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    Israel Air Strikes On Gaza Kill 155

    Israel air strikes on Gaza kill 155
    Hundreds are wounded in the attacks, a response to rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli border towns.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,6679065.story

    Associated Press
    6:01 AM PST, December 27, 2008

    GAZA CITY -- Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes today, killing at least 155 and wounding more than 310 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in recent memory.

    Hamas said all of its security installations were hit and responded with several medium-range Grad rockets at Israel, reaching deeper than in the past. One Israeli was killed and at least four people were wounded.

    Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "the operation will last as long as necessary," but it was not clear if it would be coupled with a ground offensive. Asked if Hamas political leaders might be targeted next, military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said, "Any Hamas target is a target."

    The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza, as black clouds of smoke rose above the territory, ruled by Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.

    In Gaza City's main security compound, bodies of more than a dozen uniformed security officers lay on the ground. One survivor raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith, uttering a prayer. The Gaza police chief was among those killed. One man, his face bloodied, sat dazed on the ground as a fire raged nearby.

    It wasn't immediately clear how many civilian casualties there were.

    Said Masri sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, close to a security compound, alternately slapping his face and covering his head with dust from the bombed-out building.

    "My son is gone, my son is gone," wailed Masri, 57. The shopkeeper said he sent his 9-year-old son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and now could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn," Masri moaned.

    Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge, including suicide attacks. Hamas "will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

    Israel told its civilians near Gaza to take cover as militants began retaliating with rockets, and in the West Bank, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for restraint. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.

    Protests erupted in the Abbas-ruled West Bank and across the Arab world.

    Several hundred angry Jordanians poured protested outside a U.N. complex in the capital Amman. "Hamas, go ahead. You are the cannon, we are the bullets," they cried, some waving the signature green Hamas banners.

    In Beirut, dozens of youths hit the streets and set fire to tires. In Syria's al-Yarmouk camp, outside Damascus, dozens of Palestinians protested the attack as well, vowing to continue fighting Israel.

    Israeli leaders approved military action against Gaza earlier in the week.

    Past limited ground incursions and air strikes have not halted rocket barrages from Gaza.

    But with 200 mortars and rockets raining down on Israel since the truce expired a week ago, and 3,000 since the beginning of the year, according to the military's count, pressure had been mounting in Israel for the military to crush the gunmen.

    Earlier this month, Israeli security officials told the government that militants possess rockets with ranges capable of reaching farther from Gaza than ever before, including the cities of Beersheba and Ashdod.

    Gaza militants fired several rockets Saturday, including one that struck a new target, the town of Kiryat Gat. A missile hit on the town of Netivot killed an Israeli man and wounded four people, rescue services said. In Ashkelon, TV cameras showed people huddle against a wall as a rocket alert sounded.

    Barak, the Israeli defense minister, said that the coming period "won't be easy and won't be short for the communities in the south (of Israel).

    Israel declared a state of emergency in Israeli communities within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) range of Gaza, putting the area on a war footing.

    The first round of air strikes came just before noon, and several more waves followed.

    Hospitals crowded with people, civilians rushing in wounded people in cars, vans and ambulances. "We are treating people on the floor, in the corridors. We have no more space. We don't know who is here and what the priority is to treat," said a doctor at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment center. He hung up the phone before identifying himself.

    Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a Gaza Health Ministry official, said at least 145 people were killed and more than 300 wounded.

    Frantic civilians drove wounded people to hospitals in their cars.

    In the West Bank, Hamas' rival, Abbas, said in a statement that he "condemns this aggression" and called for restraint, according to an aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh. Abbas, who has ruled only the West Bank since the Islamic Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007, was in contact with Arab leaders, and his West Bank Cabinet convened an emergency session.

    Israel has targeted Gaza in the past, but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented.

    Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, but the withdrawal did not lead to better relations with Palestinians in the territory as Israeli officials had hoped.

    Instead, the evacuation was followed by a sharp rise in militant attacks on Israeli border communities that on several occasions provoked harsh Israeli military reprisals.

    The last, in late February and early March, spurred both sides to agree to a truce that was to have lasted six months but began unraveling in early November. In recent days, Israeli leaders had been voicing strong threats to launch a major offensive.
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    US holds Hamas 'responsible' for Gaza violence: Rice

    http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_hold..._12272008.html

    12/27/2008

    The United States holds Hamas "responsible" for the renewal of deadly violence in Gaza after the Islamist group broke its ceasefire with Israel, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.

    An earlier version of Rice's statement was recalled by the State Department and replaced with a slightly adjusted version that expressed Washington's concern about the violence and added an appeal to safeguard innocent lives.

    "The United States is deeply concerned about the escalating violence in Gaza," Rice said in the new statement.

    "We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence there."

    The six-month ceasefire that expired December 19 and which Hamas, the movement that controls the impoverished Palestinian territory, said last week it would not renew, "must be restored immediately and fully respected," she said.

    "The United States calls on all concerned to protect innocent lives and to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza," Rice added.

    Punishing Israeli air raids into the Gaza Strip Saturday left at least 225 people dead and 700 wounded, in retaliation for rocket fire in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.

    Rice, who leaves her post as secretary of state January 20 when Barack Obama takes over as the US president, helped launch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks one year ago.

    On the day of the expiry of the truce, she warned that renewed violence against Israel by Hamas would only hurt the Palestinians, and that the movement "needs to concentrate on turning away from violence."
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    Bush, Saudi King talk amid Israel-Gaza bloodshed

    http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_Sa..._12272008.html

    12/28/2008

    Saudi King Abdullah told US President George W. Bush by telephone on Saturday that major countries must take action to halt Israel's attacks on Gaza, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

    White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe had said earlier that the king had called Bush, who was preparing to usher in 2009 on his Texas ranch, to discuss "the Middle East" and had declined to offer further details.

    But SPA reported that King Abdullah had discussed "the Israeli aggression against Gaza" and the "implications of continuing Israel's policies of blockade, occupation and torture against the Palestinian people all over the Occupied Territories."

    The king also called for "the major countries to shoulder their responsibilities to stop this Israeli attack and save the lives of the innocent and remaining infrastructure in the Palestinian territories."

    Abdullah made the call after a meeting in Riyadh with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.
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    Egyptians open fire on Palestinians

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukp...4fu2F0eNh8QIgA

    5 hours ago

    Egyptian border guards have opened fire on Palestinians who breached the border to escape Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

    An Egyptian security official said there were at least five breaches along the nine-mile border and hundreds of Palestinian residents were pouring in.

    At least 300 Egyptian border guards have been rushed to the area to reseal the border, the official added on condition on anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

    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.

    Palestinians reported several people were wounded by the gunfire.

    Israeli aircraft earlier bombed the border area in an apparent attempt to destroy cross border tunnels used to smuggle weapons and contraband into the Gaza Strip.

    Dr Abdel Qader Higazi, a representative of the Egyptian Doctor's Syndicate in Rafah said Egyptian authorities closed the border crossing after allowing several trucks of medical supplies into Gaza.
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    Russia asks Israel to end Gaza attacks, let in aid

    http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LS305586.htm

    MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Russia urged Israel on Sunday to end military attacks that had killed nearly 300 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian supplies into the territory, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

    Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov conveyed Moscow's position during a telephone conversation with Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni held at her initiative, the ministry said in a statement.

    "Our side expressed Russia's position in favour of an immediate end to military actions in the Gaza Strip, which have already led to numerous victims among the Palestinians," the statement said.

    "It was underlined that it is necessary to restore the regime of ceasefire, which would ensure the security of the civilian population in Israel's south. Russia stressed the importance of letting humanitarian cargo into Gaza."

    On Sunday, Israel destroyed Hamas's main Gaza security complex in an air strike on the territory run by the Islamist Hamas group.

    Israel is also preparing for a possible invasion of the Gaza Strip after killing more than 280 Palestinians in the first 24 hours of a powerful offensive.

    Israeli leaders said the campaign was a response to almost daily cross-border rocket and mortar fire that intensified after Hamas ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.
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    Israel tanks mass near Gaza as jets again pound Hamas

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Israel...a_as_1228.html

    Agence France-Presse
    Published: Sunday December 28, 2008

    GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israeli tanks massed at the Gaza border on Sunday as warplanes again pounded Hamas targets in the densely populated enclave where raids have killed nearly 290 people in less than two days.

    Dozens of tanks and personnel carriers idled at several points near the border after Israel warned it could launch a ground offensive in addition to its massive air blitz.

    Hamas responded to the ongoing bombardment by firing rockets the farthest yet into Israel, with one striking not far from Ashdod, Israel's second-largest port, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Gaza . It caused no casualties, medics said.

    The Islamist movement accused Israel of "committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn't lift a finger to stop."

    "The Palestinian resistance reserves the right to hit back at this aggression with martyr operations," spokesman Fawzi Barhum told reporters, referring to suicide bombings which Hamas hasn't carried out against Israel since January 2005.

    Britain, France and Russia joined the growing international chorus for a halt to the violence.

    Pope Benedict XVI implored the international community to do "all it can to help the Israelis and Palestinians on this dead-end road... and not to give in to the perverse logic of confrontation and violence."

    But Israeli Defence Minster Ehud Barak vowed to "expand and deepen" the bombing blitz, unleashed in retaliation for persistent rocket fire by militant groups.

    "If it's necessary to deploy ground forces to defend our citizens, we will do so," his spokesman quoted him as saying.

    The cabinet gave the green light to call up 6,500 reserve soldiers, a senior official told reporters after the meeting.

    Warplanes continued to pound the impoverished and overcrowded territory of 1.5 million people, where many streets were deserted and schools and shops stayed shut as hundreds of funerals were held.

    Jets bombed a series of tunnels on Gaza's border with Egypt -- a lifeline for Hamas used for smuggling in goods and weapons into the enclave, which has been virtually sealed by Israel since the Islamists violently seized power in June 2007.

    At least two people were killed in the bombing.

    Later on Sunday, jets targeted several metal workshops across the Gaza Strip, where according to the Israeli military rockets were manufactured.

    One woman and a man were also killed when a missile hit a family home in the neighbourhood of Zeitoun in eastern Gaza City, medics said.

    And as pressure mounted within the impoverished territory, dozens of Gazans tried to break through the border into Egypt following, only to be stopped by Egyptian police firing into the air.

    Businesses in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem, observed a strike in protest at the onslaught that one Palestinian human rights group called "the bloodiest day in the history of the (Israeli) occupation."

    Since early Saturday, at least 289 people have been killed and more than 600 wounded, medics said.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the campaign was launched "in order to regain a normal life for the citizens in the south who have suffered for many years from incessant rocket, mortar and terror attacks."

    Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the international community to cast blame on Hamas.

    "I expect the international community, including the entire Arab world, to send a clear message to Hamas: 'It is your fault. It's your responsibility. You're the one who's being condemned,'" she told NBC's Meet the Press.

    The Israeli bombardment has sparked widespread international concern.

    In New York, the UN Security Council called for an "immediate halt to all violence" and urged all sides "to stop immediately all military activities."

    In Rome, the pope said that "the terrestrial homeland of Jesus cannot continue to be the witness of such bloodshed which is repeated ad infinitum."

    Egypt, which had brokered a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas that expired on December 19, said it was trying to negotiate a new ceasefire.

    But a senior Israeli official told AFP that "we have our goals and our timetable and we don't seek mediation."

    Israel's main ally Washington has blamed Hamas "thugs" for provoking the offensive by firing rockets into the Jewish state from Gaza , and urged Israel to avoid causing civilian casualties.

    And French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his deep concern about the escalating violence and "his strong condemnation of the provocations that led to this situation as well as the use of disproportionate force," according to a statement released by his office.

    The Israeli offensive sparked protests in the occupied West Bank, where two demonstrator was killed in clashes with police. More than 50,000 rallied in Egypt and hundreds in Dubai.

    Israel unleashed "Operation Cast Lead" against Hamas in the middle of Saturday morning, with some 60 warplanes hitting more than 50 targets in just a few minutes.

    By Sunday, some 230 targets had been hit, the military said.

    Hamas has responded by firing more than 90 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel, killing one man and wounding a handful of other people.

    Army chief Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi told the cabinet on Sunday that half of Hamas's rocket launch sites were destroyed in the initial wave of Israeli attacks.

    The Israeli blitz came after days of spiralling violence since the expiry of the Gaza truce. It comes less than two months before snap parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10.
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    Israel pounds Gaza for second day

    http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...081228?sp=true

    12/29/2008

    GAZA (Reuters) - Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip from the air on Sunday and prepared for a possible invasion after killing at least 298 Palestinians in two days of attacks.

    Israel said the campaign that began on Saturday was a response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire that intensified after Hamas, the Islamist group in charge of the enclave that Israel quit in 2005, ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.

    Israel stepped up air strikes after dark on Sunday, destroying a laboratory building at the Islamic University in Gaza, a significant cultural symbol, Hamas said. Israel has accused Hamas of using the facilities to develop explosives.

    During the first two days of the assault, militants fired about 150 rockets and mortars at Israel, the army said, less than had been expected. Two rockets struck near the port of Ashdod, 30 km (18 miles) from Gaza, causing no casualties.

    The attacks enraged Arabs across the Middle East, where protesters burned Israeli and U.S. flags to press for a stronger response from their leaders to Israel's attack on Gaza.

    Israeli tanks deployed on the edge of the Gaza Strip, poised to enter the densely populated enclave of 1.5 million Palestinians. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet approved a call-up of 6,500 reservists, a government official said.

    Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told top commanders at a briefing on Sunday that the Israeli offensive was open-ended. Military spokesman Avi Benayahu said it could "take many days."

    Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert, said the campaign would continue until the population in southern Israel "will no longer live in terror and in fear of constant rocket barrages."

    Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who hopes to become prime minister after a February 10 election, appeared to rule out a large-scale invasion to recapture the territory.

    "Our goal is not to reoccupy Gaza Strip," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. Asked on Fox News if Israel was out to topple Gaza's Hamas rulers, Livni replied: "Not now."

    The U.N. Security Council called on all sides to cease fire. But an Israeli official said Israel was feeling little international pressure to halt its operations.

    Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum urged Palestinian groups to use "all available means, including martyrdom operations" -- a reference to suicide bombings in Israel.

    Keeping pressure on Hamas after bombing runs that turned Saturday into one of the bloodiest days for Palestinians in 60 years of conflict, Israeli aircraft flattened the group's main security compound in Gaza, killing at least four security men.

    Israel expanded its air campaign to the southern Gaza Strip, bombing some 40 smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt, a network that is a lifeline to the outside world.

    Dozens of Gazans crossed into Egypt through holes opened in the border wall by bulldozers and explosives. An Egyptian border guard and a Palestinian youth died in a clash as Egyptian police tried to stop the influx, medics and Egyptian security said.

    Egypt later warned Gaza residents to steer clear of the border area as Israel planned to bomb more tunnels there, a Palestinian security source said. Israel says militants use border tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

    "SHOCK AND AWE"
    Palestinian health officials said the deaths raised to 298 the number of Palestinians killed since Saturday, when Israel launched what one Israeli newspaper columnist described as "shock and awe" air strikes against Hamas facilities.

    Hamas said 180 of its members were killed and the rest included civilians, among them 16 women and some children.

    The international Red Cross said that hospitals in the Gaza Strip were overwhelmed and unable to cope with the casualties.

    One Israeli was killed on Saturday by a rocket fired from Gaza. Gazan rockets have caused few Israeli casualties but have damaged property and sparked panic in many border towns.

    Benayahu, the army spokesman, said Hamas had not yet responded as strongly as expected, possibly because it was "trying to recover from the blows," but that "it is too soon to eulogize" it.

    Livni said Israel was trying to "target only terrorists and Hamas headquarters." "But, unfortunately, in a war ... sometimes also civilians pay the price."

    Violence spread to the occupied West Bank, where Israeli soldiers opened fire at stone-throwing Palestinian protesters. Palestinian medical officials said two Palestinians were killed.

    Palestinian forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah shot and wounded three people in a protest in support of Hamas. Arab citizens of Israel also held protests.

    In Damascus, a senior official said Syria has suspended indirect peace talks with Israel in response to the attacks.

    Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas who fought a 2006 war with Israel, said he asked fighters to be on standby for a possible Israeli attack.

    Parents in Gaza kept their children home from school as the roar of Israeli aircraft and thunder of explosions echoed. Schools in Israel's south, due to reopen on Tuesday after the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, were ordered to stay shut.

    Abbas, speaking in Cairo, accused Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah in 2007, of triggering Israel's raids by not extending the ceasefire that Egypt brokered in June.

    U.S. President George W. Bush's administration, in its final weeks in office, put the onus on Hamas to prevent more violence.
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    Israel bombs Gaza in 'all-out war' on Hamas

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Israel..._war_1229.html

    Agence France-Presse
    Published: Monday December 29, 2008

    GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel bombed Gaza for a third day on Monday in an "all-out war" on Hamas, as tanks massed on the border and the Islamists fired deadly rockets to retaliate for the blitz that has killed nearly 320.

    Anger over the mammoth bombing campaign spiralled in the Muslim world as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon once again deplored the violence, and efforts to hold talks between Syria and Israel were suspended as a result of the bombardment.

    With Israeli tanks idling along the border of the battered Palestinian enclave , the army declared the area a closed military zone -- a move that in the past has often been followed by ground operations.

    Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has warned of a possible ground offensive, declared that the Jewish state was in "an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies."

    "We will avoid as much as possible hitting civilians while the people of Hamas and other terrorists deliberately hide and operate within the civilian population," he told a parliamentary session.

    At least 51 civilians, including children, have died as a result of the Israeli bombardment, a spokesman for the UN Palestinian refugee agency said.

    Among the latest deaths were four girls from the same family, aged from one to 12 years old, who were killed in an air raid that targetted a mosque near their home, medics said.

    In all, the Israeli blitz, unleashed on Saturday in retaliation for ongoing rocket and mortar fire from Gaza, has killed at least 312 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400 others, according to Gaza medics.

    Hamas militants remained defiant on Monday, firing nearly 40 rockets into Israel.

    One of the projectiles slammed into a construction site in the southern city of Ashkelon some 13 kilometres (eight miles) north of the Gaza border, killing an Israeli Arab and wounding eight other people.

    Amid mounting international concern over the humanitarian situation in aid-dependent territory of 1.5 million that Israel has kept virtually sealed since Hamas violently seized power there in June 2007, the Jewish state on Monday allowed the passage of basic supplies.

    Some 80 truckloads of medicine and food were expected to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza's south, a military spokesman told AFP.

    In another development, Turkey, one of Israel's leading allies in the Muslim world, announced that it was ending efforts to organise peace talks between Israel and Syria.

    "The continuation of the talks under these conditions is naturally impossible," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters after discussions with Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit.

    "To make war on the Israeli-Palestinian track and at the same time make peace on the Israeli-Syrian track -- these two cannot go together," he said.

    Parliament in Jordan -- one of two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel -- demanded that the government " reconsider " relations with the Jewish state.

    Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian movement branded a terror group by Israel and the West, has lashed out at the world for not doing enough to end the blitz.

    Israel is "committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn't lift a finger to stop it," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told reporters.

    The Islamists have warned they could resume suicide attacks against Israel for the first time since January 2005 to retaliate for the blitz.

    Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on Saturday, Gaza militants have fired more than 250 rockets and mortars into the Jewish state, killing two people and wounding nearly two dozen more.

    The Israeli offensive has sparked protests across the world, with demonstrations held in European capitals, Turkey, Egypt and Syria.

    At a rally in Tehran on Monday, thousands shouted "Down with Israel" and "Down with the USA" as they carried banners reading "We should all rise and destroy Israel."

    Israel unleashed "Operation Cast Lead" against Hamas in the middle of Saturday morning, with some 60 warplanes bombing more than 50 targets in just a few minutes.

    The Israeli blitz came after days of spiralling violence since the expiry of the Gaza truce. It comes less than two months before snap parliamentary elections in Israel called for February 10.
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    Israeli UN envoy: 'Don't even speak about peace at this moment'

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Palest...ted__1229.html

    David Edwards and Muriel Kane
    Published: Monday December 29, 2008

    As Israel bombed Gaza for a third day, Palestinian moderate and long-time peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi stated that she does not accept Israel's argument that it is acting in self-defense and believes the bombing was planned ahead of time with an eye toward February's elections.

    At the same time, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations told CNN, "Don't even speak about peace at this moment" and insisted that Hamas alone is responsible for the suffering of the people of Gaza.

    "Israel is an occupying power," Ashwari angrily told CNN's John Roberts on Monday. "In Gaza, they've been under siege for months now, deprived of the most basic needs. ... And now Israel has decided that if the victims do not lie down and die quietly, it's going to shell them relentlessly from the air."

    "Israel is playing politics with captive Palestinian lives," continued Ashwari. "In the middle of an elections campaign, they get their conventions by how many Palestinians they can kill. ... We see only a human tragedy ... and we see the Israeli parties playing politics with our lives. "

    According to Time, the campaign against Hamas "is benefiting two of the leading candidates for the premiership in the upcoming Israeli election scheduled for early February. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were trailing in the polls behind their hawkish Likud rival, Benjamin Netanyahu. But the aerial assault against Hamas has given a lift to Barak and Livni, at Netanyahu's expense."

    "This has been pre-meditated," Ashwari concluded. "This has been in the making for some time, waiting for an occasion. ... Unfortunately, Israel continues to be treated as a country above the law and exempt from any kind of accountability."

    CNN"s Kiran Chetny later spoke with Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev, who told her, "The hope is that Hamas will understand finally that Israel has the right to defend itself and the duty to protect its citizens."

    "How do you get to peace when there's still so much anger?" Chetry asked.

    "Don't even speak about peace at this moment," Shalev replied. "To deal with Hamas ... we have to make them understand that they must stop shooting rockets at Israel."

    "The people in Gaza suffer because of Hamas," Shalev insisted. "Hamas made them hostage. ... We're very sorry about the suffering ... but this is the fate of the people of Gaza because of Hamas. ... Hamas is a terrorist gang, and it should stop its intention to destroy and wipe Israel off the map."

    This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast Dec. 29, 2008.

    Video At Source
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    UN Security Council urges end to all military activities in Gaza

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/UN_Sec...d_to_1228.html

    12/29/2008

    UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council Sunday urged an immediate end to all military activities in the Gaza Strip, scene of deadly Israeli air strikes, and called on the parties to address the humanitarian crisis in the territory.

    The non-binding statement by the 15-member body "called for an immediate halt to all violence" and urged the parties "to stop immediately all military activities."

    In a rare example of council unity over the divisive issue of Gaza, the text was approved after five hours of closed-door consultations called by Libya, the lone Arab member of the council, in response to the Israeli air raids.

    Meanwhile Israeli warplanes hammered targets of the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fire, killing more than 290 people in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.

    Diplomats said a compromise statement initially put forward by Russia was watered down at the urging of the United States. The final text approved by consensus mentions neither Israel nor the Islamist movement Hamas by name.

    It called "for all parties to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to take necessary measures, including opening of border crossings, to ensure the continuous provision of humanitarian supplies, including supplies of food, fuel, and provision of medical treatment."

    The council also stressed the need for "the restoration of calm in full which will open the way for finding a political solution to the problems existing in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement."

    Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who played a key role in securing consensus on the text, said the council sought to deliver a message that "will hopefully stop the vicious cycle of violence."

    His US counterpart, Zalmay Khalilzad, sprang to Israel's defense, saying its air attacks were ordered in self-defense after rocket firing into the Jewish state from Gaza.

    "Israel has the right of self-defense. Nothing in this press statement should be read as anything but that," he noted.

    "Yes we want the violence to end. Yes we want the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza to be addressed but we have to be clear that the long-term answer to the problem is a two-state solution," he added, referring to the creation of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Israel.

    Ryad Mansour, the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, said the council issued a clear statement demanding a ceasefire and that the border crossings from Israel into Gaza be opened.

    Israel imposed a blockade after Hamas seized power in Gaza last year, but let in dozens of truckloads of humanitarian aid on Friday.

    Mansour warned that if Israel did not comply with the council's ceasefire call, Arab nations and their supporters "will come back before the council in order to bring Israel into compliance."

    But Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told reporters that her country acted in self-defense.

    "We are going to protect our citizens," she said. "The only party to blame is Hamas."

    She evaded a question as to whether Israel would comply with the council's call, saying: "We will wait and see whether Hamas is going to abide."

    Speaking on US television, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the international community to cast blame on Hamas as world opinion split and tensions soared.

    "I expect the international community, including the entire Arab world, to send a clear message to Hamas: 'It is your fault. It's your responsibility. You're the one who's being condemned,'" she told NBC's Meet the Press.

    "'You are not going to get legitimacy from the international community this way," she continued. "The responsibility for the lives of civilians in the Gaza Strip is in your hands."

    Earlier White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters that "If Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel, then Israel would not have a need for strikes in Gaza."

    US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed deep concern about the escalating violence in Gaza and urged that the ceasefire "be restored immediately and fully respected."

    UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply alarmed" by the bloodshed in Gaza and appealed for "an immediate halt to all violence."

    Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak however warned that "Operation Cast Lead" against Hamas, which has also left some 700 wounded, would continue "as long as necessary."

    And in Damascus, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel and promised new suicide attacks.

    Hamas has not carried out a suicide attack in Israel since January 2005.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


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