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Islamists call for blood as Israel hammers on
By Nidal al-Mughrabi JAN 2,09
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian Islamists vowed revenge against Israel on Friday for killing a senior Hamas leader and his family, and said all options including suicide bombs were now open to strike at Zionist interests everywhere.On the seventh day of an offensive aimed at stopping Hamas rockets striking southern towns, Israeli warplanes struck 20 targets and Islamist fighters fired rockets at Israel's port of Ashkelon, once again dashing international hopes of a ceasefire.One rocket blew out windows in an apartment building. Stunned residents spilled onto the street and twisted metal window frames dangled from the building.In Gaza City, less than 20 km to the south, a lucky few hundred foreign passport holders boarded buses in the pre-dawn murk to quit the Strip, with the help of the International Committee off the Red Cross, their governments and Israeli compliance.The situation is very bad. We are afraid for our children, said Ilona Hamdiya, a woman from Moldova married to a Palestinian. We are very grateful to our embassy.They left behind 1.5 million Palestinians unable to escape the conflict, a city waking up to another day of bombs, missiles, flickering electricity, queues for bread, tape-up windows and streets littered with broken glass and debris.We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity, said Hamas leader Fathi Hammad at the funeral of Nizar Rayyan, who was killed with four wives, eight children and four neighbors by an Israeli missile which hit his house on Thursday.Spokesman Ismail Rudwan said that following this crime, all options are now open including martyrdom operations to deter the aggression and to strike Zionist interests everywhere.
DAY OF PROTESTS
Bracing for protests and retaliatory violence a day after it killed a senior Hamas leader in an air strike on his Gaza home, Israel sealed off the occupied West Bank to deny entry to most Palestinians, and deployed heavy security at checkpoints.A pro-Hamas website urged Palestinians to take to the streets in protest.A statement by Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan said Israel's terrorism, massacre and holocaust will not break us and will not force us to raise a white flag ... killing begets killing and destruction begets destruction.Israeli air strikes killed two Palestinians in a house that Israel said concealed a tunnel and a weapons dump.The death toll rose to 421 as some badly wounded succumbed to their injures. A quarter of the dead were civilians, the United Nations estimates.Some 2,000 Palestinians have been wounded. The Gaza rockets, which have killed four Israelis in the past week, injured two people slightly in Ashkelon.Rayyan was the highest ranking Hamas official to be killed in the current offensive. He had called loudly for suicide bombings in Israel.
Israeli armored forces remained massed on the Gaza frontier in preparation for a possible ground invasion, ignoring international calls for a halt to the conflict.
Late on Thursday, Israeli war planes bombed the Jabalya mosque. Israeli security officials said it was a meeting place and command post for Hamas militants and the large number of secondary explosions after the strike indicated that rockets, missiles and other weapons had been stored there.Nine mosques have had been hit since it began on Saturday.I will pray at home. You never know, they may bomb the mosque and destroy it on our heads, said one man buying humus from a street stand. Another was defiant: What better than to die while kneeling before God? he said.
Analysts said Israeli leaders felt under pressure to act ahead of a February 10 national election, and surveys indicate the assaults may boost support for Barak and Livni, against frontrunner Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party.Livni says the strikes have been effective.I think that even now, after a few days of operation we have achieved changes, she said on Thursday after talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She rejected a proposed 48-hour respite in fighting, saying food aid was being allowed in and there was no humanitarian crisis in the Strip.(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Israel pounds Gaza as day of wrath unfurls by Sakher Abu El Oun JAN 2,09
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli warplanes pounded militant targets including a mosque in Gaza on Friday as angry protests unfurled on Hamas's day of wrath against the blistering assault that has killed more than 420 people.Thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and rock-throwing youths faced off with Israeli police in Jerusalem after Hamas called for marches to follow Friday prayers.We will sacrifice our soul and our blood for Gaza, chanted the demonstrators, shouting out pro-Hamas slogans and calling on the Islamists to hit Tel-Aviv.Hamas called for the protests after an Israeli air strike killed Nizar Rayan, a firebrand hardliner, and several of his wives and children. At least 422 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel's seven-day-old blitz, with at least 25 percent of them civilians, according to a UN count.Rayan is the most senior Islamist figure killed by Israel since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004 and Hamas again warned that it could resume suicide operations against Israel for the first time since January 2005 to avenge his death.Nizar Rayan After the last crime, all options are open to counter this aggression, including martyr operations against Zionist targets everywhere, Hamas official Ismail Radwan vowed after the attack.With Israeli tanks and troops massed around Gaza for a threatened ground offensive and no ceasefire in sight, the army allowed foreigners to leave the battered enclave.The (border) crossing was specially reopened to allow foreign nationals to leave the Gaza Strip, an army spokesman told AFP, adding that more than 400 people, mostly dual nationals, were expected to cross.
The Israeli military pounded the densely populated territory for a seventh day, carrying out some 20 strikes overnight, bombing rocket launching sites and Hamas buildings, the army said.Among the targets was a mosque in the northern town of Jabaliya that the military said was a terror hub, used to stockpile weapons and as a Hamas operations centre.At least two people were killed in the latest raids, which targeted a house in Jabaliya, medics said.The Islamist movement kept firing back, sending a handful of rockets into Israeli territory overnight without causing casualties.Israel unleashed its Operation Cast Lead on Hamas in Gaza on December 27 in response to persistent rocket fire from the territory, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since the Islamists seized control in June 2007.Besides the Palestinians killed in the offensive, a further 2,180 have been wounded, according to medics.Gaza militants have fired more than 360 rockets into Israel, killing four people and wounding dozens more. Some of the rockets have reached deeper than ever inside Israeli territory, penetrating some 40 kilometres (24 miles) from the Gaza border.The Israeli offensive -- one of its deadliest-ever on Gaza -- has sparked angry protests in the Muslim world and defied diplomatic efforts to broker a truce.Gaza In the latest protests, tens of thousands took to the streets of Jakarta, thousands demonstrated in Afghanistan, more than 4,000 Muslims demonstrated in Sydney and hundreds of Muslims burnt Israeli flags in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni reiterated that Israel did not think the time was yet ripe for a truce after talks in Paris on Thursday with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French leaders. Sydney The question of whether it's enough or not will be the result of our assessment on a daily basis, she said. Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak held talks well into the night and planned to continue their discussions over the weekend, Olmert's office said. UN For the time being the military operation is continuing in accordance with what has been approved by the cabinet, a government official said. Peace moves were also stalled at the UN Security Council. UN The majority of the Israeli public is supporting the Gaza offensive, with some 95 percent of Jewish residents backing the air strikes according to a survey published on Friday in the Maariv daily.
Hamas calls for revenge as Israel hits Gaza again By Nidal al-Mughrabi JAN 2,09
Reuters GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian Islamists vowed revenge on Israel on Friday for killing a senior Hamas leader and his family, and said all options including suicide bombs were now open to strike at Zionist interests everywhere.There was no sign of a ceasefire on the seventh day of the conflict, in which at least 424 Palestinians have been killed and 2,000 wounded. Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets.Israel pressed on relentlessly with more than 30 air strikes, one of which killed three Palestinian children aged between eight and 12 as they played on a street near the town of Khan Yunis in the south of the Strip. One was decapitated.
These injuries are not survivable injuries, said Madth Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor at Gaza's Shifa hospital who could not save another boy who had both feet blown off. This is a murder. This is a child, he said.Islamist fighters fired rockets at Israel's port of Ashkelon one of which blew out windows in an apartment building.In Gaza City, a lucky few hundred foreign passport holders boarded buses in the pre-dawn murk to quit the Strip, with the help of the International Committee off the Red Cross, their governments and Israeli compliance.The situation is very bad. We are afraid for our children, said Ilona Hamdiya, a woman from Moldova married to a Palestinian. We are very grateful to our embassy.They left behind 1.5 million Palestinians unable to escape the conflict, a city facing another day of bombs, missiles, flickering electricity, queues for bread, taped-up windows and streets littered with broken glass and debris.We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity, said Hamas leader Fathi Hammad at the funeral of Nizar Rayyan, who was killed along with four wives and 11 children by an Israeli missile which hit his house on Thursday.Spokesman Ismail Rudwan said that following this crime, all options are now open including martyrdom operations to deter the aggression and to strike Zionist interests everywhere.
PROTESTS TURN VIOLENT
Bracing for protests and retaliatory violence, Israel sealed off the occupied West Bank to deny entry to most Palestinians and beefed up security at checkpoints.There were protests by Palestinians in major West Bank cities. In Ramallah, Hamas supporters scuffled with the Fatah faction of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, taunting them as collaborators. Elsewhere, protesters stoned soldiers at checkpoints and some were wounded by rubber bullets.In the Jordanian capital, Amman, riot police fired teargas to disperse hundreds of protesters marching on the Israeli embassy, chanting: No Jewish embassy on Arab land.A statement from Gaza by Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan said Israel's terrorism, massacre and holocaust will not break us and will not force us to raise a white flag ... killing begets killing and destruction begets destruction.The death toll rose to 424 as some badly wounded succumbed to their injuries and a morning strike killed two Palestinians in a house Israel said concealed a tunnel and a weapons dump.A quarter of the dead are civilians, the U.N. estimates, and some 2,000 Palestinians have been wounded. Gaza rockets have killed four Israelis in the south over the past week.The bearded cleric Rayyan, who mentored suicide bombers and sent one of his sons on a martyrdom mission, was the highest ranking Hamas official to be killed in the current offensive. He had called loudly for bombings in Israeli cities. Israel's armored forces remained massed on the Gaza frontier in preparation for a possible ground invasion, despite international calls for a halt to the conflict. An Israeli naval vessel lying offshore fired at a greenhouse in southern Gaza. Late on Thursday, Israeli war planes bombed the Jabalya mosque. Israeli security officials said it was a meeting place and command post for Hamas militants and the large number of secondary explosions after the strike indicated that rockets, missiles and other weapons had been stored there. Nine mosques have had been hit since last Saturday. I will pray at home. You never know, they may bomb the mosque and destroy it on our heads, said one man buying humus from a street stand. Another was defiant: What better than to die while kneeling before God? he said. (Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Keith Weir)
Kashmiris condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza JAN 2,09
SRINAGAR (AFP) – Hundreds of Muslims burnt Israeli flags Friday and chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans as they staged a protest in insurgency-hit Indian Kashmir against the attacks on Gaza.Carrying pro-Palestinian banners and portraits of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, hundreds of Kashmiri Muslims marched through the streets of the summer capital Srinagar chanting, death to Israel and death to US.
Look how they are killing Muslims and no one seems to be bothered, said Akbar Ali, one of the protesters.Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly two-decade old insurgency against Indian rule that has so far left more than 47,000 people dead by official count.At least 420 Palestinians have died in a seven day blitz by Israel, while rockets fired from Gaza have claimed four Israeli lives.Israel on Wednesday rejected a French proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire to help humanitarian efforts, and tanks and troops are now massed for a threatened ground offensive.Hamas has called for a day of wrath on Friday in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, with massive marches after weekly Muslim prayers.
Captured Israeli soldier's fate becomes murky By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jan 2, 5:09 am ET
JERUSALEM – The fate of an Israeli army sergeant captured by Hamas and being held in Gaza has become murkier with the massive Israeli assault on the Palestinian territory.Gilad Schalit, 22, was captured in June 2006 in a deadly cross-border raid by Hamas-allied militants on an outpost guarded by his tank unit.Since then, he has become an Israeli national obsession. Musicians have composed songs in his honor, activists have staged a permanent demonstration outside the prime minister's house and world leaders have tried to mediate his release.Although Israel has no direct political contact with the Islamic militant group, it has bargained fiercely for Schalit's freedom. Israel is willing to trade several hundred of its more than 8,000 Palestinian prisoners for Schalit, but negotiations have been bogged down by sharp disagreements over which prisoner would be freed.After launching an intensive aerial bombardment against Hamas on Saturday, a senior Israeli military officer said Israel was not prepared to let Schalit's safety drive its strategy. He spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss policy issues.The officer indicated Israel would demand Schalit's release as part of any deal to end the fighting in Gaza, but it was not likely to be a deal-breaker. His name barely has been mentioned as Israeli leaders list their minimum conditions for a new cease-fire.Photographs of Schalit, who also holds French citizenship, show a fresh faced teenager — he was 19 when captured — and he is described as polite, a sports enthusiast and a good student.Nothing has been heard from him in six months, his father Noam told The Associated Press Thursday. Noam Schalit declined to be interviewed further, while the Israeli attacks on Gaza were continuing.As Israeli planes hammered Gaza's infrastructure and targeted its leaders and fighters, Hamas invoked Schalit's name to taunt its enemy.
Of course, Gilad is now frightened, he's terrified, an anchor on Hamas television said Thursday. He must be asking himself, What's happening right now? What will happen to me? A Hamas statement broadcast on radio challenged the Israelis to send ground troops into the Gaza. We are waiting for you to enter Gaza to kill you or make you into Schalits.Winning the return of Israeli captives — or even their corpses — is a cardinal tenet of the Israeli military, and lopsided prisoner exchanges have been common in the past. Soldiers are trained never to abandon comrades on the battlefield. The capture of two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border by Hezbollah, a Shiite Islamic militia allied to Hamas, was the trigger that set off the 2006 Israeli war in Lebanon.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a candidate for prime minister in next month's elections, angered many Israelis recently when she appeared to waver on Israel's commitment toward Schalit.Although everyone wanted to see Schalit return safely, she said, it is not a question of what we want or don't want. It is a question of what is and isn't possible. Not everything can be done.Vice Premier Haim Ramon, indicating frustration at failing to free Schalit during a six-month truce with Hamas, said Thursday the Israeli assault on Gaza could only improve his chances. The truce brought us no closer to returning Gilad Schalit. I am convinced that if there is a different reality at the end of this operation it will assist to bringing Gilad Schalit home.
Thousands of Australian Muslims rally for peace in Gaza Fri Jan 2, 2:08 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – Thousands of Muslims staged a protest in Sydney Friday against Israeli attacks on Gaza after several local mosques urged worshippers to attend the rally rather than traditional prayers.Bearing pro-Palestinian flags and banners, a crowd of more than 4,000 flocked to Parry Park in the city's Islamic heartland to demonstrate and pray for the victims of renewed violence in the Middle East.Five local mosques had closed their doors on the first traditional day of worship in the new year, asking Muslims to attend the vigil instead.Local imam Ibrahim Abu Mohammad led the service, urging Israel to recognise a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and agree to a ceasefire.Israel is committing an act of terrorism. It's the duty of all the free people in the world to stand against it and stop this evil, he said.This nation has many greeds, it is built on a philosophy of transgression. Their hearts do not have any mercy.A makeshift coffin draped in the Palestinian flag was carried before the crowd, followed by a procession of eight imams.Women and men were separated by an expanse of grass, but they moved as one, folding to their knees with foreheads pressed to the ground in supplication.At least 420 Palestinians have died in a seven day blitz by Israel, while rockets fired from Gaza have claimed four Israeli lives.
Israel on Wednesday rejected a French proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire to help humanitarian efforts, and tanks and troops are now massed for a threatened ground offensive.Hamas has called for a day of wrath on Friday in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, with massive marches after weekly Muslim prayers.
Saudis arrest two over Riyadh pro-Gaza protest: report Thu Jan 1, 6:44 pm ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Two activists who attempted to stage a demonstration against the Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip were arrested in the Saudi capital on Thursday, a Saudi rights groups said.Human Rights First Society said that the two activists, Khalid al-Omeir and Mohammed al-Otaibi, were arrested by police as they arrived at the site of the planned protest in south Riyadh.The arrests came a day after the interior ministry denied organisers permission to hold the rally on the grounds that demonstrations are banned in Saudi Arabia.A member of the group also told AFP that a prominent Saudi cleric who called for attacks on Israelis had also been arrested on Tuesday in the southern city of Abha.Sheikh Awad al-Qarni had on Sunday issued a religious edict encouraging attacks on Israelis everywhere in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip.All (Israeli) interests, and anything else related to Israel, are a permitted target for Muslims everywhere, Qarni said in the fatwa.On Monday police fired rubber bullets to break up rare protests involving hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Qatif and Safwa in the eastern part of the country.According to Human Rights First, 10 people were arrested in the Qatif protest.Saudi Arabia has strongly criticised Israel for its six-day-old bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, which has left more than 400 people dead.
On eve of his death, Hamas leader in Gaza predicted victory by Adel Zaanoun Adel Zaanoun – Thu Jan 1, 3:52 pm ET
JABALIYA, Gaza Strip (AFP) – The day before a powerful blast sent his headless body flying out of his Gaza home on Thursday, senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan predicted that the Islamist movement would defeat Israel.God willing, Hamas will win, Rayan said in a vitriol-laden speech that the movement's television broadcast just after he, his four wives and 10 of his children were killed in the Israeli blitz of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.Rayan, 51, was among the top ranked leaders in Hamas and was its most senior figure to have been killed since Israel unleashed a massive bombardment on Saturday in response to persistent rocket fire from the enclave.
Israeli F-16 jets fired two missiles at Rayan's five-storey house in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The powerful explosion hurled his decapitated body out into the street, according to witnesses.It was like an earthquake, a neighbour said of the massive blast.A dozen neighbouring houses were destroyed or damaged in the blast which also killed two neighbours and brought to 420 the death toll since Operation Cast Lead started.The Israeli air force said the secondary blasts demonstrated the house was used for weapons storage, and claimed it was also a communication centre. In addition, a tunnel was located under the house and was used for the escape of terror operatives, it said.In the minutes following the strike, dozens of people rushed to the scene, pulling bodies from the rubble including those of the two girls, aged seven and 10.A neighbour, Mohammed Al-Madhun, 75 watched flames emerging from his building but refused to leave.I want to die like Sheikh Nizar, he said, using the bearded Hamas commander's honorary title.Rayan was a hardliner within the Islamist movement.A few months after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Rayan vowed at a Gaza City rally that the Islamists would also seize control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank which is administered by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.A skilled orator, he was known for his vitriolic attacks against both Israel and the Western-backed Abbas he claimed colluded with the Zionist enemy.In his latest speech delivered on the eve of his death and broadcast by Al-Aqsa TV on Thursday, Rayan insisted Hamas would never cave in.With tanks massed just outside Gaza and Israel threatening a ground offensive, he defiantly declared: We will know how to kill and capture soldiers and how to rout them.
Egypt FM: Hamas must stop rockets in any truce By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 1, 3:23 pm ET
CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt's foreign minister said Thursday that Hamas must ensure rocket fire stops in any truce deal to halt Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, criticizing the Palestinian militants for giving Israel an excuse to launch the bombardment.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit's comments came as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Egypt's president, part of a tour by the Turkish leader to work out an Egyptian-Turkish initiative to end the violence.The initiative calls for a halt to Israel's assault, a return to a Hamas-Israel truce and an international mechanism to ensure the opening of Gaza's border crossings.The Turkish leader, speaking in a news conference in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheik after meeting with Hosni Mubarak, called on Israel to halt its attacks and on Hamas to stop firing rockets on Israel.Erdogan said there must be a cease-fire now before it is too late.The Turkish leader met a day earlier with Syrian President Bashar Assad and was expected to be in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Erdogan also said he sent a representative to meet Hamas leaders, but did not elaborate.Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas, told The Associated Press that Hamas officials met with Erdogan's representative Thursday in Damascus, Syria to discuss Gaza. Marzouk also emphasized that Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire that doesn't include lifting the siege of Gaza and opening the border crossings.The Egyptian foreign minister said any eventual truce agreement should include a mechanism to oversee that everything proceeds without one side causing problems with the other. He told journalists that the mechanism could involve international forces or Arab forces or just observers.It was not clear whether the monitors proposed by Aboul Gheit would be to ensure the truce or be limited to observing border crossings, one of the central issues in the dispute over Gaza because of Israeli fears of smuggling of weapons.Israeli officials have said they want international monitors to ensure compliance with any truce.Aboul Gheit said Israel must immediately stop its offensive, but he insisted Hamas must commit to enforcing a halt to rockets. We expect the Palestinian side to say that if a cease-fire is announced, we'll stop firing rockets, he said, although he warned that some loose group can decide to continue firing rockets and make it difficult to have a cease-fire.
He criticized Hamas, saying Egypt had seen the signals that Israel was determined to strike Hamas in Gaza for the past three months. They practically wrote it in the sky.
Unfortunately, they (Hamas) served Israel the opportunity on a golden platter to hit Gaza,he said.U.S. allied governments such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have been critical of Hamas, are worried its control of the Gaza Strip gives their regional rival Iran, which has supported Hamas, a foothold in the region.The Israeli onslaught, which has killed some 400 Palestinians since last Saturday, had hiked tempers between pro-U.S. countries on one side and Hamas' supporters, Syria and Iran, on the other.Egypt in particular has come under harsh criticism for not opening up the Rafah crossing, the only access to Gaza that does not go through Israel. Its opponents accuse Egypt of joining Israel in blockading the territory in an attempt to remove Hamas, which took control in the tiny coastal strip in 2007 in fierce battles with loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Aboul Gheit repeated Egypt's argument that it cannot open Rafah unless Abbas' Palestinian Authority — which runs the West Bank — controls the crossing and international monitors are present. Egypt has opened Rafah during the Israeli attacks to allow some Palestinian wounded and medical supplies in and out of Gaza.He said Hamas wants Rafah opened permanently because it would represent implicit Egyptian recognition of the militant group's control of Gaza. Of course this is something we cannot do, Aboul Gheit said, because it would undermine the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority and consecrate the split between Gaza and the West Bank.Aboul Gheit said Egypt had proposed that Arab foreign ministers who gathered in Cairo Wednesday request Hamas allow Palestinian Authority control of Rafah. But Syria rejected the proposal, he said. Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.
Israelis feel empowered by attacks against Hamas By MATTI FRIEDMAN and ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 1, 3:22 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's crushing aerial assault on Gaza has caused a significant shift in the country's mood, replacing lingering helplessness and frustration over Hamas rocket attacks with a sense of might and vindication.Leaders who were unpopular only a week ago have suddenly surged in the public's esteem. But that could change quickly if the fighting drags on or Israel starts taking heavy casualties.In downtown Ashkelon, a southern Israeli city that has come under rocket fire, a pair of plumbers hung up a handwritten sign praising the Gaza operation's mastermind, Defense Minister Ehud Barak.That's a dramatic change for Barak, a former prime minister whose approval ratings were until recently so dismal that his own election slogans acknowledged he was unpopular.We've got a great defense minister. Everyone thought he wasn't going to do anything but he tricked them and gave them a blow they won't forget, said Ziv Barda, 28, who works for a car rental company in Ashkelon. Finally someone decided enough is enough.With rockets exploding across Israel's south and at least an eighth of the country's population now within rocket range, Israelis appear to be coming together behind the country's leadership and the military as jets, helicopters and navy vessels continued to pound Gaza for a sixth straight day.A poll Thursday showed that 52 percent of Israelis want to continue the aerial campaign, while only 20 percent would like to see a cease-fire. Just 19 percent want to see a threatened ground offensive take place, presumably because that would mean casualties in the army's ranks.Four Israelis have been killed by rocket fire since the offensive began Saturday. Gaza officials now say more than 400 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory.In Sderot, a working-class border town that has been bombarded by thousands of Hamas rockets in recent years, residents said they haven't been this satisfied in a long time. On Wednesday, they cheered to each sound of distant explosions from Israeli airstrikes.
You see people walking with their heads up in the air again. Finally there is some hope, said Itzik Biton, 38, who sells falafel at a fast-food stand.Tammy Hovel, 31, said her children were cramped in shelters and that her bakery was suffering, but she was nonetheless encouraged.We're going to get hit either way, so at least they are doing something, Hovel said. And people elsewhere are starting to understand what we've had to deal with.With national elections approaching on Feb. 10, the Israeli assault on Gaza has boosted support for Barak's Labor Party, the standard-bearer for Israel's peace camp, by making it look tough.The poll showed overall support for moderate and centrist parties going up, while support for hard-line and religious parties went down — leaving each side with half the seats in parliament if elections were held today.The survey, carried out by the Dialog company, showed jumps in the approval ratings for Israel's top three leaders — Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.We feel that the government is finally supporting us, Biton said. True, rockets are falling and we are losing money. But we'll suffer for a month and then we'll be done with this.The poll appeared Thursday in the daily Haaretz newspaper. It surveyed 472 people and had a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.But the opposition Likud Party, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, is still the front-runner, and the government's popularity might be brief. A good mood is to be expected at the beginning of a war, said Tel Aviv University pollster Camil Fuchs, who oversaw the survey. When Israel went to war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the government's initially sky-high approval ratings evaporated when deaths mounted. Some 159 Israelis were killed during the monthlong war. It's very fluid — it could change in a day if a missile hits somewhere and we have more casualties, Fuchs said.
Along the Gaza border, Israeli bystanders and police officers stopped their vehicles on the side of the road Thursday to watch Israeli helicopters, drones and fighter jets strike targets in Gaza, cheering with each deafening explosion. But the cheers would die out fast if ground forces go in, get bogged down in Gaza's densely populated urban areas and start taking casualties, or if rocket fire continues to paralyze life in the south. Israel's army declared Thursday that its ground troops are ready to invade. We are spoiled and impatient — we like our wars short, said Israeli historian Tom Segev. If fighting goes on too long, or if it ends with an inconclusive cease-fire, Segev said, Israelis will turn on the government as they did after the Lebanon war. The mood will change fast, he said. Matti Friedman reported from Jerusalem. Aron Heller reported from Sderot and Ashkelon, Israel.
Israeli minister: Gaza decisions made day-by-day By JOELLE DIDERICH, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 1, 1:38 pm ET
PARIS – Any decision by Israel to end fighting in Gaza will depend on a daily assessment of its military operations against the militant Islamic group Hamas, the Israeli foreign minister said Thursday in Paris.Tzipi Livni reiterated that a pause in Israel's six-day assault on Gaza would depend on Hamas suspending rocket attacks on southern Israel.We affected most of the infrastructure of terrorism in Gaza Strip, and the question (of) whether it's enough or not will be according to our assessment on a daily basis, Livni told reporters after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and her French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner.Sarkozy, who made no statement after meeting Livni, has been vocal in the diplomatic push for peace in Gaza and is set to travel to the Middle East next week.Livni said the violence could only stop completely once Hamas showed an understanding that enough is enough.She said Hamas had taken advantage of a six-month truce with Israel that expired last month to build up its arsenal.Even when we accept something in order to have a peaceful period of time, they abuse it in order to get stronger and to attack Israel later on, Livni said at the news conference in the courtyard of the Elysee presidential palace.The minister gave no details of her hourlong meeting with Sarkozy, but thanked him for "standing for the right thing.France chaired an emergency European Union meeting Tuesday to discuss the Gaza conflict.Sarkozy plans to meet Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah before dining with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, the French president will travel to Syria and Lebanon for further talks.Livni also said Israel was doing its best to help Gaza civilians caught in the cross fire.More than 400 residents have been killed and about 1,700 wounded in the renewed fighting, Gaza health officials said. Israeli officials rejected calls for a 48-hour pause in fighting, which France had campaigned for to ensure humanitarian aid could get to victims.Israel distinguished the war against terror, against Hamas members, from the civil population in Gaza Strip and in doing so, we keep the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip completely as it should be. The crossings are open, more than it used to be before the military operation, she said.(This version CORRECTS time element in lede)
Bush stance on cease-fire shows support for Israel By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 1, 4:23 am ET
WASHINGTON – By insisting that Hamas go first in any cease-fire with Israel, the Bush administration is sticking to its support for the Jewish state's right of self-defense while stopping short of encouraging an Israeli ground assault aimed at fully reoccupying the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.The Bush administration on Wednesday asserted its desire for a halt to the fighting but also made clear its view that the first step in any cease-fire will require Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rejects Israel's right to exist, to agree to stop firing rockets from Gaza into Israel now and in the future.From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first time since the conflict escalated last weekend. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worked the phones with other leaders in the region.I think President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets and that is what will be the first step in a cease-fire, White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters. He said Hamas also needs to stop smuggling weapons into Gaza — a move that would show they don't intend to continue to target Israel.So I think they're certainly on the same page on that, Johndroe said of Bush and Olmert, briefing reporters on their phone call.Israel so far has resisted mounting international pressure to suspend its devastating air offensive in Gaza, which has enraged the Arab world. It sent more troops and tanks to the border as signs of an impending ground invasion multiplied.
The U.N. Security Council met Wednesday night to consider an Arab request for a legally binding resolution that would condemn Israel and halt the attacks. But the U.S. called a draft resolution unacceptable because it made no mention of halting the Hamas rockets. A vote on a resolution was not expected before Monday, Sudan's U.N. ambassador said.Although the Bush administration has only three weeks left in office, the Gaza crisis could look considerably different by the time President-elect Barack Obama and his designated secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, take office. And it is only one element of the broader challenges in the Middle East.
Two prominent Mideast analysts, Martin Indyk and Richard N. Haass, argued in an essay published this week by the Council on Foreign Affairs and the Brookings Institution that the Obama administration should push for a peace deal between Israel and Syria as a way of diminishing Iran's influence in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.The Israeli air offensive is a response to rockets fired by Hamas militants. At least four Israelis have been killed, including three civilians. Gaza officials put the death toll from the Israeli retaliatory strikes at more than 390 dead and 1,600 wounded.France has urged Israel to halt its operation for 48 hours, but that proposal seemed to be overcome by events. Olmert discussed the idea with his defense and foreign ministers, but the trio decided to pursue the aerial bombing campaign.Calls for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected by Hamas and by Israel have also come from the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, the group known as the Quartet.Asked if the president was disappointed that Israel hadn't accepted or responded to the international calls for a cease-fire, Johndroe put the onus squarely on Hamas.President Bush is disappointed that Hamas continues to fire rockets onto the innocent people of Israel, he said.
I think, probably, from the prime minister's perspective, an end to the violence first means that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. And then Israel won't need to go after the rocket launchers.Johndroe blamed Iran and Syria for supplying weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah.I'm not going to get into any specifics on supplies from Iran and Syria that we've seen over the last few days, he said. But there is no doubt that Iran and Syria are the ones who have assisted Hamas with their weapons acquisition, and that's a problem.Rice, meanwhile, continued her telephone diplomacy with officials in the region, pressing them on the need for a durable and sustainable cease-fire. Rice has said she plans a final diplomatic trip early next week to Beijing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of U.S-Chinese relations. U.S. officials say there will be other stops but have not disclosed them. Rice spoke Wednesday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Salaheddine Al-Bashir, their third conversation since Tuesday, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said. Rice spoke three times on Tuesday with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates and once each with Olmert, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Ahmed Aboul Gheith, the foreign minister of Egypt, he said. Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Crawford, Texas, Ibrahim Barzak and Matti Friedman in Gaza City, Gaza, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
UN Security Council takes up Arab resolution on Gaza by Herve Couturier Herve Couturier – Thu Jan 1, 3:00 am ET
UNITED NATIONS, (AFP) – Libya presented a draft resolution from the Arab League to a UN Security Council emergency meeting that calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.The draft resolution strongly condemns all military attacks and the excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by Israel, the occupying power, which have led to the death and injury of scores of innocent Palestinian civilians, including women and children.It calls for an immediate ceasefire and for its full respect by both sides.It also calls on Israel to scrupulously abide by all of its obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly under the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilians in time of war.The 15-member council is now expected to convene a public debate on the draft resolution that includes representatives from Israel, Egypt, the Arab League and the Palestinian territories.The resolution makes no mention of the ongoing Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli territory that Israel said prompted its retaliatory offensive against Gaza.At the start of the emergency council meeting -- requested by Egypt and Libya on behalf of Arab nations at the UN -- the British and American ambassadors to the United Nations said the draft resolution seemed too partial at first reading.This resolution as currently circulated by Libya is not balanced and therefore, as currently drafted, it is not acceptable to the United States, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters.
Israel's closest ally, Washington has regularly vetoed Security Council resolutions seen as too critical of Israel.We will study the text carefully but ... any resolution will need to reflect the responsibilities of all parties, said Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers, adding: There is no mention so far of the rocket attacks that have triggered the Israeli offensive.Sudan's UN ambassador Abdalmahmud Abdalhaleem Mohamad and Arab League representative Yahya Mahmassani said the Council would likely meet at the foreign minister-level in the coming days, with at least eight Arab countries participating.Foreign ministers from Arab League nations meeting in Cairo Wednesday called for a binding UN resolution requiring an immediate halt to hostilities.A delegation headed by chief Saudi diplomat Prince Saud al-Faisal with foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar and Syria, a Palestinian representative and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will likely come to UN headquarters to argue the Arab League's case, Mohamad said.
The Sudanese ambassador said a Security Council meeting with these representatives could be held Sunday or Monday.The draft resolution also calls for the immediate and sustained opening of the border crossings of the Gaza Strip, and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries to its population.It stresses the need for restoration of calm in full in order to pave the way for resolving all issues in a peaceful manner within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.The text appears to have been amended since an initial version was released to the press in Cairo. It no longer includes a call for Israel to stop its barbaric aggression, lift its blockade of Gaza and stop the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas also appealed Wednesday for a UN resolution imposing a ceasefire. Abbas is set to meet Monday with the UN Security Council to discuss the situation. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since ousting Abbas loyalists in June 2007. Despite winning Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, Hamas has since been boycotted by much of the West for refusing to recognize Israel.
Israel's pounding of Gaza began after the December 19 expiry of a six-month truce with Hamas brokered by Egypt and a resumption of rocket fire by Gaza-based militants. The Arab League talks were taking place as Israel rejected world calls for a truce and vowed to press ahead with its deadly Gaza offensive. Hamas on Wednesday vowed to fight until the last breath if Israel makes good on threats to send ground troops into Gaza. The Israeli attacks have so far lasted five days, killing 398 Palestinians, including 180 civilians, and wounding close to 2,000, according to Gaza emergency services.
Israel targets Gaza mosques used by Hamas By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 1, 2:34 am ET
JERUSALEM – Mosques and Muslim prayer halls have not escaped the relentless bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza by Israel, which claims the Islamic militants misuse some of the holy sites as weapons depots and command centers.Yuval Diskin, the head of the Shin Bet security service, told the Israeli Cabinet Wednesday that Hamas leaders were taking shelter in the mosques on the assumption that Israel will not attack.Israeli bombs have damaged at least five mosques and two prayer halls during the five-day air campaign against Hamas facilities, according to a count by The Associated Press in Gaza.Israel historically has struck mosques when it deems them legitimate targets, although it is wary of the potential outrage from the Muslim world and sensitive to its own painful history of the desecration of synagogues.But Wednesday's air strike that left Gaza City's Tel Al-Hawa mosque in ruins, with only its minaret remaining upright, was deliberate.A security official said Israeli intelligence — probably surveillance aircraft — saw missiles being fired outside the mosque and the men who launched them running inside the building. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss intelligence operations.Worshippers denied the mosque was a military outpost.
This is a slap on the face of all Muslims, said area resident Iyad Akram, who prayed there just hours before it was leveled. This is a mosque, a holy site, and not the first one in this ugly war to be targeted by the Jews.The Israeli army spokesman's office said the mosque was hit because terrorists were hoarding weapons inside and using the compound to launch missiles.The strike set off numerous secondary explosions, caused by the munitions stockpiled in the mosque, the spokesman said. Israel would continue to attack militant targets, even if they (Hamas) cynically choose to operate from locations of religious or cultural significance.The small neighborhood mosque was built six years ago near the site of a Jewish settlement that was abandoned when Israel evacuated its civilians from Gaza in 2005.It's a mosque. You can't hide a tank. You can't hide anything inside, said Akram, a 38-year-old technician.Hamas' bitter Palestinian foe, the Fatah movement, also has accused the Islamists of storing weapons in the basements of mosques. Mosques also are commonly used as community centers and meeting halls, and a convenient place for Hamas leaders to gather.Hamas has controlled all the mosques in Gaza since it expelled Fatah in a fratricidal war in 2007.Even when not targets themselves, mosques have suffered collateral damage during Israeli air strikes. On Wednesday, windows were shattered at the Al Nasr mosque northwest of Gaza when an Israeli warplane bombed a money exchange office. Israel accused the money changers of laundering illicit funds.
Canada calls for sustainable and durable ceasefire in Gaza Wed Dec 31, 9:53 pm ET
OTTAWA, (AFP) – Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon called for a sustainable and durable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip after nearly 400 Palestinians have died since Israeli air raids began Saturday.Cannon spoke to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and several of his counterparts, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Tzipi Livni of Israel, Palestinian diplomatic chief Riyad al-Maliki, France's Bernard Kouchner and Egypt's Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Minister Cannon repeated Canada's call to all parties to reach a sustainable and durable ceasefire. The Minister reiterated his grave and growing concern with the loss of lives and suffering, and the disturbing humanitarian situation, the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.He also called on all parties and the international community to commit to the peace process.Cannon also repeated that the deliberate and constant targeting of civilians by Hamas was the main reason for these unfortunate events.The Canadian diplomatic chief urged his counterparts to take additional steps to ensure humanitarian access to those in need in Gaza.The ministry advised against all travel to Gaza.As diplomats scrambled to find a way to stop one of Israel's deadliest ever offensives against the Gaza Strip -- which has so far killed nearly 400 Palestinians -- the UN Security Council began consultations on a draft resolution about the Gaza conflict proposed by Libya on behalf of a group of Arab countries, diplomats said.The Islamist movement Hamas, which has controlled the Palestinian enclave since June 2007, vowed to fight until the last breath if Israel makes good on threats to send ground troops into Gaza after rejecting calls for a truce and pressing on with its air assault.
Israelis detail combat sorties over Gaza By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 31, 8:54 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israeli jet fighters have flown 500 bombing missions in its offensive against Gaza-based Hamas, a senior officer said Wednesday. There have also been hundreds of combat sorties by helicopter gunships and surveillance aircraft, both manned and unmanned.The targets included command posts of the Islamic militant movement, some 130 missile launch sites, munitions dumps and individuals who appeared to be carrying weapons. Also among them was a Hamas center, the Islamic University, which the officer described as a weapons research facility.He said 95 percent of the targets were hit, and no major targets remained standing.Now the objective is to hunt down missile launchers and fighters one-by-one, said the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Describing a typical mission, the officer said it often begins when spy planes identify trucks or fighters transporting what could be a missile launcher.
Information on the target is fed into the command center, where a commander clears the mission. The data is relayed to the weapons system on board an F16 jet fighter, which plots the target. The pilot flies into position, and the bomb is released automatically, guided by laser beam onto the missile launcher.Just like a GPS telling you exactly where you are, we know exactly where the target is, he said.As the officer outlined the precision bombing, the reach of Israeli intelligence became apparent.Seeking to avoid civilian casualties, he said, an automated telephone service dials the phones of residents of a targeted building, warning them to evacuate. He shrugged when asked how Israel obtained the numbers.Since the air strikes began Saturday, most of the nearly 400 casualties have been Hamas fighters or officials, but dozens of civilians also have been killed.
Short-term goal is not to overthrow Hamas: Israeli FM Livni Wed Dec 31, 7:40 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told ABC television Wednesday that Israel's short-term goal in Gaza is not overthrowing Hamas.The only way that the Palestinians can create a state is also by changing the situation in Gaza ... So the changes in Gaza and the changes of regime are needed also to create this vision of two states ... or to translate it into reality, she said.Overthrowing Hamas, she added, is not the goal of the current operation, but at the end of the day, Gaza controlled by Hamas is a problem to Israel, a problem to the Palestinians and a problem to the entire region.Livni justified Israel's rejection of a truce in the fighting in Gaza because the humanitarian situation is not dire, and because knowing Hamas ... they are going to abuse any kind of ceasefire in order to put ... themselves in a better position for the next attack.Asked about the likelihood of a ground assault on Gaza by Israeli forces, the foreign minister said: I don't know yet. Everything is prepared. We started with the air force ... and we are making our decisions on a daily basis.And now it depends on the ability of Hamas and the willingness of Hamas to stop and to give the Palestinians also hope for a better life, she added.The actions in Gaza have so far lasted five days, killed nearly 400 Palestinians and left more than 1,900 wounded, according to Gaza emergency services.
Hezbollah-like tactic used by Hamas against Israel By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 31, 5:43 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Since taking control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has adopted the rocket tactics used by Lebanese Hezbollah, shifting away from its reliance on suicide bombers in attacks on Israel.Part of that shift may be attributable to Hamas' arsenal of longer-range rockets. Several Israeli towns that had previously been out of reach of Hamas' rockets now are being hit by them.Hamas rockets have struck the large southern cities of Beersheba and Ashdod, home of Israel's largest port, for the first time since the militant group broke its cease-fire with Israel on Dec. 19.A former U.S. intelligence official said Hamas is now using Iranian versions of the Katyusha and Grad rockets with a range of 18.6 to 21.7 miles. The new rockets dramatically extend Hamas' reach.Hamas had relied heavily on the shorter-range homemade Qassams that fly only up to 1.8 miles, the former official said. He spoke anonymously in order to discuss Israeli intelligence.The rockets do not have guidance systems so are indiscriminate in targeting. But that makes them well suited for a barrage on a town or a dispersed battlefield of soldiers, particularly if fired in great numbers.National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe on Wednesday told reporters in Crawford, Texas, that there is no doubt both Iran and Syria are supplying Hamas with weapons. Iran has long been suspected of providing financial support to the militant Palestinian group.A U.S. counterterrorism official, however, said many of Hamas' rockets are cobbled together in a rudimentary way by militants in Gaza from parts smuggled into the region. The official, who declined to discuss numbers, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss foreign intelligence.In the monthlong 2006 conflict with Israel, Lebanese Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 missiles into Israel, about a third of its missile stores at the time. Most were Katyusha-type rockets, which are quick to set up and have ranges of about 12 miles.
The Israeli government said in 2006 that Hezbollah also wielded Iranian-made missiles with ranges of up to 50 miles.Hamas does not appear to have used those longer-range tactical missiles.Four Israelis have been killed by Hamas' rocket fire in recent days, including three civilians, since the cease-fire broke on Dec. 19.
Gaza officials say Israel's retaliatory airstrikes have killed about 390 and wounded about 1,600. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed. The U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.
Gaza's tunnel economy collapses in bombing raids By IBRAHIM BARZAK and DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writers – Wed Dec 31, 5:11 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Gaza Strip has lost its last lifeline after five days of Israeli bombing raids that destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels under the sandy border with Egypt.The passages did not just supply Hamas with arms, but brought in flour, fuel and baby milk. For Gazans, already used to blackouts and shortages from an 18-month border blockade, the daily hunt for basics is ever more desperate — though there are no reports of outright hunger.I fed the children cooked tomatoes today, I can't find bread, Nima Burdeini, a mother of 11, said Wednesday at the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border.Israeli warplanes pounded the illicit tunnels as a part of the heavy bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza that began Saturday. The hundreds of tunnels were seen as key to keeping Hamas in power.After the Islamic militants seized Gaza by force in June 2007, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on the territory, allowing in only basic goods and humanitarian supplies.
Most of Gaza's 3,900 factories have closed, unable to import raw materials or export products. Construction halted and thousands of people were thrown out of work, deepening poverty in an area where most of the 1.4 million residents rely on U.N. food aid to get by.At times, Israel tightened the closure, restricting the inflow of fuel, cash and other key supplies. The blockade caused frequent power outages and interruptions in the water supply.In the two months leading up to Israel's offensive, Israel kept Gaza tightly sealed in an attempt to force Gaza militants to stop firing rockets at southern Israeli towns.The tunnels became a lifesaver for Hamas — and for Gaza. Some were used to sneak in arms, including rockets that militants are now firing into Israel. But most of the underground passages were used to haul in consumer goods, from motor bikes to goats, refrigerators, flour and chocolates.The tunnel area that residents once jokingly referred to as Gaza's duty-free zone is now a wasteland of smashed concrete and deep craters, churned up by Israeli bombs.Late Wednesday, the tunnel area was struck by 19 times within a half hour, residents said. A Gaza health official, Moawiya Hassanain, said two people were killed and 42 wounded, including at least four children.Before that report, Israeli air force officials said the bombing campaign had demolished more than 80 tunnels. Egyptian officials said the number was at least 120.
Residents say there are several hundred tunnels under the 9-mile border. Owners said they believe many tunnels are badly damaged, but tunnel workers fear going near the area to check because of the attacks.The tunnels are not visible from the air, but their locations are well known — brazen owners put up colorful tents over tunnel entrances.Economist Omar Shaban estimated some two-thirds of goods sold in Gaza came through the tunnels. From diggers, drivers and haulers, the passages employed around 12,000 Gazans, Shaban said.It was Gaza's new economy, even if it was just importing commercial goods, Shaban said.Tunnel owner Abu Sufian said he and his colleagues lost millions of dollars in merchandise that they had paid for, but that cannot be delivered now from the Egyptian side.Shaban said destroying the tunnels would bruise, but not bloody Hamas' Gaza rule. The militant group also funds itself through local taxes and a network of businesses controlled by loyalists, he said.
But demolishing the tunnels has deepened civilian suffering.
Throughout Gaza, Israel's bombings have brought Gaza's dwindling economic activity to a halt. For fear of getting caught in an airstrike, wholesalers aren't distributing their goods and many shopkeepers stay home. Shelves are emptying at grocery stores. In most areas, the few shops open are those whose owners live nearby. People don't venture beyond their own streets, leaving them hostage to shortages and rising prices. Flour for baking is in short supply, and there is little cash to buy goods because banks are closed. Burdeni, 45, the mother of 11, relies on U.N. aid to feed her children, but officials halted food distribution Dec. 18, citing shortages caused by the border closure. People are doing pretty badly. Everyone we know is sharing whatever they have, not just with their families but with their neighbors, said Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which helps needy Palestinians. We haven't seen widespread hunger. We do see for the very first time — I've been here for eight years and seeing new things nowadays — people going through the rubbish dumps looking for things, people begging, which is quite a new phenomenon as well, she said by video link to reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. Chris Gunness, a U.N. spokesman, said aid distribution should resume Thursday as Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza. The United Nations issued a new emergency appeal Wednesday for $34 million to deal with the new crisis. Burdeni's brother gives her small amounts of cash, but the search for food is becoming tougher. Burdeni found tomatoes Wednesday, cooking them when electricity flickered on in her area. My children ate it with spoons, she said bitterly. In Gaza City, Hiba Dahshan, 22, said the price for a 110-pound bag of flour had jumped from $30 to $100. Her family can't afford it, but the local shop still has cheese and canned meat — their menu the past three days. She can't find vegetables on her street. Despite the shortages, some people said they are eating more than usual — because they're pinned down at home and gripped with anxiety from the sounds of bombs exploding around them. I'm eating like a savage, Dahshan said.
Bader Tulbeh, 46, described his eight children as locusts with newly enlarged appetites. They are an army, Tulbeh said while purchasing vegetables from a vendor in central Gaza City. Maher Lubad, 45, a salaried worker in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, bought lentils on credit from his cousin's grocery shop because he couldn't withdraw any money from the bank. Meanwhile, tunnel owners watch and wait. Even as they bomb us, we are thinking of how to make new tunnels. Maybe we'll try go under the sea, said tunnel owner Abu Sufian. Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza City and Diaa Hadid from Jerusalem. AP writer Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed to this report.
Israel takes battle with Hamas to YouTube By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 31, 3:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's bruising war on the Islamic militants who control Gaza has moved online, where sites like YouTube and Facebook are the new battlegrounds.Israel posted video of its attacks on militants firing rockets over the past five days on a new YouTube channel to try to show the world the threat against it.YouTube temporarily yanked the clips on Tuesday after viewers, apparently supporters of Hamas, flagged it as objectionable and asked that it be taken down. The video-sharing Web site restored the video a few hours later, labeling it inappropriate for minors.Supporters of Gaza's Hamas rulers, meanwhile, have posted images of the devastating Israeli offensive on both YouTube and Facebook and on blogs, uploading images of the carnage and suffering in the tiny seaside territory.The militants themselves regularly update their Web sites in Arabic and English. In addition, they broadcast images of masked, uniformed fighters on Hamas TV, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes but continues to broadcast from a mobile unit.The blogosphere and the new media are basically a war zone in a battle for world opinion, an Israeli military spokesman, Maj. Avital Leibovich, said Wednesday.Gideon Doron, former chairman of the Israeli agency that oversaw the privatization of the country's television and radio services, said today's warfare includes fighting through the media.Many of the victories of modern warfare are mediated by the media, Doron said. We have Internet and all kinds of modern communication, and the Israeli military apparently decided that it has to broadcast its message through these tools.
Leibovich said the new YouTube channel and a new blog the military is launching are an important part of Israel's attempt to explain its actions abroad.One of the aerial surveillance videos Israel posted shows about a dozen figures that the military says are militants loading rockets onto a truck. They are eventually targeted by an air-launched missile and disappear in a white cloud as the truck explodes.We were saddened on Dec. 30, 2008 when YouTube took down some of our exclusive footage, the military wrote on its YouTube channel page. Fortunately, due to blogger and viewer support, YouTube has returned the footage they removed.In the past, YouTube has been pressed to take down videos depicting violence. The site has no automatic review, however, so anything posted runs until a viewer flags it and asks that it be taken down.YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc., said it counts on community members to flag content that violates the community's guidelines.We review all flagged content quickly, and if we find that a video does violate the guidelines, we remove it, on average in under an hour, Victoria Grand, Head of Policy at YouTube, said in a statement.Occasionally, a video flagged by users is mistakenly taken down. When this is brought to our attention, we review the content and take appropriate action, which may include restoring videos that had been removed.YouTube said it would not comment on individual videos or answer questions on the Israeli postings.In May, Sen. Joseph Lieberman complained that the process was flawed because al-Qaida recruitment videos could still be seen on the site.The Israeli military says its clips have attracted more than 230,000 views since going online Monday. Israel launched the air assault on Saturday in response to rocket barrages launched from Gaza at Israeli towns. Hundreds of airstrikes across the Palestinian territory have caused huge damage and Gaza officials say some 390 Palestinians have been killed. Hamas says some 200 were members of its security forces, and the U.N. says at least 60 were civilians. Militant rockets have reached farther into Israel than ever before, killing three Israeli civilians and a soldier.
On the Web: http://www.youtube.com/idfnadesk Associated Press Business Writer Andrew Vanacore contributed to this report from New York.
Turkey in Syria talks on ruthless Israel Gaza assault Wed Dec 31, 1:36 pm ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday on the first leg of a tour aimed at tackling what he called Israel's ruthless assault on Gaza.The two leaders agreed that the Israeli aggression against Gaza had shattered all efforts to achieve peace in the region and that in consequence it was impossible to speak of peace in the face of Israeli obstinacy.Turkey had already announced on Monday that it had suspended efforts to broker preliminary peace talks between Israel and Syria, saying that the onslaught on Gaza had led to deep disappointment in Ankara.Erdogan and Assad said it was essential that Arab and Islamic countries intervene to force Israel to immediately halt this holocaust against an unarmed population, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported.They warned of the consequences of the continuation of the Israeli aggression on the security and stability of the region, it said.Before leaving Ankara, the Turkish premier said he was deeply concerned over the developments in Gaza since this ruthless operation began on Saturday. The objective of my tour is to help stop these dangerous developments.Erdogan called for an immediate halt to the Israeli attacks on Gaza, and said a permanent ceasefire should be urgently secured to prevent irreversible developments in the region.Assad on Tuesday underlined the necessity for halting the Israeli massacres which are being committed against the unarmed Palestinian people, lifting the unjust siege on them and opening all the crossings permanently, SANA said.
On Thursday the Turkish premier is to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh and on Saturday he will be in Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdullah.Turkey is Israel's main Muslim ally but also has close ties with the Palestinians, whose plight has drawn widespread sympathy around the world.The two countries, which remain technically at war from the first Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, have held four rounds of Turkish-brokered indirect talks since May.Direct negotiations were halted eight years ago over the thorny issue of the Golan Heights.
Arabs tone down New Year fests amid Gaza violence By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer – Wed Dec 31, 12:38 pm ET
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai hotels scrambled to rework New Year's Eve plans Wednesday following a last-minute order to mute holiday festivities as Arab states sought to tone down celebrating amid the violence in Gaza.Beachfront fireworks and live music acts at the recently opened Atlantis hotel were canceled as the tourist spot followed Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's ban on all forms of celebrations.Concerts were also canceled elsewhere in the region, including in Israel's neighbors Egypt and Jordan. A much-publicized concert by Shakira, the Colombian singer of Lebanese descent who is widely popular across the region, appeared to be going ahead in the United Arab Emirates' capital, Abu Dhabi.Dubai's order, announced by state news agency WAM late Tuesday, called for a somber tone as a token of solidarity with the Palestinian people and with the Gaza Strip in particular.It was unclear if the ban marked a halt to the city-state's famous New Year's Eve champagne dinners and raucous bar bashes. Many hotels, which are generally the only places licensed to serve alcohol, said they planned to keep food and drink sites open, but low key.Habib Khan, manager of the four-star Arabian Courtyard Hotel & Spa, said he supported the move.One night (of) business does not make us rich or poor, he said when asked if business would be hurt by the decision.
New Year's Eve is one of the busiest times of the year for Dubai's hotel bars and restaurants, which typically offer lavish dinner packages at steep prices. The iconic sail-shaped Burj al-Arab offered one of the dearest: a gala post-cocktail feast followed by live music and dancing for 9,900 dirhams a person, about $2,700.The hotel's parent, Jumeirah Group, which is controlled by Dubai's ruler, did not respond to requests for comment about possible changes to its New Year's plans.A number of celebrations were also canceled in Jordan, where roughly half of the 5.8 million people are of Palestinian descent from families displaced in two wars with Israel since 1948.Hotels, restaurants, malls and private parties in the capital, Amman, the Red Sea resort of Aqaba and the ancient rose-rock city of Petra, announced celebration cancellations in the local press.In Amman, concerts featuring renowned singers May Hariri from Lebanon and Ahmad Sharif of Tunisia were called off. Organizer Elias Nehme said the singers initially planned to go ahead with their concert to benefit the war-stricken strip but later reconsidered, saying it is a shame to have a party while people are dying in Gaza.
Egypt's culture and information ministries canceled official celebrations, including a concert by Egyptian superstar Mohammed Mounir at the Cairo Opera House.However, most private hotels and clubs appeared to be going forward with events.At one of the two Four Seasons hotels in Cairo, guests paying 1,500 Egyptian pounds ($270) a person could be treated to a five-course celebratory dinner set to classical music.We are not canceling any reservations, said Ahmed Ghany, the restaurant manager. He added that no prospective guests had canceled their reservations. The situation is far from us, he said.Bahrain News Agency said all New Year's concerts in the Persian Gulf island state were canceled in support of Gaza following a directive by the king. Hotels were also asked to abide by the ruling.In Lebanon, hardened by a devastating 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and a fierce power struggle by rival factions, preparations to celebrate the New Year went ahead. Paul Ariss, president of the Restaurant Owners' Association, said there was a festive mood in the country despite the Gaza attacks. More than 60 percent of restaurants in the capital, Beirut, were fully booked, he said. Although our hearts are with the victims in Gaza life must go on after all, Ariss said. In Syria, celebrations at the country's major hotels were postponed until Friday, organizers said. Churches also canceled New Year's celebrations and kept only prayers for the event. Teams from the Syrian Red Crescent stood at traffic lights in downtown Damascus to collect donations for victims of the Gaza airstrikes. In Baghdad, normal New Year's celebrations already had been shelved due to the Islamic holiday of Muharram, and hotels and private clubs that usually host parties called them off. Muharram is important to Shiite Muslims, who dominate the government. Parties were still being held in the predominantly Sunni northern Kurdish region. Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Cairo, Dale Gavlak in Amman and Patrick Quinn in Baghdad contributed to this report.
Volunteer suicide bombers seek to attack Israel By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 31, 12:08 pm ET
TEHRAN, Iran – Hard-line Iranian student groups have asked the government to authorize volunteers to go carry out suicide bombings in Israel in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had not responded to the call by Wednesday. Volunteer suicide groups have made similar requests in the past and the government never responded to their calls. The groups' activities appear to be mainly for propaganda purposes, and there has been no sign of Iranians carrying out suicide attacks in Israel.Five hard-line student groups and a conservative clerical group launched a registration drive on Monday, seeking volunteers to carry out suicide attacks against Israel.In an open letter to Ahmadinejad, the students said volunteer student suicide groups ... are determined to go to Gaza. You are expected to issue orders to the relevant authorities to pave the way for such action. A copy of the letter was made available to The Associated Press on Wednesday.The hard-liners started signing up volunteers after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree Sunday saying anyone killed while defending Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.The groups claim that more than 10,000 people throughout Iran have registered as volunteer suicide bombers in the past three days. At a gathering Tuesday in Tehran, hard-liners were distributing registration forms to volunteers.
How can I remain indifferent while defenseless Palestinians are being butchered, said one volunteer, Ali Reza Takrim Namini, as he filled out the registration form.
The volunteers wore white shrouds symbolizing their willingness to die and headbands with the slogan Defenders of Gaza and Ready for Martyrdom. Most of those registering were members of the Basij militia, a hard-line paramilitary group that has tens of thousands of members and is often involved in drumming up popular fervor against Israel and the West.Israel's bombardment of Gaza, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians, has sparked outrage in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns by Hamas. Iran is Hamas' main backer, providing it considerable financial aid, though Tehran denies sending it weapons.Protesters have held daily rallies outside the Egyptian interests section in Tehran, as well as the Jordanian and Saudi embassies, protesting what they call inaction by Arab nations. On Thursday, hard-line students threatened to storm the Egyptian mission unless Egypt open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, a step Cairo has refused.
Late Tuesday, a branch of the Italian clothing retailer Benetton in northern Tehran was set fire, apparently as part of a protest. The branch showed minor damage, with some burned clothes and scorch marks.Criticism of Hamas is rare in Iran and on Wednesday, the government ordered shut a leading reformist daily, Kargozaran, for publishing a statement by a student group that blamed Hamas for provoking the Israeli offensive.The paper's editor Mehran Karami said the student statement condemned the Israeli attacks but also called Hamas a terrorist organization that hides in schools and draws civilian casualties.
Hamas must stop firing rockets as first step: White House Wed Dec 31, 11:30 am ET
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) – President George W. Bush believes the militant group Hamas needs to stop firing rockets at Israel as a first step to a ceasefire and he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the White House said on Wednesday.
President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets and that is what will be the first steps in a ceasefire, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Texas where Bush was on holiday.During the phone call with Olmert, Bush received assurances from the Israeli leader that Israel was only targeting Hamas and working to minimize civilian casualties, Johndroe said. The two did not discuss a timetable for halting Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, he said.(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, writing by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Israeli security cabinet rejects Gaza truce proposals: official Wed Dec 31, 8:57 am
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli security cabinet has rejected international proposals for a truce in its offensive on Hamas in Gaza, a senior government official told AFP on Wednesday.The cabinet decided to continue with the military operation, now in its fifth day, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.The government decided to adopt a success strategy. The government wants to reach the goals of halting terror from Gaza. Once we reach this goal we will be ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire.Quoting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he added: We did not launch the Gaza operation only to end it with the same rocket firing that we had at its start.Imagine that a few days after we unilaterally stop the operation, a barrage of rockets hits Ashkelon, he quoted Olmert as telling the cabinet, referring to a southern Israeli town hit several times recently by rockets fired from Gaza.
Olmert chided those calling for a halt in Israel's massive bombing campaign of Hamas targets in Gaza and said the time was not yet ripe for a ceasefire.Do you realise the ramifications this would have in the country and the region and on Israel's deterrence? the official quoted him as saying.If the conditions are ripe and we think that they might offer a solution that will guarantee a better security reality in the south then we would weigh the issue.We are not there yet.
Hundreds in Mich., NYC, LOS protest Gaza attack By BEN LEUBSDORF, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 31, 8:21 am ET
DEARBORN, Mich. – Israel's military strikes on the Gaza Strip prompted pro-Palestinian protests in America, with marchers denouncing the violence in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, New York City and Los Angeles.Hundreds of protesters braved 30-degree weather Tuesday and filled eight blocks of a major thoroughfare in Dearborn, widely seen as the heart of Arab America. They waved flags and carried signs condemning Israel and showing pictures of casualties.One group of protesters carried a mock coffin decorated with pictures of dead and injured children and labeled U.S. Tax Dollars at Work and Victims of Zionism. Some marchers chanted in English, Gaza, Gaza don't cry, Palestine will never die! and Israel is a terrorist state! Hundreds more gathered in New York City and Los Angeles outside the Israeli consulates, with rallies also reported in two cities in Florida.Since Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians have died in the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza militants. Most of the dead were members of Hamas security forces but the United Nations says at least 60 civilians have been killed. Four Israelis have been killed by militant rocket fire, including three civilians.Outside the Israeli consulates in Manhattan and Los Angeles, protesters Tuesday waved Palestinian flags and chanted Free Palestine.New York demonstrator Dalia Mahmoud said she was shocked at Israel's actions and that it was punishing an entire population for the actions of a few.
Police barricades separated the protesters from a smaller pro-Israel rally across the street, where one demonstrator carried a sign reading Israel must defend itself.
A few miles south at City Hall, Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, displaying for reporters an exploded rocket that killed an Israeli woman out for a walk.We are obligated to defend our people, and that is what we are doing, Shariv said.
Bloomberg voiced his support.
I can only think what would happen in this country if somebody was lobbing missiles onto our shores or across the border, he said.On Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, one pro-Israel sign read, Hamas, stop using children as human shields.A Palestinian supporter's sign declared, End the siege, end the bloodshed.In Florida, demonstrators also lined a Tampa highway Tuesday, waving Palestinian and American flags and yelling through megaphones, The Tampa Tribune reported. Further south in Fort Lauderdale, at least 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters lobbed charges at each other Tuesday evening at an intersection, according to the Miami Herald.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Obama's Hawaii house By Ross Colvin Ross Colvin – Wed Dec 31, 8:19 am ET
KAILUA, Hawaii (Reuters) – A small group of placard-waving pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered near U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's vacation retreat in Hawaii on Tuesday to protest against the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.Obama has made no public comment on the strikes, which Israel launched on Saturday. Aides have repeatedly said he is monitoring the situation and continues to receive intelligence briefings but that there is only one U.S. president at a time.Some critics, however, say Obama did choose to speak out after the attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai in November in which gunmen killed nearly 180 people, condemning them as acts of terrorism.Obama, who takes office on January 20 from outgoing Republican President George W. Bush, has also spoken out on economic issues facing the United States.He is talking about how many jobs he is going to create but he is refusing to speak about this, said one of the protesters, Carolyn Hadfield, 66.Hadfield was one of eight protesters standing with placards reading No U.S. support for Israel and Gazans need food and medicine, not war near Obama's rented vacation home in Kailua, an upmarket suburb on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where Obama is in the second week of a vacation with his family.Obama had not left the compound on Tuesday morning and did not see the protest.Obama has in the past called Israel one of the United States' greatest allies and has vowed to ensure the security of the Jewish state.
He has also said he would make a sustained push to achieve the goal of two states -- a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state.Israel on Tuesday pressed on with air strikes in Gaza that it says are in response to rocket fire by Hamas militants deep inside the Jewish state. Medical officials put Palestinian casualties at 383 dead and more than 800 wounded.The Bush administration has so far backed Israel's actions in Gaza and demanded the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to a lasting ceasefire.We are very upset with what is going in Palestine. There is a very great need for change in U.S. foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine. We need to stop giving Israel a blank check, said another protester, Margaret Brown, 66.The protesters were rebuffed when they tried to hand a letter signed by dozens of U.S. activist groups to a Secret Service agent guarding the access road to Obama's beachfront compound.(Reporting by Ross Colvin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
India criticises Israeli airstrikes Wed Dec 31, 6:19 am ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) – India on Wednesday urged Israel to halt the air strikes that have killed at least 390 Palestinians and injured thousands in the Gaza Strip.We have strongly criticised that attack and we have urged Israel to stop those attacks, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters.Israeli warplanes hammered Gaza for a fifth day on Wednesday and Islamists retaliated by firing rockets into Israeli territory.
Japan PM Aso tells Israel's Olmert to stop bombings Wed Dec 31, 5:06 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert Wednesday to halt air strikes that have killed at least 390 Palestinians and injured thousands in the Gaza Strip.In a 20-minute telephone conversation, Aso expressed Japan's regret and urged Olmert to swiftly stop the offensives, as many civilians were killed and harmed, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
While condemning rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, Aso said it is regrettable that the (Israeli) attacks have caused widespread damages, including deaths and injuries of civilians.He also urged Israel to allow the transportation of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.In response, Olmert stressed that the attacks against Hamas were being made in self-defence and that Israel was making efforts to avoid harming civilians.In the talks that took place around 0600 GMT, Olmert said Israel was committed to the peace talks and promised cooperation over delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to the foreign ministry.Since being launched on Saturday, the Israeli offensive has killed at least 390 people, including 42 children, and wounded more than 1,900 others, according to Gaza medics.The intensive Israeli bombardment has killed several senior Hamas officials and reduced much of the Islamist movement's infrastructure in Gaza to rubble, but have failed to stop rockets being fired into Israel.Gaza militants have fired back more than 250 rockets, killing three civilians and one soldier and wounding several dozen people.
Iranians raid British diplomatic compound in Gaza protest Tue Dec 30, 9:57 pm ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – A group of Iranian demonstrators stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran to protest London's stance towards the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, state news agency IRNA reported.A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there, IRNA said Tuesday.A media officer at the British embassy in Tehran confirmed the report adding that diplomatic police had driven the demonstrators out.We do confirm the raid on our premises. We are in contact with Islamic republic authorities to resolve the matter, Mitra Behnam told AFP.Gholhak gardens, a sprawling compound in north Tehran, provides accommodation for British diplomats and their families.
Britain has called for an urgent ceasefire by both sides in Gaza , where Israeli warplanes have launched waves of airstrikes against the Islamist Hamas movement since Saturday, killing at least 368 Palestinians, and Hamas militants have been firing volleys of rockets into Israel.Several kilometres (miles) from the British embassy complex in central Tehran, the Gholhak gardens complex also houses the British Council and a school.Islamist students have frequently protested in front of the British embassy, throwing stones and petrol bombs at the building.In Tuesday's protest, demonstrators torched British, US and Israeli flags in front the Gholhak compound before moving towards the Egyptian interest section where they staged another protest and chanted Death to (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak, the Fars news agency said.Egypt has come in for strong criticism from Hamas and their sympathisers around the Muslim world for not fully opening its border with Gaza in the face of Israel's devastating four-day-old air blitz.Fresh protests against the Israeli offensive were Tuesday held across Iran, which is a staunch supporter of the Islamist movement and does not recognise its archfoe Israel.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decreed on Sunday that anyone who died in the defence of Gaza would be deemed a martyr.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
WORLD CRYS AT ISRAEL BOMBING HAMAS
RUSSIAS STILL QUIET ABOUT THIS SITUATION LOOKOUT ARABS FOR YOUR DESTRUCTION IF RUSSIA LEADS USE AGAINST ISRAEL ANYTIME SOON. THEN ISRAEL WILL BE ABLE TO REBUILD THE 3RD TEMPLE WITH NO HASSELS.....YEAH.
KEEP UP WITH ARAB/MUSLIM HATE AGAINST ISRAEL WITH PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/
THESE COWARDS HAMAS USE WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS SHIELDS AGAINST ISRAEL,THEN BLAME ISRAEL FOR KILLING CIVILIANS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WAR - ARAB GIRL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLIdxF-GHWw
EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
ISRAEL ONLY KILLED 15 CIVILIANS IN THIS BOMBING,HAMAS COWARDS HIDE BEHIND WOMEN,CHILDREN AS SHIELDS.
RUSSIAS STILL QUIET ABOUT THIS SITUATION LOOKOUT ARABS FOR YOUR DESTRUCTION IF RUSSIA LEADS USE AGAINST ISRAEL ANYTIME SOON.
Protesters worldwide keep up pressure over Gaza violence Updated at: 0800 PST, Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PARIS: Protesters denouncing Israel's deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip returned to the streets Tuesday in demonstrations around the world to keep up the pressure for an end to the violence. As Israel, under increasing diplomatic pressure, mulled a proposed 48-hour truce and the death toll from its onslaught rose to at least 373 Palestinians, the protesters made their voices heard again. In France, more than 7,000 protesters marched in a dozen cities across the country to denounce the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which continued for the fourth day running Tuesday.In Paris, around 3,500 people according to police -- 5,000 according to the organisers -- marched towards the French foreign ministry on the Quai D'Orsay by the River Seine, shouting slogans and carrying banners denouncing Israel. Police said another 700 marched in the western city of Nantes, while demonstrations in at least a dozen cities and towns across the country each attracted hundreds of protesters.
In London, between 200 and 300 demonstrators protested peacefully outside the Israeli embassy, after the two previous days' rallies had descended into violence. This demonstration was smaller than on Sunday and Monday, when scuffles erupted between police and protestors against Israel's air raids, leading to a total of 17 arrests over the two days.Iranian demonstrators stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran Tuesday evening to protest London's stance towards the Israeli onslaught, state news agency reported. A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there, media said. A media officer at the British embassy in Tehran confirmed the report. In Tunis, hundreds of lawyers and trade unionists joined opposition activists to defy a police ban and protest the bombing of Gaza, several sources reported. As some protesters shouted slogans denouncing the lack of response from Arab countries in general and Egypt in particular, police headed off the demonstration as it headed towards the courthouse, said witnesses. Tunisia's government has already condemned the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.Saudi Arabia's interior ministry denied a report by a news website that hundreds had demonstrated Monday afternoon in heavily Shiite Al Qatif, just west of Dammam, leading to several arrests.
Israel weighs 48-hour halt to Gaza air campaign By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,08
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel, under international pressure, is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see if Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel, Israeli officials said Tuesday. Any offer would be coupled with a threat to send in ground troops if the rocket fire continues.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed the proposal — floated by France's foreign minister — and other possible next steps with his foreign and defense ministers, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to make the information public.President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called leaders in the Middle East to press for a durable solution beyond any immediate truce.And members of the Quartet of world powers trying to promote Mideast peace concluded a conference call with an appeal for an immediate cease-fire. The Quartet powers are the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.The European Union itself late Tuesday also urged an immediate truce and for Israel to reopen borders to allow vital supplies to reach Gazans. The Paris statement by the 27-member bloc avoided blaming either side for the current fighting.In its Tuesday night meeting, Israel's leadership trio stepped up preparations for a ground offensive, conducting a telephone survey among Cabinet ministers on a plan to call up an additional 2,500 reserve soldiers, if required. Earlier this week, the Cabinet authorized a callup of 6,700 soldiers.After the four-hour meeting, Olmert's office issued a statement early Wednesday saying no details of the discussion would be made public because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.But Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release information on the meeting, said the leaders wanted Hamas to agree to stop the rocket fire before Israel considers a truce.And even amid talk of a truce, Israeli warplanes continued to unload bombs on targets in Gaza. Powerful airstrikes caused Gaza City's high-rise apartment buildings to sway and showered streets with broken glass and pulverized concrete. Israel's ground forces on Gaza's border also used artillery for the first time.Hamas kept up its rocket barrages, which have killed four Israelis since the weekend, and sent many more in running for bomb shelters — some of them in cities under threat of attack for the first time, as the range of the rockets grows.
A medium-range rocket hit the city of Beersheba for the first time ever, zooming 28 miles deep into Israel and slamming into an empty kindergarten. A second rocket landed in an open area near the desert city, Israel's fifth-largest. The military said later it successfully struck the group that launched those rockets.A pattern of daytime lulls and nighttime spikes in rocket fire appeared to be emerging as militants found safer launch cover in darkness.Four days into a campaign that has killed 374 Palestinians and prompted Arab and international condemnation, a diplomatic push to end the fighting gathered pace.In two phone calls to Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday and Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed to him to consider a truce to allow time for humanitarian relief supplies to enter the beleaguered Gaza Strip, two senior officials in Barak's office said.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was expected to travel Thursday to Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has put his growing international stature to use in other conflict zones, most recently to help halt fighting between Russia and Georgia in August.Israeli media reported that Sarkozy would also travel to Jerusalem Monday for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.A Hamas spokesman said any halt to militant rocket and mortar fire would require an end to Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip. If they halt the aggression and the blockade, then Hamas will study these suggestions,said Mushir Masri.Any cease-fire between Israel and Hamas would face questions about its long-term viability. In the past, Hamas has been unable or unwilling to rein in all the militants, some of which belong to different factions. Israel has angered the Palestinians by continuing to target its leaders and by maintaining a blockade of the Gaza Strip. It's certainly difficult for Hamas because, having witnessed the losses that they have just suffered on large scale, their credibility is on the line and they're not going to easily agree to a cease-fire that goes back to the conditions that prevailed before, after all these losses, said Shibley Telhami, professor of political science at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. So, we're likely to see more bloodshed, and I think that is where we are in a way, events on the ground are going to dictate.Israel's military, meanwhile, pressed on, sending warplanes to strike a Gaza government complex that includes the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and justice. Bombs ripped the tops and sides from buildings that had already been evacuated and left fires blazing in upper floors. It was the largest government target hit so far and involved the largest number of bombs dropped in a single strike — at least 16 in all. The airstrikes have sent the people of densely populated Gaza on a zigzagging desperate search for safer ground — hard to find with no way out of the blockaded territory. I don't know what's safe anymore, said university student Rasha Khaldeh of Gaza City. She fled her home, fearing Israel would target her Hamas neighbors, then had to leave her uncle's house because of nearby shelling. She listens intently for the approach of pilotless Israeli drones.
After nightfall, Israel destroyed 40 tunnels under the sealed Gaza-Egypt border in another attempt to cut the vital lifeline that supplies Gaza with both commercial goods and weapons for Hamas and other militant groups. Israel kept up the attack on the tunnels early Wednesday, as other aircraft hit Hamas positions in Gaza City.
Israel's military said it hit 31 targets on Tuesday, including a Cabinet building, rocket-launching sites, and places were missiles were being built. Some of the hits on sites with weapons stockpiles triggered secondary explosions. The question still hanging over the Israeli operation is how it can halt rocket fire. Israel has never found a military solution to the barrage of missiles. The Iron Dome, a system to guard against short-range missiles, will take years to build. Beyond delivering Hamas a deep blow and protecting border communities, the assault's broader objectives remained cloudy. Israeli President Shimon Peres acknowledged the challenge, saying the operation was unavoidable but more difficult than many people anticipated. War against terrorists is harder in some aspects than fighting armies, Peres said. Hamas also said it would take more to cripple it. A spokesman for Hamas' military wing, Abu Obeida, said the group remained strong, and he vowed to fight on as long as Israel continues its airstrikes. He noted that even while under heavy airstrikes, militants had fired rockets that reached Israeli towns farther from Gaza than ever. Rockets will be on your daily agenda, he said in a message to Israelis.
And if there's a ground invasion, he promised worse: If you enter Gaza, the children will collect your flesh and the remains of your tanks which will be spread out through the streets.The offensive came shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. Emad Falluji, a former Hamas leader working at a Gaza-based think tank, said he believes Hamas had wanted to renew the truce but felt humiliated by Israel's decision to maintain a tight blockade on Gaza. Israel didn't want to give Hamas anything in return for the cease-fire, which was effectively free, he said. Egypt, which has been blockading Gaza from its southern end, has come under pressure from the rest of the Arab world to reopen its border with the territory because of the Israeli campaign. Egypt has pried open the border to let in some of Gaza's wounded and to allow some humanitarian supplies into the territory. But it quickly sealed the border when Gazans tried to push through forcefully. In a televised speech Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded to critics, including the leader of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, who have accused him of collaborating with Israel. We tell anybody who seeks political profits on the account of the Palestinian people: The Palestinian blood is not cheap, he said, describing such comments as exploiting the blood of the Palestinians.Mubarak said his country would not throw open the border crossing unless Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — a Hamas rival — regains control of the border post. Mubarak has been rattled by the presence of a neighboring Islamic ministate in Gaza, fearing it would fuel more Islamic dissidence in Egypt. Most of the Palestinians killed since Saturday were members of Hamas security forces but the number included at least 64 civilians, according to U.N. figures. Among those killed were two sisters, Haya and Lama Hamdan, ages 4 and 12, who died in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Throughout the offensive, Israel's military has released video taken by hovering drone aircraft showing its missiles and bombs hurtling into Gaza targets, including one on Tuesday that sent about a half-dozen bombs simultaneously into a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border. During brief lulls between airstrikes, Gazans tentatively ventured into the streets to buy goods and collect belongings from homes they had abandoned after Israel's aerial onslaught began Saturday. The campaign has brought a new reality to southern Israel, too, where one-tenth of the country's population of 7 million has suddenly found itself within rocket range.
It's very scary, said Yaacov Pardida, a 55-year-old resident of Ashdod, southern Israel's largest city, which was hit Monday. I never imagined that this could happen, that they could reach us here.Barzak reported from Gaza City, Keyser from Jerusalem.
Israel posts video of Gaza air strikes on YouTube DEC 30,08
WASHINGTON, (AFP) – The Israeli military has launched its own channel on video-sharing website YouTube, posting footage of air strikes and other attacks on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.The spokesman's office of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it created the channel -- youtube.com/user/idfnadesk -- on Monday to help us bring our message to the world.The channel currently has more than 2,600 subscribers and hosts 10 videos, some of which have been viewed more than 26,000 times.The black-and-white videos include aerial footage of Israeli Air Force attacks on what are described as rocket launching sites, weapons storage facilities, a Hamas government complex and smuggling tunnels.One video shows what is described as a Hamas patrol boat being destroyed by a rocket fired from an Israeli naval vessel.
The IDF spokesman's office said that some of the videos it had posted to the channel had been removed by YouTube but were later reinstated.We were saddened earlier today that YouTube took down some of our exclusive footage showing the IDF's operational success in operation Cast Lead against Hamas extremists in the Gaza Strip, the IDF spokesman's office said.Fortunately, due to blogger and viewer support, YouTube has returned some of the footage they removed, it added.YouTube, as a matter of policy, does not comment on individual videos.Four days of intensive Israeli bombardment have killed several senior Hamas officials and reduced much of the Islamist movement's infrastructure in Gaza to rubble, but have failed to stop rocket fire into Israel.Since the massive aerial attack was unleashed on Saturday, at least 373 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed and 1,720 wounded, according to Gaza medics.Palestinian militants have also fired more than 250 rockets and mortar shells, killing four people inside Israel and wounding around two dozen more.
Hundreds in Mich., NYC protest strikes on Gaza By BEN LEUBSDORF, Associated Press Writer DEC 30,08
DEARBORN, Mich. – Close to 1,000 Arab-Americans and others marched through the Detroit suburb of Dearborn on Tuesday evening, waving Palestinian flags and shouting slogans to protest Israeli military strikes against the Gaza Strip.Protesters braving 30-degree weather filled eight blocks of a major thoroughfare in Dearborn, widely seen as the heart of Arab America. Hundreds more gathered in New York City and Los Angeles outside the Israeli consulate, with rallies also reported in two cities in Florida.Since Saturday, 374 Palestinians have died in the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers. Most of the dead were members of Hamas security forces but the United Nations says at least 64 civilians have been killed.The offensive came shortly after a rocky six-month truce expired. Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets and mortars at Israel before and during the Israeli offensive.Marchers in Dearborn waved flags and carried signs condemning Israel and showing pictures of casualties of the fighting. One group of protesters carried a mock coffin decorated with pictures of dead and injured children and labeled U.S. Tax Dollars at Work and Victims of Zionism.Some marchers chanted in English, Gaza, Gaza don't cry, Palestine will never die and Israel is a terrorist state.Others chanted, in Arabic, God is Great and a martyr is beloved of God.One protester carried a sign saying Dearborn, take your shoes off! a reference to the action of an Iraqi protester who threw shoes at President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Iraq.Southeastern Michigan is home to around 300,000 people with roots in the Arab world, the result of more than a century of immigration.About 50 people gathered Tuesday on the University of Michigan-Flint campus to protest the Israeli attacks, The Flint Journal reported.The Tampa Tribune reported that University of South Florida sophomore Jehad Saleh, 19, started a group on social networking site Facebook on Sunday, encouraging Palestinian supporters to gather for the protest.
Demonstrators lined a Tampa highway Tuesday, waving Palestinian and American flags and yelling through megaphones.I've had cousins in the Gaza Strip who died, Saleh told the newspaper. If their voice can't be heard, mine will.Further south in Fort Lauderdale, at least 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters lobbed charges at each other Tuesday evening at an intersection, according to the Miami Herald.Palestinian supporters yelled: You kill our children!
No! You kill your own children! Israel supporters responded.Outside the Israeli consulates in Manhattan and Los Angeles, protesters Tuesday waved Palestinian flags and chanted Free Palestine.New York demonstrator Dalia Mahmoud said she was shocked at Israel's actions and that it was punishing an entire population for the actions of a few.Police barricades separated the protesters from a smaller pro-Israel rally across the street, where one demonstrator carried a sign reading Israel must defend itself.A few miles south at City Hall, Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, displaying for reporters an exploded rocket that killed an Israeli woman out for a walk. We are obligated to defend our people, and that is what we are doing, Shariv said. Bloomberg voiced his support. I can only think what would happen in this country if somebody was lobbing missiles onto our shores or across the border, he said. On Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, one pro-Israel sign read, Hamas, stop using children as human shields. A Palestinian supporter's sign declared, End the siege, end the bloodshed.The Dearborn protest was organized by the Congress of Arab American Organizations. Group spokesman Osama Siblani, who is also publisher of the Arab American News, said it was the first in a series of actions being planned in response to the Gaza fighting, including a candlelight vigil for peace and a petition calling for a cease-fire. There is disappointment and anger in our community and we need to express it toward the current U.S. administration that has given a blank check to the Israelis, Siblani said. A memorial service for victims of the fighting scheduled for Tuesday was delayed because the reception hall could not fit all the protesters.
Iranians raid British diplomatic compound in Gaza protest DEC 30,08
TEHRAN (AFP) – A group of Iranian demonstrators stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran to protest London's stance towards the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, state news agency IRNA reported.A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there, IRNA said Tuesday.A media officer at the British embassy in Tehran confirmed the report adding that diplomatic police had driven the demonstrators out.We do confirm the raid on our premises. We are in contact with Islamic republic authorities to resolve the matter, Mitra Behnam told AFP.Gholhak gardens, a sprawling compound in north Tehran, provides accommodation for British diplomats and their families.
Britain has called for an urgent ceasefire by both sides in Gaza , where Israeli warplanes have launched waves of airstrikes against the Islamist Hamas movement since Saturday, killing at least 368 Palestinians, and Hamas militants have been firing volleys of rockets into Israel.Several kilometres (miles) from the British embassy complex in central Tehran, the Gholhak gardens complex also houses the British Council and a school.Islamist students have frequently protested in front of the British embassy, throwing stones and petrol bombs at the building.In Tuesday's protest, demonstrators torched British, US and Israeli flags in front the Gholhak compound before moving towards the Egyptian interest section where they staged another protest and chanted Death to (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak, the Fars news agency said.Egypt has come in for strong criticism from Hamas and their sympathisers around the Muslim world for not fully opening its border with Gaza in the face of Israel's devastating four-day-old air blitz.Fresh protests against the Israeli offensive were Tuesday held across Iran, which is a staunch supporter of the Islamist movement and does not recognise its archfoe Israel.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decreed on Sunday that anyone who died in the defence of Gaza would be deemed a martyr.
Bush calls Abbas to discuss Gaza By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 6:29 pm ET
CRAWFORD, Texas – President George W. Bush and his top advisers conducted an urgent round of telephone diplomacy Tuesday to help end the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, but insisted that if any new cease-fire is to work, it must be honored by the Islamic militant group.We want to see an end to the violence for the long term, not just the immediate, White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe said, briefing reporters in Crawford, where Bush is staying at his ranch. We don't want a cease-fire agreement that isn't worth the piece of paper it's written on. We want something that's lasting, and most importantly, respected by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.Under international pressure, Israel is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see whether the Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel. The United Nations said that during a teleconference Tuesday, the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia appealed for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected, and called for the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza to be addressed.Since Saturday, more than 350 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers. The offensive came shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. The U.S. blames Hamas for breaking the truce. It says Israel has a right to defend its citizens from the attacks, yet the Arab world has been enraged by the four days of bombings by Israeli warplanes.Despite the bombings, Hamas has kept up its barrage of rockets, which have killed at least four Israelis since the weekend. Many more Israelis have been sent running for bomb shelters — some of them in cities under threat of attack for the first time because the range of Hamas' rockets has grown.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that regional and international partners had not done enough to help end the Israeli-Hamas conflict. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called Ban's criticism unfair, saying the United States has been very active diplomatically.
From the ranch, where he was clearing brush and relaxing with first lady Laura Bush, Bush had a briefing via a secured video conference with top advisers. He later called moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who help govern the West Bank, but not Gaza. They are rivals of Hamas, a group the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, which in June 2007 seized control of Gaza, a crowded, coastal territory that is home to 1.5 million people.Bush and Abbas agreed that if any new cease-fire agreement is to be effective in the Mideast, it must be respected by Hamas, Johndroe said.He said that Fayyed thanked the United States for an $85 million contribution that it made this week to a special United Nations fund to assist Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank. The president is concerned about the citizens of Gaza, but not the Hamas terrorist leaders who are doing this to the people of Gaza, Johndroe said.Bush also called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to thank him for his peacemaking role there. Bush talked on the phone Monday with Jordan's King Abdullah II and took a call on Saturday from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Bush last talked to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the crisis began.These other governments in the region, such as Egypt, the officials in the Palestinian Authority, Jordanians, others who are in touch with the various Hamas factions, will make it clear that this is in no one's interests — certainly not the Palestinian people, certainly not the people of Gaza, and definitely not the people of the entire Middle East region, Johndroe said. All those governments, as they have been in the past, are committed to assisting with the current situation.
The State Department said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was keeping up steady U.S. calls for a durable and sustainable — but not necessarily immediate — cease-fire to end Israel's assault on Gaza and rocket attacks by Palestinian militants based there. In phone calls with Israeli and Arab leaders, including the Jordanian king as well as other interested regional and international officials, Rice pressed for a durable solution to the fighting that is not used by Hamas to launch more rockets into Israel, spokesman Gordon Duguid said.Rice called King Abdullah on Tuesday. On Monday, she spoke to Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as well as the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Ibrahim Barzak and Jason Keyser in Gaza City, contributed to this report.
US, UN, EU and Russia urge immediate Gaza truce By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 5:49 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Key world powers trying to promote Mideast peace urged Israel and Hamas on Tuesday to immediately stop fighting in Gaza and southern Israel, the United Nations announced as international efforts to calm the conflict picked up pace.The Quartet of Mideast peacemakers — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — appealed for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.The statement came four days after Israeli warplanes started bombing in Gaza, targeting Hamas-related installations and homes in an attempt to force a halt to militant rocket attacks on towns in southern Israel.The Quartet also called on all parties to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to take necessary measures to ensure the continuous provision of humanitarian supplies, Okabe said.They agreed on the urgent need for Israelis and Palestinians to continue on the road to peace, she said.U.N. officials said Quartet members were following up individually with Israel and the other parties.Robert Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, canceled a video news conference from Jerusalem with reporters at U.N. headquarters to pursue the issue. French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday.Israeli officials said earlier Tuesday that Israel was considering a 48-hour suspension of its punishing air campaign to see if Palestinian militants would stop rocket attacks.Okabe said the Quartet's appeal was agreed on during a teleconference involving U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the EU presidency, and the group's Mideast envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Earlier Tuesday in Paris, Kouchner, who spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said an immediate cease-fire was needed to allow aid and medical help into Gaza and to evacuate wounded.What do we want? We want, and there are no differences, a cease-fire, that it be permanent, that it be respected, Kouchner said on TF1 television.Hours later, EU foreign ministers holding an emergency meeting in Paris to discuss the Gaza crisis endorsed a call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire. Food, medical aid and fuel also should be allowed into Gaza, their statement said.The 27-member bloc said the peace process must be stepped up. There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Gaza or elsewhere, it said, in the statement's sole allusion to the Israeli offensive.The carefully worded statement also did not level any blame for the conflict, referring instead to tragic events in Israel and Gaza.Ban had complained to reporters Monday that regional and international partners were not doing enough to help end the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
They should do more, he said. They should use all possible means to end the violence and encourage political dialogue, emphasizing peaceful ways of resolving differences.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to the U.N., called Ban's criticism unfair. He said the United States had been very active diplomatically. Rice, for one, had been on the phone with the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Europeans, the Russians and others, he said.Everyone is of the view that two things are important — an end to violence, a cease-fire, an enduring cease-fire, and two ... the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians in Gaza, Khalilzad told The Associated Press.
Khalilzad stressed that a cease-fire must deal not only with what we're seeing now, of course, but also what has caused it, which from our point of view is the sequencing — it is the rockets, it's the smuggling of arms by Hamas and the other (Palestinian militant) groups.Rice has called for a durable and sustainable cease-fire, with stronger provisions than the rocky six-month truce between Hamas and Israel that expired earlier this month after Hamas refused to extend it. Critics of Israel's bombing campaign called it a disproportionate reaction to Hamas' rocket attacks and feared Israel would transform the aerial assault into a ground offensive like its 2006 war with the Iranian-backed militants of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The concerns were highlighted by Ban's complaint about the slowness of major nations to push for a halt to the fighting. Rosemary Hollis, a Middle East expert at the City University of London, said the slow response from the West might be based on the hope that the Israelis would be able to deal a critical blow to Hamas before a cease-fire was put in place. There is a perception that what they have called the bad guys — Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas — are getting stronger, so leave it to the Israelis to blunt their hubris and show that victory is not theirs, Hollis said.
Francois Heisbourg of the French government-backed Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said such views put Western governments in a difficult position. It's a very tricky one ..., he said. Condemning an operation against a terrorist organization has some complications.Germany, for one, firmly pinned the blame for the conflict on Hamas, which seized power in Gaza and rules in defiance of the moderate Palestinian Authority, headquartered in the West Bank. Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.
Anxiety, satisfaction in Israel over Gaza assault By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 4:21 pm ET
SDEROT, Israel – This working-class border town has been pounded with several thousand missiles fired out of Gaza since 2001. Now anxiety is mixed with satisfaction that Israel's military is finally getting even with its tormentors.It's about time, said Victor Turjeman, a 33-year-old electrician. We've been waiting for this for eight years.In that time, rockets have killed eight people here, injured hundreds more and made daily life unbearable.Turjeman said his four children have been traumatized by the near daily attacks, his home has been damaged and his brother had a heart attack after a rocket exploded nearby. He fears escalation, but said he was pleased that the militant group Hamas was finally being punished.We should keep pounding them until they beg for mercy, he said. As far as I'm concerned, all of Gaza can be erased.Israeli warplanes have struck furiously at Hamas positions in Gaza since Saturday, killing about 380 people, according to Palestinian health officials.Elsewhere in southern Israel, however, people were increasingly fearful, and many followed army instructions to begin preparing bomb shelters. Four Israelis were killed by rockets since the Israeli offensive began, some in attacks that struck farther into Israel than ever before.In Beersheba, the largest city in southern Israel, streets and malls were alive with movement, even after the Israeli military extended its rocket warning system to include the city Monday.Ortal Levy, a 30-year-old mother of two, said she had never even entertained the idea that her bustling city could be within rocket range. Now she was preparing her bomb shelter.
Outside the central bus station, Mazal Ivgi, 62, said she couldn't believe their city, 28 miles from Gaza, would be hit.When the first 'boom' comes, we'll have to get used to a new situation, she said.That first attack on Beersheba came Tuesday. One long-range rocket hit it an open area outside the city, and the mayor told Israel television that a second missile struck an empty kindergarten.Unlike the new targets of Gaza's militants, the residents of Sderot are well versed with life under fire. Sderot Mayor David Buskila said his 24,000 citizens were still scared but mostly overjoyed that something was being done to strike at Hamas.We felt abandoned for so long, that our despair was ignored. We felt like we weren't even a part of Israel, he said. Now we feel like the army is actively protecting us.Israel Katz, a social psychologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the reaction in Sderot was a natural one.Fear and rage are often intertwined, he said. These are people who feel vulnerable and all of a sudden they feel empowered. It's the same kind of satisfaction that a child who has been picked on gets when he hits back.In Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people 11 miles north of Gaza, the reality that Sderot has faced for years began to sink in after a missile crashed into a construction site Monday, killing one worker and wounding several others.It was the first rocket death ever in the city. Looking at the damaged site later, Yitzhak Daboosh shook his head in disbelief. The 58-year-old father of two has spent his entire life in Ashkelon, and he said he now fears for his family's safety. These missiles have no address. Only God is watching over us now, he said. We've been through a lot of things here, a lot of wars. But something like this? Never.
Activists urge Obama to rethink US role in Mideast By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 3:53 pm ET
KAILUA, Hawaii – A handful of pro-Palestinian activists protested outside President-elect Barack Obama's vacation home on Tuesday and urged a new approach to the Middle East. Obama did not acknowledge them.Eight activists marched with signs to the edge of the property's security perimeter, telling reporters that they want the incoming administration to take a fresh look at the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories, especially given the current fighting in the Gaza Strip. They also said Obama needs to take a more active role in the conflict, even though he doesn't take office until Jan. 20.We feel there's a great need for change. We need to stop giving Israel a blank check to do what it's doing, said Margaret Brown, a 66-year-old Honolulu resident who held a handmade sign that read Yes we can change U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine.We just gave them a blank check to oppress the Palestinians, and this is the result, she said.Obama's motorcade rolled past the protesters as it headed on a morning trip to Punahou School, his former high school where the president-elect was playing basketball. Aides said he was playing basketball with friends.Israel continued its air attacks on Gaza on Tuesday and warned that a ground invasion could follow if rocket launches didn't stop. The United States has called for the militant group Hamas to stop launching rockets into Israel.Gazans need food, medicine, not war, read one sign carried by an activist to the Obama vacation retreat. Free Palestine, read another. A third: No U.S. support for Israel.Brown said politicians need to speak what they believe, not what is expedient.It's political suicide to challenge Israel in this country, she said.
Obama has declined to inject himself publicly into the situation, although during the campaign he spoke in strong support of Israel's right to defend itself from Palestinian attacks. His aides say he has been in touch with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and has received regular national security briefings.What you don't say says a lot about your priorities, said Pete Shimazaki Doktor, a Honolulu resident who served as a medic during the first Gulf War and now teaches at a public school.Doktor said he studied history after leaving the Army and came to believe the U.S. policy was misguided. He said Obama's top advisers give him pause.His Cabinet has been a message of continuity. There's no change there, said 40-year-old Doktor, who didn't support Obama but liked candidates Reps. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Ron Paul, R-Texas.He said he had concerns about future U.S. military engagement in that region.I realized that as a soldier, said Doktor, wearing a Vets for Peace T-shirt, I had been used.Obama and his family are near the end of a 12-day vacation in his native Hawaii. He has maintained no public schedule, has sought to keep low-key and had his aides guard his privacy. Since arriving on the island of Oahu on Dec. 20, Obama has limited his travel mostly to trips to the gym, golf course and dinner with friends.Obama, wife Michelle and their two young daughters are scheduled to return to Chicago on Thursday.
Egypt rejects calls to open border with war-battered Gaza by Mona Salem Mona Salem – Tue Dec 30, 2:10 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday ruled out reopening Egypt's border with war-battered Gaza until representatives of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers are deployed at the crossing point.Mubarak also hit back at critics of Cairo's response to the Israeli offensive, accusing them of playing politics with Palestinian suffering.We in Egypt are not going to contribute to perpetuating the rift (between the Palestinian Authority of Mahmud Abbas and Gaza's Hamas rulers) by opening the Rafah crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers in violation of the 2005 deal, Mubarak said in a televised speech.He was referring to an international agreement which Abbas signed with Israel when it withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.The deal provided for EU observers to monitor the border and operate surveillance cameras to allow Israel to keep an eye on comings and goings.It fell into abeyance when Hamas ousted forces loyal to Abbas from the gaza Strip in June last year.Egypt has come in for strong criticism from the Islamists and their sympathisers around the Muslim world for not fully opening the border in the face of Israel's devastating four-day-old air blitz.
It has allowed a handful of wounded Gazans to leave for treatment and allowed some medical supplies in.But on Sunday Egyptian police fired warning shots in the air to prevent large numbers of civilians fleeing Gaza.Mubarak held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni just two days before the start of the offensive, sparking charges of collusion that have seen Egyptian diplomatic missions attacked in both Beirut and the Yemeni port city of Aden.Mubarak insisted that he was totally opposed to the Israeli operation.We say to Israel that we reject and condemn its assaults which must cease immediately, he said in the speech broadcast on state television.We say to the (Israeli) leaders: you carry the responsibility for your barbarian aggression against the Palestinians, whatever pretext you use as justification. And we say to them: your bloodstained hands provoke feelings of intense anger, Mubarak said.He added: We say to our Palestinian brothers: restore your unity. We warned you several times that any refusal to renew the truce would push Israel to attack Gaza.He was referring to a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas which Egypt brokered and which expired on December 19.Mubarak hit out at Arab politicians such as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who have slammed his government's stance and called on the Egyptian people to take to the streets to change it.We say to those who are trying to make political capital out of the plight of the Palestinian people that Palestinian blood has a price, he said.We say loud and clear that Egypt is above such pettinesses and will not allow anyone to extend their influence over its affairs.Lebanon, meanwhile, has tightened security around the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. The roads leading to the building have been blocked and the area surrounded by cement blocks and barbed wire. A security official told AFP on condition of anonymity the measures were preventative in case of future protests in the area.
Gaza dominates Gulf leaders summit By SAEED EL-NAHDY and TAREK EL-TABLAWY, Associated Press Writers – Tue Dec 30, 11:46 am ET
MUSCAT, Oman – Gulf Arab leaders wrapping up a two-day summit on Tuesday, strongly condemning Israel's attacks on Gaza and endorsing an agreement to set up a long-sought after monetary union that would go into effect before the end of 2009.In a summit ostensibly aimed at discussing a unified monetary pact that would pave the way for a single currency, leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council devoted much of their time to the Israeli air strikes on Hamas-ruled Gaza. The attacks have left more than 360 Palestinians dead and sparked outrage throughout the Middle East.Gulf leaders were determined to exit the meeting with unified stance about the attacks, and their final statement reflected the widespread anger in the region.The statement condemned Israel's unjustified aggression and its inhumane practices against the Palestinians in Gaza and held Israel responsible for the recent escalation.The 22-nation Arab League was expected to hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, and GCC officials looked to unify their stance going into that meeting. But rifts had emerged about the need for a follow-up Arab summit in Qatar on Friday on the presidential level, with some Gulf states supporting it while Arab powerhouse Saudi Arabia arguing that a summit of statements was a futile gesture.
Oman's Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah told reporters the GCC nations are committed to the Arab peace initiative, referring to the Saudi Arabian plan that calls on Israel to return land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war in exchange for normal relations with Arabs.He said council members also urged rival Palestinian factions to end their fighting and agree on a peaceful settlement with Israel that would enable them to create an independent state of their own.The statement also said the monetary pact, which includes a unified monitory council and a central bank, will speed up their economic integration efforts. The monetary union is a crucial step toward their ultimate goal of setting up a single currency by 2010 — a date which many analysts had viewed with skepticism.GCC leaders stressed the need to tackle and overcome barriers to the implementation of their economic integration plan by the end of December 2009, the statement said.Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mostafa al-Shimali, earlier Tuesday, was quoted by the Kuwait News Agency as saying that while an agreement on the monetary union had been reached, with implementation no later than the following December, the unified currency is considered a next stage and has its own timetable.Summit host Oman has repeatedly said it will not join in the unified currency, saying the step was not necessary at this time and required greater planning.GCC leaders also discussed a range of other issues, from Iran's nuclear program to India-Pakistan relations. The meeting was also aimed at helping the countries craft plans for combating the impact of the global financial meltdown.Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, during his opening comments Monday night, called for cooperation between all nations to overcome the impact of the international financial crisis.He also stressed the necessity to balance the needs of oil producers and consumers, saying such cooperation should be based on stable prices that will not burden the consumers, does not harm the producers and (helps them) maintain their economic development.Gulf nations have been hit hard by the roughly 70 percent slide in oil prices from their mid-July highs of $150 per barrel. Many of the countries rely on crude sales for as much as 90 percent of their foreign revenue.El-Tablawy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
Libya orders oil cuts of 270K bpd By TAREK EL-TABLAWY and KHALED EL-DEEB, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,08
TRIPOLI, Libya – Libya has asked oil companies to slash production by 270,000 barrels per day from Jan. 1, the latest such reduction by an OPEC member as the producer group struggles to boost faltering oil prices.The announcement Tuesday by the head of the National Oil company came as the 13-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appears to have stepped up compliance with a series of production cuts over the past three months. The group is trying to halt a nearly 70 percent plunge in crude prices since mid-July highs of nearly $150 per barrel.
Shukri Ghanem, Libya's oil chief, told The Associated Press the country would cut almost 20,000 more than the 252,000 barrel per day reduction it was committed to under the group's quota system. The cuts, effective Jan. 1, would be from September levels.The corporation has asked oil companies (in Libya) to cut output by 270,000 barrels per day, which is more than Libya is required to do under the OPEC-brokered agreement in Oran, Algeria, Ghanem said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.This is a positive step for boosting oil prices, and I believe that all the (OPEC) countries will abide with the agreement, Ghanem said.In its Dec. 17 meeting in Algeria, the group agreed to slash output by a further 2.2 million barrels per day from January 2009, bringing its total cuts since September to 4.2 million barrels per day. OPEC produces over 40 percent of the world's crude.The group has implemented two solid cuts in the last three months. A 1.5 million barrel per day reduction in October failed to halt the slide in crude prices, as did the record reduction in Algeria that was to take effect from Jan. 1. In September, it had implemented so-called paper cuts of 500,000 barrels per day, mainly aimed at ensuring output compliance.
It's been pretty good. I was surprised, said Conrad Gerber, head of the Geneva, Switzerland-based oil tanker-tracker firm Petro-Logistics SA. But I think they're living in desperate times and, for once, they're doing what they intended to do. The 1.5 million cut, plus the 500,000 barrel per day cut agreed to in September, seems to have been achieved.Despite its history of cheating on quotas, analysts say the group appears to be making a sincere bid to curb production as it struggles to engineer a rebound in crude prices.The United Arab Emirates, OPEC's fourth largest producer, was the first to indicate its compliance with production cuts last week.
The Gulf nation's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. told customers in letters dated Dec. 25 that it was cutting its main Murban crude allocation by 15 percent and Upper Zakum crude allowance by 3 percent in January in accordance with the OPEC cutbacks.The letters, also provided to The AP, outlined cuts of 10 to 15 percent of all types of ADNOC crude in February.On Saturday, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said the South American nation would suspend crude production by Italy's Agip and reduce quotas for other companies to comply with new OPEC cuts. Agip produces 28,000 barrels of oil a day from Ecuador's Amazon jungle.It seems that we are being fed each day with another OPEC country sending out a PR piece about how they are enforcing the cuts, observed analyst Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland.The push to comply with the December decision reflects efforts by the group to put a floor under the plummeting prices, and bring them more in line with the $75 per barrel figure that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah indicated would be fair for both consumers and producers.Libya's cut is the latest such effort.Under the October cut, which was to be fully implemented by December, Libya's quota was 1.62 million barrels per day, said Gerber, adding that the group had been working hard to limit their output.According to Gerber's figures — which come from carefully monitoring tanker shipments and do not include oil in storage — OPEC had already cut output by 1.56 million barrels per day by the end of November, and has slashed another 320,000 barrels per day in December.
Many officials at the Vienna-based organization were unavailable for comment because of the New Year holiday. The OPEC 11 — minus Indonesia and Iraq, which are not bound by quotas — are currently producing 27.1 million barrels per day, he said, about 200,000 barrels per day below the target they set in their October meeting in Vienna. Iraq's oil minister, meanwhile, said Monday that the war-ravaged country averaged exports of about 1.85 million barrels per day in December, nearly 90,000 barrels a day more than the previous month. So far, the brunt of the cuts have been borne by OPEC heavy hitters Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. Gerber said that the current level is at least partly linked to the inability of some other members like Venezuela and Nigeria to even meet their allocations. Saudi output was down about 1 million barrels between October and December, he said, and the kingdom — the only OPEC member with significant spare production capacity — was expected to cut another 300,000 barrels per day in December, bringing it down to 8.2 million barrels a day, he said. Gerber said Venezuela's production is closer to 2.3 million barrels per day, well below the 3.1 million barrels the country says it is producing. Similarly, Nigeria was producing about 100,000 barrels per day under its 2.05 million barrel target, he said, noting that this was linked to political instability and rebel attacks in the African country that have repeatedly undercut production efforts.
Venezuela and Iran are known as the price hawks in the group, and are traditionally the least likely to comply with output cuts as they depend heavily on oil revenue. Venezuela also needs high oil prices for its heavier oil projects to be economically feasible, analysts say. Saudi Arabia has really come down heavily, said Gerber. It remains to be seen where they go from there. They've got to be convinced, first, that everybody else is going along. They've seen this before — where they've done the cutting and others have done the cheating.AP Business Writers Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo, Egypt, and Adam Schreck in Dubai, UAE, contributed to this report.
Lavrov, Rice discuss Gaza ceasefire: Russian ministry Tue Dec 30, 8:46 am ET
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Condoleezza Rice both stressed the need for an end to the conflict in Gaza in a phone conversation, Russia's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.The sides called for an immediate stop to violence and a resumption of the state of calm, the ministry said following the phone conversation, which took place on Monday.The two exchanged views on coordinating efforts to facilitate the end of violent confrontation and creating conditions to continue negotiations, the ministry said.The phone conversation came before representatives of the diplomatic Quartet for Middle East peace, comprising the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations were expected to hold a conference call on the crisis in Gaza on Tuesday.
Iranian group recruits volunteers to fight Israel By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer - Mon Dec 29, 4:23 pm ET
TEHRAN, Iran – A group of influential conservative Iranian clerics launched an online registration drive on Monday seeking volunteers to fight against Israel in response to its air assault on the Gaza Strip. About 3,550 people registered Monday with the Combatant Clergy Society's Web site. The weeklong online campaign gives volunteers three options on ways they can fight Israel: military, financial and propaganda.The group, which has considerable political and economic power in Iran, did not provide further details on the program including how it would contact the volunteers or implement the program.The conservative clerics decided to sign up volunteers after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Sunday that said anyone killed while defending Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.Khamenei's religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel.But Iran considers Israel its archenemy, and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state. Iran also is Hamas' main backer, though Tehran denies sending weapons to the Islamic militant group that took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have sparked outrage in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. About 300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded since the air assault began Saturday. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.
Also Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent sent a ship carrying 2,000 tons of food to Palestinians living in Gaza to be delivered via Egypt. An Iranian military plane also landed at Cairo International Airport carrying 24 tons of food and medicine destined for Gaza.The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Masoud Khatami, said three more ships were waiting to be loaded with humanitarian aid, and Iranian hospitals were ready to receive injured Gazans, according to the official Iran news agency, IRNA.On the Web:http://www.rohaniatmobarez.com
US backs Israel but strives for durable Gaza ceasefire by Olivier Knox Olivier Knox –Mon Dec 29, 3:27 pm ET
CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) – Rebuffing Arab appeals, the United States on Monday gave its blessing to Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip but said it was working behind the scenes to forge a durable ceasefire.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was reaching out by telephone to key world leaders and diplomats to find a lasting way to end the violence, which has left at least 345 people dead in Gaza, officials said.
President George W. Bush stayed out of sight on his Texas ranch but discussed the crisis with Jordan's King Abdullah II one day after speaking by telephone with Saudi King Abdullah, the White House said.The president's message to King Abdullah, his overall message, is that we want to see the violence stop, but in a way that leads to a durable and sustainable cessation of violence. We can't have the violence stop now only for it to start up again in the near future, said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
While both kings reportedly pressed Bush to help stop Israeli aggression in Gaza, widely denounced in the Arab world, Johndroe blamed recent Hamas rocket fire for triggering the bloodshed and defended the Israeli retaliation.The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself, he told reporters in Texas. They are taking the steps that they feel are necessary to deal with the terrorist threat.In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire, said Johndroe. That is what the United States is working towards.To that end, Rice spoke to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, EU special envoy Javier Solana as well as her French, British, Canadian, Egyptian, Russian, Saudi, Turkish and Israeli counterparts, said US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid.She had not yet spoken with West Bank based Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, whose forces in the Gaza Strip were ousted by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in June 2007, said Duguid.Johndroe said he was unaware of any attempt by Abbas to reach out to Bush, who has yet to speak publicly on the conflict that erupted after Hamas refused to renew a shaky Egypt-brokered truce when it expired December 19, and fired rockets and mortars at Israeli targets.
Hamas has once again shown its true colors as a terrorist organization that refuses to even recognize Israel's right to exist, said Johndroe, who declined to comment directly on Israeli ground forces massing in a possible prelude to an incursion into Gaza.But he said Israel had made public statements and given private assurances to the United States that they don't want to retake Gaza, that they simply want to protect their people.I can't speak to any potential ground operation, he said. We'll just have to see how this unfolds. Obviously, as I've said we want civilian casualties to be avoided.US president-elect Barack Obama was receiving regular intelligence briefings and has spoken to Rice about the situation, said Johndroe.The spokesman reiterated US worries about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and asked all parties involved to allow food and medical supplies to reach the people there.
Peppered with questions about whether the United States would eventually ask for restraint from its staunch Middle East ally, Johndroe repeated his defense of the Israeli actions as steps to defend their people.Jordan's king urged Bush to help stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza and end the suffering of the Palestinians, a palace statement said, echoing the message from the Saudi monarch as reported by Saudi state news agency SPA.We're obviously very familiar with the Arab position, but I think ultimately they want to see a peaceful end to this that leads to a Palestinian state, said Johndroe.
Brown urges aid breathing space in Gaza Mon Dec 29, 1:34 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders Monday to let urgent medical aid into Gaza, to provide a humanitarian breathing space amid the fighting, his spokesman said.Brown spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, as Israeli air attacks rocked the Palestinian enclave for a third straight day.We are appalled by the continuing violence in Gaza and reiterate our call to Israel and Hamas for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of innocent life, said a spokesman for the British prime minister.In his discussions today with Prime Minister Olmert and president Abbas, the prime minister has also pressed for full, unimpeded and urgent access for medical teams: a humanitarian breathing space.
Britain was in close contact with the United Nations to assess how best this support can reach those who need it, he added.And he said: There is no military solution to this situation. The prime minister and foreign secretary remain in constant touch with international and regional partners to establish the parameters for a sustainable peace.We must redouble the international effort to ensure that both Israel and Palestine have the land, rights and security to live in peace.
UN chief urges end to unacceptable Gaza violence Mon Dec 29, 1:21 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Monday urged Arab and world leaders to do more to immediately end the unacceptable violence in the Gaza Strip as Israel bombed the region for the third day.Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties. A ceasefire must be declared immediately, Ban said.The suffering caused to civilian populations as a result of the large-scale violence and destruction that have taken place over the past few days has saddened me profoundly.At least 345 people have been killed since Israel unleashed its bombing campaign on the Strip on Saturday after increased rocket and mortar fire from Gaza on southern Israel.Ban said he was deeply alarmed by the current escalation of violence in and around Gaza. This is unacceptable.I have been repeatedly condemning the rocket attacks against Israel while recognizing Israel's right to defend itself. I have also condemned the excessive use of force by Israel in Gaza, he said.He said he had been in touch with regional and world leaders to underscore the need to restore calm in full.But he chided them saying: I think regional and international partners have not done enough. They should do more.Arab foreign ministers are going to meet soon in emergency session. I urge them to act swiftly and decisively to bring an early end to this impasse.At the same time, other world leaders must also step up efforts to support a longer term resolution of the issue, Ban said.
Israel has made it clear its military offensive was just beginning and vowed it would destroy every building used by the Hamas militants who control the impoverished and overcrowded sliver of coastal land.With Israeli tanks idling just meters (yards) away from Gaza, the army has declared the area a closed military zone -- a move that in the past has often been followed by ground operations.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has warned of a possible ground attack, declared Israel was in an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies, but stressed everything would be done to spare civilians.Ban said he had been given a guarantee by the Israeli government that humanitarian supplies and personnel would still be allowed into Gaza.The frightening nature of what is happening on the ground, in particular its effects on children -- who are more than half of the population -- troubles me greatly, he said.I have continuously stressed the need for strict observance of international humanitarian law, Ban said, adding he was also saddened by the deaths and injuries caused to UN personnel on the ground.
KEEP UP WITH ARAB/MUSLIM HATE AGAINST ISRAEL WITH PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/
THESE COWARDS HAMAS USE WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS SHIELDS AGAINST ISRAEL,THEN BLAME ISRAEL FOR KILLING CIVILIANS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WAR - ARAB GIRL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLIdxF-GHWw
EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
ISRAEL ONLY KILLED 15 CIVILIANS IN THIS BOMBING,HAMAS COWARDS HIDE BEHIND WOMEN,CHILDREN AS SHIELDS.
RUSSIAS STILL QUIET ABOUT THIS SITUATION LOOKOUT ARABS FOR YOUR DESTRUCTION IF RUSSIA LEADS USE AGAINST ISRAEL ANYTIME SOON.
Protesters worldwide keep up pressure over Gaza violence Updated at: 0800 PST, Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PARIS: Protesters denouncing Israel's deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip returned to the streets Tuesday in demonstrations around the world to keep up the pressure for an end to the violence. As Israel, under increasing diplomatic pressure, mulled a proposed 48-hour truce and the death toll from its onslaught rose to at least 373 Palestinians, the protesters made their voices heard again. In France, more than 7,000 protesters marched in a dozen cities across the country to denounce the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which continued for the fourth day running Tuesday.In Paris, around 3,500 people according to police -- 5,000 according to the organisers -- marched towards the French foreign ministry on the Quai D'Orsay by the River Seine, shouting slogans and carrying banners denouncing Israel. Police said another 700 marched in the western city of Nantes, while demonstrations in at least a dozen cities and towns across the country each attracted hundreds of protesters.
In London, between 200 and 300 demonstrators protested peacefully outside the Israeli embassy, after the two previous days' rallies had descended into violence. This demonstration was smaller than on Sunday and Monday, when scuffles erupted between police and protestors against Israel's air raids, leading to a total of 17 arrests over the two days.Iranian demonstrators stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran Tuesday evening to protest London's stance towards the Israeli onslaught, state news agency reported. A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there, media said. A media officer at the British embassy in Tehran confirmed the report. In Tunis, hundreds of lawyers and trade unionists joined opposition activists to defy a police ban and protest the bombing of Gaza, several sources reported. As some protesters shouted slogans denouncing the lack of response from Arab countries in general and Egypt in particular, police headed off the demonstration as it headed towards the courthouse, said witnesses. Tunisia's government has already condemned the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.Saudi Arabia's interior ministry denied a report by a news website that hundreds had demonstrated Monday afternoon in heavily Shiite Al Qatif, just west of Dammam, leading to several arrests.
Israel weighs 48-hour halt to Gaza air campaign By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,08
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel, under international pressure, is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see if Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel, Israeli officials said Tuesday. Any offer would be coupled with a threat to send in ground troops if the rocket fire continues.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed the proposal — floated by France's foreign minister — and other possible next steps with his foreign and defense ministers, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to make the information public.President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called leaders in the Middle East to press for a durable solution beyond any immediate truce.And members of the Quartet of world powers trying to promote Mideast peace concluded a conference call with an appeal for an immediate cease-fire. The Quartet powers are the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.The European Union itself late Tuesday also urged an immediate truce and for Israel to reopen borders to allow vital supplies to reach Gazans. The Paris statement by the 27-member bloc avoided blaming either side for the current fighting.In its Tuesday night meeting, Israel's leadership trio stepped up preparations for a ground offensive, conducting a telephone survey among Cabinet ministers on a plan to call up an additional 2,500 reserve soldiers, if required. Earlier this week, the Cabinet authorized a callup of 6,700 soldiers.After the four-hour meeting, Olmert's office issued a statement early Wednesday saying no details of the discussion would be made public because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.But Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release information on the meeting, said the leaders wanted Hamas to agree to stop the rocket fire before Israel considers a truce.And even amid talk of a truce, Israeli warplanes continued to unload bombs on targets in Gaza. Powerful airstrikes caused Gaza City's high-rise apartment buildings to sway and showered streets with broken glass and pulverized concrete. Israel's ground forces on Gaza's border also used artillery for the first time.Hamas kept up its rocket barrages, which have killed four Israelis since the weekend, and sent many more in running for bomb shelters — some of them in cities under threat of attack for the first time, as the range of the rockets grows.
A medium-range rocket hit the city of Beersheba for the first time ever, zooming 28 miles deep into Israel and slamming into an empty kindergarten. A second rocket landed in an open area near the desert city, Israel's fifth-largest. The military said later it successfully struck the group that launched those rockets.A pattern of daytime lulls and nighttime spikes in rocket fire appeared to be emerging as militants found safer launch cover in darkness.Four days into a campaign that has killed 374 Palestinians and prompted Arab and international condemnation, a diplomatic push to end the fighting gathered pace.In two phone calls to Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday and Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed to him to consider a truce to allow time for humanitarian relief supplies to enter the beleaguered Gaza Strip, two senior officials in Barak's office said.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was expected to travel Thursday to Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has put his growing international stature to use in other conflict zones, most recently to help halt fighting between Russia and Georgia in August.Israeli media reported that Sarkozy would also travel to Jerusalem Monday for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.A Hamas spokesman said any halt to militant rocket and mortar fire would require an end to Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip. If they halt the aggression and the blockade, then Hamas will study these suggestions,said Mushir Masri.Any cease-fire between Israel and Hamas would face questions about its long-term viability. In the past, Hamas has been unable or unwilling to rein in all the militants, some of which belong to different factions. Israel has angered the Palestinians by continuing to target its leaders and by maintaining a blockade of the Gaza Strip. It's certainly difficult for Hamas because, having witnessed the losses that they have just suffered on large scale, their credibility is on the line and they're not going to easily agree to a cease-fire that goes back to the conditions that prevailed before, after all these losses, said Shibley Telhami, professor of political science at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. So, we're likely to see more bloodshed, and I think that is where we are in a way, events on the ground are going to dictate.Israel's military, meanwhile, pressed on, sending warplanes to strike a Gaza government complex that includes the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and justice. Bombs ripped the tops and sides from buildings that had already been evacuated and left fires blazing in upper floors. It was the largest government target hit so far and involved the largest number of bombs dropped in a single strike — at least 16 in all. The airstrikes have sent the people of densely populated Gaza on a zigzagging desperate search for safer ground — hard to find with no way out of the blockaded territory. I don't know what's safe anymore, said university student Rasha Khaldeh of Gaza City. She fled her home, fearing Israel would target her Hamas neighbors, then had to leave her uncle's house because of nearby shelling. She listens intently for the approach of pilotless Israeli drones.
After nightfall, Israel destroyed 40 tunnels under the sealed Gaza-Egypt border in another attempt to cut the vital lifeline that supplies Gaza with both commercial goods and weapons for Hamas and other militant groups. Israel kept up the attack on the tunnels early Wednesday, as other aircraft hit Hamas positions in Gaza City.
Israel's military said it hit 31 targets on Tuesday, including a Cabinet building, rocket-launching sites, and places were missiles were being built. Some of the hits on sites with weapons stockpiles triggered secondary explosions. The question still hanging over the Israeli operation is how it can halt rocket fire. Israel has never found a military solution to the barrage of missiles. The Iron Dome, a system to guard against short-range missiles, will take years to build. Beyond delivering Hamas a deep blow and protecting border communities, the assault's broader objectives remained cloudy. Israeli President Shimon Peres acknowledged the challenge, saying the operation was unavoidable but more difficult than many people anticipated. War against terrorists is harder in some aspects than fighting armies, Peres said. Hamas also said it would take more to cripple it. A spokesman for Hamas' military wing, Abu Obeida, said the group remained strong, and he vowed to fight on as long as Israel continues its airstrikes. He noted that even while under heavy airstrikes, militants had fired rockets that reached Israeli towns farther from Gaza than ever. Rockets will be on your daily agenda, he said in a message to Israelis.
And if there's a ground invasion, he promised worse: If you enter Gaza, the children will collect your flesh and the remains of your tanks which will be spread out through the streets.The offensive came shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. Emad Falluji, a former Hamas leader working at a Gaza-based think tank, said he believes Hamas had wanted to renew the truce but felt humiliated by Israel's decision to maintain a tight blockade on Gaza. Israel didn't want to give Hamas anything in return for the cease-fire, which was effectively free, he said. Egypt, which has been blockading Gaza from its southern end, has come under pressure from the rest of the Arab world to reopen its border with the territory because of the Israeli campaign. Egypt has pried open the border to let in some of Gaza's wounded and to allow some humanitarian supplies into the territory. But it quickly sealed the border when Gazans tried to push through forcefully. In a televised speech Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded to critics, including the leader of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, who have accused him of collaborating with Israel. We tell anybody who seeks political profits on the account of the Palestinian people: The Palestinian blood is not cheap, he said, describing such comments as exploiting the blood of the Palestinians.Mubarak said his country would not throw open the border crossing unless Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — a Hamas rival — regains control of the border post. Mubarak has been rattled by the presence of a neighboring Islamic ministate in Gaza, fearing it would fuel more Islamic dissidence in Egypt. Most of the Palestinians killed since Saturday were members of Hamas security forces but the number included at least 64 civilians, according to U.N. figures. Among those killed were two sisters, Haya and Lama Hamdan, ages 4 and 12, who died in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Throughout the offensive, Israel's military has released video taken by hovering drone aircraft showing its missiles and bombs hurtling into Gaza targets, including one on Tuesday that sent about a half-dozen bombs simultaneously into a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border. During brief lulls between airstrikes, Gazans tentatively ventured into the streets to buy goods and collect belongings from homes they had abandoned after Israel's aerial onslaught began Saturday. The campaign has brought a new reality to southern Israel, too, where one-tenth of the country's population of 7 million has suddenly found itself within rocket range.
It's very scary, said Yaacov Pardida, a 55-year-old resident of Ashdod, southern Israel's largest city, which was hit Monday. I never imagined that this could happen, that they could reach us here.Barzak reported from Gaza City, Keyser from Jerusalem.
Israel posts video of Gaza air strikes on YouTube DEC 30,08
WASHINGTON, (AFP) – The Israeli military has launched its own channel on video-sharing website YouTube, posting footage of air strikes and other attacks on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.The spokesman's office of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it created the channel -- youtube.com/user/idfnadesk -- on Monday to help us bring our message to the world.The channel currently has more than 2,600 subscribers and hosts 10 videos, some of which have been viewed more than 26,000 times.The black-and-white videos include aerial footage of Israeli Air Force attacks on what are described as rocket launching sites, weapons storage facilities, a Hamas government complex and smuggling tunnels.One video shows what is described as a Hamas patrol boat being destroyed by a rocket fired from an Israeli naval vessel.
The IDF spokesman's office said that some of the videos it had posted to the channel had been removed by YouTube but were later reinstated.We were saddened earlier today that YouTube took down some of our exclusive footage showing the IDF's operational success in operation Cast Lead against Hamas extremists in the Gaza Strip, the IDF spokesman's office said.Fortunately, due to blogger and viewer support, YouTube has returned some of the footage they removed, it added.YouTube, as a matter of policy, does not comment on individual videos.Four days of intensive Israeli bombardment have killed several senior Hamas officials and reduced much of the Islamist movement's infrastructure in Gaza to rubble, but have failed to stop rocket fire into Israel.Since the massive aerial attack was unleashed on Saturday, at least 373 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed and 1,720 wounded, according to Gaza medics.Palestinian militants have also fired more than 250 rockets and mortar shells, killing four people inside Israel and wounding around two dozen more.
Hundreds in Mich., NYC protest strikes on Gaza By BEN LEUBSDORF, Associated Press Writer DEC 30,08
DEARBORN, Mich. – Close to 1,000 Arab-Americans and others marched through the Detroit suburb of Dearborn on Tuesday evening, waving Palestinian flags and shouting slogans to protest Israeli military strikes against the Gaza Strip.Protesters braving 30-degree weather filled eight blocks of a major thoroughfare in Dearborn, widely seen as the heart of Arab America. Hundreds more gathered in New York City and Los Angeles outside the Israeli consulate, with rallies also reported in two cities in Florida.Since Saturday, 374 Palestinians have died in the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers. Most of the dead were members of Hamas security forces but the United Nations says at least 64 civilians have been killed.The offensive came shortly after a rocky six-month truce expired. Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets and mortars at Israel before and during the Israeli offensive.Marchers in Dearborn waved flags and carried signs condemning Israel and showing pictures of casualties of the fighting. One group of protesters carried a mock coffin decorated with pictures of dead and injured children and labeled U.S. Tax Dollars at Work and Victims of Zionism.Some marchers chanted in English, Gaza, Gaza don't cry, Palestine will never die and Israel is a terrorist state.Others chanted, in Arabic, God is Great and a martyr is beloved of God.One protester carried a sign saying Dearborn, take your shoes off! a reference to the action of an Iraqi protester who threw shoes at President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Iraq.Southeastern Michigan is home to around 300,000 people with roots in the Arab world, the result of more than a century of immigration.About 50 people gathered Tuesday on the University of Michigan-Flint campus to protest the Israeli attacks, The Flint Journal reported.The Tampa Tribune reported that University of South Florida sophomore Jehad Saleh, 19, started a group on social networking site Facebook on Sunday, encouraging Palestinian supporters to gather for the protest.
Demonstrators lined a Tampa highway Tuesday, waving Palestinian and American flags and yelling through megaphones.I've had cousins in the Gaza Strip who died, Saleh told the newspaper. If their voice can't be heard, mine will.Further south in Fort Lauderdale, at least 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters lobbed charges at each other Tuesday evening at an intersection, according to the Miami Herald.Palestinian supporters yelled: You kill our children!
No! You kill your own children! Israel supporters responded.Outside the Israeli consulates in Manhattan and Los Angeles, protesters Tuesday waved Palestinian flags and chanted Free Palestine.New York demonstrator Dalia Mahmoud said she was shocked at Israel's actions and that it was punishing an entire population for the actions of a few.Police barricades separated the protesters from a smaller pro-Israel rally across the street, where one demonstrator carried a sign reading Israel must defend itself.A few miles south at City Hall, Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, displaying for reporters an exploded rocket that killed an Israeli woman out for a walk. We are obligated to defend our people, and that is what we are doing, Shariv said. Bloomberg voiced his support. I can only think what would happen in this country if somebody was lobbing missiles onto our shores or across the border, he said. On Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, one pro-Israel sign read, Hamas, stop using children as human shields. A Palestinian supporter's sign declared, End the siege, end the bloodshed.The Dearborn protest was organized by the Congress of Arab American Organizations. Group spokesman Osama Siblani, who is also publisher of the Arab American News, said it was the first in a series of actions being planned in response to the Gaza fighting, including a candlelight vigil for peace and a petition calling for a cease-fire. There is disappointment and anger in our community and we need to express it toward the current U.S. administration that has given a blank check to the Israelis, Siblani said. A memorial service for victims of the fighting scheduled for Tuesday was delayed because the reception hall could not fit all the protesters.
Iranians raid British diplomatic compound in Gaza protest DEC 30,08
TEHRAN (AFP) – A group of Iranian demonstrators stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran to protest London's stance towards the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, state news agency IRNA reported.A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there, IRNA said Tuesday.A media officer at the British embassy in Tehran confirmed the report adding that diplomatic police had driven the demonstrators out.We do confirm the raid on our premises. We are in contact with Islamic republic authorities to resolve the matter, Mitra Behnam told AFP.Gholhak gardens, a sprawling compound in north Tehran, provides accommodation for British diplomats and their families.
Britain has called for an urgent ceasefire by both sides in Gaza , where Israeli warplanes have launched waves of airstrikes against the Islamist Hamas movement since Saturday, killing at least 368 Palestinians, and Hamas militants have been firing volleys of rockets into Israel.Several kilometres (miles) from the British embassy complex in central Tehran, the Gholhak gardens complex also houses the British Council and a school.Islamist students have frequently protested in front of the British embassy, throwing stones and petrol bombs at the building.In Tuesday's protest, demonstrators torched British, US and Israeli flags in front the Gholhak compound before moving towards the Egyptian interest section where they staged another protest and chanted Death to (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak, the Fars news agency said.Egypt has come in for strong criticism from Hamas and their sympathisers around the Muslim world for not fully opening its border with Gaza in the face of Israel's devastating four-day-old air blitz.Fresh protests against the Israeli offensive were Tuesday held across Iran, which is a staunch supporter of the Islamist movement and does not recognise its archfoe Israel.Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decreed on Sunday that anyone who died in the defence of Gaza would be deemed a martyr.
Bush calls Abbas to discuss Gaza By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 6:29 pm ET
CRAWFORD, Texas – President George W. Bush and his top advisers conducted an urgent round of telephone diplomacy Tuesday to help end the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, but insisted that if any new cease-fire is to work, it must be honored by the Islamic militant group.We want to see an end to the violence for the long term, not just the immediate, White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe said, briefing reporters in Crawford, where Bush is staying at his ranch. We don't want a cease-fire agreement that isn't worth the piece of paper it's written on. We want something that's lasting, and most importantly, respected by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.Under international pressure, Israel is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see whether the Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel. The United Nations said that during a teleconference Tuesday, the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia appealed for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected, and called for the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza to be addressed.Since Saturday, more than 350 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers. The offensive came shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. The U.S. blames Hamas for breaking the truce. It says Israel has a right to defend its citizens from the attacks, yet the Arab world has been enraged by the four days of bombings by Israeli warplanes.Despite the bombings, Hamas has kept up its barrage of rockets, which have killed at least four Israelis since the weekend. Many more Israelis have been sent running for bomb shelters — some of them in cities under threat of attack for the first time because the range of Hamas' rockets has grown.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that regional and international partners had not done enough to help end the Israeli-Hamas conflict. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called Ban's criticism unfair, saying the United States has been very active diplomatically.
From the ranch, where he was clearing brush and relaxing with first lady Laura Bush, Bush had a briefing via a secured video conference with top advisers. He later called moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who help govern the West Bank, but not Gaza. They are rivals of Hamas, a group the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, which in June 2007 seized control of Gaza, a crowded, coastal territory that is home to 1.5 million people.Bush and Abbas agreed that if any new cease-fire agreement is to be effective in the Mideast, it must be respected by Hamas, Johndroe said.He said that Fayyed thanked the United States for an $85 million contribution that it made this week to a special United Nations fund to assist Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank. The president is concerned about the citizens of Gaza, but not the Hamas terrorist leaders who are doing this to the people of Gaza, Johndroe said.Bush also called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to thank him for his peacemaking role there. Bush talked on the phone Monday with Jordan's King Abdullah II and took a call on Saturday from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Bush last talked to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the crisis began.These other governments in the region, such as Egypt, the officials in the Palestinian Authority, Jordanians, others who are in touch with the various Hamas factions, will make it clear that this is in no one's interests — certainly not the Palestinian people, certainly not the people of Gaza, and definitely not the people of the entire Middle East region, Johndroe said. All those governments, as they have been in the past, are committed to assisting with the current situation.
The State Department said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was keeping up steady U.S. calls for a durable and sustainable — but not necessarily immediate — cease-fire to end Israel's assault on Gaza and rocket attacks by Palestinian militants based there. In phone calls with Israeli and Arab leaders, including the Jordanian king as well as other interested regional and international officials, Rice pressed for a durable solution to the fighting that is not used by Hamas to launch more rockets into Israel, spokesman Gordon Duguid said.Rice called King Abdullah on Tuesday. On Monday, she spoke to Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as well as the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Ibrahim Barzak and Jason Keyser in Gaza City, contributed to this report.
US, UN, EU and Russia urge immediate Gaza truce By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 5:49 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Key world powers trying to promote Mideast peace urged Israel and Hamas on Tuesday to immediately stop fighting in Gaza and southern Israel, the United Nations announced as international efforts to calm the conflict picked up pace.The Quartet of Mideast peacemakers — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — appealed for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.The statement came four days after Israeli warplanes started bombing in Gaza, targeting Hamas-related installations and homes in an attempt to force a halt to militant rocket attacks on towns in southern Israel.The Quartet also called on all parties to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to take necessary measures to ensure the continuous provision of humanitarian supplies, Okabe said.They agreed on the urgent need for Israelis and Palestinians to continue on the road to peace, she said.U.N. officials said Quartet members were following up individually with Israel and the other parties.Robert Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, canceled a video news conference from Jerusalem with reporters at U.N. headquarters to pursue the issue. French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday.Israeli officials said earlier Tuesday that Israel was considering a 48-hour suspension of its punishing air campaign to see if Palestinian militants would stop rocket attacks.Okabe said the Quartet's appeal was agreed on during a teleconference involving U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the EU presidency, and the group's Mideast envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Earlier Tuesday in Paris, Kouchner, who spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said an immediate cease-fire was needed to allow aid and medical help into Gaza and to evacuate wounded.What do we want? We want, and there are no differences, a cease-fire, that it be permanent, that it be respected, Kouchner said on TF1 television.Hours later, EU foreign ministers holding an emergency meeting in Paris to discuss the Gaza crisis endorsed a call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire. Food, medical aid and fuel also should be allowed into Gaza, their statement said.The 27-member bloc said the peace process must be stepped up. There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Gaza or elsewhere, it said, in the statement's sole allusion to the Israeli offensive.The carefully worded statement also did not level any blame for the conflict, referring instead to tragic events in Israel and Gaza.Ban had complained to reporters Monday that regional and international partners were not doing enough to help end the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
They should do more, he said. They should use all possible means to end the violence and encourage political dialogue, emphasizing peaceful ways of resolving differences.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to the U.N., called Ban's criticism unfair. He said the United States had been very active diplomatically. Rice, for one, had been on the phone with the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Europeans, the Russians and others, he said.Everyone is of the view that two things are important — an end to violence, a cease-fire, an enduring cease-fire, and two ... the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians in Gaza, Khalilzad told The Associated Press.
Khalilzad stressed that a cease-fire must deal not only with what we're seeing now, of course, but also what has caused it, which from our point of view is the sequencing — it is the rockets, it's the smuggling of arms by Hamas and the other (Palestinian militant) groups.Rice has called for a durable and sustainable cease-fire, with stronger provisions than the rocky six-month truce between Hamas and Israel that expired earlier this month after Hamas refused to extend it. Critics of Israel's bombing campaign called it a disproportionate reaction to Hamas' rocket attacks and feared Israel would transform the aerial assault into a ground offensive like its 2006 war with the Iranian-backed militants of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The concerns were highlighted by Ban's complaint about the slowness of major nations to push for a halt to the fighting. Rosemary Hollis, a Middle East expert at the City University of London, said the slow response from the West might be based on the hope that the Israelis would be able to deal a critical blow to Hamas before a cease-fire was put in place. There is a perception that what they have called the bad guys — Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas — are getting stronger, so leave it to the Israelis to blunt their hubris and show that victory is not theirs, Hollis said.
Francois Heisbourg of the French government-backed Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said such views put Western governments in a difficult position. It's a very tricky one ..., he said. Condemning an operation against a terrorist organization has some complications.Germany, for one, firmly pinned the blame for the conflict on Hamas, which seized power in Gaza and rules in defiance of the moderate Palestinian Authority, headquartered in the West Bank. Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.
Anxiety, satisfaction in Israel over Gaza assault By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 4:21 pm ET
SDEROT, Israel – This working-class border town has been pounded with several thousand missiles fired out of Gaza since 2001. Now anxiety is mixed with satisfaction that Israel's military is finally getting even with its tormentors.It's about time, said Victor Turjeman, a 33-year-old electrician. We've been waiting for this for eight years.In that time, rockets have killed eight people here, injured hundreds more and made daily life unbearable.Turjeman said his four children have been traumatized by the near daily attacks, his home has been damaged and his brother had a heart attack after a rocket exploded nearby. He fears escalation, but said he was pleased that the militant group Hamas was finally being punished.We should keep pounding them until they beg for mercy, he said. As far as I'm concerned, all of Gaza can be erased.Israeli warplanes have struck furiously at Hamas positions in Gaza since Saturday, killing about 380 people, according to Palestinian health officials.Elsewhere in southern Israel, however, people were increasingly fearful, and many followed army instructions to begin preparing bomb shelters. Four Israelis were killed by rockets since the Israeli offensive began, some in attacks that struck farther into Israel than ever before.In Beersheba, the largest city in southern Israel, streets and malls were alive with movement, even after the Israeli military extended its rocket warning system to include the city Monday.Ortal Levy, a 30-year-old mother of two, said she had never even entertained the idea that her bustling city could be within rocket range. Now she was preparing her bomb shelter.
Outside the central bus station, Mazal Ivgi, 62, said she couldn't believe their city, 28 miles from Gaza, would be hit.When the first 'boom' comes, we'll have to get used to a new situation, she said.That first attack on Beersheba came Tuesday. One long-range rocket hit it an open area outside the city, and the mayor told Israel television that a second missile struck an empty kindergarten.Unlike the new targets of Gaza's militants, the residents of Sderot are well versed with life under fire. Sderot Mayor David Buskila said his 24,000 citizens were still scared but mostly overjoyed that something was being done to strike at Hamas.We felt abandoned for so long, that our despair was ignored. We felt like we weren't even a part of Israel, he said. Now we feel like the army is actively protecting us.Israel Katz, a social psychologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the reaction in Sderot was a natural one.Fear and rage are often intertwined, he said. These are people who feel vulnerable and all of a sudden they feel empowered. It's the same kind of satisfaction that a child who has been picked on gets when he hits back.In Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people 11 miles north of Gaza, the reality that Sderot has faced for years began to sink in after a missile crashed into a construction site Monday, killing one worker and wounding several others.It was the first rocket death ever in the city. Looking at the damaged site later, Yitzhak Daboosh shook his head in disbelief. The 58-year-old father of two has spent his entire life in Ashkelon, and he said he now fears for his family's safety. These missiles have no address. Only God is watching over us now, he said. We've been through a lot of things here, a lot of wars. But something like this? Never.
Activists urge Obama to rethink US role in Mideast By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 3:53 pm ET
KAILUA, Hawaii – A handful of pro-Palestinian activists protested outside President-elect Barack Obama's vacation home on Tuesday and urged a new approach to the Middle East. Obama did not acknowledge them.Eight activists marched with signs to the edge of the property's security perimeter, telling reporters that they want the incoming administration to take a fresh look at the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories, especially given the current fighting in the Gaza Strip. They also said Obama needs to take a more active role in the conflict, even though he doesn't take office until Jan. 20.We feel there's a great need for change. We need to stop giving Israel a blank check to do what it's doing, said Margaret Brown, a 66-year-old Honolulu resident who held a handmade sign that read Yes we can change U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine.We just gave them a blank check to oppress the Palestinians, and this is the result, she said.Obama's motorcade rolled past the protesters as it headed on a morning trip to Punahou School, his former high school where the president-elect was playing basketball. Aides said he was playing basketball with friends.Israel continued its air attacks on Gaza on Tuesday and warned that a ground invasion could follow if rocket launches didn't stop. The United States has called for the militant group Hamas to stop launching rockets into Israel.Gazans need food, medicine, not war, read one sign carried by an activist to the Obama vacation retreat. Free Palestine, read another. A third: No U.S. support for Israel.Brown said politicians need to speak what they believe, not what is expedient.It's political suicide to challenge Israel in this country, she said.
Obama has declined to inject himself publicly into the situation, although during the campaign he spoke in strong support of Israel's right to defend itself from Palestinian attacks. His aides say he has been in touch with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and has received regular national security briefings.What you don't say says a lot about your priorities, said Pete Shimazaki Doktor, a Honolulu resident who served as a medic during the first Gulf War and now teaches at a public school.Doktor said he studied history after leaving the Army and came to believe the U.S. policy was misguided. He said Obama's top advisers give him pause.His Cabinet has been a message of continuity. There's no change there, said 40-year-old Doktor, who didn't support Obama but liked candidates Reps. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Ron Paul, R-Texas.He said he had concerns about future U.S. military engagement in that region.I realized that as a soldier, said Doktor, wearing a Vets for Peace T-shirt, I had been used.Obama and his family are near the end of a 12-day vacation in his native Hawaii. He has maintained no public schedule, has sought to keep low-key and had his aides guard his privacy. Since arriving on the island of Oahu on Dec. 20, Obama has limited his travel mostly to trips to the gym, golf course and dinner with friends.Obama, wife Michelle and their two young daughters are scheduled to return to Chicago on Thursday.
Egypt rejects calls to open border with war-battered Gaza by Mona Salem Mona Salem – Tue Dec 30, 2:10 pm ET
CAIRO (AFP) – President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday ruled out reopening Egypt's border with war-battered Gaza until representatives of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers are deployed at the crossing point.Mubarak also hit back at critics of Cairo's response to the Israeli offensive, accusing them of playing politics with Palestinian suffering.We in Egypt are not going to contribute to perpetuating the rift (between the Palestinian Authority of Mahmud Abbas and Gaza's Hamas rulers) by opening the Rafah crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers in violation of the 2005 deal, Mubarak said in a televised speech.He was referring to an international agreement which Abbas signed with Israel when it withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.The deal provided for EU observers to monitor the border and operate surveillance cameras to allow Israel to keep an eye on comings and goings.It fell into abeyance when Hamas ousted forces loyal to Abbas from the gaza Strip in June last year.Egypt has come in for strong criticism from the Islamists and their sympathisers around the Muslim world for not fully opening the border in the face of Israel's devastating four-day-old air blitz.
It has allowed a handful of wounded Gazans to leave for treatment and allowed some medical supplies in.But on Sunday Egyptian police fired warning shots in the air to prevent large numbers of civilians fleeing Gaza.Mubarak held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni just two days before the start of the offensive, sparking charges of collusion that have seen Egyptian diplomatic missions attacked in both Beirut and the Yemeni port city of Aden.Mubarak insisted that he was totally opposed to the Israeli operation.We say to Israel that we reject and condemn its assaults which must cease immediately, he said in the speech broadcast on state television.We say to the (Israeli) leaders: you carry the responsibility for your barbarian aggression against the Palestinians, whatever pretext you use as justification. And we say to them: your bloodstained hands provoke feelings of intense anger, Mubarak said.He added: We say to our Palestinian brothers: restore your unity. We warned you several times that any refusal to renew the truce would push Israel to attack Gaza.He was referring to a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas which Egypt brokered and which expired on December 19.Mubarak hit out at Arab politicians such as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who have slammed his government's stance and called on the Egyptian people to take to the streets to change it.We say to those who are trying to make political capital out of the plight of the Palestinian people that Palestinian blood has a price, he said.We say loud and clear that Egypt is above such pettinesses and will not allow anyone to extend their influence over its affairs.Lebanon, meanwhile, has tightened security around the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. The roads leading to the building have been blocked and the area surrounded by cement blocks and barbed wire. A security official told AFP on condition of anonymity the measures were preventative in case of future protests in the area.
Gaza dominates Gulf leaders summit By SAEED EL-NAHDY and TAREK EL-TABLAWY, Associated Press Writers – Tue Dec 30, 11:46 am ET
MUSCAT, Oman – Gulf Arab leaders wrapping up a two-day summit on Tuesday, strongly condemning Israel's attacks on Gaza and endorsing an agreement to set up a long-sought after monetary union that would go into effect before the end of 2009.In a summit ostensibly aimed at discussing a unified monetary pact that would pave the way for a single currency, leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council devoted much of their time to the Israeli air strikes on Hamas-ruled Gaza. The attacks have left more than 360 Palestinians dead and sparked outrage throughout the Middle East.Gulf leaders were determined to exit the meeting with unified stance about the attacks, and their final statement reflected the widespread anger in the region.The statement condemned Israel's unjustified aggression and its inhumane practices against the Palestinians in Gaza and held Israel responsible for the recent escalation.The 22-nation Arab League was expected to hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, and GCC officials looked to unify their stance going into that meeting. But rifts had emerged about the need for a follow-up Arab summit in Qatar on Friday on the presidential level, with some Gulf states supporting it while Arab powerhouse Saudi Arabia arguing that a summit of statements was a futile gesture.
Oman's Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah told reporters the GCC nations are committed to the Arab peace initiative, referring to the Saudi Arabian plan that calls on Israel to return land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war in exchange for normal relations with Arabs.He said council members also urged rival Palestinian factions to end their fighting and agree on a peaceful settlement with Israel that would enable them to create an independent state of their own.The statement also said the monetary pact, which includes a unified monitory council and a central bank, will speed up their economic integration efforts. The monetary union is a crucial step toward their ultimate goal of setting up a single currency by 2010 — a date which many analysts had viewed with skepticism.GCC leaders stressed the need to tackle and overcome barriers to the implementation of their economic integration plan by the end of December 2009, the statement said.Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mostafa al-Shimali, earlier Tuesday, was quoted by the Kuwait News Agency as saying that while an agreement on the monetary union had been reached, with implementation no later than the following December, the unified currency is considered a next stage and has its own timetable.Summit host Oman has repeatedly said it will not join in the unified currency, saying the step was not necessary at this time and required greater planning.GCC leaders also discussed a range of other issues, from Iran's nuclear program to India-Pakistan relations. The meeting was also aimed at helping the countries craft plans for combating the impact of the global financial meltdown.Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, during his opening comments Monday night, called for cooperation between all nations to overcome the impact of the international financial crisis.He also stressed the necessity to balance the needs of oil producers and consumers, saying such cooperation should be based on stable prices that will not burden the consumers, does not harm the producers and (helps them) maintain their economic development.Gulf nations have been hit hard by the roughly 70 percent slide in oil prices from their mid-July highs of $150 per barrel. Many of the countries rely on crude sales for as much as 90 percent of their foreign revenue.El-Tablawy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
Libya orders oil cuts of 270K bpd By TAREK EL-TABLAWY and KHALED EL-DEEB, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,08
TRIPOLI, Libya – Libya has asked oil companies to slash production by 270,000 barrels per day from Jan. 1, the latest such reduction by an OPEC member as the producer group struggles to boost faltering oil prices.The announcement Tuesday by the head of the National Oil company came as the 13-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appears to have stepped up compliance with a series of production cuts over the past three months. The group is trying to halt a nearly 70 percent plunge in crude prices since mid-July highs of nearly $150 per barrel.
Shukri Ghanem, Libya's oil chief, told The Associated Press the country would cut almost 20,000 more than the 252,000 barrel per day reduction it was committed to under the group's quota system. The cuts, effective Jan. 1, would be from September levels.The corporation has asked oil companies (in Libya) to cut output by 270,000 barrels per day, which is more than Libya is required to do under the OPEC-brokered agreement in Oran, Algeria, Ghanem said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.This is a positive step for boosting oil prices, and I believe that all the (OPEC) countries will abide with the agreement, Ghanem said.In its Dec. 17 meeting in Algeria, the group agreed to slash output by a further 2.2 million barrels per day from January 2009, bringing its total cuts since September to 4.2 million barrels per day. OPEC produces over 40 percent of the world's crude.The group has implemented two solid cuts in the last three months. A 1.5 million barrel per day reduction in October failed to halt the slide in crude prices, as did the record reduction in Algeria that was to take effect from Jan. 1. In September, it had implemented so-called paper cuts of 500,000 barrels per day, mainly aimed at ensuring output compliance.
It's been pretty good. I was surprised, said Conrad Gerber, head of the Geneva, Switzerland-based oil tanker-tracker firm Petro-Logistics SA. But I think they're living in desperate times and, for once, they're doing what they intended to do. The 1.5 million cut, plus the 500,000 barrel per day cut agreed to in September, seems to have been achieved.Despite its history of cheating on quotas, analysts say the group appears to be making a sincere bid to curb production as it struggles to engineer a rebound in crude prices.The United Arab Emirates, OPEC's fourth largest producer, was the first to indicate its compliance with production cuts last week.
The Gulf nation's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. told customers in letters dated Dec. 25 that it was cutting its main Murban crude allocation by 15 percent and Upper Zakum crude allowance by 3 percent in January in accordance with the OPEC cutbacks.The letters, also provided to The AP, outlined cuts of 10 to 15 percent of all types of ADNOC crude in February.On Saturday, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said the South American nation would suspend crude production by Italy's Agip and reduce quotas for other companies to comply with new OPEC cuts. Agip produces 28,000 barrels of oil a day from Ecuador's Amazon jungle.It seems that we are being fed each day with another OPEC country sending out a PR piece about how they are enforcing the cuts, observed analyst Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland.The push to comply with the December decision reflects efforts by the group to put a floor under the plummeting prices, and bring them more in line with the $75 per barrel figure that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah indicated would be fair for both consumers and producers.Libya's cut is the latest such effort.Under the October cut, which was to be fully implemented by December, Libya's quota was 1.62 million barrels per day, said Gerber, adding that the group had been working hard to limit their output.According to Gerber's figures — which come from carefully monitoring tanker shipments and do not include oil in storage — OPEC had already cut output by 1.56 million barrels per day by the end of November, and has slashed another 320,000 barrels per day in December.
Many officials at the Vienna-based organization were unavailable for comment because of the New Year holiday. The OPEC 11 — minus Indonesia and Iraq, which are not bound by quotas — are currently producing 27.1 million barrels per day, he said, about 200,000 barrels per day below the target they set in their October meeting in Vienna. Iraq's oil minister, meanwhile, said Monday that the war-ravaged country averaged exports of about 1.85 million barrels per day in December, nearly 90,000 barrels a day more than the previous month. So far, the brunt of the cuts have been borne by OPEC heavy hitters Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. Gerber said that the current level is at least partly linked to the inability of some other members like Venezuela and Nigeria to even meet their allocations. Saudi output was down about 1 million barrels between October and December, he said, and the kingdom — the only OPEC member with significant spare production capacity — was expected to cut another 300,000 barrels per day in December, bringing it down to 8.2 million barrels a day, he said. Gerber said Venezuela's production is closer to 2.3 million barrels per day, well below the 3.1 million barrels the country says it is producing. Similarly, Nigeria was producing about 100,000 barrels per day under its 2.05 million barrel target, he said, noting that this was linked to political instability and rebel attacks in the African country that have repeatedly undercut production efforts.
Venezuela and Iran are known as the price hawks in the group, and are traditionally the least likely to comply with output cuts as they depend heavily on oil revenue. Venezuela also needs high oil prices for its heavier oil projects to be economically feasible, analysts say. Saudi Arabia has really come down heavily, said Gerber. It remains to be seen where they go from there. They've got to be convinced, first, that everybody else is going along. They've seen this before — where they've done the cutting and others have done the cheating.AP Business Writers Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo, Egypt, and Adam Schreck in Dubai, UAE, contributed to this report.
Lavrov, Rice discuss Gaza ceasefire: Russian ministry Tue Dec 30, 8:46 am ET
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Condoleezza Rice both stressed the need for an end to the conflict in Gaza in a phone conversation, Russia's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.The sides called for an immediate stop to violence and a resumption of the state of calm, the ministry said following the phone conversation, which took place on Monday.The two exchanged views on coordinating efforts to facilitate the end of violent confrontation and creating conditions to continue negotiations, the ministry said.The phone conversation came before representatives of the diplomatic Quartet for Middle East peace, comprising the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations were expected to hold a conference call on the crisis in Gaza on Tuesday.
Iranian group recruits volunteers to fight Israel By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer - Mon Dec 29, 4:23 pm ET
TEHRAN, Iran – A group of influential conservative Iranian clerics launched an online registration drive on Monday seeking volunteers to fight against Israel in response to its air assault on the Gaza Strip. About 3,550 people registered Monday with the Combatant Clergy Society's Web site. The weeklong online campaign gives volunteers three options on ways they can fight Israel: military, financial and propaganda.The group, which has considerable political and economic power in Iran, did not provide further details on the program including how it would contact the volunteers or implement the program.The conservative clerics decided to sign up volunteers after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Sunday that said anyone killed while defending Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.Khamenei's religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel.But Iran considers Israel its archenemy, and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state. Iran also is Hamas' main backer, though Tehran denies sending weapons to the Islamic militant group that took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have sparked outrage in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. About 300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded since the air assault began Saturday. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.
Also Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent sent a ship carrying 2,000 tons of food to Palestinians living in Gaza to be delivered via Egypt. An Iranian military plane also landed at Cairo International Airport carrying 24 tons of food and medicine destined for Gaza.The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Masoud Khatami, said three more ships were waiting to be loaded with humanitarian aid, and Iranian hospitals were ready to receive injured Gazans, according to the official Iran news agency, IRNA.On the Web:http://www.rohaniatmobarez.com
US backs Israel but strives for durable Gaza ceasefire by Olivier Knox Olivier Knox –Mon Dec 29, 3:27 pm ET
CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) – Rebuffing Arab appeals, the United States on Monday gave its blessing to Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip but said it was working behind the scenes to forge a durable ceasefire.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was reaching out by telephone to key world leaders and diplomats to find a lasting way to end the violence, which has left at least 345 people dead in Gaza, officials said.
President George W. Bush stayed out of sight on his Texas ranch but discussed the crisis with Jordan's King Abdullah II one day after speaking by telephone with Saudi King Abdullah, the White House said.The president's message to King Abdullah, his overall message, is that we want to see the violence stop, but in a way that leads to a durable and sustainable cessation of violence. We can't have the violence stop now only for it to start up again in the near future, said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
While both kings reportedly pressed Bush to help stop Israeli aggression in Gaza, widely denounced in the Arab world, Johndroe blamed recent Hamas rocket fire for triggering the bloodshed and defended the Israeli retaliation.The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself, he told reporters in Texas. They are taking the steps that they feel are necessary to deal with the terrorist threat.In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire, said Johndroe. That is what the United States is working towards.To that end, Rice spoke to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, EU special envoy Javier Solana as well as her French, British, Canadian, Egyptian, Russian, Saudi, Turkish and Israeli counterparts, said US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid.She had not yet spoken with West Bank based Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, whose forces in the Gaza Strip were ousted by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in June 2007, said Duguid.Johndroe said he was unaware of any attempt by Abbas to reach out to Bush, who has yet to speak publicly on the conflict that erupted after Hamas refused to renew a shaky Egypt-brokered truce when it expired December 19, and fired rockets and mortars at Israeli targets.
Hamas has once again shown its true colors as a terrorist organization that refuses to even recognize Israel's right to exist, said Johndroe, who declined to comment directly on Israeli ground forces massing in a possible prelude to an incursion into Gaza.But he said Israel had made public statements and given private assurances to the United States that they don't want to retake Gaza, that they simply want to protect their people.I can't speak to any potential ground operation, he said. We'll just have to see how this unfolds. Obviously, as I've said we want civilian casualties to be avoided.US president-elect Barack Obama was receiving regular intelligence briefings and has spoken to Rice about the situation, said Johndroe.The spokesman reiterated US worries about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and asked all parties involved to allow food and medical supplies to reach the people there.
Peppered with questions about whether the United States would eventually ask for restraint from its staunch Middle East ally, Johndroe repeated his defense of the Israeli actions as steps to defend their people.Jordan's king urged Bush to help stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza and end the suffering of the Palestinians, a palace statement said, echoing the message from the Saudi monarch as reported by Saudi state news agency SPA.We're obviously very familiar with the Arab position, but I think ultimately they want to see a peaceful end to this that leads to a Palestinian state, said Johndroe.
Brown urges aid breathing space in Gaza Mon Dec 29, 1:34 pm ET
LONDON (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders Monday to let urgent medical aid into Gaza, to provide a humanitarian breathing space amid the fighting, his spokesman said.Brown spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, as Israeli air attacks rocked the Palestinian enclave for a third straight day.We are appalled by the continuing violence in Gaza and reiterate our call to Israel and Hamas for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of innocent life, said a spokesman for the British prime minister.In his discussions today with Prime Minister Olmert and president Abbas, the prime minister has also pressed for full, unimpeded and urgent access for medical teams: a humanitarian breathing space.
Britain was in close contact with the United Nations to assess how best this support can reach those who need it, he added.And he said: There is no military solution to this situation. The prime minister and foreign secretary remain in constant touch with international and regional partners to establish the parameters for a sustainable peace.We must redouble the international effort to ensure that both Israel and Palestine have the land, rights and security to live in peace.
UN chief urges end to unacceptable Gaza violence Mon Dec 29, 1:21 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Monday urged Arab and world leaders to do more to immediately end the unacceptable violence in the Gaza Strip as Israel bombed the region for the third day.Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties. A ceasefire must be declared immediately, Ban said.The suffering caused to civilian populations as a result of the large-scale violence and destruction that have taken place over the past few days has saddened me profoundly.At least 345 people have been killed since Israel unleashed its bombing campaign on the Strip on Saturday after increased rocket and mortar fire from Gaza on southern Israel.Ban said he was deeply alarmed by the current escalation of violence in and around Gaza. This is unacceptable.I have been repeatedly condemning the rocket attacks against Israel while recognizing Israel's right to defend itself. I have also condemned the excessive use of force by Israel in Gaza, he said.He said he had been in touch with regional and world leaders to underscore the need to restore calm in full.But he chided them saying: I think regional and international partners have not done enough. They should do more.Arab foreign ministers are going to meet soon in emergency session. I urge them to act swiftly and decisively to bring an early end to this impasse.At the same time, other world leaders must also step up efforts to support a longer term resolution of the issue, Ban said.
Israel has made it clear its military offensive was just beginning and vowed it would destroy every building used by the Hamas militants who control the impoverished and overcrowded sliver of coastal land.With Israeli tanks idling just meters (yards) away from Gaza, the army has declared the area a closed military zone -- a move that in the past has often been followed by ground operations.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has warned of a possible ground attack, declared Israel was in an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies, but stressed everything would be done to spare civilians.Ban said he had been given a guarantee by the Israeli government that humanitarian supplies and personnel would still be allowed into Gaza.The frightening nature of what is happening on the ground, in particular its effects on children -- who are more than half of the population -- troubles me greatly, he said.I have continuously stressed the need for strict observance of international humanitarian law, Ban said, adding he was also saddened by the deaths and injuries caused to UN personnel on the ground.
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