Israel and Hamas violence spikes on Gaza border By Nidal al-Mughrabi FEB 27,08
GAZA (Reuters) - A rocket launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip killed a man in Israel on Wednesday, the first such fatality in nine months, after Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants and four civilians in the territory. The rocket attack, claimed by Hamas, seemed certain to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order tougher Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip which might include a widescale ground operation.Mounting violence could complicate peace talks between Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority which the United States hopes can lead to a statehood deal this year.The Hamas terror endangers not only the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, but also the peace and stability of the entire region, Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement which called rocket salvoes a war crime.
Earlier, five senior members of Hamas were killed when the van in which they were traveling was attacked from the air near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, medical officials said.Local residents who knew the men said some had undergone training in Syria or Iran and returned home after Hamas breached Gaza's border with Egypt last month in defiance of an Israeli blockade of the territory.Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, denied they had traveled outside Gaza, whose border with Egypt has been resealed.
ROCKET SALVOES
Hamas, which seized Gaza in June, struck back by firing more than 30rockets at southern Israel. Four Palestinian civilians -- two men and two youths, according to medics -- died in Israeli air strikes near launch sites in northern Gaza.The Israeli fatality was identified as a 47-year-old man who was visiting a college in Sderot, a town near Gaza's border.No one had been killed in Israel by a Palestinian rocket strike since May 2007. Such attacks are launched almost daily from Gaza, which Israeli soldiers and settlers quit in 2005.The (rocket) bombardment came in response to the Zionist massacre committed this morning in Khan Younis which led to the martyrdom of five of our best fighters, a Hamas statement said.A militant from the Islamic Jihad group was killed in a separate air attack east of Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, medical workers said.Hamas says attacks from Gaza, including rockets fired by its own militants and others, are a response to Israeli military operations in the territory and the occupied West Bank.They would end if Israel stopped all such military activity and lifted its blockade, Hamas says.In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli undercover forces killed one militant and wounded and detained four others, a Palestinian official said.
The men had been confined to a Palestinian security headquarters as part of an Israeli amnesty for militants affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, but had left the compound, a Palestinian official said.Israel's Shin Bet security service said the Nablus militants were suspected of planning to carry out a suicide bombing. (Additional reporting by Atef Sa'ad and Labib Nasir in Nablus and Ari Rabinovitch and Avida Landau in Jerusalem, Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Robert Woodward)
Israeli PM say Iran can be stopped from getting nuclear capacity by Patrick Anidjar
TOKYO, Feb 27, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday it was possible to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapons capacity as he praised what he called Japan's firm stance towards Tehran. Olmert told reporters accompanying him on a rare trip to Japan that Iran was putting substantial energy into developing a non-conventional capacity.It is still possible to stop them. It's not too late. There is still time. But it is not unlimited. It's a matter of no more than a few months, he said.
Western powers are currently stepping up efforts to impose a third set of UN Security Council sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, to punish its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a potential weapons-making process.Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed only at generating atomic energy.Olmert, the first Israeli premier to visit Tokyo in 11 years, has met with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Emperor Akihito on a trip primarily aimed at boosting tepid trade ties.He signed a deal pledging to work to boost commerce between the two countries, including through cooperation in science and technology.According to Olmert, the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear activities released Friday had, in Israel's eyes, played down the seriousness of the problem.International efforts must be stepped up, he said.I hope that soon, in the coming days, the UN Security Council will adopt a third course of sanctions against Iran and that certain states will adopt their own sanctions in order to limit the activities of this country in the nuclear arena, he said.Top officials of the council's five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany on Wednesday discussed the IAEA report in Washington and the next steps at the UN panel.The UN atomic watchdog said it could still not confirm if the Iranian atomic drive was peaceful, prompting the United States and its European allies to push for new sanctions.Olmert said Iran and the issue of nuclear proliferation had an important role in his discussions with Japan's leaders.
We are in agreement on the need to act on the Iranian front and on that of North Korea. The position of Japan is clear on this point, he said.The Asian economic giant, which has virtually no natural energy resources, has long maintained close commercial and political ties with Arab nations and Iran, which counts on Japan as the top customer for its oil.But Japan, the only nation to have suffered atomic attack, has taken an increasingly critical stance on Iran's nuclear drive. In 2006, Japan pulled out of a project to develop Iran's largest online oilfield.I thanked the prime minister for his support for the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Olmert said after talks with his counterpart Yasuo Fukuda.I also express my appreciation for Japan's firm stance against Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and its contribution to the global campaign against nuclear proliferation, he told a joint press appearance. Japan has been seeking a greater role in the Middle East in line with its aspirations for more global influence. The country is funding a project to build an agro-industrial park in the West Bank in a bid to create jobs in the ailing Palestinian economy. Japan will give the utmost support to achieve peace in the Middle East, Fukuda told reporters. A joint statement said the two countries reaffirmed that the solution of the Arab-Israel conflict will contribute to achieving stability and prosperity in the Middle East.Olmert was expected to have spoken with Fukuda about the joint dangers of Iran and North Korea, the arch-enemies of Israel and Japan, respectively. A Japanese newspaper had said Tuesday that Olmert would share intelligence photos purporting to show military cooperation between the Islamic republic and communist state. Olmert said on Thursday morning he would meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is currently on a three-nation regional tour. He will be back in Israel on Friday.
Rice to visit Mideast next week: State Dept FEB 27,08
WASHINGTON, Feb 27, 2008 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on a trip starting March 3, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Wednesday. Next week, from March 3 to 7, Secretary Rice will be traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as continuing on to attend the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, Casey said.In Israel and the Palestinian territories she will meet with officials from both sides and obviously this is part of the follow-up to the Annapolis process for Middle East peace initiated by President George W. Bush, he said.I'm sure she'll get a good sense there from the parties as to the state of play in their discussions and negotiations and cover a variety of other bilateral issues as well.At the summit hosted by Bush in the US city of Annapolis in November, the Israelis and Palestinians set a target of reaching a two-state peace settlement by the end of 2008.
Casey's statement followed reports Wednesday of a spate of violence across the Gaza Strip. Ten Palestinians including at least six militants were killed in Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rockets killed an Israeli.We condemn as we always do these kinds of unprovoked attacks on innocent civilians, Casey said, referring to that rocket attack.Despite the attacks he expressed confidence that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were committed to pressing on with the drive for a settlement this year.That is an ambitious timetable but it's one that they continue to hold to and we continue to support their efforts to do so, Casey said.At next week's NATO meeting, there will be a number of topics under discussion, including I am sure the situation in Kosovo as well as NATO's mission in Afghanistan and the desire ... to meet the criteria and meet the demand for additional forces there.The meeting of NATO ministers will prepare the ground for a summit of NATO heads of state scheduled for April in Bucharest.
