Slain Hamas security chief was widely feared By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer –Thu Jan 15, 5:12 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Hamas security chief Said Siam was one of the Islamic militant group's top five leaders in the Gaza Strip and a key figure in its violent takeover of the Palestinian territory in 2007.Siam was widely feared for cracking down on opponents, but as interior minister he was also respected by residents for his ability to impose order. Before Hamas seized power 18 months ago, gun-toting thugs ruled Gaza's streets and clans battled each other with assault rifles.The 50-year-old Siam, who died Thursday in Gaza from an Israeli airstrike, did not look like a typical Hamas leader. He sported a short beard, dark turtlenecks and black sports jackets, rather than the Arab robes worn by some of his colleagues.He was often long-winded at news conferences. When angry, he could use coarse, colorful Gaza slang to describe his rivals. The hard-liner often insisted women cover their hair, in compliance with conservative Muslim law, before entering his office.Born in 1959 in Gaza's Shati refugee camp, he worked as a math and science teacher at local U.N.-run schools and became a leader of the local teachers union. He joined Hamas in the 1980s as one of its earliest members.Siam was active in the first Palestinian uprising against Israel, which erupted in 1987. He headed a Hamas branch that hunted and killed suspected Palestinian informers for Israel.
Israeli forces detained Siam repeatedly in the 1990s, and in 1992 exiled him for a year to southern Lebanon with hundreds of other Hamas leaders.Siam rose through Hamas' ranks, preaching at a local mosque and ultimately becoming a chief negotiator for the militant group in dealings with Egyptian and Iranian officials, with whom he enjoyed warm relations.He was elected to the Palestinian parliament in 2006, winning the most votes of any candidate.After Hamas' sweeping victory in those elections, the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah intensified. Siam set up the Executive Force, a security apparatus that developed into Hamas' police after the militants seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.After the takeover, local human rights groups frequently complained his ministry used torture on Fatah rivals.In 2008, Siam shut down a Gaza City neighborhood close to Israel's border after a local pro-Fatah clan living there refused to hand over suspects implicated in a car bombing that killed Hamas officials. Under Siam's directions, police used assault rifles, mortars and rockets, prompting clansmen to dash into Israeli territory for protection. Police sprayed gunfire behind them as they fled.
Egypt Works to Broker a Cease-Fire Between Hamas and Israel Thu Jan 15, 3:10 pm ET
Afghans give money and blood to Gaza cause AFP As Israeli bombardments and fighting in Gaza pushed the reported Palestinian death toll above 1,000 on Wednesday, negotiators for Hamas, the Islamic militants who rule Gaza and are firing rockets into Israel, showed signs of softening their defiance to Egypt's attempt to broker a ceasefire. In Cairo, a Hamas spokesman appeared more conciliatory toward the Egyptian peace plan and said that the Islamist leadership, both in Gaza and in Damascus, would be studying the latest Egyptian proposal, whose contents have yet to be disclosed. One Hamas source told TIME, We've moved a step forward, and now we're going to test the Egyptian's influence on Israel.A Hamas leader speaking in Cairo, Salah Bardaweel, insists that the Islamists aren't budging from their initial demands: We will accept nothing less than a ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the lifting of the [18-month long] Israeli siege on Gaza. It isn't clear yet how close the Egyptian proposal mirrored Hamas' demands for a cease-fire in the 19 day-old conflict. When the assault started, Palestinians accused Egypt of catering to Israel (Cairo had just played host to Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni). The Hamas source commented pessimistically, We're 100% sure that Israel won't accept our demands, but let's see how far the Egyptians get with them. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a late-night meeting with his advisers to brief envoy Amos Gilad, who flies to Cairo Thursday for talks with the Egyptians.
Hamas sources say that the impasse between the Egyptians and Hamas was broken by Turkish envoy Ahmad Oglu who volunteered Turkish forces to be placed along the Egyptian-Gaza border to stop arms trafficking. Hamas has agreed to the Turkish offer, this source says. Before withdrawing troops and tanks, Israel wants a guarantee that the Egyptian border will be sealed off so that Hamas can no longer smuggle in Iranian-made rockets to shoot at Israeli cities. So far, Israel and Hamas have failed to agree on the length of the ceasefire proposed by the Egyptians. Israel wants a 10-year truce, while Hamas is insisting on a single year, this well-placed Hamas source told TIME.Other Palestinian sources say that Hamas delegates were warned by the Egyptians that unless they agreed to a truce, Israel would launch a major ground assault into Gaza City, one of the most crowded places on earth, which risks raising the death toll far higher. Palestinian medical sources say that more than 300 children have died in the Gaza fighting. (See pictures of the heartbreak in the Middle East.)The next step is getting the Israelis to accept. Israeli officials say a bitter feud has erupted between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak over how long to prolong the Gaza assault. Barak says he is ready for a truce, arguing that Hamas has suffered a punishing blow from the Israeli blitzkrieg and the next step - sending troops into Gaza City's crowded streets - could raise the casualty figures far higher among Palestinian civilians and Israeli soldiers. But Olmert wants to press on until Hamas' leadership and 15,OOO to 20,000 fighters are weakened even more, say officials.Even if Hamas does agree to a cease-fire, it must persuade other radical militant groups to sign on. Hamas sources told TIME that the other main militant group in Gaza, Islamic Jihad, wants to keep fighting, despite its many casualties. Israeli officials say they have killed hundreds of militants but say privately that there's no way of knowing yet how severe a blow this is to Hamas' military command, which is operating from well-hidden underground bunkers.
TIME's Azmy Keshawi reported by telephone from Gaza that Israeli tanks were advancing on Gaza City along the coastal road, backed by heavy shelling from navy gunships. One navy shell hit a 13-story apartment building, says Keshawi. Then when the fire trucks arrived and the firemen were carrying out the injured, a second shell struck the building, and through the clouds of dust I could see many were wounded.Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Israel in a television interview that Israel's attack on Gaza is sowing seeds of extremism around the Arab world. His words may prove prophetic: yesterday an audio message purportedly from al-Qaeda's fugitive leader, Osama bin Laden, surfaced calling on Muslims to wage a holy war against Israel. With reporting by Jamil Hamad/Bethlehem and Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem
Israeli attack on UN in Gaza 'unacceptable': EU presidency Thu Jan 15, 3:04 pm ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Israel's attack on a UN compound in Gaza is simply unacceptable, the EU's Czech presidency said Thursday, demanding that the Jewish state take measures to prevent any recurrence.The EU presidency condemns today's strike on a building of UNRWA in Gaza City by Israeli artillery, a statement said.The (EU) Presidency demands that Israel undertake measures to prevent any recurrence of this attack on civilian or humanitarian targets, which is simply unacceptable, it added.
The EU presidency, which the Czech Republic holds for the first six months of this year, called on Israel and the Palestinians to cease fire with immediate effect, and to put an end to the suffering of the civilian population.The UN suspended its operations in Gaza after Israeli shells smashed into its compound, setting fire to warehouses holding badly-needed aid.Other strikes set a hospital wing on fire and wounded two cameramen in a building housing international and Arab media outlets.The EU presidency statement called on both parties to respect the principles of international humanitarian law.Earlier EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said he was shocked and dismayed at the Israeli shelling of the United Nations' compound and called for an independent investigation.It is unacceptable that the UN headquarters in Gaza has been struck by Israeli artillery fire, Michel said in a statement.Michel stressed that since the outbreak of the fighting I have made it very clear that all sides must respect international humanitarian law.This is a very serious incident and there must be a full and independent investigation, he insisted.
The European Commission is the largest donor to the United Nations UNRWA offices in the Palestinian Gaza Strip with an overall annual contribution of 113 million euros (149 million dollars) last year.UNRWA and its personnel must have their security guaranteed to ensure they can carry out their essential work and assistance to the civilian population in Gaza, said Michel.
Israeli strike kills senior Hamas leader in Gaza Thu Jan 15, 1:57 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israel on Thursday killed one of Hamas's top leaders in Gaza, interior minister Said Siam, the most senior Islamist to have died in the Jewish state's war on the enclave, the group's armed wing said.Leader Said Siam, his son and his brother fell as martyrs in Gaza, reported Al-Quds television, before broadcasting pictures of his dead body wrapped in bloody gauze alongside stock footage of the leader.The three died in an Israeli air strike that demolished the house of Siam's brother north of Gaza City.The Israeli army confirmed it had carried out a strike against Siam and that its pilots identified hitting the target, while Hamas's armed wing vowed to avenge the killing.His blood will not have been shed in vain, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement. We will respond with actions, not words.An Israeli army spokeswoman said Siam was killed in a joint operation carried out by the Israeli military and the Shin Beth internal security agency.Siam belonged to the hardline wing of Hamas and had created the Executive Force, a militia that played a key role in the Islamist takeover of Gaza in June 2007.A deputy from a Gaza constituency, he was named Hamas interior minister in 2006 after Hamas won a majority in parliamentary elections.Born in the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City in 1959, he was a teacher until 2003, during which time he was also active in politics.He was arrested four times during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, from 1987-1993. He was expelled by Israel in 1992 to southern Lebanon, and upon his return was arrested by Palestinian security forces.Siam was close to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas who was also killed by an Israeli airstrike, and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, whom he accompanied on a visit to Moscow.Before Thursday's strike, the most senior Hamas figure Israel had killed since launching its deadly offensive against the Islamist-ruled territory on December was Nizar Rayan, who was killed along with his four wives and 13 children in an Israeli air strike on his house.
Gulf leaders meet amid differences over Gaza response by Paul Handley Paul Handley – Thu Jan 15, 1:05 pm ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Leaders of the six Gulf monarchies began an emergency meeting in Riyadh Thursday on the Gaza crisis amid differences over how to respond to the Israeli onslaught.The extraordinary summit was hastily organised following a call by Saudi King Abdullah, while neighbouring Qatar pushed to hold an emergency Arab summit on Friday to address the same issue, despite an apparent lack of quorum.
Leaders of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to King Abdullah, are taking part in the Riyadh summit. Oman is represented by Vice Prime Minister Fahd bin Said.The Saudi monarch called the Thursday summit due to escalating tensions resulting from the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, according to the official SPA news agency.Saudi Arabia has accused Israel of racist extermination and sweeping human rights abuses.Qatar meanwhile continued to prepare for its proposed summit, although Arab League chief Amr Mussa said in Kuwait on Wednesday that a quorum of 15 countries to hold the meeting in Doha had not been achieved, as only 13 of the 22 member states had agreed to attend.Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir was the first leader to arrive, according to Qatar's official news agency QNA, while Mauritanian state press agency AMI reported that General Ould Abdel Aziz, leader of the junta that seized power last August, had set off from Nouakchott for Qatar.Members of a Syrian delegation which arrived Thursday in Doha said that President Bashar al-Assad was to arrive within hours, while Algerian diplomats said President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is expected to come.In Lebanon, a government official told AFP that President Michel Sleiman was heading to Qatar but would attend the summit only if the 15-state quorum is achieved.Doha's persistence in pushing its own summit despite the rejection by regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and its ability to get a 13 Arab states to sign on, underscored differences in the region on how to respond to Israel's Gaza invasion and how far to support Gaza's ruling Hamas faction.Israel's 20-day-old air and ground assault on Gaza, aimed at destroying Hamas' military capability, has left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead and stirred outrage across the Middle East, sparking street protests and calls for Arab governments to take stronger action to help the Gazans and punish Israel.However, both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have criticised Hamas for not cooperating with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose authority is confined to the West Bank since his Fatah faction was ousted by Hamas militants from Gaza in 2007.The two countries see the hard-line Islamist Hamas as both a proxy for regional rival Iran and a barrier to achieving a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israel.
After Israel rejected the UN Security Council's resolution for an immediate ceasefire last week and while Egypt pursued negotiations, Qatar stepped up its call for an emergency summit of the Arab League, proposing it for Friday in Doha.Qatar pushed ahead with the initiative even after King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak again rejected the idea on Monday, saying the issue would be discussed anyway at the Arab League economic summit in Kuwait on January 19.The Riyadh GCC summit now appears to have effectively scotched Qatar's proposal.But Doha, the only Gulf member with official trade relations with Israel, continued to push its hardline stance.Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani called overnight on Wednesday for Arab nations to reconsider their diplomatic ties with Israel. Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania are the only Arab states to have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, while Qatar itself continues to host an Israeli commercial office.
Sheikh Hamad proposed freezing the Arab peace initiative and the suspension of all forms of normalisation with Israel, including the reconsideration of diplomatic ties.
Ahmadinejad urges Arabs to cut trade ties with Israel Thu Jan 15, 11:24 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Arab and Islamic nations on Thursday to cut trade relations with Israel over its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.Today is the day that the Arab League must fulfil its duty. If not today, then when?, he asked.Addressing a press conference, broadcast live on state television, Ahmadinejad said: Cutting trade relations with the Zionists by the regional, Islamic and Arab countries is the least expectation ... from these states.
He added: Businessmen and the rich must cut economic relations with this regime.The Iranian government has endorsed a bill that will sanction foreign companies doing business with Israel but parliament has yet to approve it.Ahmadinejad, who has previously called for Israel to be wiped off the map, earlier on Thursday accused some Arab and Islamic states of complicity in genocide being carried out by the Jewish state against Palestinians in Gaza.Unfortunately, some states in the Arab and Islamic region tolerate or support this rare genocide with silence or a smile of satisfaction, Ahmadinejad said in a letter to Saudi King Abdullah.Iran is a staunch supporter of the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, and does not recognise its archfoe Israel.Ahmadinejad addressed his letter to the Saudi king and custodian of the two holy mosques, saying: ...it is expected from you to break the silence over this obvious atrocity and killing of your own children.Israel's 20-day-old Gaza offensive has killed around 1,000 Palestinians, including at least 355 children, and wounded about 5,000 other people, according to Gaza medics.The letter, carried on Ahmadinejad's website, said he hoped that the Saudi king's stance will fully disappoint corrupt powers that hope to create division in the Islamic front.
He was apparently referring to a rift between the so-called moderate Arab countries, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the more pro-Hamas states, led by Syria and Qatar, over how to respond to the Gaza assault.Qatar has tried twice to organise an Arab summit on the Gaza conflict, an idea opposed by regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia.The letter to the Saudi king was released as Riyadh was set to host an emergency summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the situation in Gaza on Thursday.Besides Saudi Arabia, the GCC also comprises the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
Israel pummels Gaza as peace hopes rise by Adel Zaanoun Adel Zaanoun – Thu Jan 15, 2:49 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli tanks rumbled ever deeper into Gaza cities and jets pummelled the enclave from above on Thursday even as hopes rose for a truce to end the war on Hamas that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.As battles raged on the ground in Gaza, a senior Israeli envoy was due to travel to Egypt amid a diplomatic push to end the 20-day-old war launched to stop rocket fire that has killed more than 400 civilians.With United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon in the region to seek an end to the conflict, diplomats said Hamas has accepted an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, although the Islamists merely indicated support for its broad outlines.
On the ground in Gaza, Israeli tanks barrelled into several neighbourhoods of Gaza's main city and lunged deepest yet into Khan Yunis in the south after a night of intense bombings overnight across the territory, sending residents fleeing, witnesses said.Columns of thick black smoke rose into the sky above several neighbourhoods in Gaza City and pitched battles were reported in the northern town of Jabaliya.I brought the children to the hospital because they were scared at home, but here they are even more terrified, 40-year-old Hossein said as he huddled with his wife and five children at a hospital in Gaza City where they took shelter shortly after dawn.We can't take this any longer. Look at my children, they're trembling, he said as explosions ripped through the air like thunderclaps and Israeli troops and Hamas fighters clashes less than 300 metres (yards) away.Israeli warplanes pummelled the densely-populated territory with some 70 strikes overnight, targetting Palestinian fighters, rocket launching sites and weapon storage sites, the army said.One raid targetted a mosque in the southern town of Rafah that was allegedly used to stockpile weapons, the army said.Militants in Gaza fired 14 rockets and mortars into Israel in the space of several hours in the morning, it said.Since Israel unleashed its Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 1,041 people have been killed and another 4,850 wounded, according to Gaza medics.On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians have died as a result of combat or rocket fire.
In an article published Thursday in Britain's Independent newspaper, Hamas prime minister in Gaza Ismail Haniya spelled out the Islamists' conditions for a truce and appealed to the West to stop Israel's offensive.Israel must end its criminal war and slaughter of our people, lift completely and unconditionally its illegal siege of the Gaza Strip, open all our border crossings and completely withdraw from Gaza, Haniya wrote.After this we would consider future options, said Haniya.Although Egyptian and Spanish diplomats said on Wednesday that Hamas had accepted Egypt's truce plan, a Gaza-based leader of the Islamist group said after talks with officials in Cairo that it did not reject its broad outlines, without accepting the plan outright.Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning, praised Egypt's peace-brokering in a joint statement with French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.Important progress has been made over the past days in identifying workable solutions, they said. A senior US State Department official told AFP that more work needed to be done before a truce could be reached in the fighting. It's not a done deal yet. They're still working it. There are a number of Hamas conditions that are having to be dealt with, he said. Israel has made stopping its deadliest offensive on Gaza conditional on a complete halt to rocket fire from the territory and a stem to arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza.
A senior Israeli defence official told AFP on Wednesday that the war could continue as long as the January 20 inauguration of US president-elect Barack Obama. Amid the diplomatic push on Thursday are emergency sessions of the UN General Assembly and Gulf Cooperation Council, and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's meetings with UN Secretary General Ban and Germany's Steinmeier. The offensive has sparked widespread concern about a humanitarian crisis in one of the world's most densely populated places where the vast majority of the 1.5 million population depends on foreign aid. As part of the fallout from the offensive, Venezuela and Bolivia have severed ties with the Jewish state.
Venezuela, Bolivia break diplomatic ties with Israel Wed Jan 14, 11:23 pm ET
CARACAS (AFP) – Venezuela and Bolivia broke diplomatic ties with Israel over its deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip and refusal to comply with international calls for a ceasefire, their leftist governments said.The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in accordance with its vision of world peace, in solidarity and respect for human rights, has decided to definitively break diplomatic ties with Israel, a government statement said.Caracas said it made its decision due to the cruel persecution of the Palestinian people directed by Israeli authorities.Israel has systematically ignored United Nations (ceasefire) calls, repeatedly and unashamedly violating approved resolutions ... and placing itself increasingly outside international law, the statement added.Israel's repugnant attack on the civilian population (in Gaza) is a perfect example of Israel's repeated used of state terrorism ... (against) the weak and innocent: children, women and the elderly.On January 5, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled Israel's ambassador from Caracas, winning him hero status among Palestinians.Venezuela's decision to cut ties with Israel came just hours after Bolivian President Evo Morales announced his government was breaking diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.Morales, a socialist like Chavez, said his government was responding to Israel's grave attacks on human life and humanity.Morales told a group of diplomats in the administrative capital of La Paz that he planned to ask the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, to bring human rights abuse charges against Israel.Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca told reporters that the diplomatic break with Israel will in no way affect its burgeoning bilateral trade with Bolivia, but was merely intended to prod Israel into resuming talks with the Palestinians.
Choquehuanca also said he expected the UN General Assembly meeting Thursday in New York to take a firm stance against Israel's military offensive in Gaza that has left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead, including some 400 civilians.Morales' diplomatic announcement on Israel came shortly after he received a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asking him to support an international agreement to resolve the Gaza crisis.Iranian Cooperation Minister Mohammad Abbasi disclosed to reporters the contents of Ahmadinejad's letter after he met with the Bolivian president.Morales said he would also report Israeli President Shimon Peres to the International Criminal Court, and ask that the premier's 1994 Nobel Peace prize be revoked.Mr. Perez must also be charged ... since he has done nothing to stop the criminal behavior of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government but, on the contrary, has justified the criminal actions against the Palestinians in Gaza.Most Latin American governments have been critical of Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip that began on December 27 in retaliation for rockets launched by Palestinian militants from the tiny coastal strip on southern Israel.The offensive has sparked widespread concern about a humanitarian crisis breaking out in one of the world's most densely populated places, where the vast majority of the 1.5 million residents depends on foreign aid.
Bin Laden urges jihad, slams Arab leaders over Gaza By Firouz Sedarat – Wed Jan 14, 6:48 pm ET
DUBAI (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on Muslims to rise in a jihad (holy struggle) against the Israeli offensive in Gaza and accused Arab leaders of collusion with Israel, in an audio tape issued on Wednesday.The Saudi-born militant also said outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush had left his successor, President-elect Barack Obama, a sapping legacy of war and economic woe.Bin Laden said the global financial crisis had exposed the waning U.S. influence in world affairs and would in turn weaken its ally Israel.Our brothers in Palestine, you have suffered a lot.... the Muslims sympathize with you in what they see and hear. We, the mujahideen, sympathize with you also... bin Laden said on the tape entitled A Call for Jihad to Stop the Aggression against Gaza, that appeared on Islamist websites.We are with you and we will not let you down. Our fate is tied to yours in fighting the Crusader-Zionist (Western-Israeli) coalition, in fighting until victory or martyrdom.He called on Muslims to rise in support of Gazans and not to rely on Arab leaders the great majority of whom are allied with the Crusader-Zionist coalition.The Palestinian death toll from a 19-day-old Israeli offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza has passed 1,000. Israel says it has lost three civilians, hit by rockets or mortars from Gaza, and 10 soldiers.In Washington, the White House said the tape, in which bin Laden also appealed to Muslims to donate money to militants in a financial jihad, showed his isolation.It appears this tape demonstrates his isolation and continued attempts to remain relevant at a time when al Qaeda's ideology, mission and agenda are being questioned and challenged throughout the world, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.This also looks to be an effort to raise money as part of their ongoing propaganda campaign, he said.
BUSH LEGACY FOR OBAMA
In the 22-minute tape, bin Laden said the United States was losing its dominant world position and that this was due to al Qaeda's campaign. He said Bush was leaving a burden of war and crisis for Obama.Seventy-five percent of the American people are glad about the departure of a president who got them bogged down in wars they have nothing to do with and drowned them in economic turmoil up their ears.And he left a heavy inheritance for his successor ... the legacy of long guerrilla war with a patient and stubborn foe. If he pulls out of the war, it is military defeat and if he continues he drowns in economic crisis, bin Laden saidThe jihad of your sons against the Crusader-Zionist coalition is one of the key reasons for these destructive effects among our enemies, bin Laden told Muslims. God has bestowed us with the patience to continue the path of jihad for another seven years, and seven and seven... The question is, can America continue its war with us for several more decades to come? Reports and evidence would suggest otherwise.The FBI said the message does not represent a threat to Obama's when he assumes the presidency on January 20.We have no specific or credible threat for the inauguration, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.Bin Laden's last message was in May 2008 when he also focused on Gaza, calling on Muslims to try to help end the blockade of the area. He has placed growing emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent years and Wednesday's audio tape was accompanied by a still picture of bin Laden and an image of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest shrine. Al Qaeda, the network behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, has regularly called for attacks on Israel. It was widely blamed for a 2002 suicide attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya and a simultaneous failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli charter jet near Mombasa airport.(Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Matthew Jones)
French, British leaders meet for talks on Gaza Wed Jan 14, 4:32 pm ET
PARIS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Wednesday to discuss the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip and the world financial crisis.Sarkozy, who traveled to the Middle East following Israel's Dec. 27 incursion in Gaza to help broker a proposed peace deal, said he was optimistic that things are going to change for the better in a little bit.Brown said they would discuss ways to end the flow of arms into Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis there.Both leaders said they also would use their working dinner to discuss the global financial crisis and the Group of 20 summit to be held in London on April 2. Sarkozy said he hoped the summit would provide world leaders with a chance to draw the consequences of what we've been through.He and Brown were speaking to reporters on a narrow lane leading to Sarkozy's private residence in the French capital's tony 16th district, where they were to meet over supper along with their spouses.
First Gaza damage estimate: $1.4 billion By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jan 14, 3:49 pm ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israel's fierce assault on Gaza's Hamas rulers has destroyed at least $1.4 billion worth of buildings, roads, pipes, power lines and other infrastructure in already impoverished territory, Palestinian surveyors estimate.
Arab and Western countries will be called on to foot much of the bill to rebuild — which Palestinian economists say could take five years or more.The Israeli military says it has bombed over 2,500 Hamas-linked targets since Dec. 27, including 250 tunnels the militant group used to smuggle in arms as well as large amounts of weapon stockpiles and rocket launcher squads.Even with the Israeli offensive going full throttle, the international community is starting to tackle the formidable postwar challenge. Europe's top four fundraisers for the Palestinians — the foreign ministers of France and Norway, the European Union external relations commissioner and the international Mideast envoy — are meeting in Paris on Thursday to discuss Gaza's reconstruction and the possibility of holding a new donors' conference.
The last one, held in December 2007 at a time of renewed Mideast peace hopes, secured promises of $7.7 billion in aid through 2010. However, donors may have a tougher time contributing large sums in the current global financial crisis.Another concern is whether a cease-fire deal will lift the blockade Israel and Egypt imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized the coastal strip in June 2007 and ousted the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who now controls only the West Bank.You cannot rebuild Gaza without open borders, said Tor Wennesland, the top Norwegian diplomat in the Palestinian territories.Yet ending Gaza's lockdown will require compromises that seemed impossible before the Israeli offensive.Hamas will have to relinquish some control by allowing a buffer force to deploy on the crossings, most likely international monitors, Abbas' troops or both.Gatekeepers Egypt and Israel say there's no way they'll agree to give Hamas, viewed as a violent Iranian proxy, a final say over who and what enters and leaves Gaza. But if they accept a new border regime with monitors, that would inevitably strengthen the Islamic militants' rule over Gaza.In any arrangement, rivals Abbas and Hamas will have to find a way to work jointly, not just to run the crossings but to oversee reconstruction projects. The two have been unable to come up with a power-sharing formula since Hamas defeated Abbas' Fatah movement in 2006 parliament elections.Working out such understandings will take time, something Gaza's 1.4 million people may not have.Israel says Hamas is using civilians as human shields and hiding its weapons in civilian areas. But the humanitarian crisis is becoming more pressing every day, according to the U.N. and human rights groups.Tens of thousands have been displaced and the vast majority of Gazans depend on food handouts. Power cuts are widespread and at least 250,000 Gazans have been without electricity since Israel launched its offensive, aimed at halting Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.
Sewage levels are rising precariously in rickety reservoirs. With nearly 4,000 wounded, along with about 1,000 killed, hospitals are increasingly overwhelmed and the health system is close to collapse, aid groups warn. Thirteen Israelis also have been killed.Israel has allowed in convoys of supply trucks most days during the offensive, but aid workers say that's not enough to alleviate the crisis.Even before the fighting, the blockade was pushing Gaza close to the edge.Unemployment had risen to nearly 50 percent, with an Israeli export ban forcing virtually all of Gaza's 3,900 manufacturers to shut down, the U.N. said in December. Cash was scarce because of restrictions on bringing in bank notes, 80 percent of drinking water was substandard, electricity intermittent and tens of millions of gallons of sewage were discharged into the sea every day because of insufficient treatment facilities. It was bad before, it's worse now, and it's not getting any better, said Maxwell Gaylard, the U.N. humanitarian affairs coordinator for the Palestinian territories. Civilians are bearing the brunt of this destruction of homes and infrastructure.
Gaylard said that once the shooting stops, U.N. crews in Gaza could quickly fix pressing problems, such as distributing more food and repairing some power and water lines. However, larger projects would be harder to accomplish if access to Gaza is restricted, he said. Just before the offensive, frustrated World Bank officials noted that an emergency project to drain a dangerously full sewage reservoir in Gaza was more than two years off schedule largely because of difficulties in getting supplies into the territory. Palestinian economists say a renewed blockade after the fighting ends is unthinkable, especially since Gaza's smuggling tunnels — a lifeline that brought in consumer goods as well as weapons — have been largely destroyed. A continuation of the closure means the final death blow to Gaza, said economist Mohammad Shtayyeh, who runs a Palestinian economic development council that serves as a liaison between the Abbas government and donor countries. Even under ideal conditions, with borders open, rebuilding Gaza would take at least five years, he said. World Bank officials say that with the fighting still raging, it's too early to assess damage. However, Shtayyeh's council and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics have begun a first tally. Based on reports from 56 engineers, the development council said the fighting caused about $1.7 billion in damage in the first 15 days. This includes $300 million in damage in the southern district of Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt, hard hit by bombings because of the smuggling tunnels there, Shtayyeh said. About $135 million was in damage to houses and $35 million to infrastructure, he said. The statistics bureau reported $976 million in damage and $408 million in lost trade, wages and other income in the first 17 days of the Israeli assault. About 4,000 houses were destroyed and 16,000 damaged, said director Luay Shabaneh. He said 30 Hamas security compounds, 15 government ministries and the main government complex were demolished. Earlier this week, Hamas' Cabinet secretary general, Mohammed Awad, told the militant group's Al Aqsa TV that about 1,000 residential buildings had been destroyed, and 25,000 damaged.
Abbas is planning to address an Arab League meeting next week in Kuwait, where he will likely appeal for help for Gaza. West Bank-based Planning Minister Samir Abdullah said rebuilding Gaza will be impossible if Hamas keeps ruling the territory alone. It is a precondition that reconciliation take place and Gaza come under a legal authority, he said. Otherwise, we can't do anything there ... and the economic situation will become some kind of Somalia.
Rockets hit Israel from Lebanon, sowing fear Wed Jan 14, 1:57 pm ET
KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel (AFP) – Three rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into northern Israel on Wednesday in an attack that frayed nerves on both sides of the tense border for the second time in less than a week.The Israel military opened fire towards the source of the rockets and warplanes from the Jewish state overflew the area at low altitude.Rockets fell in northern Israel without causing injuries or damage, an Israeli army spokesman said. The Israeli army responded immediately by firing in the direction from where the rockets were launched.No group has claimed responsibility for the attack carried out on the 19th day of a massive Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, a war in which more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and which has sparked widespread outrage across the Muslim world.The Lebanese government condemned a new rocket salvo, insisting it would not allow the Gaza conflict to drag it into a new war with Israel.This gives Israel an excuse to attack Lebanon," said Information Minister Tarek Mitri. Someone is trying to drag Lebanon into a conflict and is moving rockets from one area to another.The three rockets fired from the El-Hebbariyeh district, some four kilometres (two and a half miles) from the border, struck the Kiryat Shmona district of northern Israel.Three more rockets which had been booby-trapped were later discovered by Lebanese and UN peacekeeping troops before being made safe.The Lebanese government deployed special forces commandos to the border region to try to stop any further rocket fire.
Whoever is behind this attack is targeting the national consensus and all parties represented within the government, Mitri told reporters.With memories still fresh of 2006 -- when war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in the midst of a Jewish state's offensive in Gaza -- Wednesday's incident again sowed panic on both sides of the border.While Israelis headed for bomb shelters, Lebanese schools shut down and many residents panicked and fled fearing an all-out conflict.The 34-day war between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in 2006 erupted after guerrillas from the Shiite movement seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.During the conflict, Hezbollah sent more than 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.More than 1,200people were killed in Lebanon in that war, most of them civilians. More than 160 Israelis also died, most of them soldiers.The Israeli army on Wednesday warned the Lebanese government that it was responsible for preventing such attacks while Beirut slammed the incident and the UN force in southern Lebanon UNIFIL urged restraint on all sides.An Israeli army spokesman said: Israel considers it the responsibility of the Lebanese army and government to prevent rocket fire from Lebanese territory.As Israeli jets flew over the region, residents received pre-recorded warnings from Israel, adding to the sense of fear. People of Lebanon, launching rockets from southern Lebanon against innocents in northern Israel harms your own interests, one warning said, according to an AFP correspondent who was at the receiving end. We warn you against any repetition of these destructive acts.Labour Minister Mohammed Fneish, who represents Hezbollah in the cabinet, said: I don't have any information about who is behind this act.He added: Our position has not changed. It is the same as the position of the government.
The rockets were launched from a mountainous area where the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon last week found a weapons cache. On January 8, three rockets landed in northern Israel from inside Lebanon, lightly wounding two Israelis in an attack in which the Hezbollah Shiite militia denied any involvement. The Lebanese government has repeatedly stressed that it was committed to the UN-brokered truce that ended the 2006 war. But there are heightened fears that extremist groups operating in Lebanon could take advantage of the situation to launch attacks on Israel and analysts have said that last week's incident was likely to have been carried out with the militia's tacit approval. Nothing happens in the south without Hezbollah's knowledge, said Osama Safa, head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies. Last week Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that all possibilities were open against Israel amid its deadly offensive in Gaza.
Israel charges Palestinian reporters on Gaza story Wed Jan 14, 12:31 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel has charged two Palestinian journalists working for an Iranian TV station with passing classified information to the enemy, alleging they reported the beginning of the ground incursion into Gaza while the information was still under military censorship.An indictment Tuesday said the pair knew their broadcast for Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam TV could endanger Israeli soldiers by giving Hamas militants forewarning of the operation.The charges could carry lengthy jail terms.
The lawyer for the journalists, Muhammad Dahleh, said they did not know they were breaking any law. He said Israeli authorities are picking on the journalists because they are Palestinians working for a TV station from Iran, one of Israel's staunchest enemies.Iran condemned the detention of Al-Alam journalists, saying it was against freedom of speech, state media reported. Iran said it holds the Israelis responsible for the lives of the journalists.
Hamas accepts Gaza ceasefire plan: Spanish FM Wed Jan 14, 12:07 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Hamas has accepted an Egyptian initiative designed to halt the war in the Gaza Strip, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Wednesday.
Israel warns Lebanon residents after new rocket attacks Wed Jan 14, 9:45 am ET
SIDON, Lebanon (AFP) – Israel sent telephone warnings to residents of south Lebanon on Wednesday after militants fired three rockets over the border threatening a second front in the 19-day-old war in Gaza.People of Lebanon, launching rockets from southern Lebanon against innocents in northern Israel harms your own interests, one of the warnings said, according to an AFP correspondent who was at the receiving end.
We warn you against any repetition of these destructive acts.A second message warned: This is a statement from the state of Israel to the residents of southern Lebanon.If you allow groups like Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah to launch rockets against innocents in northern Israel as you did before, remember what happened to you last time.The statement was alluding to the devastating 34-day war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 sparked by the capture by the Shiite militants of Hezbollah of two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.Wednesday's rocket salvo, which caused no casualties, was the second since Israel launched its onslaught against Gaza which has left nearly 1,000 Palestinians dead since January 27.Hezbollah distanced itself from anything that might spark a new war with Israel, shifting suspicion against fringe Palestinian militant groups.In July, Communications Minister Gibran Bassil accused Israel of bombarding Lebanese people with threatening phone calls, a day after a controversial prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah.
Many Lebanese received similar phone messages during the 2006 conflict which left more than 1,200 people dead in Lebanon, most of them civilians as well as more than 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
Kuwaiti MP calls to move Arab League to Venezuela Wed Jan 14, 6:55 am ET
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – A Kuwaiti Islamist MP called on Wednesday for moving Arab League headquarters from Cairo to Caracas after expelled the Israel's ambassador because of its onslaught on the Gaza Strip.I call for moving the Arab League from Cairo to Caracas, MP Waleed al-Tabtabai said during a special debate in parliament over the Israeli offensive.Tabtabai said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has proved that he was more Arab than some Arabs, after he expelled the Israeli ambassador in protest against the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.Chavez expelled Israel's ambassador to Caracas on January 6 and Israel retaliated a day later, saying it was expelling Venezuela's charge d'affaires.Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania, the only Arab countries to have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, have ignored public calls to expel Israeli diplomats. An Israeli trade office in Qatar also remains open.Tabtabai also criticised Egypt, which hosts the headquarters of the 22-member Arab League, for refusing to open the Rafah border to allow the passage of food and medical supplies to the battered Palestinian territory.He was echoed by other MPs who also called for sending more aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.Shiite MP Ahmad Lari urged Kuwaitis to donate on month of their wages to the people of Gaza.Close to 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,500 other wounded, many of them civilians, in the Israeli offensive that entered its 19th day on Wednesday.
Israel shells southern Lebanon after rocket attack By SAM GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jan 14, 2:49 am ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanese security officials say the Israeli army has fired eight shells at southern Lebanon after rockets were fired into northern Israel.This is the second such cross-border exchange since Israel launched an offensive in Gaza on its southern flank on Dec. 27, and it threatens to ignite a second front in the north.
The area has been largely quiet since the 2006 Lebanon-Hezbollah war.The Lebanese officials say several rockets were fired Wednesday and at least one fell short inside Lebanon. Israeli police say the militants' rockets caused no injuries or damage, but residents were told to head to bomb shelters.The Lebanese officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.JERUSALEM (AP) — Police say three rockets fired from Lebanon have landed in northern Israel.Police say the rockets landed in open areas near the town of Kiryat Shemona on Wednesday and there were no reports of damage or injuries. People in northern Israel were asked to head to bomb shelters.Israeli officials have expressed concern that militants in Lebanon could try to open a second front in solidarity with Gaza's Hamas rulers against Israel's 19-day offensive against the militant group.Four rockets were fired on northern Israel last Thursday. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group denied responsibility and speculation focused on small Palestinian groups in Lebanon.
ICRC: Israel's use of white phosphorus not illegal By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jan 13, 10:10 pm ET
GENEVA – The international Red Cross said Tuesday that Israel has fired white phosphorus shells in its offensive in the Gaza Strip, but has no evidence to suggest the incendiary agent is being used improperly or illegally.The comments came after a human rights organization accused the Jewish state of using white phosphorus, hich ignites when it strikes the skin and burns straight through or until it is cut off from oxygen. It can cause horrific injuries.The International Committee of the Red Cross urged Israel to exercise extreme caution in using the incendiary agent, which is used to illuminate targets at night or create a smoke screen for day attacks, said Peter Herby, the head of the organization's mines-arms unit.In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used, Herby told The Associated Press. But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way.
In response, the Israeli military said Tuesday that it wishes to reiterate that it uses weapons in compliance with international law, while strictly observing that they be used in accordance with the type of combat and its characteristics.Herby said that using phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is legitimate under international law, and that there was no evidence the Jewish state was intentionally using phosphorus in a questionable way, such as burning down buildings or consciously putting civilians at risk.However, Herby said evidence is still limited because of the difficulties of gaining access to Gaza, where Palestinian health officials say more than 900 people have been killed and 4,250 wounded since Israel launched its offensive late last month. Israel says the operation aims to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks over the border.Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of firing phosphorous shells and warned of the possibilities of extreme fire and civilian injuries. The chemical is suspected in the cases of 10 burn victims who had skin peeling off their faces and bodies.White phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon.
Gazans seek new places to bury the dead By IBRAHIM BARZAK and DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writers – Tue Jan 13, 5:09 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – One family buried a slain son over his grandfather. Another bundled up the tiny bodies of three young cousins and lowered them into the grave of a long-dead aunt. A man was laid to rest with his brother.More than two weeks into the Israeli offensive that has killed more than 940 Palestinians, Gazans are struggling to find places to bury their dead. Cemeteries throughout Gaza City that were closed for new burials have now reopened.Gaza is all a graveyard, gravedigger Salman Omar said Tuesday as he shoveled earth in Gaza City's crammed Sheik Radwan cemetery, a cigarette dangling from his lips.Just six miles wide and 25 miles long, Gaza has always suffered from a shortage of burial space. But Gazans say Israel's shelling and ground offensive have made it impossible for residents to reach Martyrs Cemetery — the only graveyard in the area with space to dig fresh graves.The offensive is aimed at crushing the militant group Hamas and ending its rocket attacks on southern Israel. But Palestinian medical officials say roughly half the dead are civilians.Among them are the Samouni cousins, 5-month-old Mohammed, 1-year-old Mutasim and 2-year-old Ahmed, whose family hurriedly dug up the grave of an aunt to lay them to rest last week.
We buried them quickly, said Iyad Samouni, 26, speaking from al-Awda hospital in Gaza City, where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds. We were afraid we'd be shelled. My relatives were trying to open other graves to prepare for the other dead, but we didn't get time.He said the family fled the graveyard after they came under fire from a warplane.The three boys were killed Jan. 5 in what the family and the United Nations said was an Israeli shelling attack on a house in eastern Gaza where they had evacuated on soldiers' orders to avoid nearby fighting.Many members of the clan were wiped out. The exact number is unknown — figures vary from 14 to 30 people. Medics believe there are still bodies buried under the rubble that cannot be reached because of fighting in the area.Israel's military denies the account, but says the house may have come under attack in crossfire with Hamas militants.At Sheik Radwan on Tuesday, mourners pulled away the slabs of concrete covering the graves of long-deceased relatives, pushed the bones aside and lowered in the newly dead.
You have a martyr: you need an immediate solution, Omar, 24, said, using the term many Gazans use for Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and referring to Islamic law, which requires the dead be buried as soon as possible.You look for where your grandmother, uncle or mother was buried, and bury them there. If there's three or four, bury them in the same grave, he said, drawing on a cigarette as he dug.Nearby, relatives hammered away at the concrete tomb of Moyhideen Sarhi, killed last May in an Israeli strike against Hamas militants. His brother Kamel, 22, also a Hamas militant, was killed Tuesday.The family feared approaching Martyrs Cemetery and decided to lay Kamel next to his brother.As they were in life they are in death, said their cousin, Salim, 28, as other relatives pushed aside the slab protecting Mohyideen's remains and kissed his shroud before lowering his brother's body on top.
Even the pathways in the hilly cemetery were filled with graves. The older ones had marble slabs, a reminder of more affluent times. Relatives of the newly buried make do with a small tile or a name etched in concrete. For others, there was no name at all, just the tombstone of the relative buried there first. One family arrived with their 14-year-old son, who they said was killed in an Israeli strike. A gravedigger approached, asking if the family had a deceased relative whose grave they could reopen. Street children hoping for small change scrambled to look for graves the family could use. Nearby, men in jeans dug up their grandfather's grave. The loud crashing sound of an airstrike nearby made some of them look up. Their relative, Mohammed Abu Leila, was a militant killed in the fighting. I've buried a policeman in his mother's grave, said Omar, the gravedigger. I buried three brothers in one hole. I buried children with their mothers. You don't ask questions: it's just important to find a place and bury them.
