Israel planes hit Gaza targets after rocket fire
10AM NOV 19,10
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes struck three targets in the Gaza Strip Friday in response to militant rocket and mortar fire, the Israeli army said.At least four people, three women and a boy, were hurt in one attack in the central Gaza Strip when an uninhabited building close to where they were standing collapsed after being hit, local residents said.The injuries were not considered to be life threatening, a Gaza hospital source said.The two other strikes were aimed at targets near the town of Khan Younis in the southern part of the territory, one of which was a training camp belonging to the Islamic Jihad militant group. There were no reports of casualties.An Israeli military spokesman said three air strikes had been carried out against militant targets in the coastal strip.Two of the three targets were smuggling tunnels that were being built and they were destroyed, said the spokesman, who declined to specify the nature of the third target.He added that nine mortar shells and one longer-range rocket were fired over the past 24 hours, the highest number in a concentrated period for several months.The Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility for the mortar fire, saying it was in retaliation for Israel's killing of two militant leaders of the al-Qaeda linked Army of Islam in Gaza Wednesday.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Ori Lewis and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
No link between peace process, US Israeli aid: Abbas
– Fri Nov 19, 8:45 am ET
DUBAI (AFP) – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he refuses to link the troubled Middle East peace process with a US offer of additional military aid to its Israeli ally, in a newspaper interview published on Friday.We refuse to allow the offer of planes be linked in any way to a freeze on settlements, he told the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.We have nothing to do with all that. This is our position and it will not change, said Abbas, who insists on a renewed Israeli moratorium on settlement building before he returns to direct US-brokered peace talks with Israel.The United States is an ally of Israel and we can not prevent that,said the Palestinian president.But let their aid be carried out far removed from the Palestinian peace negotiations and not be used as a pretext for giving more weaponry to Israel,he said.Israel has agreed to consider a renewed moratorium in exchange for a package of US incentives, reportedly including the delivery of an additional 20 warplanes to the Jewish state.Washington's aim is to bring Abbas back to the negotiating table with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Direct peace negotiations resumed on September 2 but collapsed three weeks later with the expiry of a 10-month Israeli ban on West Bank settlement building.
Netanyahu in intensive contacts with US on peace
– Thu Nov 18, 6:03 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he was pursuing intensive contacts with the United States that might lead to relaunching peace talks with the Palestinians.After my meetings in New York a week ago with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we are holding intensive contacts with the American administration, he said during a visit to a college in northern Israel.
The objective is to reach an understanding under which we could relaunch the peace process, while always preserving Israel's vital interests, with security being the priority, he said.If I receive such a proposal from the American government, I will submit it to the cabinet, and I do not have the slightest doubt that my ministerial colleagues would equally accept it.On Wednesday, Netanyahu said he hoped to soon clinch a deal with the United States over a fresh freeze on Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.In Washington, Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, declined to say whether the US administration would submit a written proposal to Israel but said Clinton and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke over the telephone on Wednesday.In last week's talks, Clinton offered incentives to get Netanyahu to accept a fresh 90-day moratorium on new settlement building in the occupied West Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem in a bid to get peace talks back on track.But Netanyahu has baulked at bringing the deal to his security cabinet until he receives the pledges in writing.Netanyahu's office reiterated on Wednesday Israel's long-standing position that there can be no freeze on construction in east Jerusalem.Jerusalem is not part of these discussions,the statement said. The clear Israeli position during the whole process is that building in Jerusalem will continue.
For their part, the Palestinians are continuing to demand that any new freeze include east Jerusalem.Washington's aim is to bring Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas back to the negotiating table so the two parties can begin discussing borders, commentators say.Direct peace talks resumed on September 2 but collapsed three weeks later with the expiry of a 10-month Israeli ban on West Bank settlement building.
UN welcomes Israel moves on Lebanon border village
– Thu Nov 18, 2:21 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN leaders on Thursday welcomed Israel's move to leave a disputed village on the border with Lebanon while a UN envoy expressed concern at other border incidents.Michael Williams, UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said the Hezbollah militia is probably smuggling large amounts of weaponry into its south Lebanon stronghold.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon led international welcome for the Israeli security cabinet's approval of plans to move soldiers out of the northern part of the village of Ghajar.If the plan goes ahead, the troops, who have been in Ghajar since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, would redeploy south of the blue line unofficial frontier between Israel and Lebanon.Williams said, after UN Security Council consultations on efforts to maintain border peace, that he would go to Israel next week for talks.I feel confident that this is going in the right direction and that we will be able to agree with the Israeli government on the withdrawal of their forces from northern Ghajar, he told reporters.He called it an important step toward the full implementation of 1701 the UN resolution that led to the ceasefire in 2006.
But Williams insisted that both sides must still take further concrete steps after other incidents that he said had raised considerable concern.On August 3, an Israeli soldier and three Lebanese were killed in a shootout when Lebanese forces opened fire on Israeli troops cutting down a tree on the border.On September 3, a suspected weapons cache exploded in the south Lebanon town of Shehabiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold.Williams said there were concerns at the delay in which the UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, was given access to the site of the Shehabiyeh explosion.
According to Israel, Hezbollah has more than tripled the number of missiles it has in south Lebanon since the 2006 war.Many times the secretary general of Hezbollah has referred openly to the Hezbollah's considerable armaments, sometimes in some detail, and has referred also to the replenishment of those armaments since the war of 2006, so I have to assume that this is weaponry was smuggled into the country, Williams said.Lebanon has been plunged into political turmoil, partly inflamed by a UN tribunal's investigation into the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.Unconfirmed reports have said Hezbollah members could soon be indicted by the tribunal.I like others expect to see indictments from the special tribunal in the coming months. I don't know whether that is next week or next year,said Williams.All Lebanese will have to strive to overcome, as they have done in the past, current political difficulties through dialogue,the envoy added, including especially sensitive issues such as the special tribunal.Obviously there are concerns in Lebanon and that is why we have intensified our efforts to underline the importance of dialogue and to try and reinforce stability within the country in the coming period,Williams said.
Islamist group posts Hebrew-language threat online
– Thu Nov 18, 12:51 pm ET
DUBAI (AFP) – An Islamist group on Thursday posted a Hebrew-language threat on the Internet, pledging revenge for the killing of two militants in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City a day earlier.The 30-second clip, in which a man speaks in heavily-accented Hebrew, was posted on an Islamist website which contains references to Gaza.
Our letter is to the Jewish attackers that the killing of our brothers will not stop us from the continuation of jihad, it said, naming the two militants killed when an Israeli missile slammed into their car in Gaza City on Wednesday.The strike, for which the Israeli military claimed responsibility, killed Islam Yassin, 39, and his brother Mohammed, 20, both members of the Army of Islam, a radical group with an ideology similar to Al-Qaeda.You won't have any security calm and our rockets will continue, God willing, if you won't leave the land of Palestine and you will know that your citizens ... are not safe from our members.At the end of the clip, the speaker identifies himself as belonging to Ansar al-Sunna in Al-Quds -- in what appeared to be a reference to a Gaza-based Salafist group which models itself on Al-Qaeda.Many Palestinians speak Hebrew, and although militant groups often put out fiery statements vowing revenge and occasionally recordings, an audio clip in Hebrew is extremely unusual.
In northern Gaza on Thursday, mourners attended the militants' funeral, with around 200 people walking silently through the streets of Jabaliya in a procession where calls for vengeance were noticeably absent, an AFP correspondent said.The Israeli military said two mortar shells were fired from Gaza into southern Israel without causing casualties or damage. The Popular Resistance Committees, a small armed group based in the Strip, claimed the attack.Salafist Muslims practise a strict version of Islam in which they say they strive to live as the Prophet Mohammed did in the 7th century.In Gaza, the term is applied to hardline Islamist militant groups, some of which have openly challenged the territory's Hamas rulers and model themselves on Al-Qaeda.
Israel says in talks on more F-35 fighter jets
– Wed Nov 17, 6:29 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel is in talks with the United States to acquire an additional 20 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets, a senior Israeli defense official said on Wednesday.Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi said Israel would welcome another 20 fighter jets on the heels of a deal signed in October to buy about 20 of the radar-evading jets at a cost of about $96 million per aircraft.As I understand -- and that's the latest information I have on this issue -- it's still under negotiation between the Israeli government and the administration, he said, speaking at a news conference alongside Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer.I don't know the final decision, Ashkenazi said.Some media had reported the Obama administration offered the additional jets to Israel in exchange for a three-month freeze on construction of new settlements, a key issue in efforts to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace.Israel signaled on Tuesday it had delayed approving U.S. proposals for a freeze on West Bank settlement building so that peace talks can resume, saying it wanted the ideas in writing.Israeli sources said the proposals, made verbally during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York last week, included an F-35 offer worth $3 billion and pledges of enhanced U.S. diplomatic support at the United Nations.Israel has said the first batch of jets, to be received from 2015 through 2017, would boost the country's ability to defend itself against any Middle Eastern threat.(Reporting by Missy Ryan; Editing by Philip Barbara)
Israel approves pullout from Lebanon border village
by Hazel Ward - Wed Nov 17, 4:04 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's security cabinet approved plans on Wednesday to withdraw troops from part of a disputed village on the Lebanese border and hand over control to a UN peacekeeping force, officials said.The ministerial committee on security decided today to accept the principle of a proposal by the United Nations and UNIFIL to withdraw IDF (Israel Defence Force) forces from the northern part of the village, cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser said in a statement.The move will see Israel pulling its troops out of the northern part of Ghajar village and redeploying south of the UN blue line demarcating the border, he said.No date was mentioned but Washington welcomed the announcement and urged all sides to move ahead quickly.The United States encourages Israel and the UN to complete the technical details necessary to implement this proposal rapidly and thereby protect the rights of the affected civilians, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.The peacekeeping force UNIFIL ruled that north Ghajar lies in Lebanon and the rest lies in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but Israel took over the Lebanese side too during its devastating 2006 war with Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
Following the pullback decision, responsibility for the sector will be handed to UNIFIL (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon), whose troops will redeploy around the village's northern perimeter but not inside it, officials said.A UNIFIL spokesman confirmed that the head of the Israeli foreign ministry had personally informed force commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas of the security cabinet's decision.We are awaiting formal notification in order to get more details. It is also important to have a date for the IDF withdrawal from the area, Neeraj Singh told AFP in Beirut.Details of the withdrawal are to be hammered out by the foreign ministry and UNIFIL, and will need further security cabinet approval before being implemented.UNIFIL has been pressing Israel to withdraw from north Ghajar in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.In taking these steps, Israel demonstrates its continued commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the cabinet secretary said.The village, which has around 2,200 residents, lies on the borders of Lebanon, Syria and the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community.Most of the residents took Israeli citizenship after the annexation, and now hold dual Israeli and Syrian citizenship. The vast majority are against repartitioning the village, which would leave 1,700 people in the north and 500 on the Israeli side.Practically speaking, the withdrawal will have little demonstrable effect on the ground, with residents unlikely to see their village physically divided, foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.It means there will be no IDF troops or any police or other Israeli security forces in the northern part of the village as UNIFIL has declared that area to be under Lebanese security, he told AFP.Residents would still have no access to Lebanon, and the main change would be that those living in the north would have to go south to access Israeli-provided services.An AFP correspondent on the Lebanese side of the border said the cabinet decision was not well received, with angry villagers calling through loudhailers for protests against the move. Israel's plans to withdraw from the village were first confirmed in New York last week at talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
A statement from Netanyahu's office said the idea of a troop withdrawal from north Ghajar was first raised by UNIFIL in June 2008. At the time, Israel was reluctant to hand over control because of concerns it would give Hezbollah access to the village.
Between 2000 and 2006, no forces were deployed in north Ghajar, although UNIFIL troops were loosely deployed around the perimeter, Palmor said.It became an opening for Hezbollah which they exploited and used to attack various Israeli positions in the area, as well as for drug traffic,he said.This time, they will exert tight control around the border.
Fatah accuses Hamas of West Bank assassination plot
– Wed Nov 17, 3:04 pm ET
NABLUS, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Fatah party of Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused its Islamist rival Hamas on Wednesday of plotting to kill one of its governors in the West Bank.Hamas, which has effectively limited Abbas's authority to the Israeli-occupied territory since it seized control of Gaza in 2007, denied it had made any attempt to assassinate Jibrin al-Bakri, governor of the northern city of Nablus.Hamas should take full responsibility for this assassination plot against the governor of Nablus, Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf said.Security sources in Abbas's Palestinian Authority said a number of suspects from Hamas had been arrested after being implicated in the alleged plot and other suspected operations against the Israeli army or Palestinian Authority.But Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri strongly denied the alleged plot.
These are lies put out by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to cover up their criminal campaign against resistance fighters in the West Bank, Masri told AFP in Gaza.The long-time political rivals have been fiercely divided since Hamas seized power in Gaza in a bloody rout of Abbas's forces in 2007.A string of attempts to reconcile the groups have failed, with each side accusing the other of undermining trust by persecuting political rivals in the territory under its control.
Israel demands written U.S. guarantees before freeze
– Tue Nov 16, 11:24 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has demanded the United States provide written security guarantees before it votes on whether to agree to freeze Jewish settlement building in the West Bank, an Israeli political source said on Tuesday.The source added that Palestinian opposition to some of the pledges that Washington has verbally offered Israel was delaying progress toward finalizing U.S. proposals for resuming the stalled Middle East peace talks.There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
U.S. suggests Mideast deadline may be slipping
– Mon Nov 15, 5:28 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. target to resolve all major issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by August 2011 may be slipping, the State Department said on Monday.Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace negotiations in Washington on September 2 only to see these unravel within weeks after Israel's 10-month partial moratorium on Jewish settlement construction expired that month.In her August 20 announcement of the talks' relaunch, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the key issues -- which include borders, settlements, Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees -- could be resolved within a year.However, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley acknowledged the impasse on settlements could delay any resolution and said that if more time was needed, so be it.When the process started we said this could be accomplished within 12 months. Hard to say at this point, you know, given the delay, over the issue of settlements, where we stand on that clock, Crowley told reporters.If we get to August 2011 and we need a little more time, you know, to get this done, we'll take that time, he added.We're not making progress as we stand here, he said. We have got to get the parties back into negotiations, then we can see, once again, you know, some forward motion, he said.Washington wants Israel to renew the freeze on building settlements so that talks can resume with Palestinians, who walked out of negotiations after just a few weeks when Israel refused to extend its self-imposed settlement freeze.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a U.S. plan to his cabinet on Sunday that would extend the freeze for 90 days in return for diplomatic and security incentives.Israeli political sources said on Sunday that Netanyahu would probably win narrow approval from his coalition government for the U.S. proposal. It is unclear whether the Palestinians will agree to resume talks.(Editing by Sandra Maler)
Egypt denies not cracking down on Gaza smuggling
– Mon Nov 15, 1:03 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – A top security official said on Monday Egypt has cracked down on tunnels to Gaza and intercepted explosives destined for the enclave, a day after an Israeli official criticised its anti-smuggling efforts.The Gaza Strip relies on a network of tunnels underneath its border with Egypt, which has been key in maintaining a blockade on Gaza first imposed in June 2006 after Palestinian militants there kidnapped an Israeli soldier.The blockade was tightened a year later when the Islamist Hamas seized power in the tiny but densely populated territory.
The Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said security forces have closed down dozens of tunnels this year but found none used for smuggling weapons.He said security services have captured large quantities of explosives that were extracted from ordnance left over from Egypt's wars with Israel, before the two countries signed a peace deal in 1979.Other weapons were smuggled into Gaza by sea, he said.We set up dozens of checkpoints inside Rafah and along the roads leading to it to prevent smuggling operations. The weapons that reach Gaza come the sea, which is controlled by the Israeli navy, he said.A senior Israeli intelligence official said on Sunday that Egypt was not doing enough to stop weapons smuggling to Gaza.
Egypt has lost control of what is happening, he said.However, the Israeli official also praised Egypt for apprehending Islamic militants believed to be operating in the Sinai Peninsula.Egypt said on Friday it had arrested at least 20 Islamists suspected of extremist ideology in the Sinai, a day after Israel warned its citizens of a possible kidnap plot there.Security services in Egypt have accused militants arrested over the past two years of receiving training inside Gaza to mount attacks in the Sinai targeting tourists and the Suez Canal.Relations between Egypt and Hamas are at their lowest point ever, partly because of an underground barrier Egypt is building along its border with Gaza aimed at stopping the smugglers.Earlier this year, Cairo accused Hamas gunmen of shooting dead one of its border guards.
Hamas, which believes Israel was illegitimately created on Palestinian land, fought a devastating war with the Jewish state in December 2008 and January 2009.
Obama calls latest Israeli plan promising By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent – Sun Nov 14, 10:27 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Sunday hailed the prospect of a new settlement freeze in the disputed West Bank as a promising step toward peace, urging Israelis and Palestinians to get back into serious negotiations quickly.An upbeat president also pledged to return to the basic principles that drove his thinking when he first came to the White House, including sticking to a more bipartisan tone and better explaining his decisions to the American people. He spoke of moving from an obsessive focus on policy and making changes to his approach after a humbling midterm election.The fact that we are out of crisis — although still obviously in a difficult time — I think will give me the capacity, Obama told reporters aboard Air Force One at the end of long Asia trip.On the Mideast, Washington's new proposal for reviving peace talks includes a 90-day ban on housing starts in West Bank settlements — but not in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital. The goal is to give the two sides a three-month period to shape borders of side-by-side states, a daunting, elusive mission.Obama commended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making a very constructive step toward creating an environment for peace. I think it's a signal that he's serious,Obama said.
U.S. officials said Netanyahu told the administration that he supports the plan and will try to win approval from his Cabinet. Obama said he hopes the Israeli leader and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will resume negotiations soon.A previous 10-month moratorium in the West Bank expired Sept. 26, and talks have stalled, casting doubt about the notion of a peace deal within a year's time, as Obama has sought. Just a few days ago, during a stop in Indonesia, Obama acknowledged he was worried about the peace process and urged both sides to show more effort.Looking rested after two legs of an all-night flight from Asia, Obama on Sunday made an unannounced visit to the press cabin of Air Force One just before the plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington.The president sounded optimistic about getting Senate ratification of a new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty during the postelection session of Congress, during which lawmakers try to push through matters before a new Congress convenes.The White House is working furiously to round up the votes, warning that a failure would deeply undermine U.S.-Russia relations. As a way to rally support, the administration is proposing extra billions of dollars to modernize the existing nuclear arsenal. That's a priority of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is seen as the key to rounding up Republican support for ratification.
Actually, I feel pretty good about our prospects,Obama said.Obama said Congress should also reach a deal on extending certain George W. Bush-era tax cuts, soon due to expire, so that the middle class does not get a tax hike in the new year. Republicans are pushing for an extension of tax cuts for wealthier Americans, too, and Obama is probably going to have reach at least a temporary deal on that.Later this week the president will hold a strategy session with Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. He joked of his coming week, I'm sure it'll be very relaxing.Obama sought to raise the expectations on Republicans, who won convincingly in the midterm elections.They're still flush with victory, having run a strategy that was all about saying no, he said. But I am very confident that the American people were not issuing a mandate for gridlock.The president said one lasting impression of his trip is that the nations of southeast Asia are on the move economically, and that while the U.S. can confidently compete, we are going to have to step up our game.As for his own leadership, Obama said he will focus more on sounding the right tone and connecting with the American people. I neglected some things that matter a lot to people,the president said of the first two years of his presidency.
Israeli official: Hamas rockets can reach Tel Aviv
By DAN PERRY, Associated Press – Sun Nov 14, 3:36 pm ET
TEL AVIV, Israel – A senior Israeli intelligence official warned Sunday that Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip have rockets that can travel 80 kilometers (50 miles) — a longer range than previously reported, which would put the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv within range of its launchers.The official blamed Egypt, saying it was not doing enough to stem smuggling through a network of tunnels along the relatively short border between its Sinai desert and the Palestinian territory. An Egyptian security official reached for comment maintained that Egypt was combating the smuggling successfully.The Israeli intelligence official said that Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, is making very big efforts to build up their military capabilities ... building up their rocket capabilities in the Gaza Strip, and all this is happening because of one important thing: the smuggling of weapons through Egypt to the Gaza Strip.Egypt, along with Israel, imposed an embargo on Gaza in June 2007 after Hamas militants took control of the area, but the Israelis and United States have repeatedly urged Egypt to do more to prevent weapons smuggling into the territory.Most of the tunnels that are used to smuggle these rockets and explosives and other weapons are in an area of three to four kilometers, or up to 2.5 miles, said the official, who is privy to high-level intelligence information and briefed foreign correspondents on condition that he not be identified.We see it in our intelligence. We have photos of this. In many places we can show photos of Egyptian soldiers located less than 20 meters (yards) from the opening of a tunnel, and the tunnel is operating under his eyes, under his control, and nobody is doing anything about it.Egypt can stop all this smuggling of weapons within 24 hours if they want to do it,he said. There are enough Egyptian troops and policemen ... located on this border.
Israeli lawmaker Arieh Eldad, a member of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who has access to classified material, confirmed the official's assessment.Egypt is not a country that large quantities of weapons can enter without the authorities knowing, he told The Associated Press, charging that Egypt allows Hamas to acquire arms in exchange for the Islamic militants leaving Egypt alone.
They could easily train police to look for the smugglers and they don't, Eldad said.
A senior Egyptian intelligence official said Egyptian security has been performing its duties successfully at the border with Gaza. He said they have intercepted 50 tons of explosives in the past two years and have been praised by Israeli intelligence for their work.
The Gaza-Egypt border is only about 8 miles (13 kilometers) long.Egypt beefed up its presence at the border after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in September 2005 and handed it over to Palestinian control. The smugglers responded by digging longer tunnels, penetrating past the immediate border area.The Egyptians have found 675 tunnels since the beginning of this year, the security official said.The United States has helped Egypt with advanced equipment to find out the tunnels through uncovering the underground movement and several Egyptians were trained in the U.S. to use these equipment. Egypt also built a steel wall along the border to prevent smugglers from penetrating into Egypt, though some smugglers have cut through it.
Although Hamas has largely halted its rocket fire since a fierce Israeli military offensive in early 2009, the Israeli security official said the group's aim remained to strike at Israeli cities.Today there are rockets which are reaching 70 and 80 kilometers (45 to 50 miles) in the Gaza Strip ... so it means that we can sit here and talk and a rocket can fall on our heads within five minutes, the official said.
That range would mean that rockets could reach Tel Aviv, Israel's business and cultural hub. About 2 million people live in the Tel Aviv area, which was targeted by Saddam Hussein's Iraq with Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. The assessment indicated that Hamas has improved its capabilities in recent months. Past assessments have said Hamas rocket range was closer to 60 or 70 kilometers, or roughly 40 to 45 miles.On Sunday Israel's Channel 10 TV showed video of Israel's Iron Dome system knocking down rockets. The system is designed to protect Israel from rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon. However, deployment has been delayed several times and now appears at least months away.The official charged that corruption is undermining any efforts to stop the smuggling from Egypt to Gaza. He said Egyptian officers and soldiers are being bribed to look the other way.
Eldad confirmed that.
When an arms convoy goes through Egypt, lots of people are bribed along the way,he said. It's easy to bribe the guards and police on the border.On the other hand, the official said, intelligence cooperation with Egypt was otherwise effective: In other aspects we see Egypt, when they have concrete intelligence about terror attacks ... they are reacting most of the time very fast and trying to prevent these attacks.The Israeli intelligence official also said that Hamas' rival, the Palestinian Authority, was making a genuine and successful effort to maintain security and prevent attacks on Israel in the West Bank. But he warned it was dependent on progress in the currently stalled peace talks with Israel — and on the presence in office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.The official added that Israeli intelligence believes that it remains the long-range goal of Hamas to destroy Israel and to establish an Islamic caliphate, not only in the Middle East but in Europe as well.Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed to this report from Rafah, Egypt.
Israel's Netanyahu unveils U.S. plan for new talks
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan – Sat Nov 13, 6:45 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed senior ministers a U.S. plan for resuming peace talks with Palestinians, including a 90-day settlement freeze, a diplomatic source told reporters Saturday.The plan also includes a pledge not to seek any extension to the settlement freeze after the 90-day period, a vow to veto any attempts at the United Nations to force a unilateral peace deal and an agreement on supplying Israel with more war planes.Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, renewed under Washington's sponsorship on September 2, broke down a few weeks later when Israel balked at renewing a settlement moratorium.Netanyahu met his top Forum of Seven" ministers a day after returning from a week-long U.S. tour that included talks on Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at which she unveiled the plan he showed his cabinet, the source said.Netanyahu hopes he may win approval for the plan from his pro-settler cabinet later this week, political sources said.Among the pledges offered to Israel by Washington, was a guarantee to veto any resolutions brought to the United Nations Security Council that seek to impose a political settlement on Israel,the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had no immediate comment. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the Palestinian leader was likely to wait to see whether Israel approved the ideas before issuing any comment.
AN ADDITIONAL FREEZE
Under the plan Israel would declare an additional suspension of construction in the West Bank, land it captured from Jordan in a 1967 war, for 90 days. Building begun since a moratorium ended in September, would be halted, the source said.The proposed construction freeze would not include East Jerusalem, an area Israel has annexed as part of its capital in a move never recognized internationally and which Palestinians want as capital of any future state.Washington would also undertake to veto resolutions deemed anti-Israel in the U.N. Security Council and other international organizations, the source said, a pledge that could make Israel less vulnerable to threats made by some Palestinians to declare statehood unilaterally in the event that peace talks fail.The Obama Administration would also ask Congress to approve the supply of $3 billion worth of warplanes to Israel to maintain its qualitative edge in the region, the source said.The United States would further sign a more comprehensive deal to enhance its substantial security aid to Israel as part of any agreement concluded with the Palestinians.Israeli officials said Netanyahu, who faces a tough political sell within his own coalition on the settlement issue, had pushed Clinton for the broad understandings.The chances of reaching a peace agreement will be improved significantly by achieving comprehensive security understandings between Israel and the United States, Netanyahu said in New York before his talks with Clinton began.(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Comatose Sharon moved back to hospital
– Sat Nov 13, 6:29 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, who has lain in a coma for nearly five years, was taken back to hospital late Saturday after a brief stay at his home, public radio reported.Sharon was returned to hospital after having been brought back to his home at 'Sycamore Farm', southern Israel, for a trial period of just under 48 hours to see if he could be treated at home on a permanent basis.His family and the doctors treating him used the visit to test the medical equipment installed at his home to see if letting him return was practicable.The first trial period had gone perfectly, said doctors, the radio reported.Sharon will make another four such trips before he is allowed to settle in for treatment at his home on a permanent basis.On January 4, 2006, the premier suffered a massive stroke and slipped into a coma from which he has never recovered, leaving behind him a gaping political vacuum.
