Israel, the mid-east, and Russia

[Shammu]

  ummm what ya hinting at Brother?
                                                 

I think you already know sister.   

Come Lord, may you call us home soon.

[Shammu]

 Hamas Officials No Longer Israeli Citizens
Friday, June 30, 2006 / 4 Tammuz 5766

Four top Hamas officials living in eastern Jerusalem will no longer enjoy the benefits of Israeli citizenship. At least one of the four was arrested in an anti-terror security sweep this week.

A 30-day ultimatum to choose between terrorist membership and Israeli residency expired at midnight on Thursday for the four Hamas Palestinian Authority legislators. Interior Minister Ronny Bar-On immediately revoked their citizenship.

Israeli residency documents are no longer valid for Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arafa and PA legislators Muhammed Abu-Tir, Muhammed Tutah, and Ahmed Adun, announced Bar-On.

The four terrorist leaders were told to leave their positions in the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government and parliament, or suffer the consequences.

“The right to hold permanent residency comes with the duty to show loyalty to the State of Israel,” Bar-On pointed out. “There should not be dual loyalties.” Israeli citizens in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem enjoy a number of social services, including pension and health care benefits, as well as freedom of movement within the country.

Abu Arafa was also arrested in the Israeli security sweep that netted some 64 PA legislators and other officials on Thursday, including eight PA cabinet ministers. The operation was carried out against Hamas members on the orders of the Attorney General in accordance with the Terror Prevention Act.

In his first public address since the beginning of the IDF operation in Gaza this week, PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told followers at a mosque on Friday, “When they kidnapped the ministers they meant to hijack the government’s position.” Haniyeh had harsh words for the sweep that took most of his new government.

“We say no positions will be hijacked,” Haniyeh said defiantly. “No governments will fall.” Former PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat had a quite a different message, however.

Erekat said earlier in the week that Israel’s "Operation Summer Rains" destroyed much of the PA administration. “We have no government, we have nothing,” he said. “They have all been taken. This is absolutely unacceptable,” he added, demanding that Israel release the PA captives immediately.

“The Prime Minister said he has no intention of playing games with Hamas,” stated Bar-On. “Hamas is a hostile organization. People who have roles in the legislative council and the Hamas government have no place in the State of Israel.”

Requests by lawyers to delay by 30 days the cancellation of Israeli citizenship for the four Hamas officials were denied.

Hamas Officials No Longer Israeli Citizens

[Shammu]

UN Security Council debate on Gaza ends without resolution
By News Agencies

The UN Security Council debate over the IDF incursion into the Gaza Strip ended Saturday without a resolution.

Palestinian and Israeli diplomats traded accusations Friday at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council which Arab nations requested to demand that the UN's most powerful body order a halt to the Israel Defense Forces offensive in Gaza, which followed the abduction of an IDF soldier.

The Palestinians accused Israel of launching a premeditated military assault to sabotage Palestinian unity and collectively punish and terrorize hundreds of thousands of civilians. Israel countered that Gaza has become "a terror base" actively supported by the Hamas-led government.

Palestinian UN Observer Riyad Mansour said Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza using warplanes, tank artillery bombardment, and shelling from naval units was "collectively punishing and terrorizing the Palestinian civilian population... [which] is now under complete siege."

Israel's deputy UN ambassador Daniel Carmon disagreed, saying Israel responded to the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit "after long weeks of Israeli restraint in the face of numerous attempted kidnappings and unceasing Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip that have targeted civilians, schools and homes" and traumatized children.

He said the IDF's presence is limited "to a very small area in southern Gaza," with the sole aim of preventing Shalit from being smuggled outside the Gaza Strip. "Its objective is not punishment or retaliation," Carmon stressed.

But Mansour accused Israel of planning "a major invasion" of Gaza and mobilizing troops before Shalit was captured on June 25 "to sabotage the recent agreement between President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and the Hamas-led government.

Israel's goal, he said, is "to ultimately cause the complete collapse" of the Palestinian Authority so Israel can say it has no "partner for peace" and go ahead with unilateral measures.

Carmon countered that Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip last August with the hope of "re-energizing the peace process."

"Instead, the response was ... an increase in terror attacks," he said. "Gaza is now a terror base, actively supported by the elected Hamas government. Israel is under attack day in and day out."

Mansour called on the council to condemn the Israeli aggression, to order an immediate cessation of hostilities, and demand the release of 64 Hamas officials, arrested by Israel.

But no resolution was circulated to council members Friday, apparently because of U.S. opposition to any council action.

Washington accuses Syria, Iran
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said he did not think a resolution was advisable, cautioning the council "to avoid taking any steps that would unexpectedly exacerbate tensions in the region," given the complexity of the situation.

He called for the immediate and unconditional release of Shalit by Hamas, saying this was the best way to resolve the immediate crisis.

But to establish lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Bolton said Syria and Iran must "end their role as state sponsors of terror and unequivocally condemn the actions of Hamas, including this kidnapping."

He also called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to arrest Hamas' top political leader Khaled Meshal, who lives in Damascus, and close the militant group's office in the Syrian capital.

Carmon urged the international community to pressure the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, "including its members and sponsors in Damascus," to release Shalit "and to finally bring an end to the use of Palestinian territory as a base for terrorist operations."

Arab states put Palestinians on permanent agenda of new UN rights commission
Arab and Muslim states Friday put the Palestinian territories on the permanent agenda of the United Nations Human Rights Council, overcoming Israeli and Western objections to singling out alleged abuses by Israel.

A resolution to re-examine the issue at future sessions, brought by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) easily won passage at the 47-member forum.

A second OIC resolution, expressing deep concern at an "increasing trend of defamation of religions" and incitement to religious hatred, was also adopted along similar voting lines.

The two votes, on the final day of the Rights Council's inaugural two-week session, were seen as divisive.

Many states and rights activists had hoped all decisions would be taken by consensus to avoid the acrimony that marked the council's predecessor body, the UN Commission on Human Rights, which also debated Palestinian issues at each session.

The vote to examine the situation in the Palestinian territories at future sessions passed with 29 countries in favor, 12 against, five abstentions and one delegation absent.

The resolution also called for existing UN human rights investigators, known as special rapporteurs, to report on the situation in the territories at the next session in September.

Regional powers including Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria were among the resolution's sponsors.

Western countries, including Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan, voted against the text. The United States did not stand for election and only had observer status.

Israeli envoy Itzkhak Levanon said in a speech before the vote that the OIC text was "imbalanced and intentionally one-sided".

"If this Council seeks to follow the discredited footsteps of the Commission, to encourage contention and selectivity rather than tolerance and objectivity, to lend itself to become a mere instrument of Israel bashing, politicized and subverted to propaganda, then it is clearly walking in that trail," he said.

UN Security Council debate on Gaza ends without resolution

[Shammu]

Rift grows between Hamas leaders in Gaza and those in Syria
By Dion Nissenbaum
McClatchy Newspapers

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Three months after Hamas assumed the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, the Hamas-led government is in danger of disintegrating. The fatal blow may have come from within.

Analysts say the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier last Sunday by Hamas-led militants and the subsequent Israeli retaliation have laid bare the rift, seen, in its simplest terms, as a fight between Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, and Khaled Mashaal, the exiled Hamas leader in Syria.

Mashaal is widely believed to have condoned, if not organized, the Sunday raid - an attack that appears to have taken Haniyeh and his allies by surprise.

Evidence of the rift rests largely in the timing of the attack and the subsequent reaction of Hamas leaders in Gaza and Syria.

At the time Palestinian commandoes abducted Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Haniyeh was working with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government based on a pragmatic set of political principles, including language viewed by some as tacit recognition of Israel.

The raid appeared to be designed as much to send a message to Haniyeh as to Israel, analysts say.

"The outsiders are the decision-makers when it comes to the critical issues," said Jihad Hamad, director of the Independent Center for Strategic Studies and Polls in Gaza City.

Haniyeh was undeterred. The day after the attack, Hamas signed off on the compromise document, setting the stage for a coalition government. Even then, Mashaal tried to exert his influence, by telling reporters in Syria that the agreement wasn't a done deal.

Now the military and political wings of Hamas appear to be at odds over how to resolve the ongoing Gaza Strip hostage crisis. Hamas militants who claim to be holding Shalit say they won't release the soldier until Israel frees about 100 women and 300 Palestinians under the age of 18 in Israeli prisons.

Israel has rejected the idea and won't negotiate for Shalit's release.

According to one Palestinian leader close to the negotiations, Haniyeh has suggested that Hamas give up its demand that Israel release the young prisoners and allow Israel to free the women as part of expected talks later this year with Abbas.

But Hamas militants rebuffed the compromise.

"Some people in Hamas, especially our friends abroad, are insisting that there be an exchange of prisoners," said the politician who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive ongoing talks. "Haniyeh is trying his best to solve the question, but he doesn't have the means to convince or commit Hamas. The military branch has their own leadership that goes back out of the country."

If no deal can be worked out, it makes it more likely that Israel will press ahead with a military campaign to destabilize the Hamas-led government.

Israel has made it clear that Mashaal and his supporters aren't immune by sending fighter jets into Syria to buzz President Bashar Assad's northern palace.

"Israel knows the attack was planned by Khaled Mashaal in Damascus, and Israel is signaling Syria that this has to stop or Syria will have to pay a price," said Yoni Fighel, a researcher at The Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Israel.

In many ways, the Hamas power struggle mirrors ones faced by other revolutionary forces that evolved from fighters into politicians. For decades, Palestinian leaders who lived under Israeli occupation fought with those living abroad over strategy and tactics.

"Generally speaking, any outside leadership that is not in direct daily contact with the people can afford to be more hard-line and to take more purist positions and ideological positions, while any leadership that is in contact with the people and is more sensitive to their needs begins to understand the need for flexibility, pragmatism and compromise," said Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian leader from the West Bank who often fought with the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat over these issues.

For now, Israel is exploiting the internal Hamas divisions to press ahead with its destabilization of the Palestinian government. On Thursday, it arrested a third of the Palestinian Cabinet and at least 20 Palestinian legislators.

But some analysts warned that the move could end up shoring up the more extreme Palestinian leaders Israel is trying to isolate.

"Do you think arresting the Hamas government will end the resistance?" asked Abdel Sattar Qassem, a political science professor at An-Najah University.

"No it won't. It will do the opposite. The government might have some authority over the militants, but now when the government is in jail, the militants will do anything they want."

Rift grows between Hamas leaders in Gaza and those in Syria

[Shammu]

 The Peace Process is a Bigger Danger Than Hamas
by Ted Belman
Jun 30, '06 / 4 Tammuz 5766


The biggest threat Israel faces today is the "peace process", with its insistence on the Saudi Peace Plan. It is aided and abetted by Israel's "We Are Tired" camp and its "Let's Make a Deal" camp.

With this in mind, I took the position during the Palestinian elections that a Hamas victory would be good for Israel because it would stop the "peace process". And so it has. The threat of rockets raining down on Israel from Gaza isn't nearly the threat that the peace process was and is. This is so even if the rockets start to rain down on Tel Aviv from the West Bank. Israel always has it in its power to stop the attacks at a time of its choosing. The more they rain down, the less support the Palestinians have in Europe.

Since the peace process has been stymied, the biggest threat facing Israel today is Ehud Olmert's "realignment" intentions (they don't yet amount to a "plan"). True, the US and the EU - to say nothing of the Arabs - have not supported the plan publicly; yet, it remains a threat.

Keep in mind that the US has micro-managed the location of the Judea and Samaria security fence from day one, and even enabled the financing for it.

US diplomacy is now focused on two things; namely, defeating Hamas with the aid of Mahmoud Abbas and encouraging negotiations between Olmert and Abbas. The purpose of these negotiations is to attempt to reach a deal in which the fence, or something close to it, becomes the border. Obviously, Abbas is not going to agree to more than George Bush has. It is not likely that Olmert can negotiate for more, either, despite his promises to the Israeli public. In addition, Israel has committed to Bush not to expand settlements. So, where does that leave "realignment"? And now, Olmert has capitulated to the European Union, which demanded that Jerusalem be divided.

The Roadmap was intended to end the terrorism, and obviously has failed miserably in that regard. Yet, Olmert has announced his intention to jump to Phase II of the Roadmap and negotiate anyway. Why is he in such a rush to capitulate?

At the moment, it appears that Israel is going in the direction of accommodation to the demands of the Quartet and the Arabs. To avoid this fate,the violence in the territories would have to continue at tolerable levels. But that doesn't solve the problem. It only avoids the peace process. My suggestion for study is that Israel should expand the boundaries around Jerusalem, build the fence and agree to uproot the settlements east of the fence in exchange for recognition of the new boundaries. Like it or lump it.

The world will refuse - and Israel will consolidate Jerusalem.

The Peace Process is a Bigger Danger Than Hamas

[Shammu]

Israel pressure on Hamas risks boosting militants' stature

By Diaa Hadid
ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:04 p.m. June 30, 2006

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Israel hopes displays of military might will pressure Palestinians into turning against the Hamas-linked militants who abducted an Israeli soldier.

But the tactic could backfire – many Palestinians rallied around Hamas on Friday as Israel continued to bombard the Gaza Strip with warplanes and ground artillery.

The primary goal of the strikes is to force Hamas to release Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured Sunday when militants from Gaza attacked an Israeli outpost, killing two other soldiers.

The wider objective appears to be stirring popular dissent against Hamas, which won elections in January but has been widely snubbed politically and financially by the West for its refusal to reject its hard-line charter against Israel.

In Rafah – a once-bustling border crossing with Egypt – banners and graffiti celebrated Hamas as heroic for humbling Israel with the brazen assault, and for resisting the backlash.

“The more pressure Israel puts on us, the more it strengthens Hamas' position,” said Adel Abubeid, a 37-year-old father of six. “If Hamas, before the kidnapping, had 70 percent of the Palestinian street, now it has 300 percent.”

Abubeid voted for Hamas' rival, the long-governing Fatah party. His support began to switch as Israel and its Western allies tightened the screws on Hamas, including cutting back aid that left the Palestinian authorities nearly bankrupt.

Gaza was hit much harder by the aid cutoff than the larger and more developed West Bank.

Border controls on Gaza had been getting steadily more restrictive for years. The area was virtually sealed off from Israel after the withdrawal of troops and settlers last year. The euphoria of autonomy in Gaza quickly faded in the reality of a shattered economy and the loss of even menial jobs in Israel.

For Abubeid and others, Sunday's attack on Israel was a welcome distraction – even with the threat of more military action and hardships.

“Hamas would be disgraced in our eyes if it gave back this soldier without any concessions,” said Abubeid, who earned about $1,800 a month in Israel before losing his job. “The economic pain doesn't matter. We Palestinians can live on bread and salt.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its officials were in talks with Israeli authorities to try to get the military blockade of Gaza lifted for aid shipments.

Abu Kayed, a 50-year-old unemployed restaurant worker, tried to sell his camel to pay for food and rent. His family counts on help from Hamas-backed charities.

“Hamas is more popular now than it has ever been,” said Kayed, who has six children. “I don't understand why all the world is crying out for one soldier. We Palestinians are treated like dust.”

Some Gazans, however, blamed Hamas for their troubles.

“I was expecting my situation to be very good” after the Israeli withdrawal, said Ismail el-Shaikh, a 22-year-old who works in a pizza parlor. “I thought the beaches would be open. I thought I would travel, and I expected more economic projects to enter Gaza.”

“That didn't happen,” he added. “Hamas came instead and the situation is more difficult.”

Israel pressure on Hamas risks boosting militants' stature

[Shammu]

 UN-sponsored meeting calls on Israel to pull out of Gaza, Palestinians to stop rockets

A United Nations-sponsored international meeting aimed at advancing Middle East peace wrapped up its sessions last night with a call to Israel to halt its invasion of Gaza, withdraw from the Strip and stop escalating the current crisis. It also called on the Palestinians to end their rocket attacks on Israel.

Such actions put civilians in serious danger and inflame and destabilize the already fragile situation, according to the final document adopted by the meeting, convened in Vienna by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

Participants, including UN representatives, internationally renowned experts from the region, parliamentarians, and members of the academic community and civil society, expressed particular concern at the recent upsurge in violence and its destructive effect on the hopes for peace.

The text condemned Israel’s intensified military strikes, incursions and extrajudicial assassinations.

Alarmed at the large number of Palestinian civilians killed in the last few weeks and believing that the escalation warranted an impartial international investigation, the meeting supported a request for Secretary-General Kofi Annan to facilitate such a probe.

UN-sponsored meeting calls on Israel to pull out of Gaza, Palestinians to stop rockets

[Shammu]

Israel 'will ensure Hamas govt toppled' if soldier slain
Jun 26 4:18 AM US/Eastern
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Israel will work to ensure the Hamas-led government falls if a soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants is not released alive, a high-ranking security official said.

"We will make sure that the Hamas government ceases to operate if the kidnapped soldier is not returned to us alive," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel's Shin Beth homeland security agency, made the threat in talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas late Sunday, the source said.

The Popular Resistance Committees, an armed Palestinian group, claimed Monday in a telephone call to AFP that it was holding the soldier, saying he was alive.

"We are holding the soldier. He is alive and in good health," said the representative of the group, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He gave no indications as to the whereabouts or the missing soldier, 20-year-old Gilad Shavit, who was abducted during a Palestinian attack on an army border post close to the Gaza Strip on Sunday that left two Israeli soldiers and two militants dead.

The Popular Resistance Committees, together with the armed wing of the govering Hamas movement and the previously unknown Army of Islam claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

Israel has vowed to avenge any harm done to the soldier who went missing after militants tunneled into Israel and launched the brazen attack, firing grenades and rockets at an army border post near southern Gaza.

It was the largest attack in the volatile border area since Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the impoverished coastal strip last summer, ending a 38-year presence.

Defence Minister Amir Peretz vowed Sunday a strong Israeli retaliation if the missing soldier were not released unharmed.

"We will take revenge against anyone who injures the soldier, including their leaders," Peretz told reporters.

The security cabinet later approved a series of reprisal operations against the Gaza Strip but agreed to put them off until the missing soldier had been brought home, the privately run Channel 10 television reported.

Shavit's bloodstained bulletproof was found not far from the scene of the attack and thousands of Israelis flocked to Jerusalem's Western Wall Sunday evening to pray for his safe return home.

In a joint statement, the militant groups said the dawn assault was revenge for the 22 civilians killed in an alleged Israeli shelling and botched air strikes since the start of June.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the Hamas-led Palestinian government for the attack.

Israel tanks, troops and Apache combat helicopters stormed into southern Gaza in response to search for the missing soldier and investigate the tunnel used by the attackers.

Public radio reported that further forces were massing on the border.

"This attack was carried out and spearheaded by senior members of the Hamas and authorized by the party's leadership," an army spokesman told AFP.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Force) holds the Palestinian Authority and democratically elected Hamas government responsible for the attack and the fate of the missing soldier."

The deputy prime minister of the Hamas government Nasseredine al-Shaer, demanded the immediate release of the soldier.

"I demand that this Israel soldier be freed immediately," Shaer told a news conference in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah.

But Shaer's call for the release of a soldier believed held by militants loyal to his own movement drew condemnation from Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Gillerman.

"Hamas has once again proved that it is the worst sort of terrorist organization," Gillerman told AFP in Jerusalem.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the moderate Palestinian Authority president to act swiftly to release the soldier, by force if necessary.

"This is an opportunity for Abu Mazen (Abbas) to prove how serious his intentions are. Israel expects him to act immediately to return the kidnapped soldier to Israel and he has the necessary military means to do so," she said.

Abbas, who was locked in talks with Hamas aimed at ending deadly political feuding between the Islamic militant group and his mainstream Fatah faction, condemned the attack.

Israel 'will ensure Hamas govt toppled' if soldier slain

[Shammu]

Lebanese leading Shiite cleric denounces Israeli Gaza offensive


Lebanese leading Shiite cleric Hussein Fadlallah on Friday denounced Israel's ongoing military ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the Jewish state was trying to "eliminate the Palestinian address."

"The racist Jewish army is still killing Palestinian youths, women, children and elders for fear that they fight against the occupation force," Fadlallah said.

The Shiite cleric also criticized the United States for being partial to Israel concerning the current Gaza crisis.

"The White House talks about the Zionist violence as a self- defense while it does not recognize that the Palestinian people have the right to defend their freedom and independence," he added.

Fadlallah also urged Arab and Islamic countries to support the Palestinians against the "Israeli plot", which he said "challenges the entire Arab world."

Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, Vice President of the Lebanese Higher Shiite Council, also urged the Arab League to hold an urgent meeting to put an end to the Israeli military move.

"I call on Arabs and the United Nations to take a firm stand against the situation in the Palestinian territories," he added.

The Israeli army started a broad ground operation into the Gaza Strip on early Wednesday in a bid to rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants on Sunday.

Lebanese leading Shiite cleric denounces Israeli Gaza offensive

[Shammu]

EU envoy voices hope for solving Gaza standoff soon
   

EU Middle East envoy Marc Otte voiced hope on Friday for soon solving the current standoff in Gaza over the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

"We hope that the developments in the next few hours and days will allow a lifting of the (Israeli) siege and allow the two sides to talk without the language of weapons," Otte said after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City.

The EU envoy described his talks with Abbas as "positive", adding that diplomatic efforts were under way in a bid to solve the Gaza crisis.

Mohamed Dahlan, Abbas' close ally who also attended the meeting, told reporters that he hoped a solution would be reached in coming days.

"Abbas has been seeking the help of the international community to pressure Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza," he added.

The Israeli army crossed the border and intruded into the southern Gaza Strip on early Wednesday in a broad ground operation to rescue the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants during a cross-border raid on Sunday.

It is the first massive Israeli ground offensive in Gaza since Israel withdrew troops and settlers from it last summer after 38 years of occupation.

The Israeli army has delayed entering the northern Gaza Strip, a move which analysts said is aimed to give more time for mediation.

EU envoy voices hope for solving Gaza standoff soon

[Shammu]

Venezuela condemns Israeli offensive in Gaza
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday condemned Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip and confirmed his solidarity with the Palestinian people.

"The state of Israel should respect the Palestinian people who have spent years fighting for their independence," he told a mass rally in Caracas.

"With all their military power and the support of the U.S. empire, Israel ... had started a new bombardment, invasion and incursion into the Palestinian territory," he said.

Chavez also condemned the kidnapping of an Israeli corporal, but said Israel had merely used the incident as a pretext to launch the raid.

On Wednesday, Israel sent thousands of troops, backed by warplanes and tanks, into Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "extreme actions" to bring home the 19-year-old soldier who had been snatched by Palestinian militants during a cross-border raid on Sunday.

Israeli airstrikes knocked out bridges and electricity to much of Gaza, with sonic bombs rocking Gaza City and the Gaza Strip's borders being sealed, according to reports.

Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya on Wednesday demanded Israel end its massive ground operation in the Gaza Strip. He also urged the UN Security Council to intervene to prevent an escalation of violence.

Venezuela condemns Israeli offensive in Gaza

[Shammu]

ICRC urges Israel to allow medicines into Gaza
Web posted at: 7/1/2006 7:35:28
Source ::: Reuters

GENEVA • The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), concerned about escalating Middle East violence, called yesterday for Israel to allow urgent medical supplies into Gaza.

Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC spokeswoman, said Israel was obliged under international law—including the Geneva Conventions—to ensure that humanitarian supplies reach Palestinian civilians.

Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza yesterday, setting ablaze the Interior Ministry office of the Hamas-led Palestinian government in a widening military effort to secure the release of a soldier captured last Sunday.

“We are negotiating with Israel to allow in humanitarian aid. These are essential medicines and medical supplies for the Palestinian Red Crescent,” Krimitsas said.

“We are concerned at the humanitarian consequences of the escalation of violence and closure of crossing points to Gaza, especially the Karni crossing,” she added.

Karni is Gaza’s main commercial crossing, through which virtually all trade between Israel and the impoverished coastal strip must pass.

The ICRC is also anxious to deliver food packages and household items for Palestinian families, some of whom have had their homes destroyed, according to Krimitsas.

“Under international law, Israel has the obligation to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza. It also has the duty to ensure that the vital supplies for the population, including food and medicine, are adequate,” she said.

Israeli strikes have knocked out bridges, water systems and a major power transformer in the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to 1.4 million Palestinians.

Hospitals, hard-hit by the loss of electricity, have to use generators for power, consuming precious fuel, Krimitsas said.

“We are worried about the fuel stocks. Palestinian authorities have estimated that they have enough for about 7 to 10 days,” she added.

ICRC urges Israel to allow medicines into Gaza

[Shammu]

Arabs denounce world leaders' inaction over Israel offensive   

CAIRO: Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territories drew fierce criticism yesterday from Arab countries which also lambasted world leaders' inaction amid fears of a regional conflict.
"This crazy adventure will light more than one big fire instead of containing a small issue over the abduction of the Israeli soldier," read an editorial in Egypt's state-owned Al-Ahram daily.
Israel carried out dozens of air raids on the Gaza Strip overnight with 5,000 troops waiting to move in to the impoverished territory as part of a plan to free an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants on Sunday.
"The government of (Israeli premier) Ehud Olmert insists on treading further than (his predecessor) Ariel Sharon, the symbol of Israeli heavy-handedness, because it is ready to fight its war against the Palestinians on other lands, Syria and Lebanon," Al-Ahram said.
Israel has also threatened to target Palestinian militant leaders in Syria and raised its state of alert along the Lebanese-Israeli border amid fears of an attack by Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
Egypt's state-owned Al-Gomhuria slammed Israel's detention of Hamas ministers and MPs as "proof that it is a state which (operates) outside the law ...
"The Israeli phenomenon has truly become a symbol of shame for the international community," it said in an editorial.
The head of the Egyptian parliament's foreign affairs committee warned on Thursday that his country's peace deal with the Jewish state might even be jeopardised by the offensive.
"Israel should not think that the peace reached with an Arab country can be guaranteed while it continues to perpetrate its crimes and aggressions," Mustafa al-Fekki told AFP.
Jordan, which along with Egypt is the only country in the region to have signed a peace deal with Israel, also warned of a broadening conflict after Israel threatened to target Hamas leaders in Syria.
"Jordan condemns the Israeli insistence on continuing its aggression against the Gaza Strip, its punitive actions and its arrest campaign and asks it to end this escalation," said government spokesman Nasser Jawdeh.
"We warn against increasing regional tension and we call on both parties to show restraint," Jawdeh was quoted as saying by the official Petra agency.
"True to form, Washington expressed support for the unleashing of the Israeli military machine against the Palestinian people under the usual pretext that 'Israel has the right to self-defence'," the Dubai-based Al-Bayan wrote in its leader.
Saudi daily Al-Watan blasted the US and the European Union, the former for "blaming Hamas for driving matters to the current situation" and the latter for "expressing deep concern about the deterioration of the security situation in the Middle East and calling for the release of the Israeli soldier."
Rather than secure the soldier's release, Israel's goal is "to drive the Hamas-led Palestinian government into a tight corner and force it to bow to its conditions", the paper added.
Qatar's Ash-Sharq called on Arab states to pressure Israel to stop its "barbaric aggression", withdraw its soldiers, "release the kidnapped and detainees from its prisons and rebuild the (Gaza) bridges and power stations it destroyed."
Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper said that "the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip has failed, despite its savage attacks on vital targets in this isolated area ...
"With each new strike-even the arrest of Hamas ministers and MPs-the Palestinians showed a unified stand, despite the lack of support from Arab states ... Europeans, the United States, and the United Nations," it said.


Arabs denounce world leaders' inaction over Israel offensive   

[Shammu]

Russia urges Israelis, Palestinians to stop violence, negotiate

01.07.2006, 03.46

UNITED NATIONS, July 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia sees only one way out of the current situation following Israeli intrusion in the Gaza Strip – an end to armed confrontation and the parties’ return to the fold of political settlement, to the negotiating table, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Konstantin Dolgov, said on Friday.

“The sole alternative to this will be the further, extremely dangerous destabilization of the situation in the region and the incredible expansion of its geographic boundaries,” Dolgov told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council convened at the request of a group of Arab states for considering the situation in the Palestinian territories.

The Russian official warned that “a large-scale operation by Israeli military in Gaza may cause heavy civilian casualties and complicate to the extreme the chances of achieving an effective Israeli-Palestinian settlement.”

He called on the Palestinian leadership “to take urgent measures to curb the extremists, put an end to attacks by terrorists, violence against Israeli citizens and strikes by Kassam rockets against Israeli territory.”

“First and foremost, though, the Israeli military taken hostage must be set free,” Dolgov said.

Without calling in question “Israel’s right and duty to protect the life and security its citizens” the Russian official at the same time pointed out that “it is impossible to cope with such tasks through collective punishment of the people of Gaza and other parts of Palestine.”

He described as “absolutely impermissible violations of the air space of other countries, in this particular case, of Syria, on the pretext of putting pressure on extremists.”

The Russian diplomat expressed particular concern over Israel’s detention and arrest of Palestinian government ministers and members of the Palestinian legislative assembly who “received their mandates as a result of free and democratic elections.”

In view of the exacerbating humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories Dolgov called for commissioning as soon as possible an interim international mechanism of assistance to the Palestinian people, approved by the quartet of international mediators, and in the first place to ensure stable supplies of fuel and medicines to Gaza.

Russia urges Israelis, Palestinians to stop violence, negotiate

[Shammu]

US: Israel has right to defend itself

UN Security Council does not discuss during emergency meeting demands made by Arab countries that it condemn Israel’s Gaza offensive, arrests of Hamas officials. Israel's deputy UN ambassador says ‘we’re doing all we can to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians, plan immediate steps to ease humanitarian situation. US Ambassador Bolton: United States believes prerequisite for ending conflict is that Syria, Iran end their role as state sponsors of terror

The UN Security Council did not discuss during Saturday’s emergency meeting demands made by several Arab countries that it condemn Israel’s Gaza offensive, which was launched in response to the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit, and the recent arrests of senior Hamas officials in the West Bank.

The discussion was summoned by Algeria, which heads the Arab bloc at the council, and was initiated by Iran in accordance with the Palestinian delegation to the UN.

Israel, for its part, insisted to an emergency session of the 15-nation council that its military presence was limited to a small part of southern Gaza and intended to prevent a kidnapped Israeli soldier from being smuggled out of the area.

Daniel Carmon, Israel's deputy UN ambassador said Israel was doing all it could to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians and planned immediate steps to ease the humanitarian situation on the ground.

Many Middle East leaders recognized that Khaled Mashaal was "the key to resolving this humanitarian crisis" through Shalit's safe return, he said, noting the many pleas for his release directed at the Syrian government.

Palestinian UN Observer Riyad Mansour painted a dire picture of conditions in Gaza, where Israeli forces have bombed water pipelines and the area's sole power plant and attacked the Interior Ministry with missiles.

“In the West Bank, Israel had kidnapped at least 64 Palestinians including eight Hamas Cabinet ministers and 24 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council,” he said.

"The council cannot continue to remain passive in the face of such a military aggression against a defenseless civilian population," Mansour said, calling for approval of a resolution condemning the incursion and urging the prompt withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of detained officials.

Earlier Mansour accused Israel of trying to re-conquer the Gaza Strip, saying that the IDF operation in which bridges and water infrastructures were destroyed left many Palestinians without food and water.

'Best way to resolve crisis: Shalit's release

“This is a crime against humanity, which is hurting 1.3 million Palestinians. The Gaza Strip is under siege, no one can enter or leave,” he said.

He added that “the Council must adopt an appropriate decision which will not allow aggressiveness.”

US ambassador to the UN John Bolton called for caution. "We should not undermine the limited credibility of the council by engaging in debate and rhetoric merely for their own sake," he said.

The best way to resolve the crisis was for Hamas to quickly and unconditionally release the captured Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, he said.

"The United States is of the firm view that a prerequisite for ending this conflict is that the governments of Syria and Iran end their role as state sponsors of terror and unequivocally condemn the actions of Hamas, including Shalit's kidnapping,” Bolton said.

'Israel's performance has been pretty good'

Syria also should arrest Hamas leader and "known international terrorist" Mashaal, who lives in Damascus, and shut down Hamas offices on its territory, he added.

Bolton, however, noted the Group of Eight industrialized nations, including the United States, had on Thursday expressed concern about the Palestinian officials' detention.

"We call on all parties to avoid action that can escalate this situation or harm innocent civilians while acknowledging Israel's unequivocal right to defend itself and the lives of its citizens," the US envoy said.

France called on Israel on Friday to free captured Palestinian ministers and said both sides must move to reduce escalating tensions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France fears that the situation will "feed an escalation and strengthen the most extreme elements, which is doubtless not Israel's objective."

Prior to the emergency meeting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for the fourth time in the last three days. Following the conversation State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, “Israel has taken actions it deems necessary for its defense. In terms of the protection of innocents, performance has been pretty good.”

He said that Israel’s arrest of the Palestinian Cabinet members from Hamas and dozens of Hamas officials “raises particular concerns.”

US: Israel has right to defend itself