Israeli officials: We will invade Gaza before truce deal takes effect
Zionist Extremism Key Impediment to Peace | 10.06.2008 00:55 | Anti-racism | World
We can now see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Israel's ruling Extremists are the ones who've rejected peace and coexistence with the Palestinians.
Israeli officials: We will invade Gaza before truce deal takes effect
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News
Sunday June 08, 2008
Israeli army officials told the Jerusalem Post newspaper that the Israeli government will conduct a medium range ground offensive targeting Gaza before any truce deal with the Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza takes effect.
(This has been the plan all along. Such attacks were planned months before the facade at Annapolis.)
The officials said that it's likely the operation will be approved this coming Tuesday during the meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense Minister Ehud Barak.
(Barak has been saying for months now that preparations for these attacks are complete.)
According to army officials, Israel does not want to appear weak, by accepting the truce deal while Palestinian resistance groups are still firing home made-shells from Gaza toward nearby Israeli areas.
(But the rockets are only a response to the illegal Collective Punishment of Gaza, as Israel's own defence staff warned would be the result of such policies. But the planning for these attacks precedes the rockets, and this is yet another Israeli rejection of peace, and another attempt to obstruct any peace process, which would force Israel to finally accept its legal and moral obligations to the Palestinians. Zionist Extremists, who reject the idea of a Palestinian state, are intent upon the Cultish dream of "Greater Israel", and will accept nothing less than the complete annexation of Palestine.)
Last week, representatives of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza returned "empty handed" from Cairo, as Egyptian mediators had received no response from Israel to the Hamas offer of a truce.
(As predicted, Israel used these talks in order to maintain the false appearance that it is interested in peace, while it made preparations for another Escalation of its war on the people of Gaza.)
The Egyptian-mediated ceasefire stipulates that Hamas will halt the fire of homemade shells into Israeli territory, in exchange for Israel lifting the 12 month-blockade and ceasing all military attacks against the Gaza Strip.
(Which is really what International Law demands ...)
Israel has set a further two demands: the release of a captured Israeli soldier, and ensuring an end to alleged "arms smuggling" through underground tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza borders.
(But these are issues to be dealt with in negotiations, not items to preclude negotiations.)
Link: www.imemc.org/article/55390
Olmert Readying Full-Scale Gaza InvasionAuthor
How many civilians will Israel 'accidentally' kill this time? What will the world's reaction be?
Israeli PM raises spectre of full-scale Gaza operation
Published: Friday June 6, 2008
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday raised the spectre of a full-scale military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip despite Egyptian attempts to mediate a truce.
(The one that Israel started planning and preparing for months before the Annapolis charade started.)
"According to the information as it is now, the pendulum is much closer to tough military action," Olmert told journalists on arrival in Israel following a three-day trip to the United States.
(In other words, he's closer than he was yesterday of starting the attack which he was going to all along ...)
His comments came a day after a man was killed in southern Israel in a mortar attack claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that has run Gaza since it ousted forces loyal to secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas a year ago.
(Forces that were under the command of US and Israeli Extremists, in an attempt to overthrow the ELECTED Government. The mortar followed months of increased attacks on Palestinians, in which hundreds of civilians have been killed, along with the imposition of illegal measures of Collective Punishment Israel's own defence staff warned would provoke a violent response, and its Attorney General called "illegal".)
But Olmert also suggested that the door to a negotiated truce was not completely closed.
(Riiiight. And the US wanted diplomacy to work with Iraq ...)
He said his government was still considering whether to avoid getting "into a violent and hard conflict with the terror organisations in Gaza" or to launch "operations that would be much more aggressive and hard."
Israeli forces launched several raids after Thursday's attack.
(They also razed several farms, continuing a deliberate program of destroying Gaza's ability to produce its own food.)
On Friday, a military engineering unit operating armoured bulldozers on the Gaza side of the border was embroiled in a firefight with Hamas gunmen, the military said.
(No mention of the farms being destroyed, like so many others over the past year.)
A member of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, was killed and an Israeli soldier was wounded in the exchange of fire.
Earlier on Friday at least 10 Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli air raid on a Hamas police post in the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said. The military said the raid was in reply to Thursday's attack.
(Which was a reply to Israel's rejection of peace, earlier attacks, and the illegal Collective Punishment of Gaza. Israel killed a 4-year old girl with its airstrike)
Violence in and around the impoverished sliver of land has continued despite Egyptian efforts to mediate a ceasefire and slow-moving peace talks with Abbas, who has only held sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since his forces were ousted from Gaza.
(This has continued because Israel intentionally created this crisis, and so long as they can avoid any international intervention, they will continue down this path.)
At least 491 people, nearly all Palestinians and mostly Gaza militants, have been killed since Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed in November, according to an AFP count.
(Human rights organizations, however, report that at least half of those killed were civilians, not militants. Note how this is written. They've lumped the deaths all together in order to hide the vast disparity between casualties, since Israel's casualties remain in the single-digits, while Israel has slaughtered hundreds of Palestinians.)
The Israeli military said on Friday that Palestinians fired more than 2,300 rockets and mortar bombs at Israel in the past six months.
(Nobody bothered to ask how many munitions Israel had pumped into Gaza during that same period, however ...)
Thursday's attack has increased pressure on the government to act against Gaza militants, and Israeli media suggested a military offensive could be just days away.
(Israeli media, supported by the Government, which is trying to create the impression that this is a new, "defensive" development, as opposed to the premeditated Aggression they started planning for a year ago.)
Before leaving Washington on Thursday, Olmert played down the chances of achieving a truce in and around Gaza. "Israel's conditions for a truce are not bearing fruit in the way that could lead to a ceasefire," he said.
(In other words, the DEMANDS and blocks to peace Israel used are having the desired effect. The process has allowed Israel to create a facade that it is interested in peace, while it's been plotting this attack all along.)
Israel has demanded an end to rocket attacks and arms smuggling from Egypt, as well as progress in negotiations for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants in 2006.
Hamas for its part has demanded an end to the blockade of Gaza that Israel says is aimed at forcing militants to halt their attacks on the Jewish state.
(But has also said has nothing to do with the rockets - which were provoked by the 'blockade' - and is actually designed to undermine the ELECTED Government - which Israel knows will not allow Israel to avoid its legal responsibilities in any final status negotiations, and Israel isn't prepared to do this - and 'soften up' Gaza for this long-planned invasion and possible reoccupation.)
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered near the closed Rafah border crossing with Egypt for a demonstration called by Hamas to protest against the Israeli blockade.
(A week ago, Israel opened fire on these same demonstrations.)
Hamas wants Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing -- the only gateway to Gaza not under Israeli control.
(But the US-behloden Government is wary of pissing off Extremists who start wars at the drop of a hat.)
In January, Gaza militants blew open large sections of the border fence, sending hundreds of thousands of Palestinians pouring into Egypt to stock up on vital supplies before it was resealed a few days later.
Egypt has been acting as mediator in the truce talks because Israel refuses to negotiate directly with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organisation.
rawstory.com/news/afp/Israeli_PM_raises_spectre_of_full_s_06062008.html
Warnings Pour in For Israel to Cease Collective Punishment
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10555S
Red Cross Condemns Gaza Collective Punishment (the First Round)
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8994S
As Predicted: Gaza Reoccupation Planned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388658.html
Probe: At Least Half of Palestinians Killed by IDF Were Civilians
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944276.html
Israeli Attacks on Palestinians, Killings, Doubled Since Annapolis
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m40008&hd=&size=1&l=e
UN Condemns Collective Punishment of Gaza
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389757.html?c=on#c187937
It's All Right, I'm Only Bleeding
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10557S
Israel, World Jewry Drift Apart
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10554S
Jewish Groups Condemn Collective Punishment of Gaza
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10877S
Poll Reveals Neo-Con Zionist Groups Unrepresentative
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/12/ajc_poll/index.html
An invention called 'the Jewish people'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959229.html
Zionism's Support Faltering
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7472/index.php
Western Jews Revolt Against Zionist Bully Tactics
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2007/03/364749.html
1650 Illegal Settlement Spots Approved This Week Alone
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15847S
As Predicted: Israel Rejects Truce, Calls Offer 'Failure'
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397226.html
Real Diplomacy: Carter Meets Hamas
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8877/index.php
No Peace Without Hamas
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8876/index.php
Hamas ready to accept Israel as its neighbour: Carter
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8874/index.php
Hamas Offers Gaza Truce
http://www.www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397459.html
Calling Israel's Bluff: Hamas Offers Truce, Negotiations
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13920S
Israelis open fire on Gazan protesters
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15849S
As Predicted: Israel Delays Vote on Gaza Strip Cease-fire
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15846S
When Will Israel Quit Pretending It Wants Peace?
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15845S
Divide & Rule: Palestinians Stuck at a Crossroads
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15854S
Israel Storms SE Gaza, Razes More Farms
http://www.news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/05/content_8317222.htm
As Predicted: Gaza Reoccupation Planned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388658.html
Israel's Goals: Regime Change, Reoccupation
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8687/index.php
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News
Sunday June 08, 2008
Israeli army officials told the Jerusalem Post newspaper that the Israeli government will conduct a medium range ground offensive targeting Gaza before any truce deal with the Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza takes effect.
(This has been the plan all along. Such attacks were planned months before the facade at Annapolis.)
The officials said that it's likely the operation will be approved this coming Tuesday during the meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense Minister Ehud Barak.
(Barak has been saying for months now that preparations for these attacks are complete.)
According to army officials, Israel does not want to appear weak, by accepting the truce deal while Palestinian resistance groups are still firing home made-shells from Gaza toward nearby Israeli areas.
(But the rockets are only a response to the illegal Collective Punishment of Gaza, as Israel's own defence staff warned would be the result of such policies. But the planning for these attacks precedes the rockets, and this is yet another Israeli rejection of peace, and another attempt to obstruct any peace process, which would force Israel to finally accept its legal and moral obligations to the Palestinians. Zionist Extremists, who reject the idea of a Palestinian state, are intent upon the Cultish dream of "Greater Israel", and will accept nothing less than the complete annexation of Palestine.)
Last week, representatives of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza returned "empty handed" from Cairo, as Egyptian mediators had received no response from Israel to the Hamas offer of a truce.
(As predicted, Israel used these talks in order to maintain the false appearance that it is interested in peace, while it made preparations for another Escalation of its war on the people of Gaza.)
The Egyptian-mediated ceasefire stipulates that Hamas will halt the fire of homemade shells into Israeli territory, in exchange for Israel lifting the 12 month-blockade and ceasing all military attacks against the Gaza Strip.
(Which is really what International Law demands ...)
Israel has set a further two demands: the release of a captured Israeli soldier, and ensuring an end to alleged "arms smuggling" through underground tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza borders.
(But these are issues to be dealt with in negotiations, not items to preclude negotiations.)
Link: www.imemc.org/article/55390
Olmert Readying Full-Scale Gaza InvasionAuthor
How many civilians will Israel 'accidentally' kill this time? What will the world's reaction be?
Israeli PM raises spectre of full-scale Gaza operation
Published: Friday June 6, 2008
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday raised the spectre of a full-scale military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip despite Egyptian attempts to mediate a truce.
(The one that Israel started planning and preparing for months before the Annapolis charade started.)
"According to the information as it is now, the pendulum is much closer to tough military action," Olmert told journalists on arrival in Israel following a three-day trip to the United States.
(In other words, he's closer than he was yesterday of starting the attack which he was going to all along ...)
His comments came a day after a man was killed in southern Israel in a mortar attack claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that has run Gaza since it ousted forces loyal to secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas a year ago.
(Forces that were under the command of US and Israeli Extremists, in an attempt to overthrow the ELECTED Government. The mortar followed months of increased attacks on Palestinians, in which hundreds of civilians have been killed, along with the imposition of illegal measures of Collective Punishment Israel's own defence staff warned would provoke a violent response, and its Attorney General called "illegal".)
But Olmert also suggested that the door to a negotiated truce was not completely closed.
(Riiiight. And the US wanted diplomacy to work with Iraq ...)
He said his government was still considering whether to avoid getting "into a violent and hard conflict with the terror organisations in Gaza" or to launch "operations that would be much more aggressive and hard."
Israeli forces launched several raids after Thursday's attack.
(They also razed several farms, continuing a deliberate program of destroying Gaza's ability to produce its own food.)
On Friday, a military engineering unit operating armoured bulldozers on the Gaza side of the border was embroiled in a firefight with Hamas gunmen, the military said.
(No mention of the farms being destroyed, like so many others over the past year.)
A member of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, was killed and an Israeli soldier was wounded in the exchange of fire.
Earlier on Friday at least 10 Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli air raid on a Hamas police post in the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said. The military said the raid was in reply to Thursday's attack.
(Which was a reply to Israel's rejection of peace, earlier attacks, and the illegal Collective Punishment of Gaza. Israel killed a 4-year old girl with its airstrike)
Violence in and around the impoverished sliver of land has continued despite Egyptian efforts to mediate a ceasefire and slow-moving peace talks with Abbas, who has only held sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since his forces were ousted from Gaza.
(This has continued because Israel intentionally created this crisis, and so long as they can avoid any international intervention, they will continue down this path.)
At least 491 people, nearly all Palestinians and mostly Gaza militants, have been killed since Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed in November, according to an AFP count.
(Human rights organizations, however, report that at least half of those killed were civilians, not militants. Note how this is written. They've lumped the deaths all together in order to hide the vast disparity between casualties, since Israel's casualties remain in the single-digits, while Israel has slaughtered hundreds of Palestinians.)
The Israeli military said on Friday that Palestinians fired more than 2,300 rockets and mortar bombs at Israel in the past six months.
(Nobody bothered to ask how many munitions Israel had pumped into Gaza during that same period, however ...)
Thursday's attack has increased pressure on the government to act against Gaza militants, and Israeli media suggested a military offensive could be just days away.
(Israeli media, supported by the Government, which is trying to create the impression that this is a new, "defensive" development, as opposed to the premeditated Aggression they started planning for a year ago.)
Before leaving Washington on Thursday, Olmert played down the chances of achieving a truce in and around Gaza. "Israel's conditions for a truce are not bearing fruit in the way that could lead to a ceasefire," he said.
(In other words, the DEMANDS and blocks to peace Israel used are having the desired effect. The process has allowed Israel to create a facade that it is interested in peace, while it's been plotting this attack all along.)
Israel has demanded an end to rocket attacks and arms smuggling from Egypt, as well as progress in negotiations for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants in 2006.
Hamas for its part has demanded an end to the blockade of Gaza that Israel says is aimed at forcing militants to halt their attacks on the Jewish state.
(But has also said has nothing to do with the rockets - which were provoked by the 'blockade' - and is actually designed to undermine the ELECTED Government - which Israel knows will not allow Israel to avoid its legal responsibilities in any final status negotiations, and Israel isn't prepared to do this - and 'soften up' Gaza for this long-planned invasion and possible reoccupation.)
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered near the closed Rafah border crossing with Egypt for a demonstration called by Hamas to protest against the Israeli blockade.
(A week ago, Israel opened fire on these same demonstrations.)
Hamas wants Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing -- the only gateway to Gaza not under Israeli control.
(But the US-behloden Government is wary of pissing off Extremists who start wars at the drop of a hat.)
In January, Gaza militants blew open large sections of the border fence, sending hundreds of thousands of Palestinians pouring into Egypt to stock up on vital supplies before it was resealed a few days later.
Egypt has been acting as mediator in the truce talks because Israel refuses to negotiate directly with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organisation.
rawstory.com/news/afp/Israeli_PM_raises_spectre_of_full_s_06062008.html
Warnings Pour in For Israel to Cease Collective Punishment
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10555S Red Cross Condemns Gaza Collective Punishment (the First Round)
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8994S As Predicted: Gaza Reoccupation Planned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388658.html Probe: At Least Half of Palestinians Killed by IDF Were Civilians
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944276.html Israeli Attacks on Palestinians, Killings, Doubled Since Annapolis
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m40008&hd=&size=1&l=e UN Condemns Collective Punishment of Gaza
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389757.html?c=on#c187937 It's All Right, I'm Only Bleeding
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10557S Israel, World Jewry Drift Apart
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10554S Jewish Groups Condemn Collective Punishment of Gaza
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10877S Poll Reveals Neo-Con Zionist Groups Unrepresentative
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/12/ajc_poll/index.html An invention called 'the Jewish people'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959229.html Zionism's Support Faltering
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7472/index.php Western Jews Revolt Against Zionist Bully Tactics
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2007/03/364749.html 1650 Illegal Settlement Spots Approved This Week Alone
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15847S As Predicted: Israel Rejects Truce, Calls Offer 'Failure'
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397226.html Real Diplomacy: Carter Meets Hamas
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8877/index.php No Peace Without Hamas
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8876/index.php Hamas ready to accept Israel as its neighbour: Carter
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8874/index.php Hamas Offers Gaza Truce
http://www.www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397459.html Calling Israel's Bluff: Hamas Offers Truce, Negotiations
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13920S Israelis open fire on Gazan protesters
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15849S As Predicted: Israel Delays Vote on Gaza Strip Cease-fire
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15846S When Will Israel Quit Pretending It Wants Peace?
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15845S Divide & Rule: Palestinians Stuck at a Crossroads
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15854S Israel Storms SE Gaza, Razes More Farms
http://www.news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/05/content_8317222.htm As Predicted: Gaza Reoccupation Planned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388658.html Israel's Goals: Regime Change, Reoccupation
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8687/index.php
Zionist Extremism Key Impediment to Peace
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Hundreds Rally for Peace, as Hardliners Ready War
10.06.2008 04:53
'A country that controls another nation by force is not normal,' demonstrator says. Protestors wave signs reading 'Children in Gaza and Sderot want to live' and 'End the siege on Gaza'
Anat Shalev Published: 06.07.08, 23:42 / Israel News
Hundreds of people marched on Saturday along Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard to Meir Garden to protest the 41st year of the Israeli occupation, (the Collective Punishment of Gaza), and the incessant rocket attacks on the country's southern region.
Demonstrators carried signs reading "Children in Gaza and Sderot want to live" and "End the siege on Gaza".
Among those who took part in the rally was Knesset Member Dov Khenin of the leftist (read: centrist) Hadash party, who told Ynet that "the purpose of this demonstration is to warn of two possible wars – a 'small war' in Gaza, and the larger regional war with Iran, which (Transportation Minister Shaul) Mofaz speaks of. The latter may result in a large-scale catastrophe.
"There is an alternative to fighting," the MK continued, "we can reach a ceasefire agreement and subsequent calm in Gaza; we can discuss a prisoner exchange deal similar to the one that was struck this past week (between Israel and Hizbullah).
(But Israel is currently ruled by Extremists who reject out of hand the very idea of a Palestinian state, and have deliberately engineered the current crisis, including the provocation of rocket attacks, which Israel's own defence staff warned would result from Collective Punishment. Only removing them from power can end their war.)
"We must advance the negotiations with the Palestinians and Syria and base them on the implementation of the Arab peace initiative. Life here must be based on dialogue and negotiation rather than fighting," Khenin said.
Adi Dagan of the Women's Coalition for Peace told Ynet the rally was organized to "remind people that a country that controls another nation by force– in this case the Palestinian nation - for 41 of the 60 years of its existence, is not a normal country and cannot maintain a normal way of life – not for the Israelis and not for the Palestinians.
"We see that despite the Oslo accords, the disengagement from Gaza and the ongoing negotiations between us and the Palestinians the occupation continues and is becoming a permanent reality of apartheid," she said.
Anyone who thinks Hamas will be inclined toward a peace treaty after an Israeli military assault is delusional.
A military action will only exacerbate the situation, and drive a stake into the heart of any possible rapprochement toward real peace in the region, which is probably the Israeli government's true intention.
Gaza decision in days
Army is ready for Gaza operation, waiting for Olmert to make final decision
Alex Fishman Published: 06.07.08, 13:48 / Israel Opinion
“The sand in the hourglass is running out,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised Thursday in a meeting with municipal leaders in the Gaza region.
(I assume he means the time he waited before attacking Gaza, as was the plan all along, in order to maintain the facade that Israel was pursuing peace, when in reality, it engineered this crisis to create the impression its premeditated attacks on Gaza aren't bald-faced Aggression, driven by Zionist Extremism's rejection of peace and coexistence with the Palestinians.)
His words could be understood to mean that a significant IDF operation in Gaza is in the cards, and that we are not talking about months or weeks from now, but rather, something that will take place within days. The military blow, he said, will come before the lull.
Barak is attempting to blur his message and refrain from giving Hamas any clues, but it appears he already decided – even before the cabinet meeting and consultations with other ministers – that a truce with Hamas without a military blow that precedes it is no longer a realistic option.
(In other words, peace threatens to end the 'crisis' Israel's ruling Extremists engineered, and in order to avoid peace, they will carry out their long-planned attack.)
It appears that on this issue he is in agreement with the prime minister. The IDF chief of staff also decided that there is no other way but a military operation, even though the political leadership is unable to point to a required diplomatic achievement that would stem from this high-risk military move.
(There is no such 'achievement'. This is designed to kill the peace process, and reignite the fighting.)
The army would perhaps prefer air attacks accompanied by some ground operations against a very large number of Hamas targets. Yet this is not very realistic, because for such activity to take place military intelligence and the Shin Bet are supposed to provide hundreds of high-quality targets, and this, how shall we put it, is not quite working out.
(That matters little, as Israel will mainly murder civilians, and then claim it was aiming at other targets, when in reality, this is about further decimating the people of Gaza, and their will to resist Israel's demands that they sacrifice their legal rights.)
What is left is to take over problematic areas on the ground, using the air power lever, in the hopes that developments would not require a reserves call-up and full occupation of the Strip.
On Thursday, we still saw contacts between the Defense Ministry and the Egyptians regarding the answers Israel is supposed to provide to the truce offer and regarding a trip by top defense official Amos Gilad to Egypt. For the time being, Gilad is not going anywhere, Hamas is not giving any good reason to believe in the truce, and the IDF is on alert ahead of various types of operations in the Strip.
(In other words, as was predicted, Israel has rejected peace once again, but still wants to maintain the facade that this wasn't all planned long ago.)
We are talking about phased activity, the plans are in place, and the army is practicing at this time. If the activity expands to occupying significant parts of the Strip for long periods of time there is also a plan for a reserves call-up.
(As predicted ...)
Eight Israelis already died in the war of attrition around the Gaza Strip this year.
(Along with hundreds of Palestinian civilians. But I guess they don't count ...)
During all of last year, 10 Israelis were killed. The numbers are indeed talking. Less than a month ago, on May 15th, a kibbutz member was killed by a mortar shell, which prompted a great outcry among area residents. The defense minister ordered the IDF to prepare for a ground operation of a certain extent. The Army chief ordered the Southern Command to be prepared to operate within two days. And indeed, on May 17th everything was ready, but then it was postponed. Truce talks got underway, the peace with Syria broke out, and two more Israeli citizens were killed.
(In attacks Israel could have prevented if they had listened to their defence staff and Attorney General, and International Law, and withdrawn its plans for the Collective Punishment of Gaza. But it now appears that, as was the case with the Fale Flag of 911, Israel's ruling Extremists wanted a few Israelis to die, in order to feign a justification for a war they planned for over a year.)
Rice flies in as Gaza faces renewed threat of Israeli invasion
A year after Hamas's takeover of the enclave, it may be close to another turning point.
By Donald Macintyre in Gaza City
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, returns to the Middle East this week for yet another round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at bolstering the flagging hopes of a negotiated agreement on a future two-state solution between Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank.
(Rice has been appalled at what she has seen to be a deliberate rejection of peace by Israeli hardliners, and has been attacked for her criticism of what she calls the Israeli betrayal of the promises that were made to her. Don't count on these Extremists giving her much attention.)
What she cannot ignore, however, is what the State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, announcing her trip, cryptically called "the situation in Gaza". For in the week that marks the first anniversary of Hamas's enforced takeover of the Strip, Gaza could be nearing another turning point.
This week, Israeli ministers will again consider whether to pursue a ceasefire, after Egypt brokered an agreement among militant armed factions to drop their earlier precondition that Israel also stop military operations in the West Bank. But another scenario is that the Israelis will mount a full-scale invasion of the Strip
A majority of the Israeli security cabinet currently appears to be opposed to a ceasefire – at least without the return of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli corporal seized by Gaza militants two years ago this month. Such opposition was reinforced by the killing on Thursday of a 51-year-old Israeli father of three in a mortar attack by Gaza militants on a Negev kibbutz. His death was followed by that of a six-year-old Palestinian girl in an air strike aimed at militants.
Whatever option is taken, the debate testifies to the failure of the Strip's closure, imposed by Israel a year ago this week. Apart from the most basic humanitarian supplies, and a severely limited amount of fuel, nearly all other goods have been prevented from going in or out. But this has not stopped the rocket and mortar attacks, let alone dislodge Hamas from its control of Gaza.
"I am the king of cooking oil," boasted Abed al-Khour, 52, as he described trying to eke out a living as a taxi driver, with black-market prices for diesel up from £13 to £53 a gallon. "I buy one gallon of diesel, then mix it with two gallons of soya cooking oil which each cost me 130 shekels (£20). I have no other choice. We depend on God. I have 25 people in my family to look after."
The phone scarcely rings in his boss Sayed al-Gherbawi's taxi office, once one of the busiest in Gaza City. Of his 20 staff, 17 have been laid off. But at least it is – just – ticking over, in contrast to virtually all manufacturing industry, such as the hundreds of clothing firms that used to supply the Israeli market. "It's not so long since the private sector was the largest employer in Gaza," says business consultant Sami Abdel Shafi. "Now we have a nullified business environment and a demolished economy in the shadows of a severe black market."
The frustration that Mr al- Gherbawi, no Hamas supporter, feels is compounded by the sense of having been abandoned by the emergency government's Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, installed in Ramallah after the Islamic faction's takeover. "Ramallah is the legitimate government," he insists. "But they are not doing anything for us."
As it happens, Mr Abbas, possibly out of frustration with the slow progress of talks with Israel, last week issued a surprise call for a "national dialogue" with Hamas. It was apparently aimed at eventual restoration of the "national unity" coalition between Hamas, which was cleanly elected to power in 2006, and Fatah. The breakdown of that coalition, so deeply disliked by the US and Israel, paved the way for Hamas's bloody takeover of Gaza a year ago.
If Mr Abbas is sincere, it can't come soon enough for Mohammed al-Khouli, 39, who has been struggling for weeks to keep his bakery going amid regular power cuts and shortages of diesel for his generator and cooking gas for the ovens. "The victims of this [blockade] are not Ramallah or Hamas," he says. "The victims are the people."
It's hard to see any other way. The idea of a popular revolt removing Hamas seems as implausible as Fatah riding back to power on the back of an Israeli invasion. Everyday security and order for ordinary Gazans has undoubtedly improved in the past year because of Hamas's police force, but the reverse of the coin is precisely the internal control Hamas now exercises.
A fresh dialogue between Fatah and Hamas would be uncharted territory. Israel might well break off its current negotiations with Mr Abbas, but then he might be obliged to do the same if Israel launches its threatened invasion. Either way, says Sami Abdel Shafi, Gaza's increasingly desperate civilian population is exposed to a series of "mixed messages" from every side. "When no one knows what to believe, hope dwindles."
Report: Abbas informed of Israel's plan to retake Gaza
Al-Quds Al-Arabi quotes Palestinian sources as saying that Abbas called for renewed talks with Hamas in effort to thwart Jerusalem's plan to launch broad military operation in Strip, gradually transfer control over to Palestinian Authority
Ynet Published: 06.07.08, 18:29 / Israel News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas decided to call for a 'national and comprehensive dialogue' with Hamas after being informed of Israel's plan to launch a wide-scale military operation in Gaza and recapture the coastal enclave, according to a report published Saturday by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
The newspaper quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Israel plans to gradually transfer control over the Strip to the Palestinian Authority, adding that Abbas expressed his objection to the move during last week's meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and demanded that Jerusalem take a positive stance toward Egypt's efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
According to the sources, Abbas warned Olmert of the possible ramifications should Israel decide to take over Gaza and is attempting to thwart an Israeli invasion by resuming talks with Hamas.
The report said Israel is looking to re-conquer Gaza, annihilate the Palestinian resistance groups, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and then gradually transfer control over the Strip to Abbas. However, the newspaper said, the Palestinian president is wary of regaining control in Gaza following an Israeli operation.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that Abbas had no other choice but to resume negotiations with the Islamist group "after realizing that all of his other options, such as the attempt to isolate Hamas and participate in the blockade on Gaza, had failed".
Senegalese state media reported on Saturday that President Abdoulaye Wade has begun talks with representatives of Hamas and Fatah, hoping to establish common ground in the Palestinian factions' approach to Israel.
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Israeli officials: We will invade Gaza before truce deal takes effect
This one proves that it's Israel's ruling Extremists - the people The Plant supports - are the ones who reject peace, negotiation & compromise, and coexistence with the Palestinians. Not surprised the Plant would want this one hidden.
Israeli officials: We will invade Gaza before truce deal takes effect
Zionist Extremism Key Impediment to Peace
Stop the zionist festival in London!
10.06.2008 09:16
Stop the zionist festival
Stop the zionist festival in London!
10.06.2008 09:16
Stop the zionist festival