Saturday - July 29, 2006

Weekend Editorial

Steve Darnell takes a close look at what is going on inside Palestine. It’s about ignorance, children and hatred ... which is never a good combination.

Palestinian Ignorance
by Steve Darnell
_{July 29, 2006}

I was watching Fox News correspondent Dana Lewis reporting live from the Gaza Strip today.  As Lewis reported, young Palestinian children gleefully played in the streets behind him, while only a few blocks away, Hamas militants fought a running gun battle with Israeli troops.

Lewis reported that 50 Israeli tanks had rolled into northern Gaza early on Wednesday and that Israeli aircraft and artillery had fired on Palestinian militants, killing 14 persons, including a young girl.

Fox News online reports that “Eight of the 14 persons killed were suspected militants, including five from Hamas and three from Islamic Jihad.” Unfortunately this means that six of those killed were Palestinian civilians.

“This is a horrible situation, and we urge the international community to notice the continuing Israeli escalation in Gaza immediately,” Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat said. “I’m afraid these numbers are going to multiply if we continue to be the forgotten zone in this region.”

As Lewis reported live, ambulances sped past in the background, on their way to the gun battle to retrieve the wounded.  Or to rush armed militants to action, which is a typical Hamas and Hezbollah ploy.  All the while, Palestinian families calmly sat on their front porches watching the excitement unfold and watching their children run toward the gunfire.

It is unfortunate that six Palestinian civilians were killed and scores wounded in the Israeli attack.  It is also unfortunate that, as Mr. Erekat correctly predicts, “these numbers are going to multiply.” Past history shows that this will be the case.  But who is at fault here?  The Israelis or the Palestinians?  Hamas or the Israel Defense Forces?

Before the international press and those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, like Saeb Erekat, condemn Israel for the civilian deaths, a few important questions need to be asked.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/29/2006 at 11:02 AM   
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   Thursday - July 20, 2006

Air strikes, something the West does well

Victor Davis Hanson is always a good read. Now he says that the Islamofacists and paleswinians are pushing the West to the wall. Then what?

July 20, 2006
Patience is Wearing Thin
By Victor Davis Hanson

The conventional wisdom is that the United States is so tied down that it can’t do much about the rocket attacks on Israel, the blatant sponsorship of terrorists by Iran and Syria, or the Iranian nuclear program.

Oil prices are already sky-high. Any unilateral American action might disrupt tight global supplies. That would derail the economies of our Western allies and only further enrich enemies with windfall profits.

Trying to win hearts and minds for the fragile democracy in Iraq also means we can’t afford to offend Arab sensitivities elsewhere. And a lame-duck George Bush, low in the polls and facing uncertain congressional elections this fall, certainly doesn’t want to involve the American taxpayer with more costly commitments abroad.

But despite that sound conventional wisdom, an exasperated West is running out of choices in the Middle East.

Posted by Christopher     on 07/20/2006 at 06:59 PM   
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   Wednesday - July 19, 2006

Middle East Poll

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/19/2006 at 06:14 AM   
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   Tuesday - July 18, 2006

The Deal’s Off

_{Gary Varvel - The Indianapolis Star-News}

Ehud Olmert: We’ll Fight On Until Attacks End, Soldiers Returned
—(HAARETZ.COM) - July 18, 2006

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated his conditions for an end to the military operation in Lebanon on Monday evening, saying that only when those three demands are met will Israel consider a cease-fire.

In his first public address since the start of Israel’s offensive in Lebanon last week, Olmert said a cease-fire would first require the return of the two soldiers whose abduction sparked the current conflict, an end to Hezbollah rocket attacks and the deployment of the Lebanese army along the shared border.

“Citizens of Israel, there are moments in the life of a nation, when it is compelled to look directly into the face of reality and say: no more,” he said. “And I say to everyone: no more. Israel will not be held hostage - not by terror gangs or by a terrorist authority or by any sovereign state,”

“There is nothing we want more than peace on all of our borders,” Olmert told the Knesset. But he said, “Israel will not agree to live with rockets fired on its citizens, he added. “Only a nation that can protect its freedom deserves it,” he stated.

Olmert said that Israel held the Lebanese government responsible for the abductions of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev last Wednesday, even if the government itself was not directly behind the kidnappings.

The prime minister also drew a parallel between the current operations in Gaza and Lebanon, saying that Israel was acting in self-defense on both fronts. Three weeks ago, Corporal Gilad Shalit was snatched from his base close to the Gaza border and has been held by Palestinian militants since.

He said that Israel has “no territorial dispute with our southern neighbors or our northern neighbors,” but warned that while “Israel did not ask for this confrontation,” it would “continue to fight with full force to stop terror” on both fronts.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/18/2006 at 12:14 AM   
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   Monday - July 17, 2006

Quote Of The Day

“What they need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit.”

-- President Bush to Tony Blair, at G8 conference July 17

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/17/2006 at 08:33 AM   
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   Wednesday - July 12, 2006

Powder Keg

They didn’t learn their lesson in 1948. They still hadn’t been able to get a clue even after 1956, 1967 or 1973. Now they’re back at it again. Hamas, Hizbollah, Al Aqsa, Ali Baba and all the rest of the neolithic barbarians are pounding on Israel’s doors all over again. Every time they do this, they lose more land, people and credibility. Why do they persist? Because they’re freaking stupid.

Capturing an Israeli soldier just outside Gaza wasn’t enough. They just started launching rockets from within the West Bank and now terrorist groups have made incursions across the border with Lebanon, capturing two more Israeli soldiers. Of course, Iran and Syria are backing all this from behind the scenes. That’s a given. What can the US do? Probably not much for the time being, however the Sixth Fleet might just decide to wander across the Mediterranean and stand by just in case. This powder keg is going to blow wide open any day now. Stay tuned ...

Israel Calls Hizbollah Capture
Of Soldiers Act Of War
_{Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:51am ET10}

QASMIYEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed up to seven Israelis on Wednesday, in what Israel described as an act of war by Lebanon that would draw a “very painful” response. Israel mobilized a reserve infantry division and Hizbollah declared an all-out military alert.

Two Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a coastal bridge at Qasmiyeh. Four other bridges in the south were hit and five Lebanese were wounded, security sources said. The sources said the Israeli soldiers had been seized at around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) across the border from Aita al-Shaab, some 15 km (nine miles) from the Mediterranean coast.

The Israeli army confirmed that two Israeli soldiers had been captured on the Lebanese frontier. Israeli ground forces crossed into Lebanon to hunt for the missing soldiers, Israeli Army Radio said. Hizbollah and the Lebanese authorities said there was no major incursion.

Traffic was thin on roads in the south amid sporadic Israeli shelling of border areas. An Israeli rocket hit a car carrying a crew from Lebanese New Television, wounding all three. Israeli troops have not struck deep into Lebanon since they withdrew from a southern border strip in 2000 after Hizbollah’s Shi’ite fighters waged an 18-year war of attrition against them.

“It is an act of war by the state of Lebanon against the state of Israel in its sovereign territory,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said of Hizbollah’s action, threatening a “very painful and far-reaching” response. Israel is already engaged in an expanding military offensive in the Gaza Strip launched after Palestinian militants captured a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.

“Fulfilling its pledge to liberate the (Arab) prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance ... captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine,” the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbollah said in a statement. “The two captives were transferred to a safe place,” it said, without stating what condition the captives were in.

A Lebanese political source said Hizbollah was willing to discuss swapping them for prisoners held in Israel. A Hizbollah spokesman refused comment. The group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, called a news conference for 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). In 2004 Hizbollah exchanged a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli troops for more than 420 Arab prisoners. Israel now holds at least three Lebanese prisoners.

Hizbollah said it had destroyed an Israeli tank that had entered Lebanon. Al Jazeera television said a total of seven Israelis had been killed in Wednesday’s border violence. Olmert called a special cabinet session for 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) to discuss further military action.

- More on the expanding conflict from Reuters ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/12/2006 at 11:28 AM   
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   Monday - July 10, 2006

Worshiping Evil

“Adolf Hitler was not an ordinary man to be [forgotten] by the wheels of time… Adolf Hitler does not belong to the German people alone, he is one of the few great men who almost stopped the motion of history, altered its course, and changed the face of the world. Hence, he belongs to history.”

-- Luis Al-Haj, translator of the book in the preface to the 1995 edition

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/10/2006 at 04:09 PM   
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   Saturday - July 08, 2006

Grinding Away In Gaza

Palestinian leader to Israel: “Please, let’s have a cease-fire so we can learn to get along.”

Israeli leader to Palestine: “That’s what you said last time - and the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that, and - never mind ... here come some more tanks.”

It never fails. The Pallies strike at Israel and run away. Israel retaliates, hunts them down and kicks their butt. Then the Pallies call for a cease-fire - during which time they regroup, lick their wounds and plan the next attack. This time Israel is having none of it.

I urge Israel to keep hammering Hamas and the Pallies as long as it takes to get Cpl. Shalit back ... even if it means smashing every building in Gaza and pushing the Paleosimians into the sea. Then and only then might there be a real cease-fire.

Palestinian PM Urges Cease-Fire
_{Saturday, 8 July 2006, 13:37 GMT 14:37 UK}

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has called for an end to all military operations by both the Palestinians and Israel. A statement from his office said the only way out of the current crisis was for all parties to restore calm through a mutual cessation of hostilities.

But Israeli PM Ehud Olmert rejected the offer, saying militants should free a captured Israeli soldier first. Earlier Israel said its troops had left their positions in northern Gaza. Dozens of Palestinians and an Israeli died in two days of fighting there.

The military operations began after an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, was seized two weeks ago. Israeli forces remain in southern Gaza, as well as east of Gaza City, where they clashed with gunmen on Saturday.

“In order to get out of the current crisis, it is necessary that all parties restore calm on the basis of mutually stopping all military operations,” Mr Haniya said in a statement released by his office in Gaza.

His Hamas-led government also urged Israel to open negotiations over the fate of Cpl Shalit. But officials in Mr Olmert’s office said he would not agree to a truce unless Hamas first released Cpl Shalit. The Israeli army says all of the forces that entered northern Gaza late on Wednesday have left the town of Beit Lahiya and are now back in Israel.

The BBC’s Wyre Davies in Gaza City says the withdrawal is significant, because the areas has been the scene of heavy fighting. Our correspondent adds that it is not clear why Israel has decided to leave now, but that it should ease tensions. This leaves Israeli forces in the southern Gaza strip, as well east of Gaza City.

The latter area was the scene of the latest Israeli operation early on Saturday. Troops, backed by helicopter gunships, moved on the eastern outskirts of Beit Hanoun and the main commercial crossing at Karni. The area is a Hamas stronghold, and three Palestinians are reported to have died in the fighting.

- More on this story from the BBC ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/08/2006 at 10:08 AM   
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   Sunday - July 02, 2006

Gaza Update

Lessons For The Day: When dealing with terrorists, (1) never try to negotiate with them until you have beaten the crap out of them, (2) don’t believe a thing they say, (3) ignore any media campaigns they mount to gain sympathy, (4) keep pounding on their pointy little heads until they decide to cooperate, (5) repeat step 4 as many times as necessary. Got all that? Good! President Bush understands that. So do the Israelis. Sometimes I wonder if anyone else in the entire freaking world understands it.

The Pallies (who have to hide their faces in the picture below because they are miserable, low-life retards who know their criminal acts will get them hung or shot if they are ever captured), are feeling the full wrath of the Israelis and are starting to get the point. It appears they are now ready to negotiate. I might add that this willingness to negotiate comes only after they have been pounded mercilessly for nearly a week. This is because they have thick skulls with no brains inside.

Palestine ‘Ready To Trade’ Captured Israeli Soldier
Negotiators ‘near deal’ in secret talks as Israel launches helicopter strike on Palestinian leader’s HQ
_{(GUARDIAN - UK) - Sunday July 2, 2006}

Palestinian militant sources claimed last night that they were close to reaching an agreement in negotiations over the release of an Israeli soldier. They want a guarantee that Israel will free prisoners at a future date in return for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit.

Palestinians say they accept that Israel will not free any prisoners immediately, but insist they will give up the 19-year-old soldier only in return for a commitment for a future release.

Because they have no confidence in Israeli assurances, they stipulate that it must make a commitment to a third party such as Egypt. Israel would also be expected to end its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Deputy Minister of Prisoner Affairs said Shalit had minor injuries but was in a stable condition. Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, Ziad Abu Aen cited ‘mediators’ as telling him that Shalit, captured during a raid into Israel by militants last Sunday, had three wounds: ‘I guess shrapnel wounds.’

The news came as an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at the Gaza City office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Yesterday the three groups holding Shalit said they would free him if Israel released 1,000 Palestinian women, children and humanitarian cases from prison. Mark Regev, of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, rejected the demand, saying that Israel would make no deals.

There has been energetic diplomacy to prevent the situation descending into a bloodbath. Ghazi Hamed, spokesman for the Hamas government, said Egypt, Turkey and other governments were mediating and making progress. ‘Israel says it will not agree to a simultaneous release, but it will agree to release prisoners in the future. We are looking for a third party, possibly Egypt, to accept a guarantee from Israel that it will respect that they will release prisoners at a later date,’ he said.

However, Walid Awad, a spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, said ‘immense Egyptian efforts’ to resolve the crisis were being thwarted by Israeli intransigence and the inability of the Hamas government to exercise any influence on its military wing. ‘Ismail Haniyeh, the current Prime Minister, appears not to have any say in what is going on in this regard,’ he said.

- More on this breaking story at the Guardian ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/02/2006 at 11:06 AM   
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What Goes Around …

Everyone knows that “what goes around - comes around.” In other words, there are no free lunches.  You reap what you sow. If any of you remember 1973-1974 and what it was like here in the US when the Arabs cut off the fuel supply as retaliation for the Israelis kicking their butt in the Yom Kippur War, then you can see the irony when the same weapon is turned against the Middle Eastern Madmen.

The Israelis are gradually tightening the noose around the Paleosimians, destroying their power station in Gaza and now cutting off their fuel supplies. The Pallies emergency generators (donated, no doubt, by generous Americans and Europeans) are about to run out of fuel and this spells disaster. The report below talks about babies dying in hospitals. Even worse, the Pallies don’t have power to watch the World Cup on TV. Ain’t that a shame ... ?

Fuel Supplies in Gaza Drying Up
_{July 1, 2006, 4:36 PM EDT}

BUREIJ, Gaza Strip (AP)—Ramadan Abu Hujeir’s gas station was one of the few businesses bustling in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Lines of cars, tractors and people waving jerry cans spilled out into the road waiting to get some of the last drops of gasoline in Gaza.

Local officials and aid workers worry that the fuel shortage will stop more than Gaza’s cars. They fear that its hospitals will lose power and its water pumping stations will grind to a halt.

The water company and hospitals have had to rely on generators for an uninterrupted power supply since an Israeli airstrike destroyed Gaza’s only power plant Tuesday night as part of an offensive to pressure militants to release an abducted soldier.

Israel also sealed Gaza’s cargo terminal and turned off the gasoline pipeline feeding Gaza, and the supply of fuel for the generators has rapidly dwindled. Eissa Daher, the acting mayor of Jebaliya in northern Gaza, said there was enough gas to pump and treat water for between three and seven days.

”If we don’t get a new supply, it will be an environmental disaster,” he said. Hospitals, which stocked up on fuel before the offensive, said they did not count on having to run on generator power for 18 hours a day. Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the main hospital in the territory, has seven to 10 days of fuel left, said Dr. Jumaa al-Sakka, a hospital administrator.

“If the fuel runs out, people in intensive care units and babies in incubators will immediately die,” he said. The Israeli army said Saturday that Israel had increased the supply of electricity it provides to Gaza to make up for the power plant it hit and would work to allow food and fuel to enter in the coming days.

At a news conference Saturday night, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his government is consulting with experts about the electricity shortages. He also said, “I hope to be able to bring fuel and food in because there is a famine happening right now, and what is to come maybe more dangerous, bigger and vicious.”

The fuel crisis has created tense scenes at several gas stations. Hundreds of people jammed one station in Gaza City on Saturday, crowding the gas pumps to try to fill their containers. Policemen intervened to guard the pumps and to limit purchases to 2 1/2 gallons per customer. The crowd at Abu Hujeir’s station in the small town of Bureij pushed and shoved to get near the gas pump.

“I can’t close down until it is all finished,” Abu Hujeir said, watching the rowdy crowd over his shoulder. His 390 gallons ran out in an hour, but the people lingered hoping more fuel would appear. “God knows what we will do next,” said Emad al-Nabahein, a Bureij farmer, who turned up with a one-gallon container to feed a water pump he shares with his cousin. He lashed out at the Palestinian government for not storing fuel in anticipation of Israel’s offensive.

No food or water crisis is yet apparent in Gaza, though many residents complain of having to walk up long flights of stairs and live without refrigerators during the sizzling summer days. Towns are providing electricity to different neighborhoods for about six hours a day, but some Jebaliya residents said they spent the whole day without power or water.

Khairiya Nasr, a 45-year-old mother of five, said she and her children “slept” through Friday. By Saturday morning, power and water had come back on. “We were very happy,” she said, adding that now she can shower. Samir Muhanna, 17, said the rolling blackouts made it a challenge for him and his friends to watch the World Cup quarter finals. “We went to four different houses to look for somewhere with electricity,” he said. “Finally, we found a store with power and we turned his set to the match. More than 70 people turned up after us.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/02/2006 at 09:57 AM   
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   Saturday - July 01, 2006

Edging Up To The Abyss

The time has come, the walrus said ... to speak of complete and total annihilation. The Jews and Paleosimians have edged up to the abyss and are gazing down into the depths. There is no backing down now. The Israelis are determined this time to make a statement. The Hamas scumbags don’t have a single clue as to what is about to happen. They have been blinded by their hatred and are crawling up to the edge of the abyss as fast as they can. With any luck the end game is near, as reported by The Australian ....

Israel last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed. The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.

It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza. Hamas’s Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding. But last night’s direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.

The bid to free Corporal Shalit was brokered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who last night warned Hamas it faced severe consequences if it did not curb its “extreme stance” and described the growing conflict as a lightning rod for Palestinian vengeance.

A Hamas spokesman said the group would never recognise Israel, in spite of a deal its leaders signed this week offering implicit recognition of the Jewish state in return for easing an economic blockade.

Israeli fighter jets bombed 20 targets in Gaza, including the Interior Ministry, which it said had been used by militants to stage meetings, while artillery hit the northern strip with 500 shells in the 24 hours until yesterday morning.

Jewish settler Eliyahu Asheri, who was murdered by militants this week, was buried on Thursday as leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees pledged to seize more hostages in the West Bank. No further word has emerged about another suspected Jewish hostage, Noach Moskowitz, who Israeli police said was found dead hours after Mr Asheri’s remains were found.

Much of Gaza, including two main hospitals, was without power and running water as a UN aid chief warned that the 1.4 million residents of the strip were three days away from a humanitarian crisis. “They are heading for the abyss unless they get electricity and fuel restored,” said emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland, who urged militants to free Corporal Shalit and stop firing rockets into Israel.

Residents complain that sonic booms caused by Israeli jets traumatise children and that shelling confines families to their homes. The arrested Hamas legislators have been sent to security prisons and many will stand trial on terrorism offences. The detentions have hurt Hamas’s already limited ability to govern and are likely to force a regime change.

Israel claims it has intelligence about the area where Corporal Shalit is held, but has been unable to pinpoint the exact location. Mr Olmert said the military would leave the strip if he was unconditionally and safely returned.

Egypt and the neighbouring Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon fear a war between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to uprisings within their own borders, which house many Palestinian refugees.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/01/2006 at 11:19 AM   
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   Thursday - June 29, 2006

Schlock And Awe

Gaza: in a ragged strip of land 28 miles long and 7 miles wide there live 1.4 million deranged creatures who can best be described as the pond scum in the human gene pool. They inhabit an area about twice the size of Washington, DC. No other country wants them, including Arab countries. They contribute absolutely nothing to human society except violence, bloodshed, hatred and conflict. They cannot support themselves and are an economic drain on the rest of the world. What little money they can beg and borrow from other countries is mostly spent on bombs, rockets and guns while the majority of the population is left to live in poverty and starvation by their leaders. They claim to be victims. That is the biggest lie in human history.

The humane thing to do would be for Israel to line up the bulldozers and tanks and slowly push them into the sea. It would not be genocide but rather euthanasia - putting them out of our misery. Do I shock you with that solution? Don’t worry. It shocks me too. It shocks me that the world has allowed the situation to come down to this. It bothers me that I would even contemplate such an act. Then I think - “what if the situation were reversed”? What if the Palestinians held most of the land with a large army and the Israelis were trying to survive in Gaza. What do you think would happen then?

If you guessed that the Jews would be swimming with the fishes, you are entirely correct. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. For nearly sixty years, the Arab states in the region surrounding Israel have tried to do exactly that. They have never tried to hide their intentions in that regard. War after war and an unending wave of suicide bombers have made it abundantly clear.

So what’s to stop the Israelis from drowning the Palestinian rats and fumigating the countryside? Humanity. Decency. Compassion. All things that their enemies have never shown them. When will it end? The sad answer is that it will never end ... until one group or the other is drowning in the sea. Let’s hope there’s a lifeguard on duty somewhere ...

Israel Keeps Up Pressure On Gaza
Palestinian officials held; settler’s body found
_{Thursday, June 29, 2006 4:57 a.m. EDT (08:57 GMT)}

JERUSALEM (CNN)—Striking from the air, land and the sea, Israeli forces Thursday fired on Gaza in the midst of intensified clashes with Palestinian militants who have been holding an Israeli soldier captive for four days, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Israel’s navy pounded northern Gaza, firing from the eastern Mediterranean Sea, while Israeli aircraft hit targets in the north and the south. IDF tanks joined in the barrage. The strikes came as Israeli security forces overnight arrested 64 Palestinians in the West Bank, suspected of being involved in terrorist activities, the Israeli army said.

Palestinian sources said those arrested included dozens of lawmakers from the ruling Palestinian party Hamas. Those arrested were not taken into custody as a bargaining chip for Cpl. Gilad Shalit’s release, the army said. The raids came amid word that a body found early Thursday near Ramallah was that of Eliyahu Yitzhak Asheri, 18, a West Bank settler seized by Palestinian militants hours after Shalit was kidnapped early Sunday, Israeli security sources.

The troops moved back into Gaza early Wednesday, and the operation continued Thursday with Israeli aircraft hitting targets in Khan Yunis in the south and in Gaza City to the north. Israeli intelligence indicates Shalit is being held in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. IDF distributed fliers in Beit Hanoun, Khan Yunis and the Sajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, warning that the Israeli army is operating in the area for an unknown period of time in order to bring Shalit home.

Israeli tanks could be seen firing into the area as dusk fell. An Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis targeted what the Israeli military said was a storehouse for Qassam rockets. Israeli warplanes have knocked out bridges connecting northern and southern Gaza and destroyed a power station in an effort to prevent militants from moving the captured soldier outside southern Gaza, according to the IDF.

Wednesday evening, Israeli jets buzzed the home of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Ladekye, outside Damascus. Israeli television reported that the president was at home at the time. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres complained that Syria allowed the exiled Hamas political leader Khalid Meshaal—operating out of Damascus—to order the kidnapping of the Israeli corporal. The flyover was seen as an attempt to bring pressure on al-Assad to rein in Meshaal.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/29/2006 at 05:05 AM   
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   Tuesday - June 27, 2006

Countdown To Whup-Ass

• 04:43AM GMT - Israel says give us our soldier back or these nice tanks are going to flatten your ass.


• 5:24PM GMT - Palestinian primie minister panics and trys to stall saying Hamas has agreed to recognize Israel.


• 7:30PM GMT - Hamas says, “Nuh-unh, no way! We ain’t recognizing no evil Jooz! Stuff it!”


• Later this evening - Israel says ....

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli planes attacked a bridge in central Gaza late Tuesday, Israel Radio reported, and Israeli tanks were said to be on the move, possibly signaling the start of a military operation.

Palestinian security forces said Israeli tanks were moving near the Israeli village of Nahal Oz, a main Israeli staging area just outside Gaza, but that they had not yet entered Gaza.

In the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, not far from the border fence, armed militants took up positions across from the blaring headlights of Israeli vehicles, and Israeli attack helicopters hovered overhead. The militants told residents to leave the area.

Israeli military officials said a limited operation has been authorized for southern Gaza, aimed at “terrorist infrastructure.” The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/27/2006 at 03:55 PM   
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Showdown!

Memo To Paleosimians: The Israelis aren’t kidding this time. I’m afraid you have finally crossed the line in the sand with this ridiculous tunnel and raid that killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped a third. If Corporal Shalit is not returned promptly, unharmed, without a scratch on him then you might be able to talk your way out of this mess. Otherwise there will be a sound like thunder as the tanks roll across the desert and all over your miserable ass. I can’t put it any clearer than that.

I truly don’t believe the Israeli government can afford to back down on this one. The Paleosimians have been ankle-biting the Israelis for too long and this latest act has enraged the Jews. What we’re about to see is going to be Old Testament “wrath of God” type stuff unless the Pallies come clean and back off. I can’t say I blame the Israelis for finally having enough of these dimwitted asshats. It is time to send a clear message to the Pallies. An eye for an eye ... and then some.

Israel Masses Forces Near Gaza
_{January 27, 2006 08:20AM ET}

NIZMIT HILL, Israel (Reuters) - Israeli tanks and troops massed near Gaza on Tuesday for a threatened offensive against Palestinian militants as the government said it would target Hamas leaders if an abducted soldier was not freed.

In northern Gaza, Palestinians blocked roads with dirt and barbed wire. Militants wielding automatic rifles and anti-tank rockets rigged explosive devices along a road as tensions hit their highest since Israel quit Gaza nearly a year ago.

The United States urged Israel to give diplomatic negotiations a chance to win the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized on Sunday by militants who also killed two soldiers in a raid on a military border post.

Israel said leaders of the ruling Hamas movement could become assassination targets, including the group’s supreme chief Khaled Meshaal who lives in exile in Damascus. Hamas’s armed wing says it carried out Sunday’s attack with other factions but has not said it was holding Shalit.

“They have to understand one thing, that nobody is immune, including Khaled Meshaal,” cabinet minister and former general Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said on Army Radio. Clutching an AK-47 assault rifle, Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, warned: “The enemy will regret the moment they raid Gaza. The price will be so heavy.”

At Nizmit Hill, just across from northern Gaza, around 100 Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers faced the coastal strip. Officials have not said when troops might go in. Israeli media said the government had approved a contingency plan to cut food, water and gas supplies to the
Gaza Strip if the conscript was not freed. Israel has shut Gaza’s crossings.

Hamas’s armed wing and the other factions involved in the raid, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic Army, have said Israel would not get information about Shalit unless it freed all jailed Palestinian women and youths. Israel has rejected the demand.

- More on this story at Yahoo News ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/27/2006 at 09:14 AM   
Filed Under: • Paleswine •  
• Comments (11) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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