What you naturally enough fail to mention, being third rate graduates of the Joseph Goebbels academy of Propaganda, is thta the van contained Katushya rockets, which exploded, killing most of the unfortunates in the vicinity. Had these missiles not been destroyed, they would have been fired indiscriminitely in the general direction of Israeli civilian targets: could have been someone's house, or a school, or a hospital or chicken coop. Palestinian terrorists don't give a flying fuck, as long as they get the chance to kill Jews....

JERUSALEM: June 13, 2006: Israel has determined conclusively and without reservation that IDF fire was not the cause of the explosion which killed members of a local Gaza family and injured others on Friday.

The Israel Defense Forces committee formed to investigate the allegations that Israel artillery fire was responsible for civilian deaths on the Gaza beach last Friday reported on its conclusions today. Defense Minister Amir Peretz, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Major General Meir
Kalifi stood before the press Tuesday evening (June 13, 2006) and presented the findings.

Showing aerial photographs and filmed documentation Gen. Klifi, head of the Israeli inquiry, declared: "There is no chance that a shell hit this area at this time. Absolutely no chance."

The committee found that the blast was probably caused by an explosive device buried in the sand, but has not yet determined whether it was planted by local Palestinians as a counter measure to possible Israeli incursions or whether it was an old IDF dud.

The findings ruling out the possibility of IDF artillery as the cause of the blast are complex and take into account the elements of time, material and location. The findings are based on intelligence sources, filmed documentation from a number of angles, cross-referencing and triangulation of computerized and visual data and more.

A. The Context:

- Over 100 Kassam rockets have been launched from the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahiya into Israel by Hamas and Fatah this past week, several of them hitting a school, a kindergarten and private houses. In addition to the Kassam attacks, Russian 122 mm caliber Grad missiles, officially known as BM-21 or Katyusha rockets have recently been
introduced to the sector and now pose a threat to Israel of some 12.7 miles or 20.4 km (see map at  http://www.iris.org.il/katyusha.htm).

- The Hamas and Fatah missiles are being launched from within populated areas, thus not only abusing the human rights of the local Gaza residents but also creating a cynical attempt to draw Israeli fire at innocent civilians in order to gain media "brownie points."

- The Hamas and Fatah missiles are being launched from a region Israel evacuated and turned over to full Palestinian Authority control less that one year ago, while tearing Jewish families away from their homes of 35 years against their own will. Israel made clear that it will not tolerate terrorist activity targeting its civilian population and gave
the PA police plenty of time, information and arms with which to stop the perpetrators.

- In response to the continued aerial assaults on the City of Sderot and other towns in southern Israel, the IDF has begun to employ airpower, sea-based artillary and ground to ground fire.

- It is important to note that the employment of these three
strategic assets and the introduction of the Katyusha rocket by the Hamas and Fatah terrorists in Gaza constitutes a new phase in this war, a war which Israel must engage in and win if it is to stop the continuous launch of rockets against Israel's civilian population.

B. The Shrapnel:

- Three people wounded in the blast are now hospitalized in Israel. Shrapnel removed from their bodies show conclusively that the explosion was caused by a bomb rather than an Israeli shell.

C. The Crater:

- Based on photographs and testimonial descriptions, the crater left on the beach by the blast was made by an explosion from below (a mine), and not a hit from above (a shell).

D. Intelligence:

- Israel has amassed considerable information indicating that over the past few weeks Hamas has been systematically mining the northern Gaza Beach in an attempt to keep Israeli commandos from landing there.

E. Time of Blast:

- The Palestinian Center for Human Rights claims that the "attack" took place at 16:40 on Friday

- From 16:54 to 16:57 Israeli surveillance made public today shows that the family on the Gaza beach was engaged in normal every-day activity.

- The surveillance documentation revealed today continues to show major activity in the area at 17:10 meaning that the blast took place sometime between 16:57 and 17:09.

- At 17:15 ambulances begin to arrive from the local hospital – a
five to eight minute drive from the location of the blast.

F. Time of Israeli Activity:

- The Israeli Air Force (IAF) attacked an area 2.5 KM north of the blast at 17:15, AFTER ambulances had already arrived on the scene.

- Earlier attacks took place, also to the north, many hours earlier in the morning.

- Israeli Navy boats fired 17 shots from its 166 meter guns at a location near the destroyed former Israeli town of Dugit from 11:00 till around noon that morning. All 17 shells are accounted for, with multiple visual and computerized verification systems, all falling some 700 meters north of the investigated blast.

- Between 16:31 and 16:35 Israel fired six times from its ground to ground 155 mm cannons. Five of the shells, the 2nd through the 6th are fully accounted for, falling 580-600 meters north of the area the family was in. The first shell is as yet unaccounted for but carries with it a statistical impossibility of being that far off range – over half a
kilometer from its intended target.

Comments:

It is imperative that the world understands that Israel is fighting a war on terror not thousands of miles from its shores but scant meters from its homes, schools and children. The terrorist activity must be brought to a stop and the world must bring its weight down on the Hamas government and the PA president to stop launching rockets at Israeli
civilians and to begin to respect and honor the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis. By launching these consistent terrorist attacks from within some of the most densely populated civilian neighborhoods, teeming with families and children, Hamas and Fatah are calling a holy war on
their own people.

Israel cannot and will not allow these attacks to continue and many civilians stand in harms way on both sides.

It is up to the international community to stop these attacks and move the PA government to remove the terrorists from among their civilian umbrella. Rather than jumping on Israel for defending her citizens, the world human rights organizations who are all well represented in the Gaza Strip should begin to call abominable the activities of Hamas and
Fatah – and their cynical use of innocent citizens as a cover for their terrorist activities.

PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLLOWING SOURCES FOR MORE ON THIS IMPORTANT STORY:

 http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Gaza_Beach_Libel.asp

 http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_print=1&x_context=2&x_outlet=35&x_article=1130

 http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Tragedy_On_Gaza_Beach.asp

 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/print.php3?what=news&id=105257

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1662249.htm

 http://www.gamla.org.il/english/article/2006/june/win1.htm

 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/print.php3?what=news&id=105310

 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150191574202&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

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Dr. Mike Cohen is the Senior Analyst at the Galilee Institute in Jerusalem (  http://www.gogalil.com). He can be reached at  mike@gogalil.com
Dr. Mike Cohen