ITS ABOUT TIME A STORY CAME OUT HOW THE COWARDS HAMAS HIDE BEHIND WOMEN,CHILDREN,MOSQUES. THESE ARE REALLY HEROS EARNING 72 VIRGINS IN 72 BEDS IN PARADISE! WOULD ANYONE FROM ISLAM AGREE. A WAR & MURDER & SEX FOR SALVATION CULT LIKE HAMAS AND RADICAL ISLAM IS NOT WORTH ANYTHING AT ALL.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Hamas slammed for monstrous use of civilians
Reports emerging of women, children placed in line of Israeli fire January 22, 2009
2:14 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
HERZLIYA, Israel – In the aftermath of Israel's three-week offensive targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, reports are emerging of how the terrorists used civilians during the conflict. Entire families in Gaza lived on top of a barrel of explosives for months without knowing, stated Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg.
Eisenberg charged Hamas sent civilians, including women and children, to transfer weapons to gunmen engaged in battles with Israeli forces, and he accused Hamas of booby-trapping many of the civilians' homes. He labeled Hamas' alleged use of civilians as monstrous and inhumane.Similar reports were provided to WND during previous Israeli battles with Hamas. During one battle focusing largely on the Hamas infrastructure in the city of Jabaliya, about one mile into the Gaza Strip, an Israeli commander said Hamas drew Israeli forces into populated civilian areas, shooting at Jewish fighters from occupied civilian homes while women and children were inside. In another case, Israel's Haaretz daily quoted an Israeli commander describing how Hamas sent a 10-year-old boy into the battlefield in full view of the Israeli military to remove a gun from a felled terrorist and then pass the weapon to another terrorist. The commander at the scene said he ordered his troops to halt their fire as the Israeli military watched. Another commander speaking to WND said Hamas snipers used the windows of a Jabaliya house that was clearly occupied by women and children to shoot at his unit.
The aim is to draw us into killing civilians to bring about international pressure to end our operation, the commander said. The international community and much of the world media constantly berated Israel for purportedly killing more than 1,250 Palestinians during the conflict. Many media members claimed those numbers were mostly civilians. WND reported the media was parroting Hamas casualty counts with no independent verification. Now the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted what it said was a Palestinian doctor at Gaza City's main Shifa Hospital disputing the Hamas casualty numbers. It's possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas – who sent them to their deaths, he said. The IDF's own estimate, which is not based on verification of deaths, puts the toll at about 1,000, two-thirds of which it says were gunmen. The Gaza doctor continued: Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they (Palestinians) spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 – of whom 45 were militants.The doctor was referring to a 2002 Israeli anti-terror raid in the northern West Bank town of Jenin after which Hamas and the PA claimed hundreds of Palestinian civilians were murdered.Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat claimed on CNN that more than 500 people were killed. He repeated the charge on CNN a day later, adding that 300 Palestinians were being buried in mass graves.It was later determined 54 Palestinians were killed, mostly terrorists, while the IDF lost 23 troops while they engaged in house-to-house combat instead of massive air raids in order to limit civilian casualties.
Hamas Under Fire from EU, Human Rights Groups
by Maayana Miskin JAN 26,2009
(IsraelNN.com) Senior European Union official Louis Michel said Monday that Hamas bears responsibility for provoking the recent three-week war in Gaza. Speaking from the city of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, Michel said Hamas is a terrorist movement and should be denounced.Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told journalists that the international community is sick of seeing the projects it funded being destroyed due to Hamas. Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again — be it the commission, the member states or the major donors [of the EU -ed.] — for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed, he explained.Despite his criticism, Michel announced that the EU would grant $41.7 million in emergency aid for Gaza. The money will be used for food, water, medical supplies and other basics that are in short supply due to the war.The EU will also donate $26 million to development projects in the Palestinian Authority-controlled regions of Judea and Samaria, and $7.8 million to refugee camps in Lebanon housing the descendants of Arabs who fled pre-state Israel during the War of Independence.
ICHR: Hamas Must End Killings
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) in Gaza has also criticized Hamas, according to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency. The group slammed Hamas for the recent killings of Fatah members and those suspected of helping Israel during recent fighting in Gaza.ICHR workers said they had evidence of several extra-judicial killings and other crimes, including beatings, shootings and threats against civilians. The group refrained from accusing Hamas forces of committing the attacks, but said Hamas was responsible to stop them.Fatah officials in Judea and Samaria recently reported that 16 Fatah members in Gaza were killed by Hamas during the fighting.
Hamas Executed B'Tselem Collaborator
The ICHR's announcement was made shortly after Hamas announced the execution of a Gaza journalist who worked with the Israeli group B'Tselem. Prosecutors claimed that the journalist, Haidar Ghanem, had worked with B'Tselem as a cover-up for his counterterrorist activities.Ghanem was accused of causing the death of four Fatah terrorists by providing the IDF with information regarding their activities and whereabouts. He plead guilty to providing Israel with information but said he was not involved in the assassination of the four terrorists. Ghanem was sentenced to death in 2002, but his execution was delayed following pressure from his fellow activists and journalists. The sentence was carried out on January 7 of this year, according to Hamas.
JERUSALEM CONFERENCE DAY 1 TODAY IN ISRAEL
JERUSALEM CONFERENCE DAY 1 2008 - AUDIO
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125328
JERUSALEM CONFERENCE 2009 DAY 1 TODAY
http://www.jerusalemconference.com/eng/
JERUSALEM CONFERENCE 2009 ISRAEL NATIONAL RADIO
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/
INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
http://www.ifcj.org/site/PageNavigator/eng/about/
CHRISTIANS UNITED FOR ISRAEL
http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer
CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL
http://www.cfijerusalem.org/default.asp
ONE JERUSALEM
http://www.onejerusalem.org/2006/10/audio-bloggers-conference-call-3.php
WATCH APOCALYSE HOW FROM THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL WHEN ITS ON VIDEO,AT LEAST 4 OF THE PREDICTIONS HAPPEN DURING THE TRIBULATION. VOLCANOES,NUKE,MICROBS AND ASTEROIDS HITTING EARTH.
http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows/showdetails.aspx?sid=13369
IMPACT EARTH - ASTEROID HIT
http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows/showdetails.aspx?sid=12149
ASTEROID TRACKERS
http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows/showdetails.aspx?sid=9392
STORM CHASERS
http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows/showdetails.aspx?sid=7100
Anger in Britain as broadcasters refuse to air Gaza appeal JAN 26,09
BBC LONDON (AFP) – Sky News television channel on Monday joined the BBC in refusing to broadcast a Gaza charity appeal despite heavy pressure, saying it risked compromising its objectivity.Sky, the BBC's only domestic rival as a 24-hour news channel, will not screen the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group of 13 charities including the British Red Cross and Oxfam.After very careful consideration, we have concluded that broadcasting an appeal for Gaza at this time is incompatible with our role in providing balanced and objective reporting of this continuing situation to our audiences, John Ryley, head of Sky News, said in a statement.ITV, Channel 4 and Five, Britain's three other terrestrial television broadcasters beside the publicly-funded BBC, are all airing the appeal.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, several government ministers, more than 11,000 viewers and more than 50 lawmakers have called for the BBC to reconsider its decision.Later Monday, around 15 protestors briefly occupied the foyer of the BBC's offices in central London, before being ejected by police.A handful of demonstrators also burnt their television licences -- for which Britons must pay 139.50 pounds per year to watch TV -- outside.Actress Samantha Morton, star of films including Elizabeth: The Golden Age, has said she will never work for the BBC again if it does not screen the appeal.Prime Minister Gordon Brown believes it is rightly a decision for broadcasters whether to air the appeal, his spokesman told reporters Monday.It's not for the government to tell the BBC or any other broadcaster whether to show the appeal, he said.Clearly we support the appeal but equally we're not going to second-guess the editorial decisions of broadcasters.BBC director-general Mark Thompson told BBC radio that the corporation was not going to change its mind.
This is a political crisis with grave humanitarian consequences, he explained.We worry that if someone's seen such a programme with these very emotive pictures... and then saw the same or similar pictures afterwards in an appeal asking for money, there is a danger that people might think we were endorsing one or other perspective on the conflict.He said he was passionate about defending the BBC's impartiality, adding that the decision had not surprised the DEC.Meanwhile, DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley stressed that his organisation was non-political.Political solutions are for others to resolve, but what is of major concern to us all is that many innocent people have been affected by the situation -- and it is them that we seek to help, he said.
Mitchell sent to Mideast to bolster Gaza truce JAN 26,09
WASHINGTON (AFP) – New US envoy George Mitchell headed Monday to the Middle East to bolster a truce in Gaza and tackle the human toll there as President Barack Obama signalled an aggressive push for Arab-Israeli peace.On his maiden trip a week after Obama took office, Mitchell will travel to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank as well as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Europe, State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.Wood did not rule out Mitchell's traveling to the Gaza Strip, where Islamist Hamas fighters and Israel fought a 22-day war that killed at least 1,300 Palestinians before ending in a shaky truce the weekend of January 17.Mitchell, who was to depart for the region on Monday, will meet with senior officials to discuss the peace process and the situation in Gaza, Wood said.The new Obama administration will actively and aggressive seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Israel and its neighbors, Wood said.
Mitchell will work to consolidate the cease-fire in Gaza, establish an effective and credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime to prevent the rearming of Hamas, facilitate the reopening of border crossings, Wood said.The envoy will also develop an effective response to the immediate humanitarian needs of the Palestinians in Gaza and eventual reconstruction, and reinvigorate the peace process, the spokesman said.Traveling with Mitchell will be David Hale, the department's deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, and delegates from the National Security Council and the defense department.Wood gave no exact details of the itinerary but a State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity that Mitchell would make his first stop in Cairo, which is central to efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire.The envoy was then due in Israel and the West Bank between Wednesday and Friday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the unnamed official said.
On Saturday, Mitchell was due to visit Amman for talks with Jordanian leaders before traveling to Riyadh on Sunday, the official said. He is due to stop in Paris on Monday and London on Tuesday before he returns to Washington.But changes to the schedule could occur, including a possible stop in Turkey, the official said.The 75-year-old Mitchell said he did not underestimate the difficulty of his assignment when he was named special Middle East envoy last week by Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Mitchell, a Maronite Catholic whose mother was Lebanese, managed to bring together the leaders of Northern Ireland's religious communities with a mixture of compromise and talks to sign the historic Good Friday agreement in 1998.At the time Mitchell, a Democrat, was considered one of the only actors in the peace process enjoying the trust of all parties, earning a reputation in Belfast as a safe pair of hands and a shrewd, level-headed operator.However, his efforts to help end the Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted after the collapse in 2000 of the peace process brokered by president Bill Clinton proved fruitless.
Israel's Netanyahu: Existing settlements will grow By AMY TEIBEL and ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer JAN 26,09
JERUSALEM – The front-runner in Israel's election next month said he would allow existing West Bank settlements to expand as the population grows — a policy likely to face opposition from the Palestinians and the new U.S. administration.The comments by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in an Israeli newspaper on Monday, just two days before Washington's new Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, is expected to make his first visit to the region. Mitchell, a critic of Israel's West Bank settlements, is expected to meet with Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, and focus on ways to revive peace talks in the wake of Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip.Netanyahu, an opponent of current U.S.-backed peace talks, was quoted by the Haaretz daily as telling international Mideast envoy Tony Blair at a meeting Sunday that he would continue Israel's policy of allowing existing settlements to expand as families grow and new people move in.I have no intention of building new settlements in the West Bank, Netanyahu was quoted as saying. But like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements.A Netanyahu spokeswoman, Dina Libster, confirmed the quotes were accurate. Blair's office did not return messages seeking comment.Settlement construction in the West Bank has been a key obstacle to peace talks over the years. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future independent state that would also include the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. They say Israel's settlements, now home to 280,000 people in the West Bank, make it increasingly difficult for them to establish a viable state.
Nearly all Israeli settlement construction over the past decade has taken place in existing West Bank communities. And Netanyahu's positions do not significantly differ from outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has allowed construction in existing settlements to continue even while holding peace talks with the Palestinians.Still, Mitchell's appointment has some Israeli leaders worried that the new administration of President Barack Obama will be tougher on Israel than the Bush administration was. In 2001, Mitchell called for a freeze on all Israeli settlement construction when he led an international commission to investigate violence in the Middle East.Polls show Netanyahu's Likud Party handily winning the Feb. 10 elections, a victory that would allow him to reclaim the premiership he held between 1996 and 1999. Netanyahu has said he would try to refocus peace talks on building the Palestinian economy and governing institutions.That approach does not sit well with Palestinian negotiators, who want the talks to continue focusing on resolving the key disputes with Israel over settlements, final borders, the fate of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees.Further complicating the peace talks is the Hamas militant group's takeover of Gaza in June 2007. Israel on Jan. 17 ended a devastating three-week military offensive against Hamas.Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed that the foundation for any peace accord would be the internationally backed road map peace plan, which explicitly bans all settlement construction, including natural growth, and requires the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups. Israel has argued that natural growth should not be included in the ban.In Gaza, the EU's top humanitarian official, Louis Michel, announced euro58 million ($74 million) in aid to Palestinians, including euro32 million ($41 million) earmarked to respond to the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza following Israel's offensive. But he said none of the funds would be channeled to Hamas, which he said is acting in the way of a terrorist movement.The EU, like Israel and the U.S., considers Hamas a terrorist group. Still, voicing the comments in the heart of Hamas' stronghold carried extra significance.At the same time, he also condemned military operations that target the Palestinian people and their property, calling them flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. Israel has denied targeting civilians and has blamed Hamas for causing civilian fatalities by operating from residential areas.Michel called for those responsible for the recent violence to be investigated on both sides. The Israeli offensive, launched to halt years of Hamas rocket attacks, killed nearly 1,300 people, more than half of them civilians, and caused extensive damage to Gaza's infrastructure. Thirteen Israelis also died in the fighting.He spoke in front of a food warehouse at the main U.N. compound in Gaza, which was funded by the EU and heavily damaged by Israeli shelling. He urged Israel to throw open blockaded borders with Gaza to humanitarian aid and supplies to help the battered Gaza economy to recover.De Montesquiou reported from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.
Lebanon rivals adjourn tricky defence talks Mon Jan 26, 9:28 am ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Rival political leaders in Lebanon on Monday adjourned for more than a month negotiations on a national defence strategy at the heart of which lies the thorny issue of Hezbollah's weapons.A statement from the presidency said a team of experts will be formed to examine proposals on a defence strategy, and that another round of talks will be held on March 2 at the Baabda presidential place.It added that participants agreed to work on the implementation of previous agreements concerning the issue of Palestinian weapons outside the country's 12 refugee camps which house an estimated 400,000 people.The camps are policed by the Palestinians themselves, but outside the camps weapons are also held by the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and by Fatah Intifada.Pressure has been mounting in Lebanon to tackle the issue of Palestinian weapons outside the camps after rockets were fired from the south into northern Israel during the Jewish state's 22-day onslaught on the Gaza Strip.Fourteen leaders from the main parliamentary blocs are taking part in the talks chaired by President Michel Sleiman.
A major stumbling block in agreeing a common defence strategy has been the Shiite Hezbollah group's arsenal.Members of the Western-backed parliamentary majority say Hezbollah's weapons undermine the state's authority, but the group refuses to disarm, arguing that its armaments and militia are essential to defend the country against Israel.
Rabbi told Israeli troops to show no mercy in Gaza Mon Jan 26, 9:21 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – An Israeli human rights group on Monday called for the immediate dismissal of the chief military rabbi, claiming he gave soldiers fighting in Gaza pamphlets urging them to show no mercy.Yesh Din said it had written to both Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, urging them to take this incitement seriously and fire Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier General Avi Ronzki.It said a pamphlet distributed to soldiers taking part in Operation Cast Lead stressed that the troops should show no mercy to their enemies, and that the pamphlet borders on incitement and racism against the Palestinian people.When you show mercy to a cruel enemy you are being cruel to pure and honest soldiers. These are not games at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This is a war on murderers, Yesh Din quoted the pamphlet as saying.It said the pamphlet quotes at length statements by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a spiritual leader of the Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank who opposes any compromise with Palestinians.The Palestinians claim they deserve a state here, when in reality there was never a Palestinian or Arab state within the borders of our country, the pamphlet quoted Aviner as saying.The rights group said the pamphlet contains degrading and belittling messages that border on incitement and racism against the Palestinian people. These messages can be interpreted as a call to act outside of the confines of international laws of war.The Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday that far right-wing groups also gave out pamphlets bearing racist messages on military bases.It said one urged soldiers to spare your lives and the lives of your friends and not to show concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us...Kill the one who comes to kill you. As for the population, it is not innocent, the daily quoted the pamphlet as saying.
Gaza offensive chance for Mideast peace: Livni Mon Jan 26, 8:09 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's deadly war in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip can advance the Middle East peace process, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Monday ahead of a visit by the new US peace envoy to the region.The Jewish state's 22-day assault had dealt a heavy blow to the Islamists and should be used to strengthen moderate Palestinians, Livni said in a meeting with US ambassador to Israel James Cunningham.
Her comments came just days before US President Barack Obama's newly-appointed Mideast envoy George Mitchell was due to arrive in the region and two weeks before Israel holds a general election in which Livni is one of the leading candidates.
Operation Cast Lead can and should mark a turning point not only for calm in the south of the country, but also with making progress in regional processes that Israel and the United States wish to advance, her office quoted her as saying at the meeting.The operation strategically changed the standing of Hamas and extremist elements and can be used as a lever by the US and the international community to change reality during Obama's term, said Livni, who heads the centrist Kadima party in the February 10 elections.Israel will not return to the status quo before the operation and the weakness of Hamas must be used to strengthen moderate elements.
Livni headed the Israeli negotiation team in the latest round of peace talks with the Palestinians which have made next to no progress since they kicked off in November 2007.The Jewish state launched its 22-day offensive in Gaza on December 27 in response to consistent rocket fire on Israel. More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed during the offensive which devastated the impoverished enclave.
EU official says Gaza destruction abominable by Mehdi Lebouachera – Mon Jan 26, 7:34 am ET
JABALIYA, Gaza Strip (AFP) – A senior EU official touring Gaza on Monday blasted the abominable destruction in the enclave and said its terrorist Hamas rulers bear overwhelming responsibility for the war.It is abominable, indescribable, Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters in Gaza after touring some of the worst-hit places of Israel's deadly 22-day assault on the territory.At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas, he said. I intentionally say this here -- Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such.In order for the EU to relaunch a political dialogue with a minimal chance of succeeding and a chance of moving forward towards peace, Hamas must accept the two little conditions that were put to it -- one, the right of Israel to exist and two that it abandon the armed struggle, the terrorist dimension of its approach.Blasting the scale of destruction in Gaza, Michel said the European Union, the main donor to the Palestinians, was sick of paying for the same infrastructure that's destroyed over and over again.Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again -- be it the (European) commission, the member states or the major donors -- for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed, said Michel, known for his critical comments about Israel.He said the bloc had approved nearly 60 additional million euros in aid to Palestinians in the wake of the Gaza offensive.Since 2000, Europe has spent three billion euros in Palestine, he said. Every year, we spend 600 to 700 million euros. Today we decided on a supplementary payment of 60 million euros.Thirty-two million euros would be allocated to Gaza, 20 to the West Bank and six million to the refugees, he said.
All we do is pay. You know very well that from time to time we pay several times for the same infrastructure that is regularly demolished.Europe is doing all that it can, but unfortunately it cannot do any more. Show me a political body or an institution that is more engaged than Europe in helping the people of Palestine, because I'm not aware of one.He said reconstruction was going to be difficult, voiced hope of a sustainable and durable ceasefire around the territory and urged Israel to open Gaza's border crossings to facilitate rebuilding efforts.It goes well beyond what I imagined. I didn't doubt that it would be serious. It is going to be extremely difficult to reconstruct and it will no doubt cost an enormous amount of money to bring people to decent living conditions, he said.Israel must open Gaza's border crossings, which have been sealed to all but basic humanitarian aid since the Islamist Hamas, sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, seized power in the territory in June 2007.The access really must be complete and not just medicine and food, we need goods in order to restart the minimal economic activity -- including fuel, spare parts, cement, all that will little by little permit a rebuilding of minimal living conditions, said Michel.ichel planned to travel to Israel later on Monday.
Netanyahu maintains edge in Israel election race By Jeffrey Heller Jeffrey Heller – Mon Jan 26, 7:19 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's election race is back in full swing following the Gaza war and front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu has moved quickly to deflect allegations his victory could mean conflict with new U.S. President Barack Obama.
Claiming some of the middle ground in Israel occupied by the ruling Kadima party, Netanyahu told Middle East envoy Tony Blair that a government headed by his right-wing Likud party would not build new Jewish settlements, though would expand existing ones.Like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements, Netanyahu said, according to a spokesman for the Likud chief on Monday.
While such policy is opposed internationally and condemned by Palestinians seeking a state in the West Bank, it nonetheless puts Netanyahu broadly in line with the Kadima-led government and the party's prime ministerial candidate in the February 10 election, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Livni suggested a Netanyahu-led administration would set Israel on a collision course with Obama, who has pledged swift efforts to try to achieve Palestinian statehood and a wide Israeli-Arab peace.Netanyahu has said peace talks, which Washington had hoped would achieve a framework peace deal in 2008, should focus on shoring up the Palestinian economy rather than on territorial issues that have stymied U.S. mediation so far.Israel and the United States could butt heads. It depends who's (in charge) here, Livni said in remarks widely seen as a swipe at Netanyahu, whose tenure as Israeli leader from 1996 to 1999 was marked by friction with the Clinton White House.She followed up in a radio interview on Monday, saying: Netanyahu has already been prime minister, and he failed.Likud campaign billboards paint a different picture -- of a confident-looking Netanyahu and an accompanying slogan: Strong on security, strong on the economy.
LIKUD LEADS
With the vote now two weeks away on Tuesday, polls show Likud firmly in the lead after Israel's Gaza offensive, trailed by Kadima and with third-place Labor, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, gaining support as a result of his role in the war.The surveys give Likud some 29 seats in the 120-member parliament compared with about 25 for Kadima. Such a margin would leave Netanyahu well-placed to form a coalition government that could include partnerships with Kadima or Labor, as well as smaller religious and minority-interest groups.The 22-day Gaza offensive was widely supported by Israelis, despite an international outcry over a Palestinian death toll that medical officials put at 1,300, including 700 civilians.Israel said 10 of its soldiers and three civilians were killed during the offensive it launched in the Hamas-ruled enclave with the declared aim of halting cross-border rockets.If the opinion polls are correct, Livni made few inroads among Israeli voters as a result of the Gaza war.Although she helped to plot strategy, a bomber jacket-clad Barak took center stage on the military front, while Olmert claimed victory in a diplomatic offensive.Olmert made clear that it was he, and not the foreign minister, who took the point in lobbying the United States not to vote in favor of a U.N. Security Council resolution on January 8 calling for an immediate ceasefire.In remarks that U.S. officials described as inaccurate, Olmert said he telephoned President George W. Bush and persuaded him to order Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to abstain. Olmert resigned in September in a corruption scandal but stayed on as prime minister after Livni failed to clinch a deal for a new governing coalition that would have enabled her to go into an election as Israel's top leader. (Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Samia Nakhoul)
As Truce Teeters, Gaza's Tunnelers Dig Undeterred Sun Jan 25, 10:55 pm ET
EU calls for Gaza unity BBC With the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants on the edge of collapse, the most dangerous job in Gaza - digging tunnels into Egypt - just got a lot more dangerous. Destroying the tunnels that allowed the import of both vital food and fuel supplies denied Gazans by the Israeli blockade, but also enabled the ferrying of weapons to Hamas, was a key objective of Israel's 22-day military operation, and its aircraft and artillery pounded the sandy patch of land along the Egyptian border in the hope of collapsing them. But as soon as the truce was declared, the diggers got busy again, using shovels and jackhammers to repair tunnels caved in by bombing, and to begin burrowing new ones. Negotiations in Cairo over terms for extending the current truce have reached an impasse: Israel offering an 18-month cease-fire that would involve only a partial opening of the sealed border crossings into Gaza from Egypt and Israel, while Hamas is demanding a complete reopening of the crossings as part of a one-year truce. And that stalemate could bring more trouble for the tunnelers. Egyptian authorities evacuated the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, acting on reports of a possible Israeli air strike on tunnelers. And as Israeli planes streaked across the sky, the diggers scrambled away from their tunnels - but they returned one they planes soared off. (See images of heartbreak in the Gaza conflict) Israel has vowed to finish the job of sealing the tunnels to prevent Hamas acquiring longer-range missiles - and has sought international cooperation to close the arms pipeline - but achieving that won't be easy. Israel's blockade has left Gaza's 1.5 million residents relying on the tunnels as their economic lifeline. Everything from medicine, cement, chocolate bars and lion cubs for the zoo have entered Gaza through hundreds of deep, sandy holes. Says Aymad, a tunnel-digger with a Palestinian kafiya wrapped around his head: The Israelis destroyed dozens of tunnels, but many more are left un-damaged, and as long as they keep us under siege we will keep digging more.
Since the ceasefire, the tunnel-makers have become more brazen. They dig in plain sight of the Egyptian border watchtowers and the Israeli surveillance aircraft, with a large bubble of tattered plastic over each entrance. Thousands of Gazans swarm around the pitted, sandy area, because the tunnels are now the enclave's biggest source of employment. The men carry shovels, ropes, and stacks of wooden slats used to reinforce the tunnels where cave-ins are nearly as big a danger as the Israeli bombs. Others emerge from the plastic bubbles carting away goods destined for merchants throughout Gaza, who had placed orders weeks before. Some canny traders pipe gasoline through their holes. Israeli planes even blasted apartment buildings along the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing, but the tunnelers cleared away the collapsed debris and started digging again. It's a lie to say that we use these tunnels to only bring in weapons. We're bringing in the ordinary stuff that keeps Gaza alive. If the Israelis opened the border crossings, we wouldn't have to be doing this, says Mohammed, a gap-toothed man in his forties, whose cap is emblazoned with a Koranic verse which he hopes will protect him from being buried alive when the Israeli fighter-bombers re-appear in the skies over Gaza. The tunnels are usually about 80 feet deep, and the longest ones run for over a mile before popping open in the basement of a smuggler's house on the Egyptian side. A team of diggers is paid $100 for each meter, and they can clear away 10 meters in a hard day's work. It's crazy down there, says Aymad, Many times, when we're digging, we'll run into another tunnel. Aymad once brought his two-year-old boy down into the tunnel, he says, so he can see what his father is forced to do for a living. We Gazans like the open sky, the sea. Not this. We don't like going into the ground. He keeps the photo inside his cellphone of himself and his bawling son crouched together in a narrow tunnel. He stopped crying once we got back under the sky, he reassures me.
The diggers at Rafah all insist that Hamas and the other militant groups operate their own tunnels, supposedly steel-ribbed and large enough for a car to pass through. But it's not a subject that they're willing to discuss with journalists in a crowd where there could be a Hamas informer. After the fighting with Israel, the militants have been going around shooting the kneecaps of suspected collaborators. Later, one bearded youth named Mohamed took me aside to say that Hamas' smuggling will never be stopped because they were being helped by men's with guns who are hiding in the mountains of Sinai. He adds enigmatically, The Egyptians are afraid of these men. Some Israeli intelligence reports say that al-Qaeda has found supporters among the Bedouin tribes of Sinai who chafe under the repression of the Egyptian army, and they may be making common cause with Gaza's militants. Israel secured pledges from Egypt, the European Union and the U.S. to stop the weapons flowing into Gaza. But Gazans are worried that if they close the tunnels, it could cut off the few threads of commerce and supplies leading into Gaza. If Israel keeps the borders sealed off, we'll keep digging and only Allah can stop us. Let the Israelis drop their bombs. Without the tunnels we can't survive anyway, says Ayad. And if a bomb catches me underground, well, they won't have to dig my grave.View this article on Time.com
Israel will defend army against war charges: Olmert Sun Jan 25, 6:42 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will grant legal protection for soldiers who fought in the three-week war in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday amid accusations of war crimes.The commanders and soldiers sent to Gaza need to know that they are completely safe from different tribunals and Israel will help and protect them, he said.Olmert confirmed he had appointed Justice Minister Daniel Friedman to chair an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate Israel's efforts to offer legal defence for anyone who took part in the operation.He will formulate questions and answers relating to the army's operations, which self-righteous people ... might use to sue officers and soldiers, the prime minister said.Israel's military censor has already banned the publication of the identity of the unit leaders who fought against militants of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on the Gaza Strip for fear they may face war crimes charges.Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said the Israeli government's move would unlikely halt war crimes probes.The decision is not going to prevent governments and human rights organisations around the world to really seek clear legal cases against all Israeli leaders who are responsible for the death and destruction of the Palestinian people, he told journalists.More efforts will be seen in the future to bring cases to justice, he said, adding there is no immunity against legal actions.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday demanded that those responsible for bombing UN buildings in the Palestinian territory should be made accountable and accused Israel of using excessive force.UN schools and the main aid headquarters where tonnes of food was stocked were bombed.Eight Israeli human rights groups have called on the Israeli government to investigate the scale of the casualties, describing the number of dead women and children as terrifying.Israel insists troops did their best to limit civilian casualties in a heavily-populated area and blamed Hamas for hiding behind civilians to fire rockets at southern Israel.Gaza medics put the Palestinian death toll at 1,330 with at least another 5,450 people wounded. About 65 percent of the dead were civilians, including 437 children.Ten Israel soldiers and three civilians died during Operation Cast Lead which ended last Sunday with a ceasefire.Amnesty International, meanwhile, has said it was undeniable that Israel had used white phosphorus in crowded civilian areas, contrary to international law, charging that this amounted to a war crime.
EU urges divided Palestinians to unite to save Gaza by Lorne Cook Lorne Cook – Sun Jan 25, 6:15 pm
BRUSSELS (AFP) – European Union nations called Sunday for divided Palestinian factions to unite so border crossings in the war-torn Gaza Strip can be opened and aid distributed.EU foreign ministers, at talks in Brussels, also urged Arab nations to use their influence with Hamas, after its 22-day war with Israel in Gaza, and the Fatah faction of president Mahmud Abbas, the bloc's main interlocutor.We believe that Palestinian reconciliation behind president Mahmud Abbas is fundamental to progress, said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.The humanitarian concerns are naturally a priority but the political process must follow close behind, he said, after chairing EU talks with Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Turkey and Norway.It is the parties themselves who need to genuinely want peace and to be prepared to make the concessions necessary to get there, he told reporters.Hamas holds sway over the impoverished coastal strip of land -- Fatah controls the West Bank -- but was rocked in recent weeks by a massive Israeli assault aimed at stopping militants firing rockets at civilians.More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed and some 5,300 people wounded in Operation Cast Lead, launched on December 27. More than 4,000 homes were destroyed and 17,000 damaged.
Israel lost 10 soldiers and three civilians.
The reunification of the Palestinian people with a single voice to speak to them, to speak for the West Bank and for Gaza is absolutely essential, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.His Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt said: It's time for the Palestinians to talk to each other.If we can't overcome the divisions in Palestinian society, it will be very difficult to move forward both with Gaza and the peace process, he said.Egyptian Foreign Minister Abul Gheit expressed hope that a Palestinian consensus government could be quickly formed to use funds pledged at a Gaza donors reconstruction conference being planned for next month.Once we've agreed on the conference and the amounts to be collected, we may be looking toward a government of reconciliation which could be capable of using the funds, he said.
Egypt and to a lesser extent Norway have contacts with the Islamist militants of Hamas, and the ministers encouraged Cairo in particular to continue to play its leading role.We have to encourage and help the Egyptians, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.As a condition to opening up Gaza to emergency aid, Israel wants help ensuring that Hamas does not re-arm while there is a ceasefire.In the past, arms have been smuggled through a network of tunnels under the Gaza border, and Egypt on Sunday closed its Rafah crossing point with Gaza, fearing that Israel may renew its attacks on underground passage ways.In an effort to help, the EU is offering to boost its monitoring mission at the Rafah terminal on the border with Egypt, the Palestinians' only door to the outside world. The bloc is also looking at ways to prevent the smuggling of arms -- which Israel claims are moving into the territory from Iran -- and some nations are prepared to help by moving resources to the Red Sea, or the Mediterranean. France said Friday that it was sending a frigate carrying a helicopter to international waters off the coast of Gaza to participate in the mission against arms trafficking.
Britain and Germany have also offered to help.
The truth is that has to be done upstream, and it needs to be done to ensure that there is proper interdiction of the flow of arms, which starts quite a long way away from Gaza,Miliband said. However, the Egyptian minister insisted that the bulk of any smuggling that might occur would come from the waters off Gaza, which Israel controls.
