Posted on 07/12/2006 4:13:35 PM PDT by TexKat
What must Hamas leaders have been thinking? Last month they sent guerrillas through a secret tunnel from Gaza into Israel where they launched an attack, killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping a third, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Since no civilians were targeted, this was not an act of terrorism. It was an act of war.
Perhaps they had come to believe their own spin; their boast that it was "armed resistance" that had caused then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw Israeli soldiers and settlers from Gaza. Maybe they believed that more violence would lead to more Israeli concessions - especially now that Israel is led by a center-left coalition, the hard-line Likud Party having split and then collapsed over the wisdom of the Gaza withdrawal.
So far, at least, Israel's new prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has proven Hamas wrong. He has responded to Hamas' military attack with a military counterattack. He returned Israeli forces to Gaza, ordering them to search for Shalit, and also to stop the missiles - hundreds of them - that have rained down on Israeli cities and towns virtually every day since the Israelis left Gaza.
Hamas has suggested that it might let Shalit go if Israel were to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange. No doubt, Olmert is tempted. But those prisoners are convicted terrorists. Were he to release even a few as part of such a deal, he would be inviting further incursions and kidnappings in the months and years ahead.
Olmert has been trying to inflict pain on Hamas (while providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians), promising that if Shalit is released and missile attacks cease, Israeli troops will walk away. Were Hamas to comply, a new peace process could begin.
But that is the last thing Hamas wants. Its leaders have stated their goal candidly and repeatedly: They mean to wipe Israel off the map. Living peacefully next door to a Jewish neighbor is not on their agenda.
For some reason, however, many Europeans and Americans can't bring themselves to accept that Hamas is articulating not a negotiating posture but a religious conviction. By now, most people understand that Islamists consider it impermissible for a Muslim ever to convert to another religion - conversion brings a death sentence in Saudi Arabia and other countries where extreme variants of Islam hold sway.
What most people may not realize is that Islamists also believe it is impermissible for land to convert: Territory once conquered by Muslims, they insist, must never revert to the rule of infidels. That includes not just Israel, but large parts of Europe. Also Kashmir, they demand, must be Muslim-ruled; that almost certainly was the motive behind this week's railway bombings in India.
No one is likely to change Hamas' dogma. The most Israelis can do is demonstrate that Hamas' goal is not achievable at present, that the price of sending guerrillas and rockets into Israel is too high.
Such an understanding was long the basis for a tense standoff with Hezbollah, the terrorist group that controls large areas of Lebanon along Israel's northern border, territories Israel once occupied - but from which Israel withdrew taking what was called "a risk for peace."
On Wednesday, Hezbollah, too, committed an act of war against Israel, firing a barrage of Katyusha rockets and mortar shells, attacking Israeli border posts and kidnapping two Israeli soldiers.
What is Hezbollah thinking? Almost certainly, that it is coming to the aid of Hamas and doing the bidding of its Iranian and Syrian masters who apparently believe Israel is not prepared to fight on two fronts simultaneously.
Are they correct? Israelis - in particular the new prime minister - are being tested. To prevail will not be easy, just as it was not easy for Israelis to defend themselves in 1948 when they were was attacked by all their Arab neighbors, and in 1967 when a second coordinated military effort to push Israelis into the sea was attempted. Both wars ended with Israel stronger - and in possession of more territory - than when the wars began.
Youseff Ibrahim, the Egyptian-born veteran American journalist, recently wrote an open letter to Palestinians. It said in part: "The truth is the Palestine you could have had in 1948 is much bigger than the one you could have had in 1967, which in turn is much bigger than what you may have to settle for now or in another 10 years. Struggle means less land and more misery and utter loneliness."
But this is not what Hamas and Hezbollah are thinking.
July 12, 2006, 5:35PM
Top Hamas leader hurt in Israeli bombing
By THOMAS WAGNER and SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press Writers
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Hamas militant leader who has topped Israel's most-wanted list for a decade was badly wounded and underwent four hours of spinal surgery Wednesday after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike, security officials said.
The top fugitive, Mohammed Deif, could end up paralyzed, Palestinian security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his condition. Wednesday's blast marked the army's fourth attempt to kill Deif, held responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. In a 2002 missile strike, he lost an eye.
Nine members of one family were killed in Wednesday's airstrike, with an Israeli F-16 warplane dropping a quarter-ton bomb on a home in a crowded Gaza City neighborhood. The strike was by far the deadliest in Israel's 15-day military campaign in Gaza, launched after Hamas-allied militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier.
Israel's air force targeted the two-story house of Nabil Abu Salmiyeh, a Hamas activist and university lecturer, after getting intelligence information that the leaders of Hamas' military wing, responsible for the abduction of the soldier, were meeting there. Palestinian security officials said seven or eight top Hamas officials were present.
The blast wounded 37 people, three critically, said Health Minister Bassem Naim. Hospital officials said Raed Saad, a top Hamas operative, was among the wounded, but details of his condition weren't released.
Abu Salmiyeh, his wife, and seven of his nine children, ages 4-18, all died.
"I heard a really loud explosion and then I felt the ceiling fall on top of me. I was buried under the rubble," said Awad Abu Salmiyeh, 19, who along with an older brother was the only family member to survive.
The bombardment brought down the house and buried residents under the rubble. Rescue workers pulled out the body of a 4-year-old clad in a red T-shirt, whose head was blown open and whose lower body was torn off.
Hamas initially said its leaders had emerged safely from the 2:30 a.m. attack, but Palestinian security officials later said Deif and several other leading militants were hurt.
Hamas militants took over the intensive care unit at Gaza's Shifa Hospital on Wednesday. Several people were being treated, including some in critical condition, medical officials said. Black-uniformed Hamas gunmen stood guard. A large bearded man blocked people from entering, permitting only a team of doctors and top Hamas officials such as Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar to pass.
The guard angrily declined to say who was being treated.
Israeli officials accused the militants of using civilians as a shield by meeting in a private home.
"Israel is compelled to take action against those planning to unleash lethal terror attacks against Israeli citizens," said David Baker, an official in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Palestinian terrorist leaders continue to take refuge among and hide behind their own civilians."
Israel launched its military campaign after Palestinian militants captured the Israeli soldier June 25. Israel has rejected demands that it release hundreds of prisoners in exchange for the soldier and has instead stepped up its offensive in Gaza.
As the fighting entered its third week Wednesday, Israeli troops killed at least 14 other Palestinians in four separate incidents, including Israeli tank fire and a gunfight in the central Gaza Strip.
More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, most of them gunmen, but about a dozen have been civilians. One Israeli soldier also has died, shot by fellow troops.
Acting on behalf of Arab nations, Qatar circulated a revised draft U.N. Security Council resolution Wednesday demanding that Israel end its offensive in the Gaza Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.
The draft, amended to overcome concerns from the United States and France, now includes a direct demand for the release of the captured Israeli soldier and urges the Palestinians to stop firing rockets at Israel.
The Security Council has struggled for almost two weeks on how to respond to Israel's offensive in Gaza. An earlier draft from Qatar was rejected because several members of the council said it was too biased against Israel.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4043088.html
The Pali's have missed the finer nuance of electing Hamas. They no longer have plausible deniability. Kick them all into the Sinai and Jordan and then declare that future Pali acts of aggression will be treated as acts of war by Jordan and Egypt.
Its not just hatred of Israel or U.S. This is a war of Islam to convert the world. It is part of their religion. The Koran says fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them.(9:5)
AFP/File - Wed Jul 12, 7:07 PM ET Palestinians inspect a destroyed house in Gaza City. Israeli tanks and troops pushed a new offensive in the central Gaza Strip, killing 23 people, including nine members of the same family in an air strike on the home of a Hamas leader.(AFP/File/Mahmud Hams)
Smoke rises from an Israeli air raid that targeted a bridge, in the Zahrani region, on the Mediterranean coast, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Hezbollah fighters launched a raid into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, triggering an Israeli assault with warplanes, gunboats and ground troops in southern Lebanon to hunt for the captives. Seven Israeli soldiers, two Lebanese civilians and a guerrilla were killed in the violence. (AP Photo/
AP - Wed Jul 12, 1:32 PM ET Lebanese men inspect an ambulance that was damaged while driving past a bridge that was destroyed when Israeli jets targeted it in the Zahrani region, on the Mediterranean coast, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Hezbollah fighters launched a raid into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, triggering an Israeli assault with warplanes, gunboats and ground troops in southern Lebanon to hunt for the captives. Seven Israeli soldiers, two Lebanese civilians and a guerrilla were killed in the violence. (AP Photo/ Hussein Malla)
Lebanese soldiers look for an unexploded Israeli missile that landed under a bridge that was destroyed when Israeli jets targeted it in the Zahrani region, on the Mediterranean coast, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Hezbollah fighters launched a raid into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, triggering an Israeli assault with warplanes, gunboats and ground troops in southern Lebanon to hunt for the captives. Seven Israeli soldiers, two Lebanese civilians and a guerrilla were killed in the violence. (AP Photo/ Hussein Malla)
Israeli soldiers stand by a mobile artillery piece firing across the Lebanese frontier July 12, 2006. (Haim Azoulay/Reuters)
Palestinians observe the wreckage of a Hamas militant house in Gaza City, as Israeli aircraft carried out a double raid against the Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks and troops pushed a new offensive in the central Gaza Strip, killing 23 people, including nine members of the same family in an air strike on the home of a Hamas leader.(AFP/Thomas Coex)
AP - Wed Jul 12, 3:41 PM ET An Israeli artillery unit fires across the border into southern Lebanon from a position on the frontier in Zaura, northern Israel , Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Hezbollah fighters launched a raid into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, triggering an Israeli assault with warplanes, gunboats and ground troops in southern Lebanon to hunt for the captives. Seven Israeli soldiers and two Lebanese were killed in the violence. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Gaza: Foreign Ministry Strike Update
July 12, 2006 23 25 GMT
News reports from Gaza indicate that the Palestinian Foreign Ministry building has not been destroyed, but was heavily damaged, by an Israeli airstrike. The attack was a symbolic strike, coming during the night when the offices of Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar were not likely to be occupied.
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=269026
Roundup: Nine Palestinians killed in Israeli air raid in Gaza
An Israeli F-16 warplane demolished a three-storey house with a 250 kg bomb in northern Gaza City early Wednesday, killing nine members of a family and wounding 15 others, Palestinian medics and security sources said.
The targeted house in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood belongs to Nabil Abu Selmiya, a senior Hamas activist and a teacher at the Islamic University in Gaza City, sources said.
Selmiya was killed along with his wife and their seven children in the air strike, the sources added.
The medics at Gaza City's Shiffa Hospital confirmed that the hospital received nine bodies and 15 wounded people, three of them in critical conditions.
An Israeli army spokesman told Israel Radio that senior leaders of Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, armed wing of the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), were targeted.
Palestinian sources close to Hamas said that Mohamed al-Deif, top commander of al-Qassam Brigades, and his deputy Ahmed Ghandour, Ahmed Ja'bari and Ra'ed Sa'ed were in an adjacent house when the air raid happened.
The sources confirmed that Deif was injured in his two legs, but there was no danger to his life.
Meanwhile, al-Qassam Brigades' spokesman in Gaza Abu Obeida also confirmed that al-Deif and the other three leaders survived the airstrike.
"Al-Deif is fine. He is safe and not hurt," said Abu Obeida, "I doubt whether al-Deif was in the building that was hit."
Shortly before the F-16 jet struck the building, an Israeli pilotless drone fired a missile at a car with senior leaders of al- Qassam Brigades on board, security sources said.
But they managed to escape the airstrike on the car and entered a house before the second airstrike hit a nearby house.
Al-Deif has escaped several assassinations by Israel in the past few years.
Israel accused al-Deif of masterminding a series of bomb attacks against Israel.
Israel launched massive air and ground offensive into Gaza on June 28 to rescue an Israeli soldier, who was kidnapped by three Palestinian militant groups including the Hamas' armed wing.
Over 50 Palestinians including civilians have been killed in Israeli military operation dubbed "Summer Rain".
http://english.people.com.cn/200607/13/eng20060713_282443.html
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Hezbollah developed years ago as a reaction to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. At first Shiites over there were welcoming Isreali troops, but then got alienated by the clumsy policies.
Israel has nukes, use tem on Syria and get it over with. The Lebanese will keep their balls in their pants afterwards. They don't like the Syrians but they'll see what misbehaving can bring upon them. This will leave Iran. Iran will interfere and incur upon them the wrath of the US and its allies who are tied down by the UNSC and the need to be politically correct. Once IRan attacks Israel, all gloves are off and Iran's leadership will have brought upon them their own end. This will get China and Russia queezy and they'll back off from supporting N. Korea in its misadventures because they will clearly see American resolve.
Furthermore, I really don 't think the US must go down to managing Iran like it has in Iraq and Afghanista. Bomb them and let the locals take care of themselves. The Iranians are an industrious lot and they don't like their leaders. I think its cheaper to periodically bomb a rogue country than to go in to effect a regime change.
Of course you are not serious? It would be a political suicide.
Bomb them and let the locals take care of themselves. The Iranians are an industrious lot and they don't like their leaders.
These things are more tricky that some like to believe. Present Iranian regime is a result of spontaneous uprising against the shah. Before shah's dictatorship Iranians had secular government of Mossadeq.
Hamas and Hezbullah have decided to make a stand against Israel. Good for them. Israel now needs to make these cockroaches pay for a poor choice. In fact Israel needs to kill all of the cockroach Pali's and just be done with it.
This is what most Euros and Demonrats refuse to believe or even consider and they do so at their (and our) peril.
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