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Thread: Israel Air Strikes On Gaza Kill 155

  1. #51
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    Gaza braces for Israeli ground assault
    Paper: Invasion may begin 'tonight'

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Gaza_b...ault_0102.html

    2/2/2008

    After a week of airstrikes on Hamas targets, leaving an estimated 420 dead and scores more injured, Israel is poised to launch what's said to be a "major ground offensive" into the Gaza strip.

    "All along the border, Israeli tanks and troops have turned fields into makeshift camps from which to launch their offensive into Gaza," reported the Times Online. "The Government has already mobilised more than 6,000 reserve troops and has given the green light to call up almost 3,000 more.

    "Artillery barrages were also being fired into the strip while aircraft dropped bombs on open ground that the army will need to cross, and where Hamas has placed mines and dug tunnels to allow its guerrillas to outflank the invaders."

    The lives of four Israeli's have been claimed by rockets fired from Palestine. Early Friday, the same rockets were said to have within their potential range Israel's Dimona nuclear facility.

    The same day, Hamas called for a "day of wrath" after an Israeli air strike killed Nizar Rayan, a firebrand hardliner, and several of his wives and children.

    Rayan is the most senior Islamist figure killed by Israel since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004 and Hamas again warned that it could resume suicide operations against Israel for the first time since January 2005 to avenge his death.

    "After the last crime, all options are open to counter this aggression, including martyr operations against Zionist targets everywhere," Hamas official Ismail Radwan vowed after the attack.

    "Support for Operation Cast Lead is sky high in Israel, with polls showing that almost 85 per cent of the public backing the campaign," said the Times.

    "There is also majority support for expanding it into a ground campaign, despite the dangers of high casualties in an urban battlefield against highly trained and motivated guerrillas waging war on their own turf. Almost 42 per cent of Israelis wanted the army to move in, while 39 percent favoured a continued air campaign."

    "We've been in regular contact with the Israelis," White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters when asked if US officials were trying to prevent a possible ground offensive.

    US officials have urged the Israelis "to be mindful that any of the actions that they're taking in Gaza avoid unnecessary civilian casualties and also to help continue with the flow of humanitarian goods," he said.

    "So I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation," Johndroe said.

    "Those will be decisions made by the Israelis," he said.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  2. #52
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    Israel set to begin ground war against Hamas in Gaza

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5434559.ece

    2/2/2009

    Israel is poised to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza tonight after allowing hundreds of foreigners living in the devastated territory to evacuate.

    After a week of air strikes that have killed at least 420 Palestinians and left scores of buildings in rubble, the Israeli army was set to fling hundreds of troops and tanks into a blitz to stamp out Hamas’s military wing, The Times understands.

    Despite the looming onslaught, more Hamas rockets – which have so far killed four Israelis – were fired into southern Israel today.

    The Islamist group vowed that its attacks, which have lasted for years and which finally provoked the massive Israeli campaign, would not stop.

    “I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities,” said Sheikh Abdelrahman al-Jamal at the funeral of a hardline Hamas political leader killed, together with his four wives and 11 children, in an Israeli air strike on his home.

    “We will remain on the path of jihad until the end of days.”

    The funeral was held outdoors because an earlier air raid had smashed the mosque where the service was due to take place. Israel said the building had been used to stockpile weapons.

    Among the mounting Palestinian death toll today were three young brothers, aged between seven and 10, who were killed in one of the 30 or so strikes carried out by Israeli warplanes across the strip.

    All along the border, Israeli tanks and troops have turned fields into makeshift camps from which to launch their offensive into Gaza. The Government has already mobilised more than 6,000 reserve troops and has given the green light to call up almost 3,000 more.

    Artillery barrages were also being fired into the strip while aircraft dropped bombs on open ground that the army will need to cross, and where Hamas has placed mines and dug tunnels to allow its guerrillas to outflank the invaders.

    Support for Operation Cast Lead is sky high in Israel, with polls showing that almost 85 per cent of the public backing the campaign.

    There is also majority support for expanding it into a ground campaign, despite the dangers of high casualties in an urban battlefield against highly trained and motivated guerrillas waging war on their own turf. Almost 42 per cent of Israelis wanted the army to move in, while 39 percent favoured a continued air campaign.

    Hamas has an estimated 15,000 fighters who have used the 18 months that they have controlled the strip to hone their skills and transform a militia into a small army. Hamas’s military wing has been waiting for a ground offensive to face the Israeli army in open combat, despite Israel’s vast military superiority.

    The onslaught has provoked large anti-Israeli demonstrations around the world, with protest rallies held today in India, Indonesia, Turkey and Australia.

    But Hamas’s call for a “day of wrath” in the Palestinian territories produced only a lukewarm response in the face of clampdowns by Israeli security forces.

    Several thousand protesters marched through the West Bank city of Ramallah, while in East Jerusalem youths threw stones at Israeli security forces and some 50 women demonstrated outside the Friday prayers at al-Aqsa mosque.

    The demonstrators directed their anger principally at their own Palestinian leaders, and heads of Arab countries whom they felt had not done enough to stop Israel’s seven-day incursion into Gaza.

    “Abbas is with the Jews, not with the Arabs. If he really was supporting and working in favour of our Arab brother’s in Gaza, this wouldn’t have happened,” said Um-Mahr, a 66-year-old resident of East Jerusalem.

    Akram Jwaeibis, 58, said Arab leaders today were afraid to do more than voice criticism of the Israeli government’s actions. “Most of them just talk. That is why we are waiting for Nasrallah. Or Haniyeh to do something more than talk.”

    Diplomatic efforts to contain the crisis were growing after Israel’s surprise offensive in the days after Christmas caught the world off guard. “We are working toward a ceasefire that would not allow a re-establishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza,” said Condoleezza Rice, the outgoing US Secretary of State.

    “It is obvious that that ceasefire should take place as soon as possible, but we need a ceasefire that is durable and sustainable,” she said.

    A high-level European delegation is due in the region at the weekend, as were Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Tony Blair, the international community’s envoy to the Middle East.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  3. #53
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    Understanding the Gaza Catastrophe

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richar..._b_154777.html

    Richard Falk
    1/2/2009

    For eighteen months the entire 1.5 million people of Gaza experienced a punishing blockade imposed by Israel, and a variety of traumatizing challenges to the normalcy of daily life. A flicker of hope emerged some six months ago when an Egyptian arranged truce produced an effective ceasefire that cut Israeli casualties to zero despite the cross-border periodic firing of homemade rockets that fell harmlessly on nearby Israeli territory, and undoubtedly caused anxiety in the border town of Sderot. During the ceasefire the Hamas leadership in Gaza repeatedly offered to extend the truce, even proposing a ten-year period and claimed a receptivity to a political solution based on acceptance of Israel's 1967 borders. Israel ignored these diplomatic initiatives, and failed to carry out its side of the ceasefire agreement that involved some easing of the blockade that had been restricting the entry to Gaza of food, medicine, and fuel to a trickle.

    Israel also refused exit permits to students with foreign fellowship awards and to Gazan journalists and respected NGO representatives. At the same time, it made it increasingly difficult for journalists to enter, and I was myself expelled from Israel a couple of weeks ago when I tried to enter to carry out my UN job of monitoring respect for human rights in occupied Palestine, that is, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as Gaza. Clearly, prior to the current crisis, Israel used its authority to prevent credible observers from giving accurate and truthful accounts of the dire humanitarian situation that had been already documented as producing severe declines in the physical condition and mental health of the Gazan population, especially noting malnutrition among children and the absence of treatment facilities for those suffering from a variety of diseases. The Israeli attacks were directed against a society already in grave condition after a blockade maintained during the prior 18 months.

    As always in relation to the underlying conflict, some facts bearing on this latest crisis are murky and contested, although the American public in particular gets 99% of its information filtered through an exceedingly pro-Israeli media lens. Hamas is blamed for the breakdown of the truce by its supposed unwillingness to renew it, and by the alleged increased incidence of rocket attacks. But the reality is more clouded. There was no substantial rocket fire from Gaza during the ceasefire until Israel launched an attack last November 4th directed at what it claimed were Palestinian militants in Gaza, killing several Palestinians. It was at this point that rocket fire from Gaza intensified. Also, it was Hamas that on numerous public occasions called for extending the truce, with its calls never acknowledged, much less acted upon, by Israeli officialdom. Beyond this, attributing all the rockets to Hamas is not convincing either. A variety of independent militia groups operate in Gaza, some such as the Fatah-backed al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade are anti-Hamas, and may even be sending rockets to provoke or justify Israeli retaliation. It is well confirmed that when US-supported Fatah controlled Gaza's governing structure it was unable to stop rocket attacks despite a concerted effort to do so.

    What this background suggests strongly is that Israel launched its devastating attacks, starting on December 27, not simply to stop the rockets or in retaliation, but also for a series of unacknowledged reasons. It was evident for several weeks prior to the Israeli attacks that the Israeli military and political leaders were preparing the public for large-scale military operations against the Hamas. The timing of the attacks seemed prompted by a series of considerations: most of all, the interest of political contenders, the Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in demonstrating their toughness prior to national elections scheduled for February, but now possibly postponed until military operations cease. Such Israeli shows of force have been a feature of past Israeli election campaigns, and on this occasion especially, the current government was being successfully challenged by Israel's notoriously militarist politician, Benjamin Netanyahu, for its supposed failures to uphold security. Reinforcing these electoral motivations was the little concealed pressure from the Israeli military commanders to seize the opportunity in Gaza to erase the memories of their failure to destroy Hezbollah in the devastating Lebanon War of 2006 that both tarnished Israel's reputation as a military power and led to widespread international condemnation of Israel for the heavy bombardment of undefended Lebanese villages, disproportionate force, and extensive use of cluster bombs against heavily populated areas.

    Respected and conservative Israeli commentators go further. For instance, the prominent historian, Benny Morris writing in the New York Times a few days ago, relates the campaign in Gaza to a deeper set of forebodings in Israel that he compares to the dark mood of the public that preceded the 1967 War when Israelis felt deeply threatened by Arab mobilizations on their borders. Morris insists that despite Israeli prosperity of recent years, and relative security, several factors have led Israel to act boldly in Gaza: the perceived continuing refusal of the Arab world to accept the existence of Israel as an established reality; the inflammatory threats voiced by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad together with Iran's supposed push to acquire nuclear weapons, the fading memory of the Holocaust combined with growing sympathy in the West with the Palestinian plight, and the radicalization of political movements on Israel's borders in the form of Hezbollah and Hamas. In effect, Morris argues that Israel is trying via the crushing of Hamas in Gaza to send a wider message to the region that it will stop at nothing to uphold its claims of sovereignty and security.

    There are two conclusions that emerge: the people of Gaza are being severely victimized for reasons remote from the rockets and border security concerns, but seemingly to improve election prospects of current leaders now facing defeat, and to warn others in the region that Israel will use overwhelming force whenever its interests are at stake.

    That such a human catastrophe can happen with minimal outside interference also shows the weakness of international law and the United Nations, as well as the geopolitical priorities of the important players. The passive support of the United States government for whatever Israel does is again the critical factor, as it was in 2006 when it launched its aggressive war against Lebanon. What is less evident is that the main Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, with their extreme hostility toward Hamas that is viewed as backed by Iran, their main regional rival, were also willing to stand aside while Gaza was being so brutally attacked, with some Arab diplomats even blaming the attacks on Palestinian disunity or on the refusal of Hamas to accept the leadership of Mamoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority.

    The people of Gaza are victims of geopolitics at its inhumane worst: producing what Israel itself calls a 'total war' against an essentially defenseless society that lacks any defensive military capability whatsoever and is completely vulnerable to Israeli attacks mounted by F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters. What this also means is that the flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, as set forth in the Geneva Conventions, is quietly set aside while the carnage continues and the bodies pile up. It additionally means that the UN is once more revealed to be impotent when its main members deprive it of the political will to protect a people subject to unlawful uses of force on a large scale. Finally, this means that the public can shriek and march all over the world, but that the killing will go on as if nothing is happening. The picture being painted day by day in Gaza is one that begs for renewed commitment to international law and the authority of the UN Charter, starting here in the United States, especially with a new leadership that promised its citizens change, including a less militarist approach to diplomatic leadership.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  4. #54
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    Israeli assault on Gaza enters 2nd week with no end in sight

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...penN2C_PFBRSiA

    1 hour ago

    GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israeli planes and ships pounded Gaza on Saturday as the assault on Hamas entered its second week, with the Islamists' leader promising a "black destiny" if ground troops are sent in.

    Amid growing concern for the humanitarian condition in the densely-populated territory, the United States gave its close ally free rein to push on with a ground offensive, insisting that the key to a ceasefire is Israel's demand for Hamas to permanently halt rocket fire.

    "I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

    "Those will be decisions made by the Israelis."

    Hamas's Syrian-based chief Khaled Meshaal told Israel that "if you commit the stupidity of launching a ground offensive then a black destiny awaits you.

    "You will soon find out that Gaza is the wrath of God," Meshaal said in pre-taped remarks as the death toll rose from bombing and concerns grew about the humanitarian situation in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

    President George W. Bush, meanwhile, urged all able parties to press Hamas to stop firing on Israel to facilitate a lasting ceasefire.

    "The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected," Bush said in his weekly Saturday radio address, the text of which was released late on Friday.

    "I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace."

    Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected a unilateral ceasefire that would allow Hamas to continue to fire on Israel.

    "This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas -- a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction," Bush said.

    On the ground, Israeli tanks and troops stood ready along the 60 kilometre (37 mile) border with Gaza, waiting for the government's greenlight.

    Warplanes and navy ships carried out 20 strikes against targets across the Gaza overnight on Saturday, hitting homes of senior Hamas figures and several of the group's coastal posts, the army said.

    Children continued to fall victim to Israel's assault on Hamas in one of the world's most densely-populated places.

    On Friday, a missile fired by an Israeli jet killed three boys when it slammed into a house in southern Gaza. It was one of more than 58 fresh raids carried out on Friday.

    A 12-year-old girl died of her wounds after the bombing of a house near Gaza City belonging to a member of Islamic Jihad, and two gunmen from the armed wing of Hamas were killed in Jabaliya after firing rockets, medics said.

    At the same time, the armed wing of Hamas said it had repelled a patrol of Israeli special forces attempting to cross the border into Gaza.

    A spokesman said the army was "not familiar with the incident," adding that no soldiers had crossed into Gaza since the beginning of the air campaign on December 27.

    Since then, at least 435 people have been killed, including 66 children, and 2,150 wounded, according to Gaza medics.

    The bombardment has demolished dozens of houses and heightened concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where most of the 1.5 million residents depend on foreign aid.

    "The protection of civilians, the fabric of life, the future of the peace talks and of the regional peace process has been trapped between the irresponsibility of the Hamas attacks and the excessiveness of the Israeli response," Robert Serry, the UN envoy for the Middle East, told reporters in Jerusalem.

    Max Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said "there is a critical emergency in the Gaza Strip right now ... By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more."

    Thousands of Hamas faithful attended the funeral of Nizar Rayan -- a firebrand hardliner who was killed with his four wives and 11 children on Thursday.

    Hamas vowed to avenge the death of the most senior Hamas leader killed by Israel since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004 and warned that it could resume suicide attacks against Israel for the first time since January 2005.

    Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank after Hamas called for a "day of wrath." Police fired tear gas at rock-throwing youths in annexed east Jerusalem.

    With a ground offensive widely expected and no ceasefire in sight, the Israeli army opened a border crossing to allow an estimated 400 people with foreign passports to leave Gaza.

    Hamas fired more than 30 rockets into Israel, but no casualties were reported.

    Militants have fired more than 360 rockets into Israel over seven days, killing four people and wounding dozens more.

    The offensive has sparked angry protests in the Muslim world and elsewhere across the globe and defied diplomatic efforts to broker a truce.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  5. #55
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    Airstrike in Gaza Reportedly Kills Senior Hamas Leader

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475525,00.html

    1/3/2008

    An Israeli airstrike Saturday killed a senior Hamas commander, Reuters reported.

    The airstrike in Gaza killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of the armed wing of Hamas.

    The Israeli army would only say it carried out a series of air attacks through the night.

    In another strike Friday the Israeli Air Force bombed the house of top Hamas operative Imad Akel. The Israeli military reported hearing secondary blasts at the house, indicating the presence of a stash of weapons and explosives in the home, the Jerusalem Post reported.

    On Thursday an Israeli warplane dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on the home of one of Hamas' top five decision-makers, instantly killing him and 18 others.

    The airstrike on Nizar Rayan was the first that succeeded in killing a member of Hamas' highest echelon since Israel began its offensive.

    Meanwhile, senior leadership in Israel has given the thumbs up for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, sources tell FOX News, though the latest developments still don't mean such action is inevitable.

    A ground invasion could happen soon if international diplomacy fails to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, who have been trading cross-border fire for the past week.

    Israel launched its new round of airstrikes on Gaza in response to renewed missile attacks by Hamas after the two sides' six-month cease-fire ended last month. A ground invasion of the territory has looked increasingly likely, as Israel has been bringing artillery, armor and infantry to the border.

    Israel bombed a mosque it claimed was used to store weapons and destroyed homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives Friday, but under international pressure, the government allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports to leave besieged Gaza.

    Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said from Damascus on Friday that his militant group was prepared for an invasion and could abduct more soldiers if Israel attempts the incursion.

    "If you commit a foolish act by raiding Gaza, who knows, we may have a second or a third or a fourth Shalit," he said, according to Reuters. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas in a cross-border raid more than two years ago.

    Hamas, whose charter specifically calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, had ordered a "day of wrath" against Israel on Friday over the killing of a senior commander.

    In last 48 hours, the U.S. government has helped 27 Americans get out of Gaza, and has heard no reports of any Americans being injured during the assault, according to State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid. Evacuated Americans were taken by bus to Amman, Jordan, but more Americans are believed to be in Gaza.

    President Bush, in a radio address taped Friday, accused Hamas of an "act of terror" in its rocket attacks into Israel and suggested that no cease-fire would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of weapons to terrorist groups.

    Israel launched the aerial campaign last Saturday in a bid to halt weeks of intensifying Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. The offensive has dealt a heavy blow to Hamas, but failed to halt the rocket fire. New attacks Friday struck apartment buildings in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, though no serious injuries were reported.

    The United Nations estimated Friday that around 100 civilians have been killed in Gaza in the past week, around 25 percent of the 400 estimated killed in the bombing campaign.

    The Israeli military called at least some of the houses ahead of time to warn inhabitants of an impending attack. In some cases, it also fired a sound bomb to warn away civilians before flattening the homes with powerful missiles, Palestinians and Israeli defense officials said.

    Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in the Hamas rocket attacks, which have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one-eighth of Israel's population of 7 million within rocket range.

    Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and many other Western nations. From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks against Israeli targets.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  6. #56
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    Israel assault on Gaza enters second week, ground troops ready for invasion
    CNN reports Israel jets are dropping leaflets on northern Gaza, warning civilians to leave immediately

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Israel...cond_0103.html

    1/3/2008

    GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli air strikes claimed a Hamas military commander and destroyed a Gaza school on Saturday as an assault on Gaza which has so far killed more than 440 Palestinians entered its second week.

    Troops and tanks massed at the border remained on alert to advance into Gaza after seven days that have seen more than 750 air raids launched against Hamas leaders and military targets.

    Israeli media reports said a ground offensive was imminent.

    Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal warned Israel of a "black destiny" if it invades. But US leaders have given their key Middle East ally free rein to begin a ground operation, again blaming Hamas for sparking the new conflict.

    More than 30 air raids on Saturday hit Hamas targets across the densely populated territory.

    One strike killed Mohammad al-Jammal, 40, who Gaza sources said was a Hamas military commander. Israel said he was responsible "for the entire rocket launching enterprise in all of Gaza City."

    Jammal's death came two days after an air raid killed top Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan.

    Another raid demolished a school in northern Gaza and killed a guard there. Israel said its warplanes had targeted "a college used as a base for firing a large number of rockets."

    Two people were killed when a strike hit their car in the southern city of Khan Yunis, medics said.

    Militants responded with some 10 rockets and mortar rounds, lightly wounding two people in the Israeli port of Ashdod, officials said.

    The Israeli strikes have so far failed in their declared aim of ending rocket fire from Gaza. Militants have fired some 500 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel over the past week, killing four people and wounding several dozen.

    There is mounting international concern over the humanitarian impact of "Operation Cast Lead" which has left at least 442 Palestinians dead and 2,290 wounded. At least 75 of those killed have been children, Gaza medics said.

    Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said on Friday "there is a critical emergency in the Gaza Strip right now. By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more."

    About 80 percent of the 1.5 million population relies on international food aid .

    But the United States has given fresh backing to Israel, insisting that the key to a truce is Israel's demand that Hamas stop firing rockets.

    "I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

    In his weekly Saturday radio address, the text of which was released by the White House late on Friday, President George W. Bush called on Hamas "to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace."

    Bush blamed Hamas for the violence and rejected calls for a unilateral ceasefire that he said would allow the Islamists to continue targeting Israel with rocket and mortar fire.

    Thousands of Israeli troops with tanks are waiting along the 60-kilometre (37-mile) border with Gaza for the green light from the government to advance.

    Amid new diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to meet French President counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Ramallah on Monday. He was then to travel to New York to appeal for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council.

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday met Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Saeed Jalili to discuss the Gaza crisis, Syria's official SANA news agency reported.

    Jalili also met the exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah on Friday, a Palestinian source said.

    In a televised speech on Friday night, Meshaal warned Israel: "If you commit the stupidity of launching a ground offensive then a black destiny awaits you."

    The week of Israeli strikes has destroyed Hamas government buildings, the homes of senior Islamist officials, mosques, schools and other buildings said to have stored weapons, and roads and tunnels used to smuggle arms and supplies.

    Israel has kept the territory virtually sealed since Hamas seized power there in June 2007 from Fatah forces loyal to the secular Abbas.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


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    Former television star Roseanne Barr has denounced Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, labeling Israel a "Nazi state."

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull


    1/3/2009

    In a post on her personal blog, which appears at her Web site, Roseanne World, the comedienne, who is Jewish, wrote on December 30 that she had planned to travel with pro-Palestinian activists on a protest boat sailing from Cyprus to Gaza.

    After an encounter with an Israel Navy vessel, the boat was turned back and sailed into a Lebanese port on Tuesday.

    "I said Israel will attack any boat carrying doctors and medical supplies," Barr wrote on her blog, adding that, "Israel is a NAZI state. The Jewish Soul is being tortured in Israel."

    The Emmy-award winning actress, who has courted controversy in the past, also condemned Israel's counter-terror operation against Hamas, asserting that, "The destruction of the Jews in Israel has been assured with this inhuman attack on civilians in Gaza."

    In her post, Barr likened Hamas to "street gangs" in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, saying that Israel's military campaign is the "equivalent to Los Angeles attacking and launching war on the people of Watts to kill 'the Bloods' and 'the Crips.'"

    Barr's comments were revealed by the Newsbusters Web site, which is a project of the conservative media watchdog group, the Media Research Center.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


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    Israel invades Gaza in attempt to destroy Hamas
    Israel has launched a ground invasion of Gaza, sending a column of troops and tanks into the Palestinian territory to destroy Hamas rocket launchers.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...roy-Hamas.html

    By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
    Last Updated: 7:56PM GMT 03 Jan 2009

    The incursion, which began under cover of darkness near Beit Lahiya near Gaza’s northern border, represents a significant escalation of the week-long conflict between Israel and Hamas.

    “This is the second stage of our operation against Hamas infrastructure,” said an Israeli defence spokeswoman on television. “It is to control the launch sites responsible for launching thousands of rockets at civilians in Israel.

    “We will stay as long as we need to stay to achieve our goals.

    The sudden move followed a day of heightened air strikes, designed to decapitate the Hamas military leadership, and an artillery bombardment intended to soften up resistence on the ground.

    It also came in defiance of calls from European leaders - including Gordon Brown - for Israel to scale back its violent attack on Gaza.

    Mr Brown said "too many" had died already.

    Television footage - in the green and black tones of night-vision equipment - showed troops and tanks rolling across the border, as tracer fire whipped overhead.

    The defence spokeswoman said Israeli troops had trained for the sort of urban guerrilla warfare they are likely to encounter against Hamas.

    She also said air strikes had so far destroyed about a third of the tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle weapons into Gaza - and that troops would destroy the rest.

    Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert has said that tens of thousands of Israeli reservists were being called up to help with the invasion.

    Open fields near the north Gazan town of Beit Hanoun were churned up by the impacts of 155 mm shells fired by M109 self-propelled howitzers before the invasion.

    Artillery is often used before ground assualts to clear territory of booby traps and enemy combatants prior to a land invasion.

    Israel had already renewed its attempts to decapitate the leadership of Hamas in missile strikes, killing a top military commander as it pounded targets in Gaza for the eighth day.

    The cabinet deliberated late into Friday night before reaching a consensus to prolong the air campaign.

    The tactics paid swift dividends with the death of Mohammed al-Jamal, 40, the most senior commander from the Hamas armed wing Izzedine al-Qassam to be killed so far. Jamal, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Zakariya, died from injuries sustained in a street side missile strike.

    Israel said he was responsible for all rocket fire from central Gaza City and sources in Gaza described him as military commander for the Tel el Howa district, site of a ministerial compound heavily bombed by Israel in the first week of its campaign.

    Debate between Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, Tzipi Livni, foreign minister, Ehud Barak, defence minister, and military chiefs was intense with the meeting running much longer than expected and lasting over four hours. While discussions within the Israeli war cabinet have been increasingly protracted, there have been no signs of fundamental divisions emerging.

    Israel has not fired artillery into Gaza since a self-imposed moratorium following an accident in which an Israeli artillery barrage killed 18 members of the Athamneh family in Beit Hanoun two years ago.

    Some witnesses saw large numbers of Israeli Merkava main battle tanks moving toward the border and the Israeli government broadcast a warning to all Israeli civilians near the border to expect an intensification of rocket fire from Gaza.

    The Israeli army made no immediate comment on the artillery operation which came amid mounting speculation that Israel would send troops into Gaza.

    Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are likely to rest on persuading key decision makers to pause attacks or seek a ceasefire. Mr Brown issued his strongest comments yet on the crisis, calling for an immediate end to hostilities and declaring that "too many" had died.

    "The Prime Minister has spoken again today to Prime Minister Olmert, and is pressing hard for an immediate ceasefire," a Downing Street spokesman said. "Rocket attacks from Hamas must stop, and we have called for a halt to Israeli military action in Gaza. Too many have died, and we need space to get humanitarian supplies to those who need them.

    "We are working urgently with international partners to address the underlying causes of the conflict, including trafficking of arms into Gaza. Action is necessary to reopen the Gaza/ Egypt border, but in a way that does not undermine Israel's security."

    The most senior Hamas military commander to die in previous attacks was Ismail Jaabari, leader of a local militia known as "Protection and God" who was killed at the outset of the attacks a week earlier.

    Israel's ability to identify and target an individual Hamas moving in the open raised suspicions they were working with information provided by informers.

    Jamal's killing represented another coup for Israel after an airstrike on Thursday killed Nizar Rayan, a senior Hamas political leader responsible for policy and strategy.

    Pleas from aid groups, the United Nations and the European Union for an immediate ceasefire to help deal with a humanitarian crisis faced by Gaza's 1.5 million population have so far been frustrated by continuing rocket fire from the Strip. Israel showed no willingness to let up on a campaign that it believes has pushed Hamas into a corner while Hamas militants continued to fire rockets into Israel in spite of the threat of immediate targeted reprisals by Israel.

    The war cabinet was briefed on an armed forces list of fresh targets that were later attacked including two houses that Israel claimed were the homes of Hamas leaders.

    "The house of Hamas terror operative Ismail Renam in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, which functioned as a weaponry storage, specifically for rocket launching equipment,'' the list said. "Renam has a central role in the launching of Grad type rockets against Israel.

    And in an airstrike on a mosque in the town of Beit Lahiya that was full of worshippers left at least ten Palestinians dead and dozens injured.

    At least 10 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque in Jabaliya, including two brothers aged 10 and 12, they said.

    "The house of Azadin Hadad, a Hamas terror operative in Gaza City, that was used to orchestrate terror activity and as a meeting place for terror operatives. Hadad is the head of the Hamas military group in eastern Gaza city.'' In another strike a car near the southern city of Khan Yunis was attacked killing two men, medics said. The identity of the victims was not immediately available.

    East of the Khan Yunis refugee camp, a missile narrowly missed a car carrying militants who escaped unharmed, witnesses said.

    A guard was killed when a missile struck and demolished a school in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, medics said.

    The Israeli armed forces said they had targeted "a college used as a base for firing a large number of rockets."

    Israel continued to bar foreign media, including the Telegraph, from reaching Gaza, failing to follow an order from the Israeli supreme court to allow in a limited number. The order came after a case brought the foreign press association in Israel.

    According to an unconfirmed count 442 Palestinians and 4 Israelis have been killed since operation Cast Lead began last week.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  9. #59
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    Thousands in London condemn Israeli bombing of Gaza

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Thousa...bing_0103.html

    1/3/2009

    LONDON (AFP) — About 12,000 people marched through London Saturday in protest against Israel's military offensive on Gaza, police said, in a demonstration that began peacefully but ended in a string of arrests.

    Many people carried red, green, white and black Palestinian flags and some chanted "Israel terrorists" and "Free, free Palestine" as they filed along the River Thames towards Trafalgar Square.

    Police said about 12,000 people took part, but organisers of the Stop the War Coalition estimated the crowd at around 50,000.

    Some protesters threw their shoes at the iron gates of British premier Gordon Brown's Downing Street home to express their anger at his refusal to condemn Israeli airstrikes that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.

    Brown issued a statement saying he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to agree to an "immediate ceasefire", and foreign minister David Miliband repeated this call after Israeli tanks went in to Gaza later Saturday.

    After the march through London, about 5,000 people gathered outside the Israeli embassy, police said, where they were confronted with hundreds of police officers in riot gear.

    Police said a small number of people threw sticks at them, but the Stop the War Coalition complained of heavy handed policing. Fifteen arrests were made.

    Later, when news of the Israeli ground operation broke, the coalition called for further protests outside the Israeli embassy on Sunday and all next week.

    Attending the main march were veteran left-wing politician Tony Benn and former Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox, who said that both the Palestinians and Israelis were "wrong" and a total ceasefire was the only option.

    Lennox said the intervention from US President George W. Bush blaming Hamas for starting the violence would only inflame the situation.

    "The problem is, from my perspective, they are pouring petrol onto the fire," she told the BBC.

    "They have to sit down. This is a small window of opportunity just before things kick off.

    "For every one person killed in Gaza, they are creating 100 suicide bombers. It's not just about Gaza, it's about all of us."

    One protester, Nadim Dimechkie, a 31-year-old British-Palestinian writer from London, said Israel had been heavy-handed in its response to the firing of Hamas rockets into Israeli territory.

    "The Israeli response has been disproportionate and it is creating a lot of angry young Palestinians because you cannot force people to live in a prison. If you do, they will fight," he said.

    Alexei Sayle, an actor and comedian well known to British TV audiences, also took part. He said: "As a Jew it's very moving to see so many people who are so outraged at Israel's actions.

    "Israel is a democratic country that is behaving like a terrorist organisation."

    Protests against Israel's campaign have been held across Britain all week, and on Saturday about 2,000 people gathered in Manchester, northwest England, a further 500 each in Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and in Portsmouth, southeast England, as well as 300 in the western city of Bristol.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  10. #60
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    No word from Obama as Gaza crisis deepens


    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/No_wor...Gaza_0103.html

    1/3/2009

    With less than three weeks until the inauguration of Barack Obama, the president-elect has stayed silent on the deepening crisis in Gaza as Israel begins a ground invasion against Hamas.

    Members of Obama's transition team have only said their boss is "monitoring" the situation, where at least 460 people have already been killed in eight days of air raids.

    Obama's national security spokeswoman Brooke Anderson issued a statement after the ground assault got underway, but offered no further comment on the violence in Gaza except to use a phrase repeated often by Obama and his aides:

    "There is one president at a time and we intend to respect that."

    Obama has spent the last several weeks pushing for an economic stimulus plan and has said that fixing the broken US economy is his top priority.

    The soon-to-be president would face immense difficulty with his economic plans if he makes any move deemed "anti-Israel," according to a Friday opinion column.

    "The White House will see its prime political enterprise, the economic recovery programme, immediately held hostage," according to the column.

    Obama's silence is drawing criticism among Arabs who have grown skeptical that his administration will break with the Middle East policies of his predecessor.

    The satellite TV network Al Jazeera contrasted footage of Obama wearing shorts and playing golf in Hawaii with scenes of the carnage in Gaza, by way of highlighting what it called "the deafening silence from the Obama team."
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


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