woensdag 31 december 2008

Een vreedzamer 2009!

 

Zes clichés over Israëls operatie in Gaza


Een paar veelgehoorde beweringen die bij iedere Israëlische legeroperatie weer opduiken.

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Answering Israel's critics
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3647296,00.html
Six clichés you are likely to hear constantly in the coming days, and why they're false
Yigal Walt
Published: 12.30.08, 19:13 / Israel Opinion

 
1) "Israel's response in Gaza is disproportionate"

Since when is war a mathematical equation? The basic objective of any warring party is to inflict maximal damage on the enemy while minimizing its own casualties. Was there anything proportional about the US war in Iraq? Or about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait for that matter? Or about Russia's recent war against Georgia? Israel is doing exactly what any other country has done in the past. This is how war works.

Would a British citizen complain that "too few" British soldiers are being killed in Iraq? Probably not.

And on a more elementary note: Palestinian military inferiority is not an indication of moral superiority. Palestinian insistence on resorting to violence despite this military weakness is an indication of poor judgment perhaps – yet it is by no means an indication of moral virtue. Being militarily weak does not make the Palestinians right.

2) "But Qassams don't kill"

Actually, Qassams do kill. Not too often, perhaps, but dozens of Israelis were killed and wounded by rocket fire in recent years. Moreover, at this time the Palestinians are firing long-range Grad rockets with even greater explosive power. Such rockets killed 2 Israelis Monday.

Yet beyond the casualty figures, the psychological damage caused as result of living under an ongoing rocket threat is immeasurable. Would anyone in the West agree to have their family live under constant rocket attacks and be regularly woken up by sirens in the middle of the night? Would anyone living under such conditions appreciate being told that "these rockets don't kill?" Probably not.

3) "It's all because of Israel's siege. Israel should allow aid into Gaza."

Israel has allowed goods into Gaza regularly throughout the "siege". Palestinians have been able to complement these deliveries with supplies smuggled through hundreds of tunnels (of course, they would likely be able to bring in even more food had they not used the tunnels to smuggle in missiles.).

The day before operation "Cast Lead" got underway, Israel allowed dozens of trucks carrying aid to enter the Strip. On Tuesday, another 100 trucks – double the normal number –are expected to enter Gaza after Defense Minister Barak approved the move.
In short, Israel is allowing aid into the Strip (but guess who has kept Gaza crossings mostly closed thus far? That's right, Egypt.)

4) "Why didn't Israel just agree to renew the Gaza truce?"

First, what truce? Terror groups continued to fire rockets throughout the lull, even if somewhat infrequently, and even if the world didn't seem to care too much. Nonetheless, Israel clearly declared that it is interested in extending the truce. Our top officials made it clear time and again.

Yet Hamas leaders clearly declared that the truce has ended on December 19th, and proceeded to bombard southern Israeli communities with dozens of rockets daily. In short, it is no wonder that even the Egyptians are blaming Hamas this time.

5) "But Hamas was elected democratically – why can't Israel accept it?"

Although Hamas won the Palestinian elections, it took Gaza by force, in the process hurling rival Fatah members down to their death from high-rises and shooting others in the knees with the declared aim of maiming them. Some democracy.

In any case, Israel in fact "recognizes," de facto, Hamas' rule in Gaza, which is precisely why it is justified in attacking the Hamas-ruled Strip, recognizing that it is indeed being governed by a terror entity. Israel did not launch the operation because Hamas is in power there – rather, it did so because Hamas is a terrorist organization that has deliberately targeted civilians with thousands of rockets over the past 8 years.

6) "Israel is targeting civilians"

You mean to say that "one of the most powerful armies in the world" has been bombing Gaza for days, deploying massive air power, dropping hundreds of bombs, and ultimately killing a grand total of 50 civilians or so in the "most crowded place on earth?"

There are two options here: A) The Israeli army is not targeting civilians, or B) Israeli pilots suck. We tend to go with option A.

Indeed, Israel goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, by deploying precise ammunition and specialized techniques. In fact, nobody in the world does this better than the Jewish State.
 

Betoging AEL in Antwerpen tegen Israël loopt uit de hand

 
Bij de demo in Den Haag waren geen rellen en mochten niet zoals in Antwerpen Israelische vlaggen worden verbrand, maar ook daar waren de meeste demonstranten geen lievertjes. Op het journaal waren portretten van Nasrallah en Achmadinejad te zien, niet bepaald voorvechters van vrede in het Midden-Oosten of toonbeelden van tolerantie.
 
 
 
Zowel in Antwerpen als in Brussel is woensdagmiddag betoogd tegen de Israëlische beschietingen op Gaza. In Antwerpen liep de betoging, georganiseerd door de Arabisch-Europese Liga (AEL), helemaal uit de hand toen de betogers zich naar de joodse wijk probeerden te begeven. De politie was massaal aanwezig en trad hardhandig op. Rond 17 uur normaliseerde de situatie.

De protestactie begon rond 14 uur aan de Kerkstraat in Borgerhout. Rond 15.15 uur ontbond de politie de betoging. Daarop probeerden een tweehonderdtal, voornamelijk allochtone, jongeren zich naar de joodse wijk te begeven. Ter hoogte van de Franklin Rooseveltplaats liep de situatie helemaal uit de hand.

Bekijk het fotoalbum.

Nadat de manifestatie op de Kerkstraat werd opgeheven trok een honderdtal jongeren een spoor van vernieling langs de Turnhoutsebaan. Winkeliers waren gelukkig tijdig door de politie verwittigd en konden hun ramen en deuren afsluiten.

Joodse wijk gespaard
 
Via de Turnhoutsebaan trokken de relschoppers langs het Astridplein naar de Rooseveltplaats. Daar werden ze opgewacht door de politie die probeerden te vermijden dat het tot rellen in de joodse wijk zou komen.

Door de opstootjes op de Rooseveltplaats werd het openbaar vervoer danig in de war gestuurd. De politie probeerden de jongeren vervolgens terug te dringen in de richting van Borgerhout, waarna er zich een kat-en-muisspel tussen politie en relschoppers voltrok.

Herinneringen aan 2002
 
Sommigen vrezen dat de betoging nog kan ontaarden en herinneringen aan de rellen op de Turnhoutsebaan in 2002 steken de kop op. Om 17 uur probeerde een imam de jongeren te bedaren. Dat zou enige resultaten opleveren.
 

De oorlog in de Gazastrook (IMO Blog)

 

De oorlog in de Gazastrook

Zoals te verwachten sprak de internationale gemeenschap direct haar afkeuring uit over het Israëlische offensief in de Gazastrook, en zelfs de VN veiligheidsraad roept op tot onmiddellijke beëindiging ervan en een staakt-het-vuren. Ban Ki-Moon en andere VN functionarissen waren feller en eenzijdiger in hun kritiek.

Het is opvallend dat de VN en wereldleiders altijd met dit soort afkeuringen komen wanneer Israël terugschiet. Inderdaad, onnoemelijk veel effectiever dan de raketten van Hamas, maar dat is toch niet het criterium voor het bepalen of een actie gerechtvaardigd is? Als Israël net zulke primitieve raketten als die van Hamas af zou schieten, mag het dan wel? Waar het om gaat is dat sinds Israëls terugtrekking uit de Gazastrook in 2005 Hamas meer dan 6000 raketten en mortiergranaten op Israëlische steden en dorpen heeft afgevuurd, waarvan 3000 in het afgelopen jaar, bewust op burgers en met het doel zoveel mogelijk mensen te doden en verwonden. Dat dat niet beter lukt, doet aan die intentie, die men vaak uitspreekt en blijkt uit de vreugde wanneer een aanval wel 'succesvol' is, niks af. En ondanks de weinige fatale slachtoffers maken de raketten een normaal leven voor honderdduizenden mensen die in plaatsen rond de Gazastrook leven onmogelijk. Kinderen zijn getraumatiseerd, scholen vallen geregeld uit, mensen durven hun huizen niet meer uit. Voor dat leed is opvallend weinig, eigenlijk helemaal geen aandacht in de Nederlandse media. Ik kan me geen enkele reportage over Sderot of Ashkelon herinneren, of een van de vele kibboetsen in de nabijheid van Gaza. Omdat de mensen in Gaza erger lijden, doen de mensen in Sderot en Netivot en Ashkelon en al die andere plaatsen er niet toe, lijkt de logica te zijn.
Lees verder...

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Dries van Agt in NOVA over Gaza oorlog

Hoewel iedereen het er wel over eens is dat Israëls huidige offensief in de Gazastrook tegen Hamas is gericht, en vooral gebouwen die haar toebehoren of door haar worden gebruikt zijn getroffen, roepen allerlei mensen, zoals Dries van Agt - zaterdagavond in NOVA - toch weer dat Israël oorlogsmisdaden pleegt. Van Agt sprak zelfs van 'genocidale praktijken' in navolging van VN rapporteur Richard Falk, bekend om zijn vergelijkingen van Israël met de nazi's. Je vraagt je overigens af waarom NOVA Van Agt als gast uitnodigt om commentaar te geven op de Israëlische bombardementen op de Gazastrook. We weten immers precies wat Van Agt vindt: alles ligt altijd aan Israël; de Palestijnen, ook de Hamas, treft nooit enige blaam, en alles wat Israël doet is per definitie disproportioneel. Hij was dan ook voorspelbaar, welhaast slaapverwekkend, en zijn gebrek aan ook maar het minste inzicht in Israëls drijfveren was verbijsterend. Iemand die zich zo intensief met een zaak bezig houdt, moet, los van z'n eigen opvattingen, op zijn minst enig begrip van beide partijen hebben.
Lees verder...

PLO en Fatah houden Hamas verantwoordelijk voor doden Gazastrook

 
Hoewel de Palestijnen hun woede op Israel vanwege de bombardementen in Gaza niet onder stoelen of banken steken, is er ook interne kritiek op Hamas dat het zover heeft laten komen, en zowel wou regeren als een 'verzetsbeweging' zijn.
 
RP
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PLO and Fatah Officials: Hamas is Responsible for the Deaths of Its People

 

Along with expressing solidarity with the Hamas casualties in Gaza, PLO and Fatah officials criticize Hamas for its contribution to the escalation that led to the Israeli attack. They blamed Hamas for not listening to PLO's call to prolong the tahdiah, for not preparing properly for the possibility that Israel would attack, and for combining its government functions with its resistance activity, which made it vulnerable to an attack on its institutions. Hamas, for its part, accused the PLO and Fatah of collaborating with Israel.

The following are excerpts from statements and articles in the Palestinian media:

Abu Mazen: We Told [Hamas] - "Don't End the Tahdiah"

In his visit to Egypt, PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) placed the responsibility for the Israeli attack on Hamas, saying, "We called the leaders of Hamas, and told them both directly and directly, through Arab parties and non-Arab parties. We talked with them on the phone. We told them, 'Please, do not end the tahdiah.'" [1]

Nimr Hammad, an advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, said: "The one responsible for the massacres is Hamas, and not the Zionist entity, which in its own view reacted to the firing of Palestinian missiles. Hamas needs to stop treating the blood of Palestinians lightly. They should not give the Israelis a pretext." He called upon the leaders of Hamas to stop carrying out "operations which reflect recklessness, such as the firing of missiles." [2]

Director of the Palestinian TV & Radio Authority: Hamas is In the Grips of Megalomania

Bassem Abu-Sumayyah, director of the Palestinian TV & Radio Authority and columnist for the PLO daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reiterated the accusation that "Hamas blocked its ears… They should have had even a little bit of political and security sense, and not left the people wandering, and losing their way, getting killed and injured. It is clear that Hamas was struck by megalomania since they took over Gaza, which blinded them so they would not listen to any advice. Hamas behaved like a superpower, as if they have weapons and means like Hizbullah in Lebanon, and as if they can conduct a war like the July war [of 2006]. Hamas's people thought they have a number of missiles that can enable them to prevail in a war of such size." [3]

Palestinian Columnists: Hamas Could have Prevented the Bloodshed

Editor of the PLO daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Hafez Al-Barghouthi criticized Hamas for not prolonging the tahdiah, and for kidnapping Gilad Shalit: "Prolonging the tahdiah was a supreme national interest. Why hasn't [Hamas] prevented the aggression and the massacre? How many times have we written, and President Abu Mazen has declared, that these missiles [that Hamas is firing at Israel] as ineffective and contrary to the supreme national interest. Even Hamas saw them as contrary to the supreme national interest at the time of the tahdiah. We said, also, that the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit cost us 500 casualties in one year." [4]

Columnist Muwaffaq Matar called for creating an internal Palestinian investigation committee, and blamed Hamas for being responsible for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza: "Will we learn the lesson, or are our leaders going to run away from bearing responsibility, as they usually do? If we believe in the value of men and in humanity, we should establish a Palestinian investigative committee that will reveal to the Palestinian people what happened, and why over 200 people have lost their lives and 750 have been injured within one hour, even though the calls for war, the speeches and the statements [in Israel], were abundant a week before the tahdiah ended… What did the commanders in Gaza expect? That the commanders of the Israeli army will let them know what is the zero hour, so that they will remove their people from the military and security headquarters?... This bloodshed and horrible destruction of our national institutions could have been prevented. It only needed political courage, moral wisdom, and adherence to the aspirations of the Palestinian people to live securely and in freedom and independence." [5]

Hamas has to Choose Between Being a Government and Fighting Its Resistance Activities

Abdallah Awwad, columnist for the PA daily Al-Ayyam, argued against Hamas' attempt to be both a government as well as a fighting resistance: "The Israeli incursions after 2000 [during the Al-Aqsa Intifada] and the destruction of the PLO headquarters were enough [for the PLO] to see the incompatibility of being a government at the same time as fighting the resistance… We are paying the price of stupidity, and the maniacal love of being rulers, that has nothing in it except for hollow slogans. [A choice must be made to be] either a government or a resistance. When the two are combined, it gives the occupying power easy targets… The example of the destruction of the PLO headquarters in the West Bank during the Intifada should have sufficed… What happened in Gaza demonstrates that the lesson was not learned. Instead of disappearing under the ground, which is the basis for any resistance, Hamas personnel remained exposed in the open… This destructive formula contained within it a premise that the occupation will not dare to carry out a bloody attack on Gaza." [6]



[1] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PLO), December 29, 2008.

[2] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), December 28, 2008.

[3] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), December 29, 2008.

[4] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), December 28, 2008.

[5] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), December 28, 2008.

[6] Al-Ayyam (PA), December 28, 2008.

Wat Israel tegen de VN zou moeten zeggen

 
Deze nep speech van een paar dagen geleden geeft adequaat de reactie van de internationale gemeenschap weer.
 
Of het volgende waar is, zou ik niet durven zeggen, maar ik kan mij heel goed voorstellen dat het op veel Joden wel zo overkomt:
 
My answer to the question regarding the obsessive preoccupation with the actions of the Jews is purely sociological. Many of you, the shapers of public opinion, and mostly the Europeans amongst you, are interested in easing your conscience: If you can only show that the Israelis-Jews are not so moral or innocent, perhaps they deserve everything you did to them before they were able to establish their state? After all, here they are, occupying and butchering the poor Palestinians; they are certainly no better than us!
 
Kritiek op Israel is zeker legitiem, maar een heel klein beetje bescheidenheid vanwege het verleden zou ons niet misstaan.
 
RP
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Israel addresses the UN

 
Assaf Wohl - Ynet
Published:  12.29.08, 01:39 / Israel Opinion
 
 
 
Members of the United Nations,
 
Democracies, dictatorships, republics, and the honorable secretary-general:
 

Within a few hours, media outlets in your countries shall present horrific photos of blood, fire, and rubble from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians will be screaming, in front of the cameras, about the massacre undertaken by the State of Israel. Initially, you may show understanding for our operations in the Strip, yet once the photos of wounded civilians reach you, you shall press us, as is your custom, to stop defending ourselves.
 
The first signs of this phenomenon can already be seen. Calls to "end the violence" from across the world are being heard loud and clear – yet they are only being heard now, after years of violence, and after Israel finally decided to respond. The European Union already rushed to declare that it condemns Israel's "disproportional use of force." Several news networks have brought together panels whose members are scrutinizing the law books at this very moment in order to ascertain whether the Jewish State violated some international law.
 
I do not intend to deal with the question of where were these condemners and critics for the past seven years, when Hamas' murderers set the timers of their rockets to coincidence with the end of the school day in Israel, because of a declared aim to kill as many children as possible. The question we should be discussing at this time is as follows: Why do the countries of the world and global media outlets obsessively engage in strict criticism that is only directed at Israel? After all, there is not even one country out there that is required to adhere to the moral criteria which the world demands of us – of us of all people, the ones who as opposed to the rest of the world face threats of extermination.
 
Our Arab neighbors are well familiar with this double standard vulnerability. On their part, they are not bound by any kind of moral code. And so, they learned to exploit the international strictness towards Israel. A long time ago, they already understood that they cannot face the State of Israel on the battlefield. Indeed, when it comes to photographs and videos, they boast uniforms and weapons, yet once the fighting gets underway, they are quick to take off their uniforms and assimilate among women and children used as human shields.
 
They also make sure to place their arms depots in hospital basements and to fire rockets at population centers out of schoolyards. Their great hope is to elicit an Israeli response that would unintentionally hurt a few children. Once that happens, they will wave their bodies before the cameras and cry out to the world for help. This was the case in Lebanon, and this may happen tomorrow in the Gaza Strip.
 
Easing Europe's conscience
 
The states demanding that Israel adhere to certain moral standards do not even dream of asking the same of her enemies. After all, we are dealing with theocracies and dictatorships, where homosexuals are publicly hanged, where women are regularly stoned for undermining their "family's honor," and where children suspected of theft have their arms severed. What do these states have to do with the value of human life? We should therefore ask representatives of global opinion: Be honest with yourselves - Do the lives of humans being butchered daily in Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur arouse you into similar action? Reality indicates this is not the case.
 
My answer to the question regarding the obsessive preoccupation with the actions of the Jews is purely sociological. Many of you, the shapers of public opinion, and mostly the Europeans amongst you, are interested in easing your conscience: If you can only show that the Israelis-Jews are not so moral or innocent, perhaps they deserve everything you did to them before they were able to establish their state? After all, here they are, occupying and butchering the poor Palestinians; they are certainly no better than us!
  
To that end, you are willing to help out the lowliest terrorists. Therefore, you bought into their slanderous Mohammed al-Dura tale, and therefore you will rush to buy into various blood libels in the coming days. Those who launch missiles and mortar shells into kindergartens know that they will always enjoy a protective umbrella from you. They draw their self-confidence from the intolerable ease with which they enlist your public opinion in their favor.
 
Therefore, you would do well to think twice before you move to stop the punishment they lawfully deserve. After all, you are the only lifesaver that can spare this radical terror group the measure of justice hovering above it.
 
 

Hamas gebruikt burgers als menselijk schild - Israel roept reservisten op


The IDF has made frequent use of what is known as "knocking on the roof": Militants are warned by phone when a residential building used to store arms will be bombed, and told to vacate the premised together with their neighbors. The weapons caches are hit only after the residents leave.

Hamas has tried placing civilians on the roofs of such buildings when the phone call warning comes in. In these cases, the IDF fired antitank missiles near the building, and in a few cases the residents left.

Dit doet Hamas omdat het weet dat Israel zo'n gebouw dan niet meer zal bombarderen en, mocht het dat toch doen, Israel hard veroordeeld zal worden voor het doden van zoveel burgers. Het gebruik van burgers als menselijk schild is een oorlogsmisdaad, maar de mensenrechten- en vredesgroepen die altijd klaar staan om Israel te veroordelen, zul je hier niet over horen.

Als ik een wens voor het nieuwe jaar mag doen: wat minder hypocrisie en dubbele standaarden wat dit betreft bij vooral zich progressief noemende mensen.

Ratna
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Last update - 23:54 30/12/2008

Barak asks cabinet to approve emergency call-up of 2,520 reservists
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1051305.html
By Amos Harel


Defense Minister Ehud Barak asked the cabinet last night to approve the mobilization of an additional 2,510 reserve forces soldiers by means of an emergency call-up order (Tzav Shmoneh).

If approved, they will join the 6,700 reservists whose mobilization the cabinet approved on Sunday. Barak apprised Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel of his decision in writing, and requested approval of the order from the cabinet by phone. The resolution will be submitted to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee within 48 hours, as required by law.

The additional reservists will be deployed in the Home Front Command, the Border Police, the Navy, the Logistics Branch, Military Intelligence and Ground Forces headquarters.

The Home Front Command will begin training activities today in the communities that were only included in the rocket-strike range as of Monday, such as Gan Yavne, Yavne and Rehovot. Some reservists will be deployed to the liaison units working with local governments in these communities. Physicians and psychologists will be called up to assist local governments in the south with their emergency response programs.

The head of the Israel Defense Force's Central Command, Yair Golan, is planning to introduce an experimental program that will divide the larger towns and cities in the area under attack into districts to facilitate the use of volunteers. He also wants to dispatch students in military academies to the south to aid the communities.

The Central Command plans to focus its activities today on Ofakim, which was hit by Katyusha rockets on Tuesday for the first time.

Military officials believe 2,000 rockets remain in terrorist organizations' arsenals, compared to nearly 3,000 last week. More than 200 rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since Operation Cast Lead began.

Hundreds more were destroyed in Israel Air Force sorties, as were rocket launchers. The same officials believe that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have a few dozen Katyusha rockets with a range of 40 kilometers, and a few hundred 20 kilometer rockets.

Army officials are very concerned about the 120 kilometer Iranian-made mortar shells that are causing heavy damage in Gaza-area communities and IDF bases. The assumption is that some of the rockets fired in the past few days were aimed at Air Force bases in the south, although none have hit their mark. About one quarter of the rockets fired this week from Gaza hit populated areas, with the remainder falling in open areas.

The IDF believes that about two thirds of Hamas' underground rocket launch sites in the northern Gaza Strip were destroyed in the first round of Air Force sorties, on Saturday.

Additional bunkers were destroyed in the days that followed, after a way was found of striking them when civilians were not in the vicinity.

The IDF has made frequent use of what is known as "knocking on the roof": Militants are warned by phone when a residential building used to store arms will be bombed, and told to vacate the premised together with their neighbors. The weapons caches are hit only after the residents leave.

Hamas has tried placing civilians on the roofs of such buildings when the phone call warning comes in. In these cases, the IDF fired antitank missiles near the building, and in a few cases the residents left.
 

Hamas raketten bereiken Beersheba

 
De raketten van Hamas hebben nu de vierde stad van Israel bereikt. Als Israel niks onderneemt, is het een kwestie van tijd voordat ze Tel Aviv en de 'Israelische randstad' kunnen treffen. Volgens militaire bronnen heeft Israel circa eenderde van Hamas' raketten en lanceerinstallaties vernietigd, en hoewel de regering zegt dat de operatie nog maar in haar beginfase is, neemt de druk om een staakt-het-vuren te accepteren toe.
 
RP
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Rockets reach Beersheba, cause damage
 
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis join list of rocket-stricken communities as Grad missile explodes in empty kindergarten, causing damage; several people suffer shock. Man lightly injured by rocket in Ashkelon
 
Ilana Curiel - YNET
 
Beersheba joined the list of rocket-stricken communities Tuesday evening as an air raid siren sounded across the southern city, followed by several explosions. A Grad missile landed in an empty kindergarten in the city, causing damage. The Magen David Adom emergency services treated several people for shock.

Another rocket landed in an open area in the Merhavim Regional Council. Shortly afterwards, two Qassam rockets hit Ashkelon and two others were fired at the Sdot Negev Regional Council.

One man was lightly injured by shrapnel as a rocket landed in the center of Ashkelon. Vehicles and buildings in the area sustained heavy damage. Eight people were treated for shock at the Barzilai Medical Center in the city.

The residents of the neighborhood hit by the rocket said they had run to the bomb shelter only to find it locked. "Everything was closed there, what should we do? We live in a house with plaster walls," one of them said.

Beersheba resident Itama Abuhatzeira was at his friend's house when the siren sounded. "Luckily, the entire apartment is in a basement, so we didn't have to move anywhere else - simply because we didn't have enough time," he told Ynet.

"Explosions were heard along with the siren. We have been hearing about warning for the Beersheba area for days now, so I wasn't too surprised.

The southern town of Omer, near Beersheba, also joined the list of communities disrupted by air raid sirens.

Efrat, an Omer resident, was at home with her two small daughters and was terrified to hear the siren. "As a lecturer at the Sapir College (in Sderot), but with my children at home it was terrible," she told Ynet.

Efrat's husband ran outside and discovered that the bomb shelter was locked. The town's schools and kindergartens held a rocket alert drill on Tuesday morning, but not all residents received the leaflets with the Home Front Command's instructions.

Mayor warns residents

On Tuesday afternoon, Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovich called on his city's residents not to be complacent and act in accordance with instructions issued by the Home Front Command.

Speaking during a briefing at his office, Danilovich said the city was more than 50% connected to the Home Front Command's alert system. The rest of the neighborhoods will be connected in the coming days.

Several rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip several hours earlier. One exploded in the parking lot of a big factory in the city of Ashdod and another landed in Ashkelon, without causing any damage. Several people suffered shock. Additional rockets landed within the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council in the Gaza vicinity.

Simultaneously, the Israel Defense Forces continued its airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, and for the second time since the start of Operation Cast Lead bombed tunnels in the Philadelphi Route, near Rafah. Dozens of tunnels were damaged.

On Tuesday afternoon, a Grad rocket fired from northern Gaza landed in the city of Kiryat Malachi. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The attack marked the first time that the city and its surrounding areas have been targeted.

Explosions were also heard in the city of Netivot. One rocket landed north of Beersheba near Rahat. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

 
Yael Branovsky and Shmulik Hadad contributed to this report

Door Israel getroffen doelen in Gaza Strook (dinsdag)

 
Er doen allerlei wilde gerichten de ronde over dat Israel bewust burgers zou treffen en zijn nieuwste wapens op de Palestijnen wil uittesten voordat ze (voor meer geld wanneer er meer doden vallen) worden geëxporteerd. In werkelijkheid doet Israel er juist alles aan om burgerdoden tot een minimum te beperken, al bemoeilijkt dat de strijd tegen Hamas, dat zelf juist bewust vanuit burgergebied opereert en wapens in huizen opslaat.
 
Hieronder een lijst van getroffen doelen door Israel.
 
RP
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IDF Spokesperson Dec 30th, 2008

Hamas Tunnel Network Targeted in the Southern Gaza Strip
Additional Hamas Targets Struck Throughout the Day

 
A short while ago, the IAF attacked dozens of tunnels in the Rafah area which are a part of the tunnel network used by the Hamas terror organization.  These tunnels were used for smuggling weapons as part of their terror activity in the Gaza Strip. Accurate hits were reported.

The tunnel network was also used for the passage of terror activists from Egypt to the Gaza Strip and back. These tunnels play a major role in supplying Hamas with the means of strengthening its ability to carry out terror.

Thirty additional targets throughout the Gaza Strip were also attacked today, including tunnels along the northern and southern Gaza strip, seven Grad and five Qassam rocket launchers, rocket launching cells, rocket launching sites, weapons manufacturing facilities, Hamas outposts, and armed terror operatives.

Secondary explosions were seen in many of the attacks proving the presence of large amounts of ordinance, explosive materials, and weapons in the area.

Israel also transferred dozens of human aid trucks into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The IDF will continue operating against terror and anyone involved, including those sponsoring and hosting terror, and those who send innocent woman and children to be used as human shields.


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IDF Spokesperson December 30, 2008
 
Summary of events overnight
 
 
Israeli air and naval forces attacked dozens of Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip during the early morning hours on Tuesday.
 
The targets included three buildings in the Hamas government complex in the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood, Hamas training camps and outposts, stations held by the Islamist group's naval force, a vehicle transporting a stockpile of Grad missiles, rocket launchers, a weaponry manufacturing facility and sites used as headquarters by terror cells.
 
Two civilians and an IDF soldier were killed, and several civilians and soldiers were wounded from rocket and mortar attacks on Israel since Monday. In all, more than 70 rockets and mortar shells were launched from the Gaza Strip during that time.
 
Due to the incessant rocket attacks against Israeli towns, the IDF Home Front Command has revised and expanded its emergency directives for Tuesday to include all communities within a 30 kilometer radius of the Gaza Strip.
 
The instructions call for all schools to remain closed, the limiting of 100 individuals per fortified shelter and the discouraging of large gatherings outdoors.
 

Israël moet Hamas definitief verslaan

 
 

Israël moet Hamas definitief verslaan

Michael B. Oren en Yossi Klein Halevi
Volkskrant, 30-12-2008 18:32
 
 
Als Israël niet de ruimte krijgt Hamas definitief te verslaan, is de tweestatenoplossing voorgoed buiten bereik.

De vorige keer dat Israël zei een oorlog te beginnen omwille van de vrede is alweer een kwart eeuw geleden. De buitenwereld was er destijds allerminst van overtuigd dat 'Operatie Vrede in Galilea' – de Israëlische invasie in Libanon van 1982 – bedoeld was om Israël en de Arabische wereld  te verzoenen, en dat gold ook voor veel Israëliërs. Het resultaat was precies  tegengesteld: de oorlog maakte de weg vrij voor de desastreuze terugkeer van  Arafat naar de Westelijke Jordaanoever en de Gazastrook, en voor de dominante rol van Hezbollah in Libanon. De huidige Israëlische operatie in  Gaza is echter  essentieel voor het creëren van de omstandigheden die uiteindelijk tot een tweestatenoplossing kunnen leiden.

Vijf jaar terreur

De afgelopen twintig jaar zijn de meeste Israëliërs gaan inzien dat de komst van een ooit zo vermaledijde Palestijnse staat noodzakelijk is. Dat is een historische overwinning voor Israëlisch links, dat zich altijd al sterk maakte voor Palestijnse zelfbeschikking. Maar het was vooral een theoretische overwinning, want rechts won het pleit met het praktische argument dat de buitenwereld Israël ondanks al zijn concessies het recht op zelfverdediging zou ontzeggen.

Dat was de  les van het mislukken van het vredesproces van Oslo, waar in het najaar van 2000 een eind aan kwam nadat Israël akkoord was gegaan met het voorstel van president Clinton om zich vrijwel geheel uit Oost-Jeruzalem en de Palestijnse gebieden terug te trekken. De Palestijnen reageerden met vijf jaar terreur.

Maar een groot deel van de internationale gemeenschap gaf Israël de schuld van het geweld, en de pogingen van het land zichzelf te verdedigen werden keer op keer veroordeeld. Die ervaring heeft een diepe wond geslagen in de Israëlische ziel.

Sindsdien deinsden de Israëlische leiders ervoor terug maatregelen te nemen die door de VN en de EU zouden worden afgekeurd of zelfs tot sancties tegen de Joodse staat zouden leiden.

Genocidale bedoelingen

Dat had onder meer tot gevolg dat Israël nauwelijks durfde te reageren op de provocaties waarmee Hezbollah na de eenzijdige terugtrekking van Israël uit Libanon in mei 2000 was begonnen. Door die aarzelende houding wist de sjiitische terreurorganisatie een heel raketarsenaal op te bouwen, met de openlijke bedoeling Israëlische steden en dorpen te verwoesten.

Toen Hezbollah die wapens  in juli 2006 afvuurde, kreeg Israël het verwijt dat het buitensporig hard terugsloeg. Onder zware druk moest het land de defensieve operaties in Libanon staken en akkoord gaan met een internationale 'vredesmacht', waardoor Hezbollah de kans kreeg een nog grotere wapenvoorraad aan te leggen.
Nu vragen de Israëliërs zich af of de Libanese nachtmerrie zich in de Gazastrook gaat herhalen. 

Net als destijds in Libanon heeft Israël zich in 2005 eenzijdig achter de landsgrens met Gaza teruggetrokken, en kreeg het in plaats van veiligheid een regime dat op zijn verwoesting uit was. De duizenden raketten en mortiergranaten die sindsdien op Israëlische woonwijken zijn neergedaald, waren niet alleen een poging om burgers te doden en te terroriseren, maar vormden een regelrecht bewijs van genocidale bedoelingen.

Hypocrisie

Israëliërs uit het hele politieke spectrum waren het erover eens dat de staat het recht en zelfs de plicht had de bevolking te beschermen. Er was maar één vraag: zou de internationale gemeenschap daarmee akkoord gaan?

Die vraag werd urgent in de dagen voor 19 december, toen het broze bestand tussen Israël en Hamas eindigde.

Er regenden bijna driehonderd raketten op Israël neer, waardoor het zuiden van het land grotendeels werd lamgelegd. Toch besloten de Israëlische leiders nog niet tot de tegenaanval.

Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Tzipi Livni vloog naar Cairo om de Egyptische leiders met klem te vragen Hamas in te tomen, en premier Olmert bezwoer de kijkers van tv-zender Al-Arabiyah dat Israël niet op een militaire confrontatie uit was. Als Israël zich al buitensporig heeft getoond, dan was het in zijn bereidheid een diplomatieke uitweg uit de crisis te vinden, desnoods ten koste van mensenlevens onder de eigen bevolking.

Toch is Hamas niet veroordeeld door de Veiligheidsraad, die pas bijeen wilde komen toen Israël uiteindelijk toch tot actie overging. De hypocrisie van de VN, en de aanzwellende kritiek op Israël in de media, versterken de Israëlische angst dat al dan niet eenzijdige territoriale concessies de veiligheid van het land alleen maar verder in gevaar zullen brengen.

Angst

Die vrees speelt zeker bij de gedachte aan gedeeltelijke terugtrekking uit de Westelijke Jordaanoever, die binnen schootsafstand ligt van grote steden en industriegebieden.

In de Gazastrook  staat veel meer op het spel dan alleen de militaire uitkomst van de Israëlische operatie. Waar het om gaat, is of Israël zijn afschrikkingsvermogen kan herstellen en kan vasthouden aan het principe dat zijn burgers niet ongestraft kunnen worden aangevallen. Zolang ze er niet zeker van zijn dat ze hun huizen en gezinnen na eventuele terugtrekking mogen beschermen, zullen de Israëliërs een tweestatenoplossing terecht als een bedreiging van hun bestaan beschouwen. In theorie zullen ze het wel eens blijven met het linkse idee van vreedzame coëxistentie met hun Palestijnse buren, maar in de praktijk zal de rechtse angst voor Joodse machteloosheid de doorslag geven.

Mokerslag

De crisis in de Gazastrook heeft ook gevolgen voor de onderhandelingen tussen Israël en Syrië. Ook hier speelt dat de Israëliërs geen afstand willen doen van belangrijke strategische gebieden – in dit geval de Golanhoogte  – in een internationaal klimaat waarin elke poging tot zelfverdediging als ongerechtvaardigde agressie wordt bestempeld. De aanjagersrol die Syrië bij het conflict in de Gazastrook heeft gespeeld, maakt het Israëlische wantrouwen nog groter. Het kantoor van Hamas in Damascus, dat de bescherming geniet van het regime van Bashir al-Assad, heeft zijn veto uitgesproken over de pogingen van Hamasleiders in Gaza om het bestand te verlengen en erop aangedrongen dat de raketaanvallen zouden worden opgevoerd.

De komende dagen  komt het mogelijk tot een Israëlische grondinvasie in Gaza. Israël moet de ruimte krijgen deze operatie af te ronden met een definitieve overwinning op Hamas, want de voortdurende raketaanvallen en grootscheepse wapensmokkel vormen een onhoudbare situatie. Het fiasco van 2006, toen Israël er niet in slaagde Hezbollah in Libanon te vernederen, kan nu worden goedgemaakt door een andere jihadistische marionet van Iran een mokerslag toe te brengen.

En het is misschien ook de laatste kans om de Israëliërs te overtuigen van de levensvatbaarheid van een tweestatenoplossing.  Zolang Hamas niet wordt verslagen, komt een verdrag dat zowel tegemoetkomt aan de Palestijnse aspiraties als aan de angsten van Israël niet dichterbij. In de Gazastrook staat niet minder op het spel dan de toekomst van het vredesproces.

 

Vertaling Cecilia Tabak
© The Wall Street Journal

-------------------

Michael B. Oren is docent aan het Shalem Centrum in Jeruzalem en hoogleraar aan Georgetown University. Yossi Klein Halevi is docent aan het  Shalem Centrum.

 

dinsdag 30 december 2008

Israel nog niet klaar met Gaza offensief


Ondanks allerlei absurde claims dat Israel uit zou zijn op burgerdoden of deze haar op zijn minst onverschillig laten, heeft Israel juist een aantal strategische doelen niet gebombardeerd vanwege het risico op burgerdoden.
 
Although the first UN figures on Monday reported dozens of civilian fatalities in Gaza over the past three days, numerous potential targets - including weapons factories, arms stores and missile silos - have not been struck in the Israeli raids because of their proximity to civilian concentrations. Much of the Hamas military infrastructure is callously interwoven with residential areas.
 
Het zal de antizionisten er niet van weerhouden leugens te verspreiden, en de media niet om die kritiekloos te reproduceren, maar daar kunnen we wel de feiten tegenover zetten.
 
RP
-----------

Analysis: Barak not heading for the exit yet
Dec. 30, 2008
David Horovitz , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
 
It's not only all manner of international statespeople, organizations and would-be mediators who are urging Israel to call a halt to the assault on Hamas and its Gaza terror state. Many Israeli opinion-shapers, too, are applying Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's "enough is enough" epithet in quite the opposite direction from the one she had intended.

Newspaper columnists, some former senior military figures and even certain TV military commentators - notably Channel 10's Alon Ben-David - were on Monday wondering, with varying degrees of impatience, whether Israel ought now to be moving toward implementing its exit strategy, in the form of a hopefully improved de facto "cease-fire" arrangement with a bloodied, though firmly unbroken Hamas.

Day One of Operation Cast Lead was marked by air strikes on Hamas symbols of power in Gaza, including training bases and military command positions.

Day Two saw the bombing of the Hamas lifelines - 40 supply tunnels running from Egypt beneath the Philadelphi Corridor. Day Three included strikes on weapons factories and on weapons research labs at Gaza City's Islamic University - the manufacturers of the tools of the terror trade.

But at the special Knesset session Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak clearly suggested that more days of conflict loom in pursuit of the declared goal of this military campaign - a return of complete, stable calm to the South.

Israel, he said, was engaged in "a war to the bitter end" with Hamas.

The demise of Hamas rule in Gaza is not a stated aim of the current resort to force. But within the security establishment, there is no sense that Hamas has sustained a long-term strategic blow.

Its estimated 15,000-strong armed force is largely intact. So, too, is a goodly proportion of its rocket-launching capability. It was Hamas that formally ended the cease-fire, and Hamas is emphatically not issuing humbled pleas for its restoration.

Although the first UN figures on Monday reported dozens of civilian fatalities in Gaza over the past three days, numerous potential targets - including weapons factories, arms stores and missile silos - have not been struck in the Israeli raids because of their proximity to civilian concentrations. Much of the Hamas military infrastructure is callously interwoven with residential areas.

If Barak, Livni and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are indeed determined to achieve a genuine "remaking of the reality" in the South - to create conditions under which Hamas not only halts rocket fire, but is deterred from seeking the capacity to restart it - even such particularly problematic Hamas military targets will not be left unscathed.

In this context, it should be recalled that Barak is not only a former chief of General Staff, but also the former head of the IDF's elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, a specialist in unexpected, pinpoint operations.

The defense minister has spoken repeatedly over the past three days of an Israeli readiness to "expand and intensify" the assault on Hamas until the goals of the operation are met, and the gradual massing of ground forces at the Gaza border makes that threat palpable. But Barak has not specified how the ground forces might be utilized.

Hamas has always bragged that it will be ready for the IDF when the ground operation comes. Presumably Barak, who employed considerable cunning to achieve the surprise of Saturday's initial attack, is aiming for more of the unexpected.

_______________________________
 

Hamas hoopt op grondoffensief Israel in Gazastrook

 
De vraag is hoe Israel de operatie zonder gezichtsverlies kan beëindigen ook al is Hamas niet geheel van de kaart geveegd, iets wat waarschijnlijk niet mogelijk zonder veel slachtoffers aan beide kanten. Hamas zal dan zeker de overwinning uitroepen, en op de laatste dag nog wat raketten afvuren om te laten zien dat het niet verslagen is.
Anderzijds kan ook een grondoperatie Hamas in de kaart spelen, wanneer die voortijdig moet worden afgeblazen vanwege ofwel groter aantallen Israelische doden ofwel vanwege internationale druk.
Inmiddels lijkt Hamas wel voor een staakt-het-vuren te zijn, en het zou kunnen dat in de komende dagen achter de schermen een nieuw staakt-het-vuren wordt uitonderhandeld, en de tanks vooral voor de show aan de grens blijven staan.
 
RP
------------
 
ANALYSIS / Hamas is hoping for an IDF ground operation
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
 

Three days into Operation Cast Lead, Israel is proposing a diplomatic exit. A ground operation likely looms in an effort to increase the pressure on Hamas. At the same time, however, others argue that the air force is close to exhausting its target bank, so if Hamas can be brought to accept a cease-fire on terms convenient to Israel in the near future it would be better to do so.

Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar fire at Israel Monday. It is starting to recover from the initial shock of the assault, and the bad weather is helping to protect its launching crews from Israeli aircraft.

By 8 P.M., Hamas had fired more than 80 rockets and mortars at Israel, including a Grad Katyusha strike on Ashkelon that killed an Israeli construction worker and wounded 10 others. At 9:30 P.M., a Katyusha hit Ashdod, seriously wounding another two civilians . The Home Front Command says some of the civilian casualties of the last few days could have been prevented had people obeyed its orders and entered shelters when they heard the warning sirens.
Israel has thus far refused to officially discuss a cease-fire, but in practice it is conducting an indirect and hesitant dialogue with Hamas. As of yet, however, there is no official mediator.

Khaled Meshal, the Damascus-based head of Hamas' political bureau, has been calling for a cease-fire for two days now. However, communications with the organization's leadership in Gaza are hampered because all its leaders have gone underground for fear of Israeli assassination attempts, while Israel's air strikes have disrupted the Strip's communications networks. Paradoxically, the same measures that have hampered Hamas' military response are also impeding efforts to end the fighting.

Israel will insist that any truce include a complete, long-term halt to the rocket fire from Gaza. In exchange, it will apparently agree to reopen the border crossings at some point, though no final decisions have been made. Some ministers want to continue the military operation, but Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Gabi Ashkenazi, are more cautious.

The diplomatic clock is ticking relatively slowly because both Europe and the United States are all but closed for Christmas and New Year's Day. Meshal has been trying to get the Arab League and Senegal, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to push for a cease-fire. So far, international criticism of Israel has been relatively muted despite the many Palestinian casualties. Even in the Arab world, not everyone is crying over Hamas' losses.

The operation's goals, as defined by the cabinet, are "creating a different long-term security situation in the south, while bolstering Israel's deterrence." The IDF does not interpret this to mean a complete end to the rocket fire, as it considers this impossible. Rather, its goal is to eliminate Hamas' desire to attack Israel. The bombing campaign has so far dealt a severe blow to Hamas.

However, ground forces are already in place for the next phase. The Gazan mud will make it harder for tanks and armored personnel carriers to maneuver, and Hamas has clearly been preparing its defense for months. Thus any ground operation will entail many casualties, which is one of the government's considerations in deciding how the operation should proceed.

On July 12, 2006, hours after the Second Lebanon War began, Barak called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and warned: "It's very important to define how and when you'll end [the war], because the more time goes by, the greater the potential for complications." That is no less true today.

As for the Palestinians, they plan to declare victory regardless of what happens. If the IDF withdraws rapidly, without a ground operation and without having seriously reduced the rocket fire, Hamas will boast that it survived and Israel blinked first.

But Hamas officials and analysts said Monday that the organization would actually like Israel to launch a ground operation; it hopes this would let it inflict such heavy losses on Israeli tanks and infantry that Israel would flee with its tail between its legs.

Just as the Second Lebanon War did, the current war will have far-reaching consequences for the balance of forces in the Middle East. First, it has brought the conflict between Hamas and Egypt into the open, which could influence domestic developments in Egypt. To some degree, it has also reignited the conflict between Arab moderates, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the extremists, led by non-Arab Iran. In Lebanon, it is already clear which side won. In Gaza, we will learn the answer in the coming days or weeks.

Hezbollah kwaad op Egypte en woedend op Israel

 
De Arabische landen reagerden verdeeld, waarbij met name Hezbollah-leider Nasrallah de zaak probeert flink op te stoken en Egyptenaren tegen hun regering probeert op te zetten. Verschillende mensen en landen roepen Egypte en Jordanië op hun banden met Israel te verbreken, ook intern wordt daartoe opgeroepen.
Woensdag komt de Arabische Liga in een spciale zitting bijeen om over de situatie in Gaza te spreken.
 
Dat Israel haar troepen aan de Libanese grens in paraatheid brengt is logisch. De Israelische operaties in de Gazastrook in 2006 werden door Hezbollah aangegrepen voor een aanval aan de noordgrens van Israel.
 
RP & WB
----------------------

The Jerusalem Post
Dec 28, 2008 22:45 | Updated Dec 29, 2008 15:44
 
Egypt: Hizbullah declared war on us
By BRENDA GAZZAR, AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230456503819&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


In a press conference held on Monday afternoon in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit responded to criticism by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, saying that "They have practically declared war on Egypt via several satellite stations. The Egyptian people reject and opposes this declaration."

"They want for there to be chaos in Egypt as there is in their country," Gheit said of Hizbullah.

"I tell this man [Nasrallah]: No, no! Our armed forces can defend our homeland from people like you. Your interest in creating chaos is not in the best interest of the area," he added.

The Egyptian foreign minister added that his country had tried to prevent the escalation in violence by asking Israel not to carry out an operation in the Gaza Strip.

"We asked Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Cairo in order to tell her: 'Do not attack the Gaza Strip,' but unfortunately, this is not what happened."

Meanwhile, Tens of thousands of Lebanese Hizbullah supporters poured into the streets of southern Beirut, protesting Israel's air assault on the Gaza Strip.

The protesters carried Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow Hizbullah flags and banners supporting the Palestinian people.

"Death to Israel," and "At your service, Gaza!" many in the crowd shouted during Monday's demonstration.

The massive rally was called for by Nasrallah who in a speech on Sunday urged crowds in the Arab and Islamic world to rise up in support of Gaza.

He declared Monday a day of mourning and solidarity with Gaza.

In his televised speech on Sunday, Nasrallah attacked Arab nations - particularly Egypt and Jordan - and accused them of cooperation with Israel in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"There are some who speak of Arab silence, but this is wrong. There is full Arab cooperation, especially by those who have signed so-called peace agreements with Israel," he said.

The Hizbullah leader called on Arabs everywhere to go out into the streets and demonstrate, in order to force their governments to stop the Israeli offensive.

Nasrallah reprimanded Egypt for casting the responsibility of the condition in Gaza on Hamas.

He attacked the Egyptian foreign minister who in a Saturday press conference said that Hamas, which had been repeatedly warned by Egypt, must bear responsibility for the current situation in Gaza.

"Yesterday, we heard a high-ranking Egyptian leader cast the responsibility on the victim. Can we accept such things from Arabs? Casting the responsibility for this war on the Gaza resistance is embarrassing and saddening," Nasrallah added. "Our nations call on Egypt to help."

Nasrallah also warned the Lebanese government and army to be on alert in southern Lebanon in case Israel attacked.

Nasrallah said Sunday that Hizbullah is ready to confront any Israeli "aggression" against Lebanon in light of Israel's assault on Gaza.

"Since the beginning of the Zionist attack on Gaza, Israeli officials have issued threats about another front, and they mean Lebanon," Nasrallah said.

He warned that Israel has taken measures on its borders that might or might not be defensive, and "might take advantage of the situation to launch an attack on Lebanon."

Nasrallah said that Israel needed such action on "an electoral level and to salvage the image of the Israeli army." But, he added, "We are not concerned or afraid... We are ready to face any attack on our country."

Nasrallah was speaking from a secret location through a giant screen to hundreds of supporters who gathered in Hizbullah's stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs.

Elsewhere across the Middle East, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday for the second day in a row to protest Israel's air assaults on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

From Ramallah to Lebanon to Iran and Iraq, crowds of protesters called for an end to Israel's attacks, which began Saturday and have claimed more than 280 lives in the Hamas-controlled Strip.

Several of the protests turned violent.

"We have a disaster here... the number of people dying, the number of wounded, the number of houses and buildings destroyed, which is carried by almost 700 Arabic satellite stations," said Dr. Abdel Monem Said Ali, director of the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies.

"I think it is mobilizing the Arab public in a way that for sure will push their governments" to take diplomatic and political action, he said.

Arab foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Cairo on Wednesday under the auspices of the Arab League to "formulate the Arab position to deal with Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip," Arab League Chairman Amr Moussa said Saturday night.

The urgent meeting was initially going to take place on Sunday but was delayed to accommodate members who had meetings scheduled with other Arab regional groups.

On Sunday, Moussa said that the UN Security Council action passed earlier in the day expressing serious concern at the escalating situation in Gaza and urging an immediate halt to all violence was "not enough."

At the upcoming Arab League meeting, the members will "have to balance a very strong message of support to the Palestinians with keeping the road open to negotiations," Ali said.

"Some will call on Egypt and Jordan to cut diplomatic relations with Israel."

Already on Saturday, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir told Al-Jazeera that those nations which have normal relations with Israel should cut their ties in light of the Gaza operation, Ali said. Jordan, Egypt and Mauritania are the only three Arab League states that have full diplomatic relations with Israel.

Both Egypt and Jordan are receiving internal pressure from syndicates, trade unions and political parties to sever their relations with Israel.

Jordanian deputies burnt an Israeli flag during a parliamentary session on Sunday in a rare protest against the Jewish state's raids on the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Delaying the Arab League meeting by a few days could be a wise choice to let things cool off a bit, Ali said.

"The initial position of Arab countries in such a meeting is usually to take an extreme position," he said. "After two days, their nerves will be much better, particularly if they work out a cease-fire in the next few days."

Meanwhile, in Iraq, a suicide bomber on a bicycle targeted a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators in Mosul, killing one protester and wounding 16, Iraqi police said.

In Lebanon, police fired tear gas to stop dozens of demonstrators from reaching the Egyptian Embassy. Some in the crowd hurled stones at the embassy compound. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.

Egypt has been criticized for not doing enough to allow aid to pass through its border with Gaza.

Earlier in the Lebanese capital, a Hamas official roused a crowd of about 1,000 people topped by fluttering Lebanese and Palestinian flags, promising victory, resistance and ruling out surrender. His speech was met with cries of "death to Israel" from the crowd.

The demonstrators gathered outside the United Nations office in downtown Beirut. After an all-night emergency session in New York, the UN's Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalating situation in Gaza and called on both Israel and the Palestinians to immediately halt all violence.

Protesten van Israelische Arabieren tegen Gaza offensief

 
Enerzijds zijn deze protesten natuurlijk begrijpelijk, men identificeert zich met de Palestijnen en sommigen hebben ook familie in Gaza. Anderzijds zijn Israelische Arabieren Israelische staatsburgers, en is Israels veiligheid ook in hun belang. De qassam- en katjoesja raketten maken geen onderscheid tussen Joden en Arabieren, en een van de doden die vandaag viel in Israel was een Arabier. Het feit dat sommigen van hen openlijk de kant van Hamas kiezen, is niet bevorderlijk voor de moeizame verhoudingen tussen Joden en Arabieren in Israel.
 
RP
----------

The Jerusalem Post
Dec 28, 2008 21:18 | Updated Dec 29, 2008 8:57

Protests flare up in Arab Israeli sector over Gaza
By BRENDA GAZZAR AND YAAKOV LAPPIN
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230456503064&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Israeli Arabs closed their schools and shops on Sunday in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and some rioted as the IDF operation in the Strip continued for a second day.

The general strike was called late Saturday night by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, which includes political representatives from the national and local levels.

"We are part of the Palestinian people as well and our people are going through a tough time. There is a lot of suffering because of the casualties there," said MK Hanna Sweid (Hadash), a member of the committee. "It's our way of showing our sympathy with them and our solidarity. It is also an objection to the policies of Israel, which is pursuing the issue with force and not by negotiations."

As they did on Saturday, police in the North dealt with a series of rock-throwing attacks and demonstrations held by Arabs against the IDF operation in Gaza.

Forty-one Israeli Arabs were arrested by Sunday afternoon across northern Israel, police said. Two Jews who entered Umm el-Fahm were reportedly attacked by a mob on Monday evening and lightly wounded. There were also reports of rock-throwing and tire-burning in Wadi Ara.

In addition to calling for demonstrations throughout the country, the monitoring committee has decided to send letters to diplomats worldwide asking them to intervene and is requesting that people donate blood on behalf of those injured in Gaza, said committee member Ayman Odeh, who is also Hadash general-secretary.

Members of the committee also met on Sunday night in Haifa.

The committee has called for an immediate halt to the IAF attacks and believes that negotiations are the only way to resolve the conflict, Sweid said.

Otherwise, "shelling will continue on both sides."

Demonstrations were held in several cities on Sunday, including in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Umm el-Fahm.

In Umm el-Fahm, Ayman Igbaria, who lectures on education at the University of Haifa, said that as far as he could tell, everything was shut down in the city, including small stores not on the city's main thoroughfare.

Sunday's strike, he said, did not necessarily reflect an acceptance of Hamas policies or behavior, but rather was a call for Palestinians to resolve their political differences and unite to oppose the Israeli military operation as well as the blockade of Gaza.

"People are showing solidarity with the Palestinian people because they don't think that it is only Hamas that is being targeted, it's also the entire Palestinian people," Igbaria said.

In the Galilee, youths threw rocks at passing vehicles at the Deir el-Asad junction on Route 85, near Karmiel. Two cars were lightly damaged, though no injuries were reported. Police closed off the road in both directions as officers brought the disturbance under control. The road was reopened after a few hours.

Also in Umm el-Fahm, one man fired a gun during a rally, accidentally injuring two children aged 10 and 11. The children were evacuated to the Emek Medical Center in Afula with light injuries to their legs.

In Daburiya, east of Nazareth, youths burned tires during a demonstration.

Police have launched a dialogue with village elders across the Arab sector in an effort to prevent youths from rioting.
 

maandag 29 december 2008

Israelische actie tegen Hamas gerechtvaardigd

 
In tegenstelling tot wat sommigen graag beweren, zijn wij geen spreekbuis of verlengstuk van het CIDI. In onderstaand persbericht kunnen we ons echter wel vinden.
 
Het was van meet af aan duidelijk dat Hamas het staakt-het-vuren gebruikte om zich sterker te bewapenen voor een volgende ronde van gewelddadigheden, zoals ook Israel haar voorbereidingen trof. Er is een logische reden dat Israel maar mondjesmaat goederen de Gazastrook binnenliet, niet als collectieve straf, maar om een vijand tegen te houden die zich probeerde te bewapenen om haar opnieuw en versterkt te kunnen aanvallen. Israel sloot de grenzen ook in reactie op Palestijnse schendingen van het bestand, en opende ze dan de volgende dag weer.
 
Hamas en de andere 'verzetsgroepen' hebben altijd de keus gehad om of vrede na te streven of de strijd tegen een overmachtige vijand voort te zetten, en ze hebben vrede consequent afgewezen. De huidige gevechten zijn het logische en te verwachten vervolg op het staakt-het-vuren en het beëindigen - door Hamas - daarvan. Zoals in elke oorlog zijn er ook onschuldige slachtoffers te betreuren, maar de verantwoordelijkheid daarvoor ligt in de eerste plaats bij Hamas.
 
Wouter
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PERSBERICHT

CIDI: Israelische actie is een gerechtvaardigd antwoord


"De Israelische actie in Gaza is een gerechtvaardigd antwoord op de voortdurende beschietingen van Israelische civiele doelen door Hamas", stelt het CIDI. "De door Hamas gebruikte raketten hebben aangetoond dat de organisatie de recente wapenstilstand (tahdia) heeft misbruikt voor het opbouwen van een voorraad sterkere en agressieve wapens.

De Israelische actie was niet nodig geweest als Hamas de vijandelijkheden niet had hervat en afziet van zijn heilloze doel de staat Israel te vernietigen. Hoewel de Israelische actie is gericht tegen militaire doelen en politieposten van Hamas, vallen in dit dichtbevolkte gebied ook burgerslachtoffers. CIDI betreurt dit en doet een beroep op beide partijen de burgers te ontzien. Als Israel zou overgaan tot een grondactie, dan mag dit niet leiden tot een herbezetting van de Gazastrook.

Een oplossing van het Palestijns-Israelisch conflict kan immers alleen worden bereikt door het tot stand komen van een onafhankelijke Palestijnse staat op de Westelijke Jordaanoever en de Gazastrook die in vrede leeft naast Israel, waardoor burgers nooit meer angst hoeven te hebben voor terrorisme en militair geweld."
 
 

Israelische luchtaanval op wapencentrum Hamas

 
Dit zijn het soort doelen dat Israel bombardeert, met gerichte acties, waar vaak maandenlange verzameling van inlichtingen aan vooraf is gegaan.
 
RP
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IDF Spokesperson
Dec 29th, 2008

Aerial Strike on Weapon Research and Development Center

 
The Israeli Air Force attacked a number of Hamas targets during the night, including Hamas outposts, weapon manufacturing facilities and a center for weapon research and development.

The center, located in the Rimel neighborhood of Gaza City, was targeted in a combined IDF and the ISA operation, the IAF struck buildings that were used as meeting places for senior leaders of Hamas.

One of the structures struck housed explosives laboratories that were an inseparable part of Hamas' research and development program, as well as places that served as storage facilities for the organization. The development of these weapons took place under the auspices of senior lecturers who are activists in Hamas.

Among the weapons that have been developed and manufactured at this site are Qassam rockets. Hamas has been working tirelessly to extend the range of the rockets, as has been shown during the past few days.

In February 2007 the Fattah Presidential Guard raided the facility and uncovered many weapons including approximately 100 Qassam rockets, 250 RPG launchers, hundreds of assault rifles, lathes, and materials used for rocket manufacturing.

Angela Merkel wijdt geweld Gaza aan Hamas

 
Gelukkig veroordeelt niet iedereen het Israelische geweld, maar de felste en meest eenzijdige veroordelingen worden in onderstaand artikel niet genoemd.
Tony Blairs opmerking is welhaast ironisch:
 
"We need to devise a new strategy for Gaza," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is serving as the Mideast Quartet's special envoy representing the US, Russia, the United Nations and the EU, said on Saturday. One "which brings that territory back under the legitimate rule of the Palestinian Authority in a manner which ends their suffering and fully protects the security of Israel."
 
Denkt hij dat Hamas er vrijwillig mee instemt om de macht in Gaza aan de Palestijnse Autoriteit over te dragen? Juist het Israelische offensief kan zo'n machtsovername dichterbij brengen. Als hij andere ideeën heeft, zou ik zeggen, bel Olmert en Barak even op.
 
RP
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Merkel Blasts Hamas for Middle East Violence
12/29/2008 05:02 PM
www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,598724,00.html

 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said the blame for renewed violence in the Middle East can be pinned on Hamas. Others, though, say Israel's response with mass air strikes has been disproportionate.

Domestically, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has often been criticized for trimming her positions to take advantage of whichever direction the political wind might be blowing. On Monday, though, she was very clear about where the blame should lie for the renewed Palestinian-Israeli violence in the Middle East.

Speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by phone, she said responsibility for the three-day-old Israeli air offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip lies "clearly and exclusively" with Hamas, according to government spokesman Thomas Steg. A statement on the Chancellery Web site referred to Israel's "legitimate right" to defend its people and territory.

Merkel's comments joined a chorus of voices slamming Hamas for its decision to allow a cease-fire to elapse on Dec. 19 and to resume firing rockets from the Gaza Strip across the border into Israel. Dozens of homemade Qassam missiles have slammed into Israel in the last several days, killing two and wounding several. Israel has responded with massive air raids that began on Saturday. At least 300 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed in the bombings.

The US has likewise pointed at Hamas as being responsible for the renewed violence. "The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a statement.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, was even more direct. "These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," he said.

Still, much of the global and European reaction has also been critical of Israel's forceful response. In a statement released on Monday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "I am deeply concerned by continuing missile strikes from Gaza on Israel and by Israel's response."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was even more critical of Israel, calling the air raid campaign against the Gaza Strip "disproportionate force." Sarkozy spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Sunday and also condemned "the provocations which have led to this situation."

Javier Solana, chief of foreign policy for the European Union, said "the EU has repeatedly condemned rocket attacks against Israel," before adding "the current Israeli strikes are inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians."

Despite the protest from capital cities around the world, it seems unlikely that the violence will stop anytime soon. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has indicated that a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip may be the next step and Israeli tanks are amassing on the border. Hamas, for its part, has denied a government statement from Senegal which claimed that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal had told the Senegalese president he was ready to sign a cease-fire.

The Palestinians themselves also seem split on how to react to the Gaza Strip raids. An aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Abbas "demands that the Israeli government stop this aggression immediately." But on Sunday in Egypt, he also seemed to place some of the blame with Hamas. "We talked to them (Hamas) and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop' so that we could have avoided what happened," Abbas said on Sunday in Cairo during a visit for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Abbas' Fatah Party holds power in the West Bank, but has had no leverage in the Gaza Strip since June 2007, when Hamas violentally wrested power away from Abbas' Fatah party in the area. Since then, the two Palestinian factions have been deeply divided with the European Union and Americans both classifying Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The split is likely to make it even more difficult to find a resolution to the current crisis. Egypt has long been attempting to negotiate a settlement between Hamas and Fatah, but has found little success so far. Such a settlement though, is necessary before the Israeli-Palestinian peace process can continue, say many.
"We need to devise a new strategy for Gaza," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is serving as the Mideast Quartet's special envoy representing the US, Russia, the United Nations and the EU, said on Saturday. One "which brings that territory back under the legitimate rule of the Palestinian Authority in a manner which ends their suffering and fully protects the security of Israel."

cgh -- with wire reports

Twee nieuwe doden in zuid-Israel door raketten uit Gaza

 
Genegeerd door het nieuws en NOVA: bij raketaanvallen door de Hamas zijn vandaag verschillende doden en gewonden gevallen. In tegenstelling tot Israel, is Hamas bewust uit op het doden van burgers, ook vrouwen en kinderen.
 
RP
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2 killed as rockets, mortar shells slam into southern Israel
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
Two people were killed on Monday night as Gaza terrorists continued to pound southern Israel with rockets and mortar shells.

One of the fatalities was a woman who had run to a bus stop in Ashdod for cover as a rocket hit the city.

The Grad-type rocket killed her and wounded four others - one seriously and three lightly - when it impacted near the bus stop.

The casualties were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

It marks the first time a rocket has hit Ashdod. The city is Israel's fifth largest, with a population of some 250,000. It is located approximately 35 kilometers from Gaza.

The rocket was one of over 70 fired at southern Israel Monday.

In the second attack Monday night, one person was killed when a mortar shell fired by Gaza terrorists struck the Nahal Oz area, in the western Negev.

Five other people were wounded in the attack, one seriously, one moderately and three lightly.

In another attack earlier Monday, Hanni Al-Mahdi, 27, of the Beduin town of Aroer in the Negev, was killed and at least 14 people were wounded when a Grad-type missile hit a construction site in Ashkelon's center.

Of the wounded, five were reported to be in moderate-to-serious condition and the rest were lightly wounded. Several people were sent into shock by the attack.

According to Channel 2, the missile hit the top floor of the building, which did not yet have a roof.

Magen David Adom ambulances evacuated all the casualties to the city's Barzilai Hospital.

Most of the people at the site were Arab construction workers from Rahat and the Manda village in the Galilee.

Following the attack, Hamas's military wing called on Egyptian and Jordanian citizens working in Israel to leave all Israeli cities, Army Radio reported.

Hamas took responsibility for firing the missile and reported that a "Zionist" was killed in the attack.

Moussa, a construction worker from Kfar Manda who was lightly wounded in the Ashkelon attack, told Army Radio that there were about twelve workers at the site at the time of the attack.

Moussa said a public library was being constructed there, and added that the work at the site had been underway for several years.

In Sderot, several people suffered from shock after their house sustained a direct hit from a rocket.

The IDF on Monday morning declared the area along the Gaza border a closed military zone, denying entrance to all but local residents.

The ban included journalists. However, it was not clear how effectively the order was being upheld, as a correspondent for the British Sky News network was seen reporting from the border in the late morning.

 
Yaakov Katz contributed to this report

Israelische luchtmacht gebruikt 'slimme' Amerikaanse bunker-busters


Uit het gebruik van dit soort precisie bommen en ander high-tech materiaal blijkt dat Israel er op uit is het aantal onschuldige slachtoffers te minimaliseren. Ook de waarschuwingen die Gazanen op hun telefoons ontvingen wijzen daarop.
 
RP
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IAF uses new US-supplied smart bomb
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.

The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes.

Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday's bombing of tunnels in Rafah.

The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. The 113-kg. bomb has the same penetration capabilities as a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. At just 1.75 meters long, its small size increases the number of bombs an aircraft can carry and the number of targets it can attack in a sortie.

Tests conducted in the US have proven that the bomb is capable of penetrating at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete. The GBU-39 can be used in adverse weather conditions and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings.

Also Sunday, Military Intelligence's Psychological Warfare Department broke into radio broadcasts in Gaza and warned Palestinian civilians not to cooperate with Hamas terrorist activity.

Palestinians reported that they received phone calls to their cellular phones and landlines from the IDF. The phone call, the Palestinians said, conveyed a recorded message ordering the immediate evacuation of homes that were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the terrorist organization.

On Sunday, head of the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration Col. Moshe Levy was interviewed by several Arab news outlets during which he stressed that Israel was not against the Palestinian public in Gaza but was operating against Hamas.

Defense officials said Sunday that Israel would, however, not hesitate to target the homes of civilians who protected Hamas terrorists throughout the operation.

"We will go after every Hamas operative, no matter where he is," one official said. "We urge the Palestinians not to cooperate with terrorists."