Posted on 09/27/2005 11:37:30 AM PDT by F15Eagle
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel turned up the heat on Hamas in its Gaza stronghold after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fended off a bid to oust him as party leader over his decision to leave the Palestinian territory.
As Sharon mulled over how to deal with rebels who joined the failed campaign to unseat him from the helm of his right-wing Likud party by forcing a November leadership primary, arch-rival Benjamin Netanyahu vowed he would topple the premier when he finally gets a chance in April.
Netanyahu had built much of his campaign around accusations that the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza had merely served to strengthen the Islamist movement Hamas which has been behind the majority of attacks against Israel since the Palestinian uprising began almost exactly five years ago.
A weekend barrage of missiles fired from Gaza into southern Israel appeared to have bolstered his case but after Sharon ordered a wave of retaliatory air strikes, Hamas's leader in Gaza Mahumd Zahar announced a halt to attacks.
Despite the announcement, Israel carried out more overnight raids on Gaza as Sharon's loyal Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz vowed the army would continue targeting individuals and said the Hamas leadership was now in the crosshairs.
"If we don't have quiet, the terror organisations will not know quiet," Mofaz told reporters on a tour of an artillery unit deployed along the northern Gaza border.
"If Zahar or Ismail Haniya or any of the others continue firing Qassam rockets, we will send them to the place where both Rantissi and Yassin are," he said in reference to two top Hamas leaders who were assassinated last year.
Hamas upped the stakes in its conflict by releasing a video of an Israeli whom it said it had kidnapped in the Ramallah region of the West Bank and then killed.
The 11-second video which was distributed to media organisations in Gaza showed a blindfolded Sasson Nouriel, who came from the outskirts of Jerusalem, appeal in halting Arabic for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.
Mofaz was one of the chief architects of the pullout from Gaza and had been predicted by many to walk out of Likud with his political mentor Sharon if the premier had been dethroned by his own party.
Commentators warned that Sharon was far from out of the woods after the wafer-thin decision by the Likud central committee to vote against a proposal to move up the primary to November, even though he now has valuable time to reassert his authority and for some of the wounds left by the pullout to heal.
A close aide of Sharon said the result was a vindication of the decision to pull out of the lesser half of the Palestinians' promised future state which the premier believes Israel had no realistic chance of clinging onto.
"It is the moderate, centrist line that has prevailed. It is a victory for a Likud realist who has renounced some unrealistic dreams," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The prime minister will continue with his policy which consists of the idea of territorial concessions in the framework of the roadmap (an international peace plan) on condition that the Palestinian Authority respects its commitments and disarm the terrorist organisations," he added.
Netanyahu said he accepted the outcome but pledged to triumph next year.
"Yesterday was an impressive result. Who would have said months ago that the prime minister would have to fight for his place in the party?" he told Israeli radio.
Despite his effort to remain upbeat, Netanyahu knows he has lost by far his best chance to oust Sharon, who angered many in Likud by forging ahead with disengagement despite its rejection in a party-wide referendum last year.
The first-ever pullout of Jews from occupied Palestinian territory has been widely welcomed by the international community which sees it as an opportunity to revive the ailing peace process.
But the resumption of violence in Gaza so soon after the pullout of troops has soured relations to such a degree that a summit between Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas planned for next week is being shelved.
fyi
..................
If the Israelis
fight a war of parity,
body for body,
they will run out of
Jewish bodies long before
there are no Arabs . . .
Take back Gaza!
very true
In just a few weeks, Gaza has become a rallying point for terrorists. Just as we predicted a Palestinian state would become an operations base for another major assault against Israel, Gaza is the firstfruits of that.
When the West Bank is ceded, and I have little doubt it will be by tremendous pressure, the Palestinian state will be born and they will fire AK-47's in the air shouting "On to Jerusalem" (Zechariah 12:1-3). Of course, there are many others things that will occur, especially afterwards.
Benjamin Netanyahu is one of my favorite politicians. Hope he wins.
Yassir, that's my Bibi.
See what happens when you try to appease terrorists? I hope the rest of the world and leaders in the U.S. are paying attention.
yes, it never seems to work
Oh I liked Bibi too. I also like how Sharon has put up Apaches on dawn patrol to take out Rantissi and Yassin with Hellfires. But regardless of who is in, I think Israel is going to be pushed into more and more concessions.
and as usual, Yahoo and it's fellow toadies are behind again:
"Hamas's leader in Gaza Mahumd Zahar announced a halt to attacks."
oh yeah?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1492283/posts
Also, the next step by the pali terrorists will be the push to unify Gaza and West Bank so that they'll control the southern lands of Israel. This will be followed by the push to the north for more land with Syria pushing from the north to the south, eventually Israel will be eliminated, i.e., putting aside the biblical reference of the staying power of the state of Israel.
One thing I give credit to Yahoo! is for running all the frankly horrible pictures of what had been done to the Israelis during the Intifada. They didn't hold back.
Yeah I saw that article and replied, but thanks for adding link to the thread. We know any "ceasefire" with them is only good until their soon-to-occur next attack.
Actually, it appears the Antichrist almost destroys Israel and they flee (I'm in a bit of a hurry so I don't have all the references handy). Then (oddly enough) the King of the North (Syria) and the King of the South (Egypt) *turn against the AC*. Yeah, hard to believe. Before that time, I don't doubt the King of the North and the King of the South, plus many, many, many others are committed to the destruction of Israel. Our gov't wants a Palestinian state by 2007. Not good.
" If the Israelis
fight a war of parity,
body for body,
they will run out of
Jewish bodies long before
there are no Arabs . . ."
Empires, kingdoms, Despots throughout history have held the same opinion.
Most are now dust in the wind, but the Jews are still here.
Thank God
Yes. But Israel
disappeared for a loooong time.
Let's keep it around.
And now Israel doesn't have to worry about hitting Jewish settlers. They can pull out all the stops and pound the crap out of them.
Yes, that's true. Of course the terrorists in Gaza would like nothing more than to get in with the civilians like they do and shoot. Of course, there are many civilians too that aid the terorrists. If I was a decent Pali, I'd stay away from Gaza. Of course, Abbas and Arafat before him, had decent Palis executed in the streets as a "lesson" to others.
after Sharon ordered a wave of retaliatory air strikes, Hamas's leader in Gaza Mahumd Zahar announced a halt to attacks.If Zahar can make that stick, he's shown he's more powerful than Abbas. Which is his goal. And it is part of the dismemberment of the "Palestinian" "movement" planned by Sharon, and singlemindedly pursued by him.
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