Israel fights off war crimes charges in Gaza by Anna Pelegri JAN 20,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel faces mounting accusations that its military committed war crimes during its massive 22-day offensive on Hamas in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.The main charges centre on the army's alleged use of white phosphorous during the campaign, Israel's deadliest ever on a Palestinian territory.The allegations first began surfacing a week after the Jewish state sent ground troops into Gaza on January 3 following a week of air and naval bombardment of the territory -- one of the most densely populated places on earth where half of the 1.5 million population is under the age of 18.Two days into a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militants, London-based Amnesty International said there was no doubt Israel used white phosphorous -- a substance permitted for creating a smokescreen on the battlefield, but prohibited near civilians.Amnesty International delegates visiting the Gaza Strip found indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely-populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north, the rights group said in a statement.We saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army, said Christopher Cobb-Smith, a weapons expert touring Gaza as part of a four-person fact-finding team.Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's researcher on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, said the use could amount to a war crime.Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely-populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate, she said in the statement. Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime.Israel has repeatedly insisted all of its weapons used were in line with international law and has blamed Hamas for the high nubmer of civilian casualties.
Phosphorus is legal according to international law, said army spokesman Avital Leibovich. All the munitions we were using were legal, like the French, American and British armies. We used munitions according to international law.They (Hamas) were committing war crimes by putting the civilians in the frontline, she said.If Hamas chooses to locate training camps, command centres... in the middle of the (civilian population)... look how populated it is... naturally they are endangering the lives of civilians. Hamas is accountable for the loss of the civilians.Rights organisations have said they planned to ask the International Criminal Court in The Hague to probe war crimes allegations against Israel.Venezuela and Bolivia, which broke ties with Israel over the Gaza war, have also expressed interest.Such efforts have little chance of succeeding since Israel is not a state member of the ICC.The ICC is competent to adjudicate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after 2002 and can try individuals if a crime is alleged to have been committed on the territory of, or by a national of, a state party to the court's founding statute.Anticipating widespread criticism of disproportionate force in a war that left more than 1,300 people dead, at least 400 of them children, and another 5,300 wounded, Israel put Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog in charge of coordinating the Jewish state's humanitarian response.Even before the war ended, the government began assembling incriminating evidence to prove targets hit during the offensive were legitimate since they were being used by Hamas militants. Israel wants to be able to present facts that the majority of the demolished buildings were used by militants. Many were booby-trapped, used for firing rockets and storing arms, he told AFP.United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday condemned as outrageous Israel's deadly bombing of UN-run schools in Gaza, demanding a full investigation and that those responsible be punished.
Saudi: Arab-Israel peace plan not on table forever By DIANA ELIAS and SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writers JAN 19,09
KUWAIT CITY – A day after fighting stopped in the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia's king warned Israel on Monday that an Arab peace initiative won't remain on the table forever.Arab countries have split in two camps over the crisis — one supporting Hamas' hard-liners, the other hoping to lure the Palestinian militant group toward more moderation.But Saudi King Abdullah urged Arab countries to end that rift during an Arab economic summit in Kuwait. He blamed Israel for the Gaza crisis, while pledging $1 billion to rebuild the coastal strip, and invited the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Syria to lunch after the meeting's opening session.Israel has to understand that the choice between war and peace will not always stay open and that the Arab peace initiative that is on the table today will not stay on the table, Abdullah said during a speech at the summit.It was Abdullah's first comments since Israel and Hamas declared a fragile cease-fire to halt three weeks of combat in Gaza that killed more than 1,250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.The Arab peace initiative — first proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and relaunched in March 2007 — offers Israel collective Arab recognition in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from territory it occupied during the 1967 Mideast war, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees.Israel initially rejected the initiative in 2002, but in the past year has said it could be a starting point for discussions.The position of the Israeli government is that the Arab peace initiative remains a basis for dialogue between Israel and the Arab world, Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said Monday. And we continue to be willing to negotiate with all of our neighbors on the basis of that initiative.But prospects for Arab-Israeli peace seem dim following Israel's offensive in Gaza. The death and destruction enraged many Arabs and further strained relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel said it launched the campaign Dec. 27 to halt Hamas rocket fire into Israel.
Progress toward a final peace deal has been slow, especially since Hamas seized control of Gaza from the rival Fatah movement in June 2007, widening the division between the two main Palestinian factions. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah member, controls only the West Bank, and the two sides have been unable to come up with a power-sharing agreement.After Hamas refused to renew a six-month truce with Israel last month, Egypt and Saudi Arabia initially blamed Hamas for the Gaza crisis. Later, as Israel's offensive pressed on with an increasing Gaza death toll and pressure mounting from the public in the Arab world to support Hamas, the two Arab powerhouses shifted their accusations toward Israel.But the divisions between Arab countries grew deeper last week when Qatar hosted a summit. Egypt and Saudi Arabia led a boycott of the gathering, which Qatar had called to take a united stance on Gaza but ended up being dominated by supporters of Hamas.At that gathering, Syria called for putting the peace initiative on hold — a more radical position than the one outlined by Abdullah.But Monday, Qatar's prime minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, expressed optimism after his country's emir had lunch with Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
We hope that we will put hands in hands and heal the wounds to strengthen the Arab position, he said. He did not elaborate, and it was unclear how open Qatar was to working with its political rival, Saudi Arabia.Assad did not appear to have softened his stance, proposing that the economic summit adopt a resolution declaring Israel a terrorist entity.Egypt's Mubarak, meanwhile, took a veiled swipe at Syria by criticizing Iran's influence in Gaza as well as the Persian state's ties with some Arab leaders. Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are two of Hamas' main backers and both have strong relations with Syria.It's regrettable that we allow the ambitions of foreign forces to impose their hegemony on the area, to penetrate our Arab world and trade with the blood of Palestinian souls, Mubarak said. But Abdullah focused on Israel. He denounced Israel's military tactics in Gaza, saying the Jewish holy book called for an eye for an eye and did not say an eye for the eyes of a whole city.The king said his country's $1 billion donation for Gaza would go to a proposed fund that Arabs are setting up to rebuild the seaside territory. Kuwait's emir announced that his country, an oil-rich U.S. ally, would donate $34 million to the United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees. But it remains to be seen whether Arab expressions of sympathy for the citizens of Gaza translate into actual funds to rebuild the city. Arabs have often criticized Israel for the plight of Palestinians, but promised financial support has not always materialized.
In Jerusalem, a senior European Union official said Monday that she expected humanitarian aid to Gaza to flow quickly but signaled that reconstruction would begin only when the EU has an acceptable Palestinian partner. Visiting EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner did not explicitly single out Hamas, but she strongly hinted it would be difficult to rebuild Gaza as long as the Islamic movement remains opposed to international peace efforts.Associated Press writers Diana Elias reported this story from Kuwait City and Salah Nasrawi from Cairo, Egypt.
Jewish leaders object to Nazi imagery at rallies By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jan 19, 3:09 pm ET
JERUSALEM – The use of Nazi imagery at recent anti-Israel demonstrations across Europe has fanned the flames of anti-Semitism and incited violence against Jews, the head of Israel's Holocaust memorial said Monday.Protests against Israel's Gaza offensive have included signs and slogans comparing Israeli soldiers to German troops, the Gaza Strip to the Auschwitz death camp and the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi swastika.The protests have come amid a dramatic increase in anti-Semitic acts, including attacks on synagogues, beatings of pro-Israel demonstrators and proposed boycotts of Jewish businesses, according to the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League.Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem museum and memorial, said the comparisons were manipulative distortions of history and called for the Holocaust to be left out of contemporary political discourse.It is legitimate to constructively criticize the policies of any nation, including Israel. However, the baseless use of Holocaust imagery and terminology as a weapon against Israel has incited a tangible surge of anti-Semitism, he said. That is the danger inherent when people cynically use the Holocaust to distort a present political conflict.Most of the protesters reject any accusation of anti-Semitism.The Nazis and their collaborators murdered 6 million Jews in an attempt to eradicate European Jewry during World War II, shutting them in ghettos and concentration camps and killing them in gas chambers.More than 1,200 Palestinians were killed during Israel's three-week operation, launched on Dec. 27 to halt near-daily rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel. More than half the dead were civilians, according to the United Nations. Thirteen Israelis also died in the fighting.
Images of the devastation in Gaza — including the bloodied bodies of children and anguished victims in hospitals — stoked protests around the world. Human rights groups accused Israel of using disproportionate force and of not doing enough to protect Gaza's civilian population.Anti-Semitic incidents during the war spiked markedly in Europe, the Anti-Defamation League said.Molotov cocktails have been hurled toward synagogues in France, Sweden and Belgium. Jews have been beaten in England and Norway, and an Italian union endorsed a boycott of Jewish-owned shops in Rome.In Amsterdam, a Dutch lawmaker marched in a demonstration where the crowd hollered Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas. Socialist lawmaker Harry van Bommel said he did not repeat calls for another Holocaust and only chanted, Intifada, Intifada, Free Palestine.The Norwegian finance minister took part in a protest where comparisons were made between Nazis and Jews. A British lawmaker whose grandmother died in the Holocaust said Israeli soldiers were acting like Nazis and most recently, a senior Vatican official, Cardinal Renato Martino, said Gaza under the Israeli military offensive resembled a big concentration camp.We have always seen a link between violence in the Middle East to anti-Semitism but we have never seen anything like what we are seeing now, said Abraham Foxman, a Holocaust survivor and the national director of the ADL. Not on this scale, not in this intensity.He said similar protests have also taken place in the United States. In San Francisco, protesters burned Israeli flags and carried banners reading Jews are terrorists, ZionismNazism, and GazaHolocaust. Some read Zionazis.If you think Israel is too aggressive, say it! But don't use the words Ghetto and Nazi, Shalev said.Speaking at the cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new wing at Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies, he said the school's students study the painful lessons of that era. He said that includes speaking out against injustice anywhere.But they also learn that absurd and vicious comparisons of current events in the Middle East to the Holocaust do nothing to further understanding of the current situation, he said. Instead they cloud our judgment and our perceptions.
Europeans seek ways to make Gaza truce last By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jan 19, 1:09 pm ET
LONDON – European nations accustomed to taking a back seat to the United States have taken a lead role in the bid to permanently quell the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.But a cease-fire offered by Hamas expires in six days, giving the effort to cobble together a more durable agreement little time to work.France, British, Germany, Spain and Italy leaders helped get the truce in place by offering technical help to prevent the arms smuggling that infuriates Israel and humanitarian relief to ease the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.Prime Minister Gordon Brown has offered Britain's Royal Navy to help interdict arms shipments bound for Hamas. Several European newspapers have reported, citing unnamed officials, that there are ongoing discussions about deploying a European Union force for the mission.
European Union officials announced Monday they will hold special talks Wednesday with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and meet Sunday with foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority to discuss prospects for a permanent peace agreement.French officials said the time is right to move beyond the truce by organizing, within the next few weeks, an international conference with an eye toward a comprehensive peace settlement to resolve the underlying conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.It is urgent that a dynamic of negotiations is launched, said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier.The goal would be establishment of a Palestinian state, he said.German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has drafted a five-point plan he hopes will guide EU discussions on providing relief to Gaza and restarting a peace process.The draft, presented to EU leaders in Brussels and obtained by The Associated Press, says funding and aid such as food and medical supplies should be sent to Gaza. Steinmeier's plan also suggests a potential EU role with regard to opening of Gaza-Israel crossing points.Charles Heyman, a former Army officer and editor of Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, said he has been told by people with knowledge of the discussions that officials in Brussels are talking behind the scenes about the possibility of deploying an EU naval force to keep arms shipments out of Gaza. The goal is to prevent Hamas and other militant groups from being able to fire rockets into southern Israel with arms provided by Syria or other Hamas allies.The background talk is of a wider EU force, not just the British, Heyman said. There's no doubt the Royal Navy could help prevent weapons delivery, they have the vessels and the training, but it is a very difficult task. This is one of those desperate jobs where both sides will probably hate them for it.He said the main danger for Royal Navy sailors and those from other European nations would be a breakdown in communications with the Israeli Navy.They will have to work out between them very effective rules of engagement and lines of command or it could go drastically wrong, he said.U.S. diplomats have also helped with key agreements in recent days, but their role has been muted, in part because of the impending transfer of power in Washington.
Christiane Hohmann, an EU spokeswoman, said the top item on the EU agenda is to get desperately needed supplies of fresh drinking water and medical supplies into Gaza and to restore electricity there.Even for that you need a sustainable cease-fire, she said.Europeans are also seeking ways to keep Gaza's border crossings open to ease the humanitarian crisis confronting Palestinians. Germany is directly involved in this effort, with plans to send a team of experts to consult with Egypt about how to improve security at the country's tense border with Gaza. Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said Germany plans to start the mission in the near future.
But the border will remain under Egyptian, not European, control, said Ulrich Wilhelm, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said Germany could help Egypt with technical equipment and technical advice.German officials are also proposing a possible EU role in opening the borders between Israel and Gaza. Turkey's top Middle East envoy, Ahmet Davutoglu, said Turkey is working quietly to try to reconcile Hamas and Fatah, the two bitterly divided Palestinian factions. He said this is the key to a durable peace. Associated Press Writers Constant Brand in Brussels, Angela Charlton in Paris, Suzan Fraser in Istanbul and Geir Moulson in Germany contributed to this report.
Israel and Palestinians Agree to Gaza Cease-Fire. Will It Last? Mon Jan 19, 12:00 pm
The Israeli cabinet decided on Saturday night to unilaterally end its 21-day war against Islamic militants in Gaza as of 2 a.m. Sunday, bringing an end to a conflict that has left more than 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. On Sunday, just hours after the Israeli statement, Hamas announced that it too was declaring a weeklong cease-fire, while also demanding that Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza within the week.After holding talks with European leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: We don't want to stay in Gaza, and we intend to leave as soon as possible.Both sides traded shots after their separate announcements, but Gaza residents say that the cease-fire seems to be gaining strength, and Palestinians have emerged from their refuges to assess the damage of Israel's three-week long air and land assault against Hamas in Gaza.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told newsmen after the Saturday night cabinet meeting, All of our goals have been achieved successfully. Hamas was beaten. He added, If Hamas decides to keep shooting, we're ready to strike back forcefully.Israel was facing rising international outrage over its Gaza offensive, in which nearly one-third of those killed were women and children, according to Palestinian health workers. In trying to root out Hamas fighters, Israel subjected the Gaza Strip, which teems with over 1.5 million Palestinians, to scorching fire from aircraft, naval gunships, artillery, tanks and troops backed by helicopter gunships. The cabinet sources told TIME that there will be an interim period to allow the dust to settle and see how Hamas reacts before Israel decides to pull out its troops.
Ending the fighting now allows Israel to boast that it has hammered Hamas and restored the Jewish state's military might in the region, which was tarnished by its inconclusive war in 2006 against Hizballah fighters in Lebanon. Israel is also satisfied by promises made by the United States and the Europeans to provide technical assistance that will supposedly help the Egyptians stop the flow of weapons to Hamas in Gaza through smugglers' tunnels. The U.S. pledged on Friday to help stem the international traffic of arms from Iran and other suppliers to Gaza. But a cease-fire without Hamas and Israel's mutual consent may be the most temporary of band-aids. Inevitably, Hamas claimed that despite the devastation its fight with Israel has wreaked on Gaza, the best the Israelis could do was slow - but not stop - the barrage of rockets arcing out of Gaza. Hamas' Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh claimed a Popular victory over Israel. Up until the last minute before Israel declared its cease-fire, Hamas was firing rockets. Five hit the ports of Ashkelon and Ashdod as well as the inland towns of Beersheva and Sderot. And unless Hamas is obliged by Egypt and other Arab state to sign a truce with Israel, rather than following Israel's example of declaring its own, it may be only days or weeks before the Islamists or one of the myriad militant groups in Gaza decides to take revenge for the Israeli assault and again start firing rockets into southern Israel. And that, judging from Olmert's warning, would result in Israel again pummeling Gaza.
By declaring a unilateral cease-fire, Israel can argue that it is not legitimizing Hamas, which it considers to be a gang of terrorists. But even though a few of Hamas' leaders have been killed, along with hundreds of its fighters, Israel cannot pretend that Hamas no longer exists. Even beaten and bloodied, Hamas are still a force to contend with among Palestinians. The Gaza conflict has raised Hamas' stature in the Arab world and, more importantly, among Palestinians. In Arab eyes, Hamas are plucky champions - David fighting the Israeli Goliath with homemade rockets instead of a slingshot - while Israel sees them as killers who hide behind their civilians and who are willing to sacrifice them for propaganda triumphs. But if Israel insists on imposing the same punitive sanctions it kept on Gaza's 1.5 million people before this war, it will only strengthen Hamas and fan the Palestinians' hatred towards Israel. A unilateral cease-fire practically guarantees that Israel and Hamas are destined for another bloody brawl. And once again, the victims will be the Palestinian civilians whose streets and homes in Gaza are turned into a battleground. With so much blood spilled in Gaza, it will be difficult for Israel to gauge the proper response to another provocation by Hamas. What will happen once the cease-fire begins without Hamas? If a rocket is fired from Gaza and lands a crowded Israeli schoolyard, what then? How will Israel respond? There is not much left in Gaza to destroy.
Saudi king donates $1 bln for Gaza Mon Jan 19, 8:17 am ET
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on Monday announced the donation of one billion dollars for the reconstruction of Gaza battered by a deadly Israeli offensive.On behalf of the Saudi people, I declare the donation of one billion dollars for programmes to rebuild Gaza, the Saudi monarch said at the opening session of an Arab summit in Kuwait.The Arab leaders are tipped to approve the setting up of a two-billion dollar fund for the reconstruction of Gaza.Qatar last week suggested the establishment of a fund for Gaza and donated 250 million dollars.
Turkish PM says Hamas authority must be respected Mon Jan 19, 7:23 am ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday described the violence in Gaza as a tragedy and urged the international community not to marginalise Hamas after its war with Israel.He also criticised Israel for having showed a lack of respect in keeping Turkey, their main regional ally, in the dark over the Gaza offensive.Erdogan, speaking on a visit to the European Union headquarters in Brussels, said the militant Islamist group had clearly won elections in Gaza in 2007 and this had to be respected.We should not be squeezing them into the corner, he said.Hamas should be left the time to show if it was capable of improving conditions in Gaza, he said.If they are not successful they will lose the next time, Erdogan said in a speech at a European Policy Center conference.If we are to move towards democracy in that region then we should respect the decision of the people who went to the ballot box, the Turkish premier, whose ruling party comes from Islamist roots, added.The European Union and United States have Hamas on their terrorist lists and refuse contacts with it until the militant group recognises Israel's right to exist and renounces violence.Erdogan again denounced the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip and the fact that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had given them no warning of the coming offensive.
I have to say we have been saddened by what went on. Israel did not really respect us in that process, he said.Erdogan said he had had six hours of talks with Olmert at the end of December, during which they had discussed indirect talks with Syria -- in which Turkey had been acting as an intermediary -- and other matters.But no mention was ever made during these discussions with Mr. Olmert about Gaza, and three or four days later he should have contacted me, he added.Not only did he not contact me, but we then discovered, December 27, that Israel had started to bomb Gaza.This lack of respect is something that Israel has to remedy.But despite his denunciation of Israel's offensive in Gaza, which he described as savagery, he said there was no question of breaking off relations with Israel.We cannot talk about revenge and hatred, he said. We will continue to have talks at different levels.Hamas has agreed a ceasefire with Israel after a 22-day war in Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.Erdogan said his Justice and Development Party had faced similar international reprobation at the start. There were many things that were said against my people, but democracy is not confined to the definition of the elites. Within a democracy everyone votes, is equal. If one can respect the result, then one is a democrat, he said.
Analysis: Might alone can't achieve Gaza quiet By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer – Sun Jan 18, 3:42 pm ET
JERUSALEM – With the guns falling silent in Gaza, stabilizing the war-ravaged territory will require more than just stemming the flow of weapons to Hamas — Israel must also do something for the Palestinians who live there.Three weeks of punishing air and ground assaults in Gaza might buy Israel a period of quiet by making Hamas think twice before firing rockets again. But in the long run, moderation is unlikely to flourish in Gaza with so many lives shattered and the territory's borders closed to all trade.More than 1,200 Palestinians were killed and much of Gaza was flattened before the two sides declared a fragile truce. Now, some are wondering if brutal deterrence might be canceled out by the hatred it causes.What we have to be concerned about is the radicalization that flows from violence and the impact on the mindset, outlook and orientation of the people, said John Ging, the U.N. point person in the Gaza Strip.Israel stressed throughout the war that it was not targeting civilians and that the reason so many of them died — more than 800, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights — is because militants hid among them.Yet it's no secret that a top war aim was to make attacks on Israel so costly that no one would dare contemplate them. It's a logic of deterrence that also played a part in Israel's 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas: inflicting enough pain on the general population so that they in turn pressure militants to stop firing rockets on Israel.
This is powerful logic for Israelis, who see themselves as a besieged nation surrounded by enemies who want them dead. Given the rocket attacks from both Hezbollah and Hamas — and the suicide bombing campaigns that killed hundreds of Israelis — their fears are not misplaced.Many Israelis believe Iranian proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas can never be diverted from their stated goal of eliminating the Jewish state no matter how much goodwill Israel might show.If we want to make this issue go away, it must disappear — Hamas or other terrorists organizations like it, Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi said.Such feelings are reflected in Israelis' overwhelming support for the Gaza offensive, despite worldwide protests over its toll on Palestinian civilians.Yet even if the offensive leads to a year or two of quiet on Israel's southern border, as the Lebanon war has done in the north, it can be argued that seeds have been planted for a bitter crop.The children follow what's going on, they know what's going on, said Maher Labbad, a 44-year-old human rights worker and father of six in Gaza. They say: The Jews are shelling. The Jews are destroying people's houses. They know who it is. It's the Jews.I try not to teach revenge or negative thoughts, but they adopt it naturally from other children, their brothers. It's deep within them, that they are the enemy, he said.Giving hope to such children could serve Israel's long-term security interests as much as any war.
Yossi Alpher, a former agent of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, argues that Israel should end the economic blockade of Gaza imposed after the Islamic militants violently seized power there 18 months ago, saying it did nothing to improve Israel's security.It didn't make Gazans love Hamas less or support it less. It didn't break the back of Hamas, said Alpher, who co-directs Bitterlemons.com, an academic forum that promotes Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.Israel launched its Gaza offensive on Dec. 27 in response to Hamas' rockets, which the militants fired largely because they wanted to force Israel to lift the blockade that has crippled Gaza's economy.Gaza and its 1.4 million people are surrounded by Israeli and Egyptian fences that keep anyone from going in and out — and Israeli patrol boats deny access by sea. A longer-term cease-fire deal being discussed in Egypt would give Israel assurances that Hamas will no longer smuggle weapons into Gaza. It also foresees the opening of Gaza's border to people and trade. That has the potential to cement Hamas' power in Gaza by easing the economic pressure on it. But it could vastly reduce regional tensions and provide a better life to Gazans, 80 percent of whom rely on U.N. food aid to survive. The emerging deal could also help pave the way for moderate Palestinians to regain a foothold in Gaza by bringing in Fatah, a rival of Hamas, to help manage the territory's crossing into Egypt. Hamas wrested control of Gaza from the Western-backed Fatah movement in June 2007, leaving President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in charge of just the West Bank, which together with Gaza is supposed to one day make up a Palestinian state. Hamas is shunned by the international community, while Abbas is welcomed in capitals around the world.
Bringing Fatah back to Gaza would be crucial to U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Abbas and Israel, as no final peace deal is likely to be implemented with the Palestinians divided in two.Steven Gutkin is the AP bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories. AP correspondent Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.
Gazans survey damage after three weeks of war by Adel Zaanoun Adel Zaanoun – Sun Jan 18, 1:01 pm ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – As Hamas congratulated Palestinians on their victory from mosque loudspeakers on Sunday, shell-shocked residents surveyed the debris of the deadliest offensive ever launched by Israel on Gaza.We congratulate all the Palestinian people after the victory in the fight with the enemy, bellowed a voice from a Hamas mosque in central Gaza City.Yahia Karin, a 54-year-old resident of city's southern neighbourhood of Zeitun, found little to cheer about -- his home was reduced to rubble during the 22-day Israeli offensive which killed at least 1,300 Palestinians.
I came to see my home, but as you can see, there is no home here anymore, Karin said, pointing to the charred ruins of his residence.Some of the heaviest clashes between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters occurred in his neighbourhood -- and the scars of war are everywhere to be seen.Surrounding buildings are marked by charred traces of tank shells while black automobile carcasses line a street pockmarked by huge gaping holes.Everything has been completely destroyed, said Karin amid piles of dusty rubble and twisted metal.I ask (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert -- why did you destroy my home? I'm not Hamas, I'm not in any faction. I'm a civilian. I want peace, he said, choked by emotion.It's a massacre not only against our people, but also against our homes. I pray to Allah to destroy the Jews.Karin was one of thousands of Gazans who took advantage of a unilateral ceasefire announced by Israel late on Saturday -- already punctured by rockets, air strikes, and gunfire -- to survey the war damage.We congratulate the (Ezzedine Al-Qassam) Brigades that threw itself into battle and won, an imam wailed from another mosque. We salute the heroes who were martyred.In Tal Al-Hawa another resident glanced around the depressing landscape.Everywhere I look there is rubble. There is still smoke rising from some places. The roads and buildings have huge gaping holes, he said.
Jumma Nasser, 62, came to his neighbourhood for the first time since the start of the war to survey the damage to his supermarket.Look at this, all the goods have been destroyed by tank shells, he said staring at the burned shelves.Another resident, who gave his name only as Amer and his age as 34, left his wife and children behind at their temporary lodgings.I came alone because if the shelling resumes, I'll be able to run away, he said. If my family is with me, we'll either be killed or injured. Without a complete ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, I won't be back in my home.Such scenes were playing out all across Gaza. In the southern city of Khan Yunis, Mohammed Al-Najar sought desperately to find him home -- in vain -- in the rubble. I came to see my home. I searched for it. There is no home. I don't even know where my home is. At least 20 residential houses are completely destroyed in our neighbourhood, he said. But thank God none of my children and immediate relatives have been killed.
Israel's Barak back from the brink after Gaza war by Chris Otton JAN 18,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's war on Gaza has catapulted defence minister and ex-premier Ehud Barak back into the reckoning ahead of elections next month but has been a disaster for the main ruling party, say analysts.While another former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is still seen as the most likely victor when Israel votes on February 10, pundits say Barak has been the big political winner of the 22-day war and pulled his party back from the brink of oblivion.In contrast, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's lacklustre performance on the diplomatic stage is seen as having dealt a heavy blow to her three-year-old Kadima party's prospects which now faces being frozen out of power.The great beneficiary will be, of course, Ehud Barak, the man who came in from the cold, the columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Sunday's Maariv daily.Benjamin Netanyahu can rejoice as well. He saved himself three weeks of smearing and excuses, restored the security agenda, and kept his advantage.The loser, at this stage, is Tzipi Livni. Her agenda has evaporated.Only a month ago, the polls made grim reading for Barak's Labour party which was being tipped to see its share of the 120 seats in the Knesset fall into single figures for the first time ever.But Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier who served a tumultuous 19 months as premier from 1999-2001, has been seen as the chief architect of Operation Cast Lead launched against Gaza's Islamist rulers of Hamas.While the war drew a welter of international criticism, it had overwhelming support among Israelis who saw it as chance to reassert the country's military strength after a disastrous 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.
Gideon Doron, professor of political science at Tel Aviv University, said Barak's stellar performance contrasted sharply with that of Livni who failed to persuade the US, Israel's usually steadfast ally, to veto a resolution at the UN Security Council calling for an immediate halt to the war.The big winner is Barak but Tzipi Livni is not bearing up well, he told AFP.She was not successful with diplomacy in the US and altogether she was not perceived as a strong leader.Kadima was set up in November 2005 by the then-premier Ariel Sharon, who split with the right wing Likud party after becoming fed up with Netanyahu and other critics of his controversial pullout of troops and settlers from Gaza.Less than two months later, Sharon lapsed into a coma and it was left to his chief lieutenant Ehud Olmert to steer Kadima to victory in the last elections in March 2006.The establishment of the centrist Kadima, which drew big hitters from both Likud and Labour, seemed to have broken the mould of Israeli politics which had previously been dominated by Labour on the left and Likud on the right.But Doron said there is now every possibility that Kadima would slide behind the two traditional parties, with Netanyahu likely to form a new Likud-Labour coalition with Barak as his defence minister along with other smaller parties.That's in the best interest of Likud and in the interest of Labour, he said.Veteran pollster Asher Arian said that Livni had found herself on the outside during the war and her party was slipping back.In contrast Barak had enjoyed a good war and could now expect to enjoy the fruits of victory.
Arian still saw Netanyahu as in pole position although he would have to tread carefully to avoid trashing the outcome of a war that was popular with the public. He may try to form a grand Likud-Labour-Kadima coalition. After three years of soul-searching and insecurity, the public will want to feel that it's a clear cut victory, so his manifesto will have to move to the centre, said Arian.
Israelis begin gradual Gaza pullout: army Sun Jan 18, 12:24 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli troops have begun a gradual withdrawal from Gaza after a deadly 22-day war against the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers Hamas, an army spokesman said on Sunday.I can confirm that there is a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an army spokeswoman told AFP.The pullout comes after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a unilateral halt late Saturday to a massive operation designed to put an end to Hamas rocket-firing that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 Palestinians.Hamas has separately called a week-long truce to give the Israelis time to withdraw.
