Posted on 06/27/2006 8:13:27 AM PDT by areafiftyone
A loud explosion has rocked the Gaza Strip according to reports.
It comes as Israeli tanks and troops have massed near Gaza for a threatened offensive against Palestinian militants.
Israel has said it will target Hamas leaders if kidnapped soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit is not freed.
In northern Gaza, Palestinians blocked roads with dirt and barbed wire. Militants with automatic rifles and anti-tank rockets patrolled the streets.
The US has urged Israel to give diplomacy a chance to win the release of 19-year-old Cpl Shalit, who was seized on Sunday by militants who also killed two soldiers in a raid on a military border post.
Hamas' armed wing admitted it carried out Sunday's attack but has not said it was holding Shalit.
The Popular Resistance Committees and the Islamic Army, both involved in the raid, have said Israel would not get information about Shalit unless it freed all jailed Palestinian women and youths.
Israel rejected the demand.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh have reached agreement on a manifesto at the heart of a power struggle between their rival groups, officials said on Tuesday.
The political document, penned by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, implicitly recognises Israel. But the phrasing of the Abbas-Haniyeh deal appeared to leave the prime minister's Hamas movement wriggle room on the issue.
Now Egypt claims they know where the soldier is....but won't say where..
Condi always manages to say the wrong thing. NO Condi, No. There is a time when enough is enough.
Hamas Building Barriers to Stave Off IDF Forces
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Egypt has also deployed 2,500 soldiers and policemen along its border with Gaza to prevent a flood of refugees from Gaza in the event of an Israeli invasion, which Israel continues to threaten.
thanks for that link....
Well, they did that...And it didn't take long for the terrorists to say NO...
Now, on to phase 2...
Who eported that Egypt has the soldiers location?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1656465/posts
diplmats are from Egypt....
Israeli Soldier Held in a 'Secure Place'
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Today: June 27, 2006 at 9:5:56 PDT
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -
A Palestinian militant leader said Tuesday a captured Israeli soldier was being held in a "secure place," and he claimed that his group also seized a Jewish settler in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the rival Hamas and Fatah movements agreed on a plan implicitly recognizing Israel, a top Palestinian official said after weeks of acrimonious negotiations aiming to lift crippling international aid sanctions.
The new claims about captive Israelis came from the Popular Resistance Committees, a violent group with close ties to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. The PRC was one of three groups that took part in Sunday's cross-border infiltration near Gaza in which militants killed two Israeli soldiers and abducted Cp. Gilad Shalit.
"The soldier is in a secure place that the Zionists cannot reach," PRC spokesman Mohammed Abdel Al said in the first acknowledgment by militants that Shalit was still alive.
The kidnappers have not said where the 19-year-old soldier is being held or released any photos of him.
Abdel Al also said his group had taken a Jewish settler in the West Bank hostage. Israel Radio reported the settler had been hitchhiking Monday night and failed to return home.
"We're looking into reports of a missing person," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Abdel Al said the release of more information would depend on Israel.
"The Zionists are looking for any information. We remind them there is nothing for free," he said in Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected a demand to release Palestinian prisoners in return for information about Shalit. Instead, he approved plans for a large military push into Gaza and threatened to hit Islamic militants and their leaders.
About 3,000 troops, along with tanks and armored vehicles, massed along Israel's border with Gaza. Commanders said they were prepared and awaiting orders to move in.
"We will not hold back on our efforts, and to our great sorrow, part of this price will be paid by the residents of the Gaza Strip," Haim Ramon, a senior Israeli Cabinet Minister, told Army Radio.
"This strike will come and it will be very painful. In order to stop this, I call on authorities in the Palestinian Authority to do all they can to bring Gilad home."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel to "give diplomacy a chance."
"There really needs to be an effort now to try and calm the situation," Rice said en route to Pakistan.
Although Israel frequently carries out air raids in Gaza, ground troops have entered the area only three times - all briefly - since Israel withdrew from the area in September.
Israel clamped a tight closure on Gaza that prevented merchants from leaving the area and fishermen from sailing off the Mediterranean coast, the army said. It closed all crossings into Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side of the border at the Palestinian-controlled Rafah crossing, said the director of security at the Palestinian crossings, Salim Abu Safiah.
Anticipating an invasion, Palestinian militants piled up sand on roads near the border and in Gaza City. "We are ready to confront any stupid act that the Zionists might commit," said Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' military wing.
The group also claimed that militants from various factions had taken up positions throughout northern Gaza.
The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, met with leaders of the Hamas-led government Monday night and urged them to secure Shalit's release. Abbas also has been working closely with Egyptian mediators, who hold influence over Hamas.
Egyptian officials said the government asked Hamas to release the soldier and has deployed 2,500 extra troops along the border with Gaza to prevent an influx of Palestinians if Israel invades. Egypt also imposed a nighttime curfew on residents along the border.
Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has urged Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who is in Syria, to push for Shalit's release, the officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Participants said the meeting was tense and that Abbas told the Hamas leaders they would be responsible for any Israeli reprisals. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he did not have any information about the soldier, the participants said.
The abduction has exposed divisions within Hamas, which maintains separate political and military wings. While the military wing claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, local political leaders have said Shalit should be freed.
Ghazi Hamad, a government spokesman, said he feels sorry for the soldier and wants him protected.
"We ... don't want to reach a situation of bloodshed, here or there," he told Army Radio in Hebrew.
Mohammad Nazal, a Damascus-based member of the Hamas politburo, said the militant group won't agree to release the Israeli soldier "without a deal."
"No release without something in return," he told The Associated Press in telephone call. "This is the popular demand and we cannot let down our people."
On the political front, Abbas has been trying to coax his Hamas rivals into endorsing the document that calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, in effect recognizing the Jewish state. He has endorsed the plan as a way to end sanctions against the Hamas-led Palestinian government and pave the way to reopening peace talks with Israel.
"We have an agreement over the document," said Ibrahim Abu Najah, coordinator of the "national dialogue" over the proposal.
The plan also calls on militants to limit attacks to areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War and calls for formation of a coalition Palestinian government.
The United States, Israel and European Union list Hamas as a terrorist group because it rejects the existence of Israel and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into the Jewish state, killing hundreds.
The West demands that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace accords, but Hamas refuses. As a result, the West has cut off much-needed aid.
Salah Zeidan, another negotiator, said preparations were being made for a formal signing ceremony. "All political groups are prepared for a mutual cease-fire with Israel," he said.
The militants holding Shalit issued their first demands Monday. The groups, which included Hamas' military wing and two offshoots of the PRC, said Israel should release all jailed Palestinian women and children under 18 in return for information about Shalit.
The issue of the estimated 8,000 prisoners held by Israel is extremely sensitive in Palestinian society. Ordinary Palestinians have expressed overwhelming support for the kidnappers, saying the soldier should not be freed without the prisoners' release.
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Wow, they gonna rock the Casbah this time...
Nah, a strike near his house is just a warning. When they strike his house (with him inside), then the gloves have come off.
No way is Egypt massing troop in Sinai. That would be a violation of the Camp David treaty, a provocation against Israel.
Egypt has probably just redeployed some of their security personnel - because if IDF sends in 20,000 soldiers to Gaza lots of Palestinians will be trying to escape into Egypt. They will try to keep them out.
Camp David was very specific about how many personnel and pieces of equipment they can have in Sinai, and where they could be deployed. They added an "understanding" to increase the number of lightly armed security men (and iirc a handful of helicopters) after the Gaza withdrawal (supposedly to prevent smuggling and manage border crossing) - but consistent with what you report they are along the Gaza border only.
Egypt probably just wants a strong enough force to repel illegal entry into Egypt. Could also be they want to prevent the militants from spiriting the IDF soldier out of Gaza but I would put that down as a secondary reason.
Wasn't that a scene in 2001 Space Odyssey? When then pre-humans howl, grunt, shriek, and wave femur bones?
The IDF doing the job that Americans will not do American soldiers are not being allowed to do.
Mark
I believe that Churchill (not Ward) said that in time of war the truth is so valuable that it needs to be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies. You need to be selective and judicious in your lies. The problem with the Arabs is that they lie so reflexively and wantonly, lying when the truth will serve as well, ["Clintonesque"] that no one, absolutely no one, ever believes them anymore.
My biggest objection to the characterization of Clinton as skilled liar was that it was a false characterization. He was an inveterate, habitual, wanton, sloppy, haphazard liar. (E.g., someone who has no idea who is natural father is claiming to be 1/16 Cherokee.) It's only because the Lamestream Media carried water for him that he got away it.
You can blame Clinton for this mess, too.
Oslo was his baby, and has blown up in everyone's faces. Now it has to be undone.
He still gets to trot around to various fundraisers, probably taking 10% off the top.
>>>The US has urged Israel to give diplomacy a chance to win the release of 19-year-old Cpl Shalit, who was seized on Sunday by militants who also killed two soldiers in a raid on a military border post. >>>
As an American...
BITE ME USA AND YOUR DIPOLOMATIC SOLUTION!!!
What a load of crap!! President Bush, I love you dearly, but why does "We don't negotiate with terrorist" apply for Isreal???
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