared throughout the area.
A tense calm fell over Sderot on Saturday night, with residents remaining indoors and on high alert. "We've heard the 'Color Red' siren a couple of times today, but in general it's been quiet here in the last few hours," Sderot Municipality spokesman Shalom Helevi told the Post on Saturday night. "Some Kassams have landed nearby, but in open fields, and no damage has been reported."
"We're following the instructions of the security forces and Home Front Command," Helevi continued. "Residents are aware that in this range, they have 15-17 seconds to get themselves to a secure room, while residents who live closer to the Strip - within four and a half kilometers - have even less time. But the people of Sderot know quite well how to handle this situation; we've been living it for eight years, and I can tell you that we absolutely support the IDF operation in the clearest terms, and are willing to suffer the consequences of rocket fire here in Sderot as long as the army is working to bring an end to it. It's about time we acted, and the residents of Sderot are ready for anything."
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Doron Almog appeared on Channel 2 Saturday night and warned residents of the South that they should expect further rocket fire.
"There will be more rockets in the coming days," Almog said. "Hamas has hundreds of defined positions - some of which we've already hit, some of which we have not - and they will try to regroup and mount a response with increased rocket fire on the country's south."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2008 00:30 ||
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#1
where is all the bitching about killing a civilian on the article tenille?
Does Israel have telephone listings for all the surrounding countries and territories? It seems to me they did something similar before attacking Hizb'allah in Lebanon.
Militants often operate against Israel from civilian areas, and that has led to steep civilian casualties in the past when Israel has retaliated. Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language voice mails on their cell phones from the Israel Defense Forces, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons. Now back to the beginning of the article:
Israel Air Force warplanes struck targets in Gaza early Sunday, including a mosque and a TV station, after a day of intensive air strikes that killed at least 230 Palestinians and wounded close to 800.
Hundreds of Israeli infantry and armored corps troops headed for the Gaza border early Sunday in preparation for a possible ground invasion, military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Sky News that he would not rule out widening the offensive in the Gaza Strip to include a ground invasion.
Barak on Saturday also said Israel "cannot really accept" a cease-fire with Hamas, rejecting calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a truce after Israel Air Force strikes killed at least 230 people in Gaza. "For us to be asked to have a cease-fire with Hamas is like asking you to have a cease-fire with Al-Qaida," Barak said in an interview with Fox News. "It's something we cannot really accept. Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game," he said. Pretty please with sugar on top?
In the first attack early Sunday, Palestinians said Israeli aircraft bombed a mosque near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, destroying it. Another target early Sunday was the Al Aqsa TV station used by Hamas. Its studio building was destroyed, but the station remained on the air with a mobile unit.
#2
I'm with Barack on this one. If they've the ability and will to do it, it's time to end Hamas. The Lightbringer is too much an unknown quantity and an opportunity has presented itself to act before he takes office.
Happy Huntin, IDF!
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/28/2008 0:35 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I love it - it's called "reverse 911" when the fire authorities in SoCal use it to issue evacuation instructions. This is a much more interesting application.
Mike, good thinking. I wonder if the impending ascent of the nice young man really is affecting their operational decisions.
#5
I just wish they were heading east. Or is this really a feint?
Actually, NM, it is a message to Iran: "You think you can nuke us without fear of retaliation, because we're reluctant to kill "innocent civilians"? Think again!"
#8
I saw the Defense Minister on CNN and the Anchor asked if he thought the strikes were "A proportional response to the rocket attacks from Gaza." I don't understand what a proportional respose wold look like? Were the Israel suposed to fire unguided rockets into civilian targets?
Given how they cheered and handed out candy during the original 911, they deserve everything they get. I hope Israel wipes out the entire nest of vipers.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/28/2008 13:55 Comments ||
Top||
The usual when Arab foreign ministers meet: expect lots of spittle and no action ...
CAIRO - Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Sunday to seek a common position on Israeli raids which killed at least 195 people in the Gaza Strip, the Arab League said on Saturday. Several Arab countries, including Qatar, Syria and Yemen, suggested an early Arab summit in response to the violence, and Libya, the only Arab country on the U.N. Security Council, will seek an urgent meeting of the council in New York.
The council of Arab foreign ministers will hold an extraordinary and immediate meeting tomorrow or the day after ... at the request of Jordan, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said. His spokesman said later it would be Sunday. It will take a joint Arab position on what is happening and at the same time agree on the steps to be taken, Moussa added.
But Omani Information Minister Hamad bin Mohammed al-Rashdi told Reuters in Muscat that a meeting of Gulf foreign ministers would go ahead as planned on Sunday. Ministers can send deputies or ambassadors to the Cairo meeting.
Moussa said the attacks on Saturday were only the beginning. We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned. So we have to expect that there will be many casualties. We face a major humanitarian catastrophe, he said.
A separate Arab League statement condemned the Israeli attacks and said Jordan and Egypt wanted the foreign ministers to call for an end to the massacres which Israel is committing against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
In Damascus, the official SANA news agency said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was in contact with Arab leaders on the possibility of holding an emergency Arab summit to discuss what a Syrian official source called a heinous crime. The agency said that Assad, who hosted the last Arab summit earlier this year, spoke to the leaders of Qatar, Libya, Sudan and Yemen to discuss the Israeli raids on Gaza. Syria ... calls on Arab leaders to hold an emergency Arab summit to discuss the dangerous situation in Gaza, the source said.
The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, also proposed that Arab leaders follow up the foreign ministers meeting by holding a summit, the Arab League said.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh condemned the attack as a barbaric aggression and called for an emergency Arab summit to discuss it, Yemens state news agency Saba reported.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also condemned Israels latest massacres in Gaza and appealed in a statement to the United Nations and its secretary-general to take swift measures to end the Israeli attacks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2008 00:00 ||
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The Israel Defense Forces on early Sunday began mobilizing tanks and reinforcing ground troops near the Gaza border, in preparation for a possible ground incursion.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Sky News that he would not rule out widening the offensive in the Gaza Strip to include a ground invasion. Barak on Saturday also said Israel "cannot really accept" a cease-fire with Hamas, rejecting calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a truce after Israel Air Force strikes killed at least 230 people in Gaza. "For us to be asked to have a cease-fire with Hamas is like asking you to have a cease-fire with Al-Qaida," Barak said in an interview with Fox News. "It's something we cannot really accept."
Asked whether Israel would follow up the air strikes with a ground offensive, Barak said, "If boots on the ground will be needed, they will be there."
"Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game," he said.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier on Saturday said no country in the world would put up with the rocket and missile strikes Israel suffers from and that the time had come to react. Olmert's words came during a press conference he held hours after the Israel Defense Forces and the IAF carried out attacks in Gaza that Palestinian officials said left at least 230 dead and hundreds wounded. "Israel has done all it could to preserve the cease-fire with Hamas, but our desire for quiet was met with terror," Olmert said.
Olmert added that Israel "is not itching for a fight, but will not back down from one either."
The Prime Minister also vowed to restore quiet to the lives of Israel's southern residents, adding that they "will not be abandoned." He also said that the IDF operations in Gaza would take time, and asked for patience.
Leader of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Israel on Saturday of a "massacre" of Palestinians, saying "Palestine has never witnessed an uglier massacre."
Where is Ismail, anyways?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Here's to you idiots (Paleostinians) finally learning about cause and effect. Your towns are being blown to sh!t because you're stupid and can't get along with anyone. Your choice, live or die.
#2
They picked a good time to go in. Obama is hiding in the dark in Oahu and the rest of us are too busy with the new toys Christmas season to spend time watching the Green Helmet Guys on CNN.
#6
Reports from Israel say that the house next to Haniyah was hit today; Haniyah uses that place sometimes for meetings, storing documents and the like (probably not explosives except some hand weapons).
The events along the southern front which commenced at 11:30 on Saturday morning are the closest thing there is to a war between Israel and Hamas. It is difficult to ascertain (geographically) where and for how long the violence will reach before international intervention forces a halt to the hostilities. However, Israel's opening salvo is not merely another "surgical" operation or pinpoint strike. This is the harshest IDF assault on Gaza since the territory was captured during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Palestinian sources in Gaza report that 40 targets were destroyed in a span of three to five minutes. This was a massive attack much along the lines of what the Americans termed "shock and awe" during their invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Simultaneous, heavy bombardment of a number of targets on which Israel spent months gathering intelligence. The military "target bank" includes dozens of additional targets linked to Hamas, some of which will certainly come under attack in the coming days.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Except the Israelis didn't hit, for the cameras, a bunch of known empty palaces. An improvement I'd say.
Posted by: ed ||
12/28/2008 12:55 Comments ||
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Israeli Arabs on Saturday protested Israel Defense Forces attacks in the Gaza Strip, with demonstrations and clashes with police breaking out in communities throughout Israel.
In East Jerusalem, a police officer was lightly hurt by an Israeli Arab who hit him with his car. The driver, who has a criminal record, was arrested by police shortly thereafter. On Salah-a-Din Street in East Jerusalem, dozens of youths lit dumpsters and hurled stones at police. One assailant was arrested by police at the scene.
In the Shuafat refugee camp, hundreds of Palestinian protestors threw rocks at security forces. In the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, a three-year-old boy was lightly hurt after he was hit in the eye by a rock thrower.
In the Bedouin village of Rahat in the Negev, around 400 residents protested the attacks, while mosques throughout the town broadcast prayers of mourning.
Hadash, the predominantly Arab leftist party, will stage a demonstration on Saturday in Nazareth to protest the IAF operations in Gaza. Hadash chairman Mohammed Barakeh called on the government "to immediately halt the crime in the Gaza Strip."
"Escalation will not bring quiet and calm," Barakeh said. "It is inconceivable for the Palestinian people in Gaza to live between starvation and bombardment. The government and the defense minister are trying to gain political capital in an election period on account of the bloodletting of the Palestinian people."
MK Jamal Zahalka, who is the chairman of the Balad faction, called for Defense Minister Ehud Barak to be tried for "war crimes" in Gaza. "Barak is trying to win votes in exchange for Palestinian blood," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Protest at full volume - try a hunger strike, yeah that will do the trick, hunger strike for peace - you jagasses
#7
WORLD MIL FORUM > STATES SHOCK: IFF NEEDED, CHINA VOWS TO PROTECT PALESTINIANS' RIGHTS AND INTERESTS WID "MILITARY DETERMINATION" [covert warning to INDIA], as per below:
* SAME > CHINA WARNS INDIA: UNILATERAL CROSS-BORDER STRIKES AGZ PAKISTAN IS UN-ACCEPTABLE, + CHINA WARNS INDIA TO HEED LESSON OF 1950's ANTi-AMERICAN KOREAN WAR IN ITS DEALINGS WITH "LITTLE BROTHER" PAKISTAN.
Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public - all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces "Cast Lead" operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which began Saturday morning.
The disinformation effort, according to defense officials, took Hamas by surprise and served to significantly increase the number of its casualties in the strike.
Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. According to the sources, Barak maintained that although the lull would allow Hamas to prepare for a showdown with Israel, the Israeli army needed time to prepare, as well.
Barak gave orders to carry out a comprehensive intelligence-gathering drive which sought to map out Hamas' security infrastructure, along with that of other militant organizations operating in the Strip. This intelligence-gathering effort brought back information about permanent bases, weapon silos, training camps, the homes of senior officials and coordinates for other facilities.
The plan of action that was implemented in Operation Cast Lead remained only a blueprint until a month ago, when tensions soared after the IDF carried out an incursion into Gaza during the ceasefire to take out a tunnel which the army said was intended to facilitate an attack by Palestinian militants on IDF troops.
On November 19, following dozens of Qassam rockets and mortar rounds which exploded on Israeli soil, the plan was brought for Barak's final approval. Last Thursday, on December 18, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the defense minister met at IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv to approve the operation. However, they decided to put the mission on hold to see whether Hamas would hold its fire after the expiration of the ceasefire. They therefore put off bringing the plan for the cabinet's approval, but they did inform Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the developments.
That night, in speaking to the media, sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau said that "if the shooting from Gaza continues, the showdown with Hamas would be inevitable." On the weekend, several ministers in Olmert's cabinet inveighed against him and against Barak for not retaliating for Hamas' Qassam launches.
"This chatter would have made Entebe or the Six Day War impossible," Barak said in responding to the accusations. The cabinet was eventually convened on Wednesday, but the Prime Minister's Bureau misinformed the media in stating the discussion would revolve around global jihad. The ministers learned only that morning that the discussion would actually pertain to the operation in Gaza.
In its summary announcement for the discussion, the Prime Minister's Bureau devoted one line to the situation in Gaza, compared to one whole page that concerned the outlawing of 35 Islamic organizations.
What actually went on at the cabinet meeting was a five-hour discussion about the operation in which ministers were briefed about the various blueprints and plans of action. "It was a very detailed review," one minister said. The minister added: "Everyone fully understood what sort of period we were heading into and what sort of scenarios this could lead to. No one could say that he or she did not know what they were voting on." The minister also said that the discussion showed that the lessons of the Winograd Committee about the performance of decision-makers during the 2006 Second Lebanon War were "fully internalized."
At the end of the discussion, the ministers unanimously voted in favor of the strike, leaving it for the prime minister, the defense minister and the foreign minister to work out the exact time. While Barak was working out the final details with the officers responsible for the operation, Livni went to Cairo to inform Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, that Israel had decided to strike at Hamas.
In parallel, Israel continued to send out disinformation in announcing it would open the crossings to the Gaza Strip and that Olmert would decide whether to launch the strike following three more deliberations on Sunday - one day after the actual order to launch the operation was issued.
"Hamas evacuated all its headquarter personnel after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday," one defense official said, "but the organization sent its people back in when they heard that everything was put on hold until Sunday."
The final decision was made on Friday morning, when Barak met with Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi, the head of the Shin Bet Security Service Yuval Diskin and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Amos Yadlin. Barak sat down with Olmert and Livni several hours later for a final meeting, in which the trio gave the air force its orders.
On Friday night and on Saturday morning, opposition leaders and prominent political figures were informed about the impending strike, including Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, Yisrael Beuiteinu's Avigdor Liebermen, Haim Oron from Meretz and President Shimon Peres, along with Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Hamas evacuated all its headquarter personnel after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday," one defense official said, "but the organization sent its people back in when they heard that everything was put on hold until Sunday."
#2
The minister also said that the discussion showed that the lessons of the Winograd Committee about the performance of decision-makers during the 2006 Second Lebanon War were "fully internalized."
Looks like Omlet is handling his legacy issue better than Bush. Unless Bush is really the king of disinformation.
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Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, has called for Palestinians to wage a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.
Ma'an -- Death shrouds the hallways of Gaza City's Ash-Shifa medical compound Saturday, its smell creeping in from all corners. Amputated bodies are strewn throughout hallways because morgues in the city can no longer accommodate the dead.
Another man stands dazed, in shock after watching his son Mohammed killed during his graduation ceremony at the de facto police headquarters. The father of one of Mohammed's classmates stood next to his son as he was decapitated. The man is still screaming. In the packed hospital waiting room a mother sits silently staring into the distance; her son was pronounced dead shortly after she brought him in.
At least five Palestinians were killed as IAF aircraft continued to hammer Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip late Saturday night and early Sunday. 
The Israel Defense Forces on early Sunday began mobilizing tanks and reinforcing ground troops near the Gaza border, in preparation for a possible ground incursion. 
Israeli Arabs on Saturday protested Israel Defense Forces attacks in the Gaza Strip, with demonstrations and clashes with police breaking out in communities throughout Israel. 
