An Israeli security man stands next a damaged house hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Kissufim, southern Israel, Saturday, March 19, 2011. Israel's foreign minister has filed a complaint at the U.N. after Palestinian militants in Gaza shelled Israeli border communities with dozens of mortars. Palestinian militants in Gaza frequently fire rockets and mortars at Israeli border communities but Saturday's barrage was much heavier than usual. (AP Photo)If it was 50 homes going up in Jerusalem, Obama would be having a coronary and blaming their construction for being an obstacle to peace, but it's only mortar shells aimed at Israeli civilians; nothing to worry about.
Gaza City (M&C) - Violence between Israel and militants of the Islamist Hamas movement flared on Saturday after nearly 50 mortar shells from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israeli communities.
Israeli warplanes and tanks responded, firing missiles and tank shells at four targets belonging to Hamas in the eastern Gaza Strip, Adham Abu Selmeya, Gaza's emergency chief, told reporters.
Selmeya confirmed that six Palestinian were wounded in the Israeli attack, while Israel Radio reported two Israelis injured. The two main Israelis towns hit in the attack were Sdot Negev and Eshkol.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, claimed responsibility for the renewed shelling.
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An Israeli man walks near a house, which was damaged by a mortar shell fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza and exploded in Kibbutz Kissufim, just outside the central Gaza Strip March 19, 2011. The Israeli military confirmed dozens of mortar shells had landed in Israel, one hitting a house at an agricultural community close to the border, and that two people were hurt making it one of the heaviest barrages launched by militants for month. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
Hamas Backed Now by Egyptian Government Strikes Israel with Mortars
The Netanyahu government has not informed the Israeli public about the ominous new winds blowing in fromCairo although they are already in motion: Cairo has given Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip de facto recognition, is about to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and is forging new understandings with Damascus and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad radicals based there.
The Egyptian military which has taken over in Cairo also turned a blind eye to at least two or three Iranian arms ships which, prior to the capture of the A.S. Victoria last week, made it through the Israeli sea blockade and delivered weapons, including C-704 shore-to-sea missiles at El Arish. Hamas will be free to go out and collect them through the reopened Rafah crossing.
It is now obvious that Cairo’s permission for two Iranian warships to transit the Suez Canal on Feb. 22, knowing that at least one was laden with weapons for extremists, was in line with the new Egyptian policy.
Israel had earlier allowed two Egyptian mechanized infantry brigades to enter Sinai and deploy along its Mediterranean coast, although this opened up the demilitarization clause of the 1979 peace treaty. Israel expected these troops to guard the gas pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan and block the Iranian arms deliveries to Hamas. But this did not happen.
This week, spokesmen on behalf of the pipeline company announced that Egyptian gas was again flowing. It was not. After Israel appealed to the White House and the heads of the Senate and House foreign relations committees to intercede with Egypt, just a trickle of gas reached the pipeline on the pretext that the pipeline needed testing after it was blown up by Hamas on Feb. 5.
The Egyptian charade is ably supported by the Israeli government and its defense spokesmen, who keep on assuring everyone that nothing has changed in Egyptian-Israeli peace relations.
According to debkafile’s Cairo sources, the live wire behind the Egyptian policy U-turn is the new foreign minister Nabil Alaraby. Only two weeks on the job, the first tasks he set himself were to lift the Egyptian-Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip, reopen the Fatah crossing to free passage of people and goods, downgrade relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, and open a new page with Syria.
During the two days US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent in Cairo (March 15-16), the Egyptian Supreme Military Council sent the Mahabharat (Secret Service) chief Gen. Mourad Mwafi to Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Assad received him for a long conversation Friday, March 19, on the third day of his visit.
Thursday, the Egyptian general met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. He was not put off by Meshaal’s participation in the Iran-backed Islamist radical summit in Khartoum in the first week of March and its approval of two missions — to bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Cairo and to step up terrorist attacks on Israel.
So far, Israeli forces have had no success in tracking down the Hamas perpetrators of the vicious murders of five family members at Itamar on March 11. Considering the precipitous downturn in Israel’s political and military situation and the ostrich-like reactions of its leaders, it looks very much as though Hamas is now dictating Israel’s security agenda. Hamas, backed to the hilt by Iran, Syria and now Egypt, feels it can safely intensify its warfare on Israel without being slapped down.
via crethiplethi.com
From the Jerusalem Post:
Civilian areas in southern Israel were heavily shelled by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza on Saturday morning, when more than 50 mortars were fired at the regional councils of Sha’ar Hanegev, Eshkol and Sdot Hanegev.
Two Israelis sustained light injuries by shrapnel and were transferred to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for a dozen of the mortars fired.
The IDF responded to the barrage of mortars with tank shells and helicopter attacks. Six Palestinians were reportedly injured in the strikes.
Following the attacks, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed diplomats in New York to lodge a complaint with the United Nations over the mortar barrage…
via solomonia.com
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 50 rockets into Israel on
Saturday, the heaviest barrage in two years, Israeli officials said.
Palestinian Hamas border policemen inspect a destroyed Hamas compound after an Israeli strike in Gaza City Photo: AFP/GETTY
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 50 rockets into Israel on
Saturday, the heaviest barrage in two years, Israeli officials said.
A Hamas official was killed and four civilians were wounded when Israel hit
back with tank fire and air strikes, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman
Adham Abu Salmia.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he will file a complaint at
the U.N. after Saturday's unusually large barrage of rockets. In a
statement, Lieberman said the Palestinians "primary goal is destroying
Israel."
The violence comes amid increasing calls for reconciliation between
Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his bitter rivals,
the Islamic militant group Hamas. Abbas is seeking U.N. recognition for a
Palestinian state by the fall and is currently lobbying for votes worldwide.
Hamas used force to disperse a reconciliation rally in Gaza. Some reporters
were later beaten up, threatened and briefly detained.
Israeli police spokesman Tamir Avtabi said Gaza militants fired 54 mortar
shells at Israeli border communities within 15 minutes. He said two Israeli
civilians were lightly wounded by shrapnel and residents were advised to
stay at home or in bomb shelters.
Hayim Yellin, head of the Eshkol region where the mortars exploded, said they
were of the same type as those intercepted on a cargo ship last week loaded
with weapons Israel said were sent by Iran to Palestinian militants in the
Gaza Strip.
Hamas acknowledged it launched some of the mortars — an unusual move as the
Islamic militant group does not usually take responsibility for such
attacks. Hamas fears triggering another Israeli invasion similar to a
three-week operation aimed at stopping daily Palestinian shelling two years
ago that killed about 1,400 Palestinians.
Israeli police said the mortar barrage Saturday was the heaviest since that
round of fighting.
Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence originating in Gaza, though
Hamas usually blames smaller groups for rocket fire.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said the shelling was in reaction to recent
Israeli airstrikes that killed militants. He warned Israel "not to test
Hamas' response."
Hamas ousted Fatah from Gaza in bloody street battles in 2007. Since then,
Hamas controls Gaza and the Western backed secular Fatah rules the West Bank.
Repeated efforts to reconcile the two rival governments have failed.
Palestinians have held rallies in Gaza and the West Bank in recent days
calling for the two sides to resolve their differences.
The internal Palestinian rift makes their vision of statehood harder to
achieve and hinders their ability to reach a peace agreement with Israel.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed last year over
disputes about Israeli construction in the West bank, areas Palestinians
want as parts of their future state.
via telegraph.co.uk
