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 For many Palestinians, Khaled Meshaal is a national hero
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Posted on 06/28/2006 12:25:31 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Israel has accused the Syrian-based leadership of Hamas of being behind the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Cpl Gilad Shalit.
The Hamas leader in exile is Khaled Meshaal, a hardliner within the militant group, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt on his life back in 1997.
For many Palestinians, Khaled Meshaal is a national hero
The Israelis frequently accuse Damascus and militant Palestinian groups based there of orchestrating violence against them.
For the Israelis and the Americans, Khaled Meshaal is an uncompromising enemy of peace and the state of Israel.
For many Palestinians, he is a national hero, just like the guerrillas who kidnapped the Israeli soldier.
It is difficult to know whether orders did in fact go out from Mr Meshaal's office in Damascus.
The Israelis have not made public any evidence they have of such involvement.
But Mr Meshaal's views are well-known, and he has always supported Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Like many Palestinians, he believes that such attacks are a legitimate act of resisting the Israeli occupation.
Expelled by Jordan
Mr Meshaal gained international fame following an attempt by Israeli agents to poison him when he lived in Jordan back in 1997.
The Israelis accused him then of masterminding suicide attacks on Israeli civilians.
Two years later, Jordan bowed to American pressure and expelled him.
After a brief stay in the Gulf, he moved to Damascus.
When the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, was killed by the Israelis in 2004, Mr Meshaal was chosen as the head of Hamas's political bureau.
National unity
The organisation's secretive structure means the extent of his authority over the Gaza hierarchy and the organisation's militant wing is not entirely clear.
But there seems to be an emerging consensus among Palestinian factions that attacks on Israelis are justifiable as long as that they do not target Israeli civilians inside Israel.
The recent document of national unity adopted by the two main factions, Fatah and Hamas, endorses attacks on Israelis as long as they take place within the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.
That is the land the Palestinians want to have as a future state.
Hamas has, of course, still not renounced its aim of creating a state on all the territories of historic Palestine prior to the creation of Israel, which in effect means destroying the Jewish state.
Posted on 06/28/2006 10:22:16 AM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Bookmark
22:20 Mass brawl breaks out between Hamas, Fatah prisoners at Megiddo prison (Itim)
- Frankie "Five Angels" Pantangelli, alleged Boss of the Corleone Crime Family's NYC operation
JERUSALEM (AP) -
Israeli warplanes buzzed the summer residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad early Wednesday, military officials said, in a message aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.
The officials said on condition of anonymity that the fighter jets flew over Assad's palace in a low-altitude overnight raid near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved, and Assad was home at the time.
The flight caused "noise" on the ground, the military officials said on condition of anonymity, according to military guidelines.
The officials said Assad was targeted because of the "direct link" between Syria and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group holding Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, in the Gaza Strip. Syria hosts Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' exiled supreme leader.
There was no immediate reaction from Syria. Assad was in Damascus later Wednesday, meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Jordan Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit.
Israel also bombed Hamas targets in Gaza, knocking out electricity and water supplies for most of its 1.3 million residents. Three bridges also were destroyed to keep militants from moving Shalit.
The Hamas-led Palestinian government and the militants holding Shalit called for a prisoner swap with Israel, saying the Gaza offensive would not secure the soldier's release.
Israel has refused to negotiate.
The flyover was the second time Israel has buzzed Assad's summer palace. In August 2003, warplanes reportedly flew so low that windows in the palace shattered. At the time, Israel said the flyover was aimed at pressuring Assad to dismantle Palestinian militant groups based in his country.
In October 2003, an Israeli warplanes bombed an Islamic Jihad training base deep in Syria. It was the first attack on Syrian soil in more than two decades.
The airstrike followed a suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad that killed 19 Israelis in a restaurant.
Hamas in quandary over Israeli soldier ~ Great picture
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| Olmert meets with Netanyahu; Likud pledges full support for PM (Haaretz) | |
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| 21:25 | Iranian FM warns at UN of Israeli nuclear threat (Reuters) |
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| 21:00 | Washington: Israel has a right to defend itself and the lives of its citizens (AP) |
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| 20:57 | IDF troops on alert on northern border in wake of IAF flyover in Syria (Ch. 10) |
The phone lines must be ablaze from Washington to Moscow.
It's going to be bad if the abducted soldier is killed; Israel may have no choice but to drive the Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt if these settlers are killed, too.
Something tells me Ahmadinejad will broker their release and parrot himself as some sort of peace-maker.
The president's house is sea-side according to the story. What sea is Damascus on?
Damacus is inland, ..
Syria has a beach on the Med Sea.
*********************************************** Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, right, meets Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Teheran. [file] Photo: Associated Press [file]
Israel Warplanes Buzz Syria ^
Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach to redgolum; Fitzcarraldo
On News/Activism ^ 06/28/2006 12:11:35 PM PDT · 230 of 236 ^
I don't like this...Posted on the other thread by Fitzcarraldo.
'I'm not leaving Damascus with this bull's eye on my back!'
Not just any old planes were used but "WAR" planes (in case
you didn't get the intended message)
A small part of Syria borders on the Med, north of Lebanon and south of Turkey. Aleppo is the largest Syrian city on the coast.
I hope they were fifteens and they flew low enough to blow out some windows!
They should have crashed the sound barrier over the presidential palace,
I agree. If he decides it's not worth the gamble, he'll make himself a white knight and have them released.
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