Israel, the mid-east, and Russia

[Shammu]

Yeah right .....  Israel is supposed to cease fire while their opponents keep on firing.

Speaking of which........................................

Palestinian rockets attack 25 miles from Tel Aviv
Israel reluctant to release information highlighting northern Samaria missile threat

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com


Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV – With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week reluctantly sending large ground troop forces into the northern Gaza Strip to counter Palestinian missile fire from the territory, three rockets yesterday were launched by Palestinian terrorists on the other side of the country aimed at Jewish communities about 25 miles from Tel Aviv, the Galil Report has learned.

Israeli news agencies have not yet published a story on the rocket attack, which took place in northern Samaria and opens a whole new front of missile targets in Judea and Samaria, territories Olmert is looking to evacuate in the near future.

Judea and Samaria is also commonly referred to as the West Bank.

Leader of the Al Aqsa Martrys Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, contacted the Galil Report to take credit for three Qassam rockets they said they fired yesterday from the north Samaria town of Tulkarem toward Kibbutz Avnei Chesed, a small Jewish community about 6 miles from the coastal city of Netanya.

Netanya is about 19 miles from Tel Aviv.

The terror leaders said the rockets fell short of their intended target, landing in Palestinian territory. But they vowed more rocket fire from the area.

Israeli Defense Forces officials said they were investigating but could not confirm whether the three rockets were fired.

Al Aqsa has previously claimed to WND several Samaria rocket attacks. The IDF has denied for several months rockets were launched from northern Samaria, only to later release selected information stating some rockets had indeed been fired from the area.

Security analysts maintain publicity about terror groups' current missile capabilities in the territories could generate criticism of Olmert's plan to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria.

But much to the Israeli government's chagrin, Palestinian security forces today passed rocket fragments to the IDF they said were collected from yesterday's north Samaria rocket attack.

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Israel fires on weapons depot
From: Agence France-Presse

July 10, 2006
 

AN Israeli helicopter fired a missile at an Islamic Jihad militant group weapons depot in Gaza City today, mostly destroying the site but causing no casualties, the Israeli army and Palestinian witnesses said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the aircraft had targeted a weapons production facility in a pre dawn airstrike. Palestinian witnesses said the site was used for storage.

The attack came hours after five Palestinians were wounded in an airstrike yesterday in the same area on a van transporting weapons for Hamas militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed yesterday to continue an offensive in Gaza without any time limit. He rejected a bid by the Palestinians' Hamas-led government for a ceasefire, demanding first the release of an Israeli soldier abducted on June 25.

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Switzerland is Iran's major partner: Larijani

Monday, July 10, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
 
Archived Picture - Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani said in Bern that Switzerland, as an impartial country, is considered as a major partner for Iran, IRNA reported.

LONDON, July 10 (IranMania) - Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani said in Bern  that Switzerland, as an impartial country, is considered as a major partner for Iran, IRNA reported.

Talking to reporters following his meeting with Swiss Chief Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey, he expressed the hope that an appropriate solution would be found for the regional problems.

Switzerland has repeatedly proved that it supports a correct and fair position regarding various regional and international developments, Larijani added.

On Iran's nuclear case, he stressed that he is optimistic about negotiations on Iran's nuclear activities, adding that Tehran is in need of more time to make decision on West's proposals.

"There is no need for being pessimistic," Larijani said when asked whether Iran was optimistic with regard to the new European offer.

Switzerland is Iran's major partner: Larijani

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Iraq neighbours slam 'inhumane' Israeli attacks

Monday, July 10, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
 
Foreign Ministers from Iraq and its neighbours jointly condemned what they said were "inhumane" Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate end to the violence, AFP reported.
According to an AFP report, opening the conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday called on Islamic countries to mobilise against Israel and "remove" the "Zionist regime".

LONDON, July 10 (IranMania) - Foreign Ministers from Iraq and its neighbours jointly condemned what they said were "inhumane" Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate end to the violence, AFP reported.

Attending a security conference on Iraq in Tehran, the ministers "strongly condemned the recent inhumane Israeli acts, including its extensive military attacks against innocent Palestinian people and their elected government".

"(We) call for an immediate end to such attacks, which openly threaten international peace and security," ministers from Arab nations neighboring Iraq as well as Egypt, Iran and Turkey said in a statement.

Two weeks ago Israel launched a massive incursion into the Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants from three groups, including Hamas's armed wing, captured an Israeli soldier in a deadly raid on a border outpost.

The ministers branded the recent Israeli offensive a "gross violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, the principles and purposes of UN charters".

Opening the conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday called on Islamic countries to mobilise against Israel and "remove" the "Zionist regime".

Iraq neighbours slam 'inhumane' Israeli attacks

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Israel vows to press Gaza offensive for a ‘long time’
By Ravi Nessman The Associated Press

JERUSALEM— Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he would push ahead with the army’s widescale offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the fight to free an abducted soldier and stop militant rocket fire would last for a "long time."

The 12-day-old operation has caused widespread destruction in Gaza, left 51 Palestinians dead and led to international complaints that Israel was using excessive force.

Despite the offensive, militants launched three rockets into Israel on Sunday, wounding one person in the town of Sderot and damaging a house. Also, militants linked to the Palestinians’ ruling Hamas Party maintained their refusal to free Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a June 25 raid, or even reveal his condition.

Speaking to the Israeli Cabinet, Olmert counseled patience.

"We’re talking about a war that will continue for a long time, and it is complicated," Olmert said, according to a participant in the meeting. "This is a war for which we cannot set down a timetable, and we can’t say how long it will continue."

The Cabinet expressed unanimous support for the military action in Gaza and Olmert’s refusal to negotiate with the militants, who demanded the release of 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about Shalit, 19. Israeli security officials told the Cabinet that the offensive, the army’s largest operation in Gaza since Israel withdrew from the territory last summer, was likely to force the militants to scale back their demands, according to the participant in the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to the media.

But Palestinians were widely supportive of the militants’ actions. A poll released Sunday showed that 77 percent of those questioned backed Shalit’s kidnapping, and 67 percent said they supported further abductions. Sixty-nine percent said the soldier should be released only in exchange for prisoners. The survey of 1,197 Palestinians by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Olmert told the Cabinet that before Shalit was captured, he had been planning a prisoner release as a goodwill gesture to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but now a release appears out of the question.

"It’s not a secret before the kidnapping that we would free prisoners. But we intended to release them to moderate elements and not to terrorist elements," Olmert said.

"The release of prisoners means destroying the moderates in the Palestinian Authority, and would signal to the world that Israel can only talk to extremists," he said.

Since the offensive began June 28, Israeli forces have battered Gaza with artillery barrages and airstrikes. One airstrike Sunday missed a car carrying members of a Hamas rocket squad and killed a bystander instead, Palestinian health officials said. The army confirmed it carried out an airstrike.

Israel vows to press Gaza offensive for a ‘long time’

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Islamist Turks protest Israel's Gaza offensive

ISTANBUL:  About 20,000 pro-Islamic Turks chanted "Down with Israel" to protest Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip yesterday, a day after the Turkish foreign minister called the offensive in response to the abduction of an Israeli soldier "horrifying."  Israel yesterday said it will continue its offensive in the Gaza Strip until Palestinian militants release the Israeli soldier and halt their rocket attacks, rejecting international criticism that the army has used excessive force during a nearly two-week operation in the coastal area. An estimated 20,000 angry protesters gathered on Istanbul's Caglayan square, where banners read: "Don't remain a spectator to oppression." The demonstrators, including hundreds of people who travelled to Istanbul from other cities, shouted anti-Israeli slogans.  Israeli ground troops entered Gaza on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants crossed into southern Israel and captured an Israeli soldier. Israeli forces have battered the coastal strip with heavy artillery barrages and air strikes in the army's largest operation in Gaza since withdrawing all troops and settlers from the area last year.

Palestinian hospital officials say 44 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive and more than 160 wounded. One Israeli soldier was killed last week. Military officials said yesterday he most likely was shot accidentally by Israeli forces. Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul strongly criticised Israel Saturday before leaving for Iran, where he attended a meeting of countries that neighbour Iraq.  "The killing of this many Palestinians before the world's eyes is really horrifying," Gul said.  Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country usually torn between its historically close ties with Israel and its cultural and religious affinities with the Palestinians, has planted itself firmly in the Palestinian corner over the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Turkey repeatedly has called on Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken by telephone with US President George W Bush and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to try and elicit their support to that end.

Islamist Turks protest Israel's Gaza offensive

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EU mulls redirecting aid amid worsening Gaza plight

Mon Jul 10, 11:30 AM ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission is considering how to redirect EU aid to Palestinians in light of the worsening situation there, a spokeswoman has said, renewing criticism of a massive Israeli offensive.

The Commission, the European Union's executive arm, also reiterated the need for Palestinian militants to free an Israeli soldier whose seizure triggered Israel's massive armed intervention.

"The situation is clearly extremely tense and getting worse," said a spokeswoman for EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner on Monday. "Those who are holding the Israel hostage should release him without delay.

"At the same time we have urged Israel repeatedly to assume its responsiblities to avoid actions that would make the situation worse for the civilian population," said the spokeswoman, Emma Udwin.

At least 44 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed since Israel poured tanks and troops into the Gaza Strip last week in a bid to stop Palestinian rocket attacks and secure the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit.

Shortly before the offensive the EU, the biggest provider of aid to the Palestinians, had finalized plans for a funding mechanism allowing aid to reach the Palestinian people without going through their Hamas-led government.

"We are trying to see how to help the population," she added. "Our team there ... is looking into how we can redirect our efforts to help in the current situation," said the EU spokeswoman.

She said the most urgent problem was electricity supplies, hit notably by destruction or serious damage sustained by the Gaza Strip's sole power plant by an Israeli attack on June 28.

The EU commission released some 105 million euros for delivery via the mechanism on June 23, but Ferrero-Waldner said last week that recent events had "seriously complicated" efforts to establish the funding arrangements.

EU mulls redirecting aid amid worsening Gaza plight

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 Abu Mazen in Jordan to Meet King Abdullah
00:33 Jul 11, '06 / 15 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) left for Jordan on Monday night to meet with King Abdullah II.

Palestinian Authority (PA) officials reported Abu Mazen discussed the ongoing IDF counter-terror operation in Gaza with the Jordanian leader, adding Abu Mazen was not scheduled to make the trip, which was prompted by a phone conversation with the king. He is expected to return to Ramallah during the night.

Abu Mazen in Jordan to Meet King Abdullah

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Palestinian Hamas leader insists on prisoner swap, criticizes U.S.
By Donna Abu-Nasr
ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:32 a.m. July 10, 2006

DAMASCUS, Syria – Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal on Monday insisted that Israel must free Palestinian prisoners to win the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked Palestinian militants.

Mashaal, whom Israel has threatened to kill, spoke in his first public appearance since the crisis erupted following the June 25 capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

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“The Palestinian people are united on insisting the that the (Israeli) prisoner soldier be traded for (Palestinian) prisoners in Israeli jails,” he told a news conference, reiterating what his aides have said since the soldier was taken.

Mashaal blamed Israel for the collapse of Egyptian, Qatari and European mediation efforts to solve the crisis over the captured Israeli soldier.

“These efforts hit snags over Israel's insistence on the release of the Israeli soldier and its refusal to release Palestinian prisoners,” he said.

“This is not a solution ... We don't want escalation. We are for a peaceful, quiet resolution,” he said. “The solution is simple: an exchange. But Israel refuses that.”

The Hamas-linked militants holding the soldier, as well as top Hamas leaders, have called on Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to help end the standoff. An estimated 9,000 Palestinians are currently jailed by Israel.

But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said freeing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit would be a “major mistake” and said there can be no negotiations with the “bloody organization,” referring to Hamas.

Hours earlier, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in the Syrian capital in a government-sanctioned protest against Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israeli's nearly two-week-old assault on Gaza has caused widespread destruction, left 54 Palestinians dead and led to international complaints that Israel was using excessive force.

Olmert defended his army's offensive, saying Israel had “no choice” but to launch it in order to win Shalit's freedom and halt a barrage of militant fire into Israel.

Mashaal distanced himself from the negotiations, saying the militants holding the soldier were handling it themselves. Shalit was captured during a cross-border raid by Hamas' military wing and two allied groups, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam.

“They know how to deal with this case,” he said, describing them as “more aware and understanding than to be remote-controlled ... They know their duties and assessing the military situation is up to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) on the ground.”

Mashaal blamed Olmert for prolonging the crisis, saying Olmert was bent on destroying the elected Palestinian government, which Hamas leads.

“I do not exaggerate when I say that Olmert and his hostile policies are holding Gilad Shalit. He shoulders the responsibility for what is happening to him.”

Olmert said Monday that Israel is not trying to topple the Palestinian government, although he said Hamas leaders are “directly involved in terror.”

“We have no particular desire to topple the Hamas government as a policy. We have a desire to stop terrorists from inflicting terror on the Israeli people,” he said, declining to give a timetable for the operation.

Mashaal also accused Israel and the United States of providing the “ugliest example of terrorism” in their dealings with the Palestinians, saying that Israel was breaking international law. He criticized the West for keeping silent on the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

“Today, Israel is really terrorizing our people ... Israel and America, which talked too much about this terrorism in past are the worst, severest and ugliest examples of terrorism,” he said.

The militant leader also praised Syria, its president and leadership for “bearing the pressure because it knows it is right.”

“The accusations against Syria are ready ... It is an honor for Syria that it is being accused, because it is standing fast,” Mashaal said.

Syria is a staunch supporter of the Palestinians and is home to the political leadership of Hamas. Israeli warplanes have buzzed the residence of Assad to pressure the Syrian leader to intercede with Hamas to gain the release of the soldier.

Palestinian Hamas leader insists on prisoner swap, criticizes U.S.

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Disproportionate force
Jordan Times

Gwynne Dyer

The Europeans have rediscovered their backbones. “The EU condemns the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defence Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated,” said Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, on Friday.

The Swiss were even blunter, condemning what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment”, which is contrary to the Geneva conventions.

It won’t change anything on the ground, and both the EU and Switzerland can expect the usual torrent of abuse from American sources for daring to criticise Israel. But Israel’s actions in the past two weeks, since an attack on a military outpost left two Israeli soldiers dead and one a prisoner in the hands of Palestinian militants, have clearly “violated the principle of proportionality”, as the Swiss put it. On Thursday, for example, the death toll was one Israeli soldier and 23 Palestinians, close to half of whom appear to have been unarmed civilians.

Corporal Gilad Shalit, the soldier who was taken hostage, is no more to blame for the mess he inherited than any other 19-year-old Israeli or Palestinian, and he certainly does not deserve to die. But it is hard to see how blowing up the Gaza Strip’s main power generating station, or arresting eight Cabinet ministers and 34 legislators of the democratically elected government of the occupied Palestinian territories in simultaneous night raids on their homes  furthers the cause of Cpl. Shalit’s freedom. There is no sense of proportion here.

Israeli columnist Gideon Levy, writing in the newspaper “Haaretz”, put it best: “It is not legitimate to cut off 750,000 people from electricity. It is not legitimate to call on 20,000 people to run from their homes and turn their towns into ghost towns. It is not legitimate to kidnap half a government and a quarter of a parliament. A state that takes such steps is no longer distinguishable from a terror organisation.”

I am quoting Levy because, in large parts of the Western press, only Israelis are allowed to say such things (and even Israelis holding such views are quoted only rarely). For a non-Israeli non-Jew to say them brings instant accusations of anti-Semitism and, in the case of newspaper columns, corporate banning orders. But what the hell. Let’s take Levy’s argument a step further.

The Israeli government has not accidentally stumbled into the plot of a stupidly sentimental Hollywood movie called “Saving Corporal Shalit”. It is run by men and women with decades of experience at navigating the shoal waters of Middle Eastern politics — people who think strategically, and who fully understand the complex relationship between an elected Palestinian government that doesn’t carry out terrorist attacks and related but semi-autonomous militant organisations that do. They understand it because it was part of Israeli history, too.

Sixty years ago, when the Jews of British-ruled Palestine were an unrecognised proto-state under foreign military occupation, they had respectable political and military organisations like the Jewish Agency and the Haganah (the militia self-defence force that ultimately became the Israeli Defence Forces). They also had brutal terrorist organisations like Irgun and the Stern Gang, who killed both British soldiers and the Palestinians who had a rival claim to the land without compunction. The legitimate organisations did not control the illegitimate ones, but there were constant contacts between them.

The Palestinian Authority’s relations with the current crop of terrorist outfits is very similar. Hamas, the militant Islamic party that won the Palestinian elections last January and subsequently formed a government, has observed a self-imposed ceasefire with Israel for more than a year. Its “military wing”, a largely separate organisation, has not, nor have various other radical groups whose main goal is to discredit mainstream Palestinian organisations that want a negotiated settlement with Israel.

Israel’s past offers enough parallels that its government should and probably does understand that it has a choice: to ignore the extremists and talk about some kind of peace deal with the mainstream — or to use the extremists as an excuse not to talk to the mainstream either. It has chosen the latter option, and the current, vastly disproportionate Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip are the evidence for it.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has big plans for imposing a “peace settlement” and new frontiers on the Palestinians — frontiers that will keep all the bigger Jewish settlement blocks (plus all of Jerusalem, of course) within Israel. International political correctness requires that he negotiate this with the Palestinians, but he knows perfectly well that they could never agree to such a terrible deal. Why should they? So he must find a way of demonstrating that negotiations are impossible.

That is what this is really about. Corporal Shalit is a convenient casus belli, but if it hadn’t been him, it would have been something else. The first objective of the Israeli attacks is to destroy the elected Palestinian government led by Hamas. As President George W. Bush said, “we support democracy, but that doesn’t mean we have to support governments elected as a result of democracy.”

Olmert knows (even if Washington doesn’t) that destroying the Hamas government will not bring the “moderates” back to power. It will just create a power vacuum in the occupied territories that will be filled by all kinds of crazies with guns. Ideal circumstances for carrying out Olmert’s plans, wouldn’t you say?

Disproportionate force

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Don’t Play Into Israel’s Hands, Cabinet Cautions Palestinians
Arab News
 

JEDDAH, 11 July 2006 — Saudi Arabia yesterday emphasized the need for drawing international attention to the importance of establishing peace and stability in the Middle East to ensure global security.

“Everyone should realize that the security, stability and the future of the region are important to protect the interests of all. The present political maneuvers aimed at serving selfish interests of some will not benefit anyone,” the Council of Ministers said in a statement after its weekly meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.

The meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, also stressed that unanimity of opinion was essential to achieve Palestinian national goals, Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani told Saudi Press Agency quoting the Cabinet statement.

“Apart from making their own decisions they should follow a method that would guarantee the achievement of their legitimate national rights, including the liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem and the implementation of all international resolutions,” Madani said.

The Council cautioned the Palestinians against playing into the hands of Israel, which seeks to impose its hegemony in the region with unilateral solutions, Madani said.

The meeting expressed satisfaction over the decision at a conference in Iran on Saturday by foreign ministers of Iraq’s neighbors to support Baghdad’s bid to make all Iraqis participate in the process of redrafting the constitution.

The Iraqi government’s move aims at achieving national unity and security by ending violence besides bringing all the factions into the political process, Madani said.

On the domestic front, the Cabinet approved the draft regulations governing the import and management of chemical substances. The regulations stipulate that no import would be allowed without permission from competent authorities and the Interior Ministry. The licensed importers and handlers of chemicals have to observe instructions of the concerned authorities.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is on a brief visit to the Kingdom, held talks in Jeddah yesterday. They discussed regional developments and ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting was attended by Crown Prince Sultan, Yemeni Ambassador Mohammad Ali Al-Ahwal and senior officials.

The Council authorized the minister of higher education or his deputy to discuss a draft memorandum of cooperation with the Australian Ministry of Education.

The Council authorized the finance minister to discuss with the French Finance Ministry the addition of a clause to the agreement on exchange of information required to avoid double taxation on income from inheritance and legacies.

Don’t Play Into Israel’s Hands, Cabinet Cautions Palestinians

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Pakistan calls for end to Israeli "military aggression" in Palestine
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Pakistan on Monday called for an end to what it called an Israeli aggression in Palestine, saying Israel's policy of collective punishment has created difficult situation.

"Israeli aggression in Gaza is a matter of deep concern for us, and Pakistan has deplored it in strongest term as we want the aggression to come to an end to reduce hardships of the Palestinian people," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told her weekly briefing in Islamabad.

Also during the briefing, responding to a question regarding F- 16 deal with the United States, the spokesperson said the U.S. administration had assured Pakistan it is committed to providing these aircraft as agreed, which will cost 3 billion U.S. dollars.

She said Pakistan will not provide the F-16 technology to any other country.

Pakistan calls for end to Israeli "military aggression" in Palestine

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 Israel, Hamas in stalemate over soldier

Joel Greenberg

July 10, 2006 6:19 PM

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

JERUSALEM - Khaled Mashaal, the exiled political leader of Hamas, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel staked out sharply opposing positions Monday on resolving the crisis created by the abduction of an Israeli soldier, suggesting that diplomatic efforts to secure his release remain deadlocked.

Mashaal insisted that the soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, would not be freed without the release of Palestinian prisoners, and Olmert emphatically rejected any prisoner exchange.

Shalit was seized by militants from Hamas and two other groups in an attack on an Israeli border outpost near the Gaza Strip on June 25. The abduction has triggered an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that has left about 60 Palestinians dead and also claimed the life of an Israeli soldier.

In a series of Israeli air and ground strikes on militants in the Gaza Strip on Monday, nine Palestinians were killed, the army and Palestinian health officials said.

Mashaal spoke at a news conference held under tight security in Damascus, Syria, his first public appearance since the start of the abduction crisis and warnings by Israeli officials that he could be targeted.

''There will be no release of the captive soldier without the mutual release of our prisoners and children in the enemy's jails,'' Mashaal said. ''Because 10,000 prisoners is a concern that troubles every Palestinian.''

The soldier's captors from the armed wing of Hamas and two allied groups, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam, have demanded the release of 1,000 Palestinian and other Arab prisoners in exchange for the soldier, and the preliminary release of about 500 women and minors held in Israeli jails in return for information on the serviceman. Israel holds more than 9,000 Palestinians in its prisons.

Mashaal said that there was a ''national consensus'' on a prisoner exchange, which has broad public support among Palestinians.

''I ask you, do you see anyone in the Palestinian arena who talks about freeing the soldier without something in return? No one,'' Mashaal said. ''Because that would mean contempt for the pain and suffering of our people's 10,000 heroic prisoners.''

Mashaal said Shalit was being treated as a prisoner of war. ''Our morality obliges us to protect the life of the soldier and not to mistreat him, and contrary to news reports you hear, he is receiving medical care,'' Mashaal said. Israeli military officials said they believed Shalit had been lightly wounded before he was captured.

Egyptian, Qatari and European mediation efforts to release the soldier have been thwarted by Israel's refusal to release Palestinian prisoners, Mashaal asserted.

Israel has traded Arab prisoners for captured servicemen in the past in deals with the Palestinian factions and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, but Olmert was adamant Monday that there would be no exchange to secure the release of Shalit.

''Trading prisoners with a terrorist bloody organization such as Hamas is a major mistake that will cause a lot of damage to the future of the State of Israel,'' Olmert said at a news conference with foreign reporters.

''Khaled Mashaal is a terrorist with blood on his hands; he is not a legitimate partner for anything,'' Olmert added. ''He is the head of an organization that openly, publicly and officially calls for the liquidation of the State of Israel, and, therefore, he is not a partner and he will not be a partner and I will not negotiate with Hamas. ... I will not release prisoners to trade off Cpl. Gilad Shalit to Hamas.''

Olmert, who told a Cabinet meeting Sunday that he had been prepared to release prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, said such a release is not possible now.

''To negotiate with Hamas today, to surrender to their demands, means that you don't need more moderate guys like Abu Mazen, who is opposed to terror, because at the end of the day the upper hand will always be that of the terrorists and the killers and those who support violence,'' Olmert said.

Olmert said Israel's military offensive, which has included airstrikes on government buildings in the Gaza Strip and the arrest of Palestinian Cabinet ministers and legislators from Hamas in the West Bank, was not aimed at toppling the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

''We have no particular desire to topple the Hamas government as a policy,'' Olmert said. ''We have a desire to stop terrorists from inflicting terror on Israeli people.''

Olmert added that the officials arrested were suspected of involvement in ''terrorist actions,'' but he did not elaborate.

With no signs of a break in the impasse over the release of the captive soldier, Israel pressed ahead with its military operations in Gaza.

Three militants were hit from the air as they tried to plant explosives near the Gaza border fence east of Khan Yunis, the army said. Palestinians said two were killed.

Four other militants were killed in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip after they fired two rockets at Israel, the army said.

Airborne strikes also killed three militants near the Karni cargo crossing east of Gaza City, Palestinians said. The army said it hit a squad preparing to fire an anti-tank rocket and a gunman in two separate attacks.

Israel, Hamas in stalemate over soldier

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Aksa Brigades announce female suicide bomber unit
Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 10, 2006

A group belonging to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party announced on Monday that it had recruited 100 Palestinian women to launch suicide attacks against Israel.

A woman who identified herself as Um al-Abed told reporters in Gaza City that so far about 100 women had expressed their desire to carry out suicide attacks against Israel. She claimed she was a spokeswoman for the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah.

The brigades, she added, recently established a secret military unit for female suicide bombers from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. "We have so far recruited 100 women for the new unit," Abed said as she sat next to several masked women who identified themselves as members of Fatah. "We are expecting more female suicide bombers. The new unit is now preparing to launch attacks against Israel in response to the Israeli aggression and crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip."

Since September 2000, Palestinian women have carried out seven suicide bombings inside Israel, in which 37 people were killed and more than 250 were wounded. The most serious attack was launched in October 2003 by Hanadi Jaradat, an Islamic Jihad woman from Jenin, who detonated herself at the Maxim Restaurant in Haifa. The bomb left 21 civilians dead and 48 wounded.

Four of the female suicide bombers belonged to Fatah, two belonged to Islamic Jihad and only one belonged to Hamas.

Abed also hinted that the group was planning to target Hamas members who were responsible for attacks on Fatah activists. She pointed out that a senior Fatah militiaman, Haitham Rai, was killed over the weekend in Gaza City, apparently by Hamas gunmen.

"We know the identity of the murderers and we urge the Palestinian government to take immediate action against them," she said. "If the government fails, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades will punish the Hamas culprits in our own way."

Rai, one of the leaders of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip, was kidnapped by some 30 masked gunmen, who took him to the local cemetery and sprayed him with bullets.

The killing came in response to the assassination last Friday of Dr. Hussein Ajweh, one of the most prominent political leaders of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ajweh was shot to death outside his Gaza City home by unidentified gunmen. Hamas officials accused Fatah and its supporters in the PA security forces of standing behind the assassination.

Tensions between Hamas and Fatah intensified over the past 24 hours following Abbas's decision to appoint Tunis-based PLO official Farouk Kaddoumi as PA foreign minister.

Kaddoumi, one of the veteran PLO leaders who is strongly opposed to the Oslo Accords, refused to enter the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1994 in protest of the agreement between the PLO and Israel.

Hamas officials condemned Abbas's decision as "illegal" and called for its rescission. Abbas's move is seen as part of his efforts to undermine the powers of the Hamas cabinet, which already has a foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar. Abbas has already confiscated most of the powers of the Hamas cabinet, including control over the security, finances and the media.

"Why do we need two foreign ministers for Palestine?" asked Muhammad Awad, secretary-general of the Hamas cabinet. "Kaddoumi has always been involved in power struggles with Palestinian foreign ministers. Abbas's decision will only complicate matters."

Aksa Brigades announce female suicide bomber unit

[Shammu]

 High Court Calls for a Solution for PA Residents Locked Out of Gaza
18:18 Jul 10, '06 / 14 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) The High Court of Justice on Monday instructed the IDF to find a solution to the thousands of Palestinian Authority (PA) residents of Gaza stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafiah border. The instruction was in response to a petition filed by human rights organizations.

The High Court rejected the state’s position that the Gaza residents can cross back into Israel via the Kerem Shalom crossing, instructing the military to find a solution within 48 hours.

High Court Calls for a Solution for PA Residents Locked Out of Gaza