Israel, the mid-east, and Russia

[Shammu]

Syria won't pressure Hamas to free IDF soldier

Syria will lean on Hamas to find a solution to a crisis sparked by the capture of an Israeli soldier only if Israel stops its attacks on Gaza, Syrian and Palestinian politicians said on Sunday.

The government has told visiting Arab officials that it will not put pressure on Hamas' exiled leadership to help free the soldier as long as Israeli raids on civilian and military targets in Gaza continue, they told Reuters. "The world has turned upside down for one Israeli prisoner of war, but Syria will not move unless the Israelis stop their aggression," said Suleiman Haddad, a member of parliament's Foreign Relations Committee.

Syria won't pressure Hamas to free IDF soldier

[Shammu]

Gaza operation to "intensify"

Sun Jul 2, 1:23 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday he had ordered the army to "intensify" action in the Gaza Strip aimed at forcing Palestinian militants to free a captured soldier.

Olmert was speaking after an Israeli helicopter carried out a pre-dawn attack on the empty office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

"I have given instructions to intensify the strength of action by the army and security services, to hunt down these terrorists, those who send them ... and those who harbor them," Olmert said at a cabinet meeting according to a government statement.

"I have said, and will repeat, nobody will be immune."

Olmert did not elaborate but he also reiterated that Israel would not negotiate with Hamas about freeing Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel in return for Corporal Gilad Shalit.

Israel has kept on hold a threatened push into northern Gaza after troops rolled into the south last Wednesday where they have largely stuck to Gaza's disused international airport.

Aircraft have carried out daily strikes on Palestinian militant and other targets.

Militants from Gaza, including members of the Hamas armed wing, seized Shalit in a cross-border raid last week on an Israeli army post.

Gaza operation to "intensify"

[Shammu]

Yemeni CPS appeals Intel community to put Israeli leaders under trial

     SANA'A July 01(Saba)- The Yemeni Council for Peace and Solidarity (YCPS)demanded the international community to present the Israeli Zionist leadersto the International War Crimes Court due to their crimes against the Palestinian people.

In statement, copy of which obtained by Saba, the YCPS called upon the United Nations and the Security Council to perform its legal and humanitarian duties through protecting the Palestinian people.

The statement appealed the United Nations, the organizations of human rights, the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, nonaligned movement states, all the Arab organizations and leaders of states to stop the aggression being acted by Israeli forces against the Palestinian.

The YCPS expressed worries over the Israeli escalation and massacres that make the situation and peace process in Middle East more complicated.

Yemeni CPS appeals Intel community to put Israeli leaders under trial
=====================================================

Finally another mid-eastern country heard from.

[Shammu]

Syria's Hamas Leaders Deny Role in Israeli Soldier's Abduction

Sunday , July 02, 2006

Hamas' leaders in Syria insist they have nothing to do with the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier and have no influence over his Palestinian captors.

But the leaders have been putting in 20-hour days since the soldier's capture a week ago, and fielding requests for help from several countries trying to win the soldier's release, as Israel has increasingly blamed them for the attack.

They also have changed homes, abandoned the use of their mobile phones and resorted to basic modes of communication — missives carried by trusted messengers — to communicate with each other, because of Israeli threats to target them.

Israel has accused the group's top leader, Khaled Mashaal who is in exile in Damascus, of being the brains behind the June 25 kidnapping and indicated he is a possible target for assassination.

"We take the Israeli threats seriously, and we know the occupation will not pass up the opportunity to get the movement's leadership," Osama Hamdan, Hamas' Lebanon representative, told The Associated Press in Damascus on Sunday.

"We have taken precautions that won't get in the way of our performing our duties," he added.

Since militants close to Hamas claimed 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit's abduction, attention has focused on what role the Damascus-based political leadership of Hamas has played in the kidnapping and its aftermath. What has added to the confusion is that Hamas now controls the Palestinian government.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, has called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to arrest Mashaal and close the militant group's office in the Syrian capital.

Hamas' political leaders have denied any role, saying such attacks are planned on the ground by the group's military wing, and they have no influence or contact with its members.

It's an argument Hamas has used since it began suicide attacks against Israel in the 1990s.

Yet Hamas officials admit several countries have contacted them as part of diplomatic efforts — spearheaded by Egypt — to win the soldier's release.

"We have a role because international parties get in touch with us," said Hamdan. "But we refer those parties to the people on the ground. We have no contact with those holding the prisoner."

A Palestinian official in Lebanon, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the political leadership lays broad guidelines — such as agreeing to a deal to defuse the crisis — but the captors set the details for what the acceptable conditions for a deal are.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Egyptian efforts to diplomatically resolve the crisis are being set back by confusion about who really has the decision-making power on the Palestinian side.

Hamdan rejected that, reflecting the tension among the Palestinian factions.

"Instead of wasting his time talking about who's in charge (of Hamas), Abu Mazen (Abbas) should say he stands by the Palestinian resistance and by the Palestinian people in their fight to free Palestinian prisoners," said Hamdan.

Either way, the crisis has kept Hamas leaders in Syria quite busy, said the Palestinian official in Lebanon, with members of the politburo — whose number Hamas refuses to disclose — barely getting four hours of sleep a day. The official said the members rarely meet together for security reasons.

But, he insisted, morale is high, and Mashaal is taking the Israeli discussion of targeting him with calm and a sense of humor.

Hamdan said the negotiations have not borne any fruit and blamed Israel for not agreeing to a deal set out by the kidnappers in which Shalit would be exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in addition to female and teenage Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Egypt and Jordan have also contacted Syria to use its influence with Hamas to help win Shalit's release. But Syria, according to Arab officials, has said it cannot do so while the Israeli offensive against Gaza continues.

Another top leader of Hamas in Syria, Mohammed Nazal, said Sunday that no deadlines have been set in the talks with the Egyptian mediators, despite Israeli newspaper reports that Egypt had given Hamas a Sunday deadline to resolve the crisis.

In Cairo, an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensivity of the issue, said Egypt would continue its diplomatic efforts. He said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was talking to Assad, soliciting his support to persuade Hamas leaders to release the soldier, while Egypt's chief of intelligence was talking with Mashaal directly.

Egypt has proposed that the Israeli soldier be freed immediately and that in return, Israel release unspecified prisoners in the near future.

But Hamdan said the militants want more than just promises.

"The Palestinians have for years gotten guarantees that prisoners would be released but nothing would happen," he said. "That's why the resistance fighters are more determined than ever not to stop only at promises that will not be kept. They want something on the ground."

Syria's Hamas Leaders Deny Role in Israeli Soldier's Abduction

[Shammu]

 Hamas threatens attacks in Israel
The military wing of the governing Palestinian party, Hamas, has said it will attack targets inside Israel if Israel does not end its Gaza offensive.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered his military to intensify its action there.

Israel launched its assault on Tuesday night, to try to free a 19-year-old soldier captured a week ago.

Israel has targeted Palestinian government buildings, bridges, a school, a university and a power plant.

"I have given instructions to intensify the strength of action by the army and security services, to hunt down these terrorists, those who send them... and those who harbour them," Mr Olmert was quoted by Reuters news agency as telling his cabinet.

But if the soldier is released "the military activity that began with the kidnapping will stop", an unnamed Israeli official quoted Mr Olmert as saying, the Associated Press news agency reported.

On Sunday night, three Palestinian gunmen were shot dead by Israeli troops stationed near Dahaniya airport in south-east Gaza.

Earlier, a Hamas militant was killed in an Israeli missile strike in northern Gaza. The latest deaths bring to five the number of militants killed since Israel began its offensive.

Israel warned

Continuing its assault on Sunday, Israeli missiles struck the Gaza City office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, setting it ablaze.

Palestinian officials said other targets included a school in Gaza City and Hamas facilities in northern Gaza.

In a statement, Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, threatened like-for-like attacks in Israel.

If [Israel] continue with these attacks [on Gaza] we will strike similar targets in the Zionist Occupation which we have not targeted until now," it said.

In the past, Hamas suicide bombers have struck many times in Israeli cities, the last time in Beersheba in August 2004, when 16 people died.

The last suicide bombing in Israel, which killed 11 people in Tel Aviv in April this year, was claimed by the smaller Islamic Jihad group.

The BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says the threat to resume attacks might turn out to be no more than rhetoric, but it will be taken as another sign of a hardening of the mood as the crisis surrounding the captured soldier escalates.

Cpl Gilad Shalit, a tank gunner, was captured in a cross-border attack claimed by three Palestinian militant groups last Sunday.

'Symbolic' target

In an act of defiance, Mr Haniya held a cabinet meeting in the remains of his office, hours after it was damaged by two missiles.

 The prime minister urged the "international community and the Arab League to take its responsibilities towards our people and intervene" to end what he called Israel's "insane policy", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Mr Haniya's office was attacked as a warning to the Hamas leadership.

"It was a symbolic move because it was done at night and the office was vacant and no-one was hurt," he told the BBC.

"I think we wanted to send a message. [Ismail Haniya] is one of the leaders of Hamas, and we believe that he is responsible for what his organisation does and that when he says he knows nothing about this, I'm afraid we think it's being disingenuous."

On Sunday, Israel temporarily re-opened its main Karni cargo crossing into Gaza, allowing food, fuel and medical supplies to be sent in.

Israeli troops remain entrenched in south-east Gaza, where they entered on Wednesday in the first such offensive there since Israel pulled its troops and settlers out last September.

Israel has built up a large force on the border of the northern Gaza Strip but has yet to order its advance.

Hamas threatens attacks in Israel
==============================

Really seems all out war is inevitable.  But remember Matthew 24:6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

[Shammu]

Israel's Gaza balancing act
Israel weighs pressuring Hamas leaders against sparking a humanitarian crisis.
By Ilene R. Prusher | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
JERUSALEM – A top United Nations official in Gaza said Sunday that he expects the threat of a humanitarian crisis to subside as Israel allows essential supplies into Gaza - at least for the next four days - while continuing its military offensive to gain the release of a kidnapped soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

"People, including me, are very nervous about what will happen if they don't get the soldier back - or even if they get him back - what else they might do to punish the Palestinian people," says Chris Nordahl, the deputy director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Israel says it does not aim to punish the Palestinians as a whole, according to an army spokesman, but to turn up the heat on militants and the Hamas-led government.

The result is an Israeli army juggling act: It wants to make life intolerable enough for someone in the Palestinian leadership to yield, but not so intolerable that international censure will come down on Israel for sparking a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

"We are interested in putting pressure in various ways on terrorists groups which are responsible directly and indirectly for the abduction, and in so doing, to bring about the release of the soldier," says Capt. Jacob Dallal. "We expect the soldier back, and we won't stop until he's returned. We need to send that message and yet try to prevent civilians from being harmed - it's a difficult balance."

Palestinians and foreign observers say the attacks and the cutoff in supplies amount to collective punishment. The UN estimates that as many as 25,000 Palestinians could be displaced from northern Gaza if Israel were to undertake a full-scale offensive.

But Captain Dallal argues that Israel's strikes are aimed at crippling a very specific infrastructure.

"Part of the idea is to ... impair their ability to move the soldier and to impair their ability to shoot Kassam rockets into our territory," he says. "Our strategy is to do things that pressure these terror groups and the Hamas hierarchy, which is essential. We have to back up our words with some action. Unfortunately, the civilian population also ends up being involved. But we're quite happy to say that seven days into this operation, and it is quite an intense one, not one civilian has been killed or seriously injured."

Following Shalit's kidnapping from inside Israel just over a week ago, Israel began a military campaign Wednesday dubbed Operation Summer Rains - almost a tease of a term, since the long months of summer and fall are parched here. One of the army's first strikes was knocking out a power station; the loss has wiped out about 65 percent of Gaza's power, according to the UN. Many neighborhoods are now getting only six to eight hours of power a day. Those who can have been operating on generators, which are dependent on fuel. But most fuel comes in from Israel through the Nahal Oz Crossing.

Israel turned off the tap after the kidnapping, but Sunday decided to let fuel in again: The army said it allowed in half a million liters of diesel fuel, 40,000 liters of benzene, and 150 tons of cooking gas.

The biggest danger of the fuel and electricity shortages, the UN says, is the possibility of worsening water quality if waste treatment plants do not have enough power.

"What is affected is the water supply, because the water pumps work on electricity," says Mr. Nordahl. "The water supply has been very much reduced. Most of the pumps have backup generators, but we didn't have fuel to power them. Until Sunday, everyone, including myself, thought we were heading towards a humanitarian crisis, but that crisis has been averted."

While Karni, the commercial crossing with Israel, has been shut since last week, the Gaza-Egypt border has also been closed since the kidnapping.

"Food, medicines, and other humanitarian supplies are starting to come through Karni, and we hope it will continue," Nordahl says.

Early Sunday, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into the unoccupied office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, ripping a gaping hole through the building. Also Sunday, in another attack, Israeli aircraft struck a school in Gaza City and Hamas facilities in northern Gaza, where a Hamas-affiliated militant was killed.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been trying to play intermediary between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA), decried the attack on Mr. Haniyeh's office as "criminal," and said that it could encumber efforts to free the kidnapped soldier.

Israel's Interior Minister, Roni Bar-On, said the Palestinians "must learn that they have to return the soldier and stop the Kassam rocket attacks." At least one more Kassam - improvised rockets which tend to have poor aim - landed next to an Israeli town in the Negev Desert Sunday.

The electricity and fuel shortages have had a palpable impact on many small business throughout Gaza. Farmers dependent on fuel-run irrigation systems, for example, are concerned about seeing their crops go dry.

"My irrigation system depends on a diesel engine, and I only have enough fuel for one more day," says Hashem Ghadin, who grows cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers on a patch of land in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.

"If I don't get the fuel I need, I'll have to turn the system off and go home, and the whole harvest will die," he says. "It will mean losing $8,000 that I should make this year, and everything that I paid to start my business."

"We could survive with the Israeli shelling of our land," says the father of five, "but we cannot convince the harvest to grow without water."

The situation is similar at the Al-Khouli Bakery in the Rimal neighborhood. Despite being one of Gaza's more affluent addresses, it is getting only about six hours a day, making it tough for baker Adel al-Khouli to put out his usual batch of bread.

"I have a generator to keep us in business," he says, "but without fuel and electricity, we cannot make it work, and we won't be able to make enough bread."

[Shammu]

Palestinian PM's plea
July 03, 2006

PALESTINIAN Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has pleaded for the world to help stop the slide towards war in the Holy Land as the deadline expired for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israel tightened its grip on Gaza yesterday, pounding the northern strip with artillery shells and destroying Mr Haniyeh's city offices in an early-morning bombing raid ahead of a full-scale invasion of the Palestinian territory that a cabinet meeting was expected to authorise last night.

Before the meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continued his uncompromising stance in the face of Palestinian and Egyptian attempts to broker a peace deal, which included the release of prisoners in return for Corporal Shalit's freedom.

Arab media last night reported that the deal involved the release of prisoners who had served more than 20 years in Israeli jails.

"We have no intention of capitulating to any kind of extortion," Mr Olmert said.

"Capitulation means inviting the next act of terror.

"I instructed the Israel Defence Forces and the security establishment to hurt anyone who bears responsibility for acts of terror.

"No one will get away. Gilad is being held by a bloodthirsty gang, which is also hurting the Palestinian population."

Earlier, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had demanded the Hamas-led Government of Mr Haniyeh respond to a deadline he had set for midday, Gaza time, to free Corporal Shalit in return for Israeli promises to release prisoners at a later point.

Mr Haniyeh, a marked man since an Israeli death threat against him last Friday, privately urged Hamas militants to hand over the captive they have held since seizing him during a daring tunnel incursion into Israel on June 25.

He described the destruction of his office as "a policy of jungle arrogance" and later released a statement, after consulting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which urged the world to stop the Israeli offensive.

"The international community must shoulder its responsibility," he said.

Israel is holding Mr Haniyeh responsible for the kidnapping as elected head of the Palestinian people. But security officials in the Palestinian Authority insist he had no knowledge of the operation and are instead pointing to the Damascus-based head of the Hamas politburo, Khalid Meshaal, as a likely instigator.

Mr Haniyeh claims the Israeli offensive was a premeditated plan to bring down his Government.

The arrest of up to 32 Hamas legislators, including eight cabinet ministers, in the West Bank last week removed what little authority he retained after a five-month blockade. The office of the Gaza-based Interior Minister was also destroyed in an Israeli air raid last week.

Israeli analysts have speculated the Hamas MPs could be used as a bargaining chip to free Corporal Shalit, who Palestinian officials say was visited by a doctor last week and is in good health.

Mr Abbas, who has been prevented from leaving Gaza, has blamed factional fighting for the delay in Corporal Shalit's release, saying he remained hopeful of a diplomatic outcome.

The trucks slowly entered the restive strip under an arc of renewed shell fire into the north, which was pounded for the sixth consecutive day by artillery.
Jerusalem officials also authorised Israeli power companies to increase the supply of electricity into Gaza after jet fighters bombed the main transformers on Tuesday night, cutting power to almost 70 per cent of the strip.

Condemnation of the Israeli operation, dubbed "Summer Rains", mounted in Muslim nations, with pro-Palestinian rallies in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, as well as Jordan, Morocco and Algeria.

Both the UN and US have said Israel has a right to defend itself, but have urged Mr Olmert to prevent the conflict from descending into outright war.

Canberra has strongly backed the Israeli operation and condemned the killing by West Bank militants last week of a second kidnap victim, Eliyahu Asheri, the son of an Australian-born convert to Judaism.

Up to 200 tanks have taken positions in northern and eastern Gaza, while several columns more remain confined to the abandoned airport in the south of the strip.

Palestinian PM's plea

[Shammu]

Palestinians fire at bus near Hebron; no injured

 
Police received a report from a bus driver that Palestinian gunmen opened fire on his bus near Bet Hagai in the Hebron area.

No one was injured in the attack but police and army forces are on their way to the scene.

Palestinians fire at bus near Hebron; no injured

[Shammu]

Olmert instructs IDF: no one sleeps in Gaza

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a cabinet meeting, Sunday morning, "We are deploying in order to provide a comprehensive response to Qassam attacks. They are an unacceptable occurrence that harm and paralyze the lives of civilians in southern Israel."

 
According to Olmert, "I instructed the IDF that I don't want anyone to sleep tonight in Gaza."

Olmert instructs IDF: no one sleeps in Gaza
===========================================

Olmert is getting smarter, that no one sleeps in Gaza.

[Shammu]

Mass Demonstration in Damascus in Solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza

Sunday, July 02, 2006 - 09:55 PM
      

DAMASCUS , (SANA)- A huge mass demonstration was staged in Yarmouk camp, Damascus on Sunday evening protesting Israeli hostile  and terrorist practices against the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories.

The protestors chanted slogans condemning the barbarian Zionist aggression which destroyed humans, trees and stones in the Gaza and other Palestinian cities.

The demonstrators also carried banners hailing the Syrian solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, demanding the international community to put an end to Israel's dangerous violations against the Palestinian people without any consideration of the international legitimacy or minimum human rights.

Mass Demonstration in Damascus in Solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza

[Shammu]

Sit-in staged in solidarity with Palestinians

The Palestinian groups and the Lebanese national organizations and commissions staged yesterday a sit-in to stress their support for the Palestinian peopleصs struggle and to denounce Israelصs savage aggression against the occupied Palestinian lands.

SyriaTimes ‏‏

2-7-2006 ‏

summary: The Palestinian groups and the Lebanese national organizations and commissions staged yesterday a sit-in to stress their support for the Palestinian peopleصs struggle and to denounce Israelصs savage aggression against the occupied Palestinian lands. ‏

The participants condemned the international licence towards Israelصs massacres against the Palestinians. ‏

They stressed adherence to resistance and its weapons as a strategic choice to defend the holy shrines. ‏

The participants called for launching a solidarity campaign with the Palestinian people and their struggle. ‏

زPressures should be put on Israel to force it to release the Palestinian detainees,س the speakers said. ‏

The speeches appealed to all forces which reject the US-Israeli hegemony to boost the Arab steadfastness forces in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Sit-in staged in solidarity with Palestinians
========================================

I love how these countries blame the USA.

[Shammu]

Israeli violation of Syrian airspace condemned, UN called upon to shoulder responsibility

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has condemned the Israeli war planesص violation of the Syrian air space and the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people.

SyriaTimes ‏
2-7-2006 ‏

summary: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has condemned the Israeli war planesص violation of the Syrian air space and the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people. ‏

President Chavez demanded Israel on Friday evening to respect the sovereignty of countries of the region and the Palestinian peopleصs rights and to work for realizing a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. ‏

He expressed the Venezuelan peopleصs total rejection of the Israeli acts of aggression on the Palestinian territories, and the solidarity of the Venezuelan government and people with the Palestinian people. ‏

زIsrael exploits the US support to it in order to violate UN laws and attack world peace,س he said. ‏

Iranian Foreign Minister for International Affairs Abbas Araqji has strongly condemned the violation of Syrian airspace by Israeli warplanes and called on the UN Security Council members to shoulder their responsibilities to end the Zionist crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza Strip. ‏

The Central News Unit quoted Araqji as saying, in a speech made at the UN Security Councilصs emergency meeting held to discuss the Zionist aggression on Gaza Strip, that US support has resulted in Israel avoiding the international sanctions for its persistent aggression in the occupied territories. ‏

He also lashed out at the US use of their regarding the Palestinian cause as to undermine the Palestinian peopleصs rights. ‏

He denounced the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, the devastation of installations and civil infrastructure and the detention of women, children and Palestinian government officials. ‏

He described these crimes as a flagrant violation of international rights and a threat to the security of the entire region. ‏

He also made clear that Israelصs pretext regarding the attack of the Palestinian territories are null and void and cannot justify its crimes against the Palestinians. ‏

On the other hand, the Arab Labor Organization strongly condemned the Zionist atrocities assassinations and Siege perpetrated against the unarmed Palestinian people. ‏

In a statement issued yesterday, the Organization condemned the policy adapted by Israeli regarding the occupation of Palestinian territories, the intensive air and a sea bombardment against the Palestinian people that resulted in the heinous killing of scores of women and children. ‏

In a statement the Organization called on international, regional and national organizations to exert the efforts required to end the frequent Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people and to lift the unjust siege imposed on them. ‏

The statement also called for condemning the aggressive and terrorist Israeli acts, to force Israel to withdraw from the occupied Arab territories, recognize the Palestinian peopleصs legitimate national rights to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. ‏

Meanwhile, the Tunisian زal-Sarechس daily yesterday condemned the violation of Syrian airspace by Israeli warplanes. ‏

In a commentary, the daily said that the pressure on Syria has not stopped for years because it is a steadfast Arab fortress against US and Israeli schemes in the region. ‏

The daily reaffirmed that the threats and pressure put on Syria will not affect her firm stances regarding the confrontation of the conspiracies plotted against the Arab nation. ‏

On Friday Arab and international circles containued condemning the Israeli violation of Syrian coastal airspace, considering it as an aggression and violation of national sovereignty. ‏

Iranian Foreign Minister Monashaher Muttaki condemned the violation of the sanctity of Syrian airspace and threatening to strike targets inside Syrian territories by aircraft of the Zionist entity. ‏

Iranian Central News Agency quieted Muttaki as saying in a message sent on Friday to the UN Secretary General Kofi Anan that if the aggressions didn`t stop then struggle will spread in the whole region. ‏

IN a decision adopted uninamously. the Venezuelan Legislative Notional Council voiced support to and solidarity with Syrian people, calling on the international legitimacy to put pressure on Israel in order to consider international law, the UN charter and the UN Security Council resolution, and to withdraw from the occupied Arab territories. ‏

Chief of the Arab-French Solidarity Society Losian Peterlan called, in a statement, France, Europe and all international forces to force Israel to stop aggression and to release Palestinian personalities from jails. ‏

The Tunisian Socialist Democratic Movement renewed Support to Syria in the face of Israeli provocation. ‏

In a statement issued on Friday, the Movment stressed that Israeli aircraft flying over Syrian coasts is a violation of the international law. ‏

The Tunisian Popular Unity Party also condemned the Israeli provocation. ‏

Concerning the Palestinian issue, the Movement and the Party expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people to overcome the ordeal they face due to the Israeli aggression, calling on the Palestinian forces to resume dialogue for setting up national unity government that represents all Palestinian people. ‏

Executive Commission of the National Unity Forum in Lebanon denounced the Israeli aircraft violation of Syrian airspace. ‏

Chaired by Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saleem al-Hoss, the Commission meeting on Friday denounced Israeli invasion of Gaza strip and detaining legal representatives of the palestinian people.

Israeli violation of Syrian airspace condemned, UN called upon to shoulder responsibility

[Shammu]

 PM: Palestinian people paying for terror groups' act
By Aluf Benn, Gideon Alon, Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff (in Ramallah), Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rica on Sunday that the key to resolving the kidnapping affair lies in Damascus.

"The directive to carry out operations and the orders to carry out terror attacks all come from there and the Syrian leadership must dismantle the terror groups' headquarters in its territories," Olmert said.

.....Israel "will make use of all means available" to secure the rapid release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Palestinian militants last week in a cross-border raid and now held in Gaza.

Olmert told Rice the Palestinians have not halted Qassam rocket attacks on Israel and the shellings "cause serious suffering to thousands of Israel and this is a situation that cannot continue? Israel will do everything in order to prevent Qassam fire and will continue to foil all terror acts aimed at Israeli citizens."

Olmert also expressed his deep appreciation for efforts made by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to bring about the release of Shalit.

"These regimes are playing with the fate of the Palestinian people who are paying the price of distress, poverty and hopelessness," Peretz said.

Olmert hints at Gaza arrests

Olmert said earlier Sunday that Israel will continue to arrest senior Hamas officials and even hinted that such operations are liable to be carried out not just in the West Bank but also in Gaza.

"I do not promise that the arrests of senior Hamas figures will take place only in Judea and Samaria [West Bank]," Olmert said at the conclusion of a security affairs review during Sunday's cabinet meeting.

"In any case, when there is a factual basis for terror - there will be arrests. This is an accepted legal procedure. We have here the aggressive involvement of elected officials directly causing terrorism," Olmert said.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz told the cabinet Sunday that Hamas activists of all ranks would be questioned, and that those deemed worthy of trial would be tried in military courts in the West Bank.

Mazuz reiterated that the arrests had not been not carried out in the interest of obtaining bargaining chips for Shalit, but rather on the basis of their participation in illegal activity.

None of the detained has immunity, he said.

PM: Palestinian people paying for terror groups' act
=========================================

Well when you elect a terrorist goverment, this is what happens. For weeks, months even, I thought Olmert was a weak kneeded functionary flung into the spotlight by a twist of fate. Now I wonder, could he be stupid like a fox....just sitting back and waiting for the absolute perfect set of circumstances and then jumping in with a bold and unpredictable response?

[Shammu]

They Bomb at Night, We Rebuild and Work During the Day,  Says Palestinian Government Spokesperson Hamad

PNN, (Gaza City) Wisam Afifeh 2 July 06

Mohamad Awad, Secretary to the Prime Mininster, Dr. Ghazi Hamad, the Government Spokesperson, and several government ministers are at work today despite the destruction of their Gaza City offices.

Israeli forces fired missiles at a school, the Prime Minister’s office, and the Council of Ministers’ building, where these men work, throughout the night. Despite the Israeli government’s attempt to shut down the Palestinian government – arrests in the West Bank, assassination threats and building blasts in the Gaza Strip – the government keeps working.

The Prime Minister may be underground due to assassination threats, surfacing only to give a sermon at Friday prayers in Gaza City, but several government officials are keeping their heads noticeable in order to take calls from the press and the public so that the community understands what is happening.

Standing amid the ruins of the Cabinet of Ministers headquarters after last night’s bombings, Dr. Ghazi Hamad says that today is powerful for resisting the occupation because the government will not stop working, no matter what the Israelis do. He said, “They bomb at night, we rebuild and work in the day.”

They Bomb at Night, We Rebuild and Work During the Day

[Shammu]

Hamas' Armed Wing Threatens to Hit Israeli Infrastructure If Israeli Terror Attacks on Palestinian Infrastructure Continue

7/2/2006 8:23:00 AM

Hamas' armed wing threatened Israel to hit its infrastructure

Gaza, July 2, 2006 (RNA) –

Hamas movement's armed wing, Ezzuddeen al-Qassam threatened Sunday it would attack the infrastructure inside Israel if the Israeli army pursued targeting the Palestinian main infrastructure in Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam threat is considered the first of its kind since this group had announced halting any kind of attacks against the Israeli vital constructions.

Abu Obaida, spokesman for Al-Qassam, threatened Israel to attack similar targets to what Israel had been attacking during its continuous military operation on the Gaza Strip for a week.

In this Israeli terrorist military operation, the Israeli missiles destroyed the power station and another missile which targeted at the Islamic University playground.

Moreover, many Palestinian serviceable buildings and schools were damaged due to the repetitive and delusive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

At a press statement, a copy of was sent to RNA, Abu Obaida didn't exclude the idea of not targeting Israeli universities, schools and constructions as a response to the Israeli shelling at the station for electricity generating and to targeting the playground of the Islamic University.

"Under this Zionist war against the Palestinians through targeting the bridges, electricity generators, schools, universities, ministry of interior, and the Palestinian Prime Minister office, we warn Israel of continuing its aggression upon the Palestinians."

Abu Obaida continued his warning by saying "Otherwise, we will attack and hit similar targets which we didn't want to hit before."

Hamas' Armed Wing Threatens to Hit Israeli Infrastructure If Israeli Terror Attacks on Palestinian Infrastructure Continue