Three children shot dead in Gaza

BBC ^ | Dec 11th 2006 | Staff

[Cardhu]

Three children shot dead in Gaza

The car was reportedly hit by more than 70 bullets

Gunmen in Gaza City have shot dead the three sons of an intelligence chief linked to the Palestinian party Fatah.

One adult was also killed in the attack which took place in a street crowded with children on their way to school.

The boys' father was named as Baha Balousheh, who led a crackdown on the now-ruling Hamas movement 10 years ago.

The BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says the motive is unclear but Mr Balousheh's position means he would have made many enemies.

Tensions between Fatah and the Hamas government have frequently led to gun battles in the streets of Gaza that have killed dozens of people.

The attack came a day after gunmen shot at Interior Minister Saeed Seyam's convoy in Gaza. Mr Seyam, who is a senior Hamas leader, was unharmed in that incident.

Pandemonium

The attack happened as children were arriving at nine schools which line Palestine Street in Gaza City's central Rimal district.

The gunmen fired more than 70 bullets at the vehicle in which Mr Balousheh's children, aged between six and 10, were travelling. At least two other children were hurt.

Inside the white vehicle with its blacked out passenger windows, the seats and a school bag were covered in blood.

We saw fire coming from one car. We started screaming and children started running Fadwa Nabulsi Schoolgirl

There were scenes of pandemonium as hundreds of children and parents ran for cover from the gunfire.

Fatah supporters gathered in the streets vowing revenge for the attack.

Fadwa Nabulsi, a 12-year-old interviewed by the Associated Press, said she was outside a school with her nine-year-old brother, Wael, when the shooting started.

"We saw fire coming from one car. We started screaming and children started running.

"I was crying, and I lost Wael for about half an hour. Then I found him hiding in a falafel shop. I'm trying to find my father to take us back home," she said.

'Ugly crime'

Palestinian police in the area have been trying to help children locate their parents and Gaza City's Shifa hospital has been flooded with inquiries from concerned families.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum condemned Monday's attack as an "awful, ugly crime against innocent children".

He blamed elements who wanted to undermine Palestinian interests by creating chaos and confusion.

Hamas won a landslide victory in elections in January but its funding has been choked off by Western donors because it refuses to renounce violence and recognise Israel.

Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been considering a request by his allies to hold early elections to resolve an impasse in efforts to form a unity government.

Hamas denounced the proposal to hold another election as a "coup against democracy".

[Cardhu]

Al Jazeera reports that the mourners haved open fire on the Government offices.

[ShadowDancer]

This is horrid regardless of what side you stand on.

[Lurker]

It's time for Israel to wall off the entire Gaza Strip from north to south.

These 'people' are Egypts problem.

L

[dirtbiker]

Another example of love and tolerance from the "religion of peace"....

[Zeroisanumber]

Terrible.

[Cardhu]

It is a terrible tragedy with children deliberately targeted.

[Dahoser]

Where's Jimmah? Shouldn't he and Billdo be leading their beloved UN in a full investigation of this atrocity? Where are the Muslims rioting in the streets around the world? Where is CAIR?

The crickets sure chirp loud in these parts.

[Cardhu]

The boys' father was named as Baha Balousheh, who led a crackdown on the now-ruling Hamas movement 10 years ago.

These people will end with a civil war and then blame the Israelis.

[IDF_Fighter]

Works for me.

[Cardhu]

It certainly would solve the problem.

[Lurker]

You folks need to wall off the entire Gaza Strip and then tell the Egyptians you've washed your hands of them.

Oh and mention that the next time a rocket comes from Gaza the Israeli response will target Cairo.

L

[IDF_Fighter]

The problem is, they don't value life so unless you're glassing the place, they don't care who dies.

[Cardhu]

Three children and an adult have been killed and four people wounded in a drive-by shooting in the Rimal district of Gaza City.

As children were going to school, armed men fired on a car killing three of the children of Baha Balousheh, a senior Palestinian intelligence officer and Fatah loyalist.

There were no claims of responsibility.

The boys were aged between six and eight. An adult was also killed.

Fadwa Nabulsi, 12, who witnessed the scene, said: "I was walking with my young brother, Wael, when shooting took place... We started screaming and children started running.

"I lost Wael ... but I found him hiding in a falafel shop. I'm trying to find my father to take us back home."

Palestinian police tried to calm children at the scene. After news of the shooting spread, hundreds of parents went to Gaza City's Shifa hospital.

After the incident, Fatah supporters tried to close Palestine Street, which has nine schools on it, shouting: "God help us take revenge against the killers."

Later, they drove towards the parliament buildings, firing guns and waving Fatah flags as they called for the Hamas-led legislative council to resign.

Elsewhere in the city, other Fatah supporters were blocking off main roads with burning tyres. Some have called for a general strike.

While Gaza has regularly suffered violence, a direct attack on children is unprecedented.

Tension in Gaza has heightened in recent weeks after Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, raised the possibility of calling early parliamentary and presidential elections.

Many in the Hamas-led government have said Abbas does not have the authority to dissolve parliament.

The European Union and the US suspended all direct aid to the Palestinian government after the Hamas-led administration was elected in March.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

[Lurker]

so unless you're glassing the place

That's my Plan B.

L

[hunter112]

Works for me, but the US doesn't have the stones to glass anyplace, they should have done it to Fallujah long ago. So--the question is, do the Israelis have the courage to do it, absent a major attack on their cities? I'd have hoped so, but the way the last war was fought this summer told me that perhaps they don't, with the present leadership.

In any case, when one's enemy is in the process of destroying itself, it's best not to interfere.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Well, if it isn't the Jooos fault, it's Bush's fault. If only American foreign policy were even-handed, the Palestinians wouldn't act like savages. Yup, that's what is what.

[Alouette]

He blamed elements who wanted to undermine Palestinian interests by creating chaos and confusion.

I guess the IDF wasn't in the neighborhood.

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[Bulldawg Fan]

If only we better understood Muslims, we would certainly realize their tactics are designed to bring peace....(sarc)

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

[dennisw]

Muhammad was an assassin and a terrorist. His followers merely emulate him as the Koran commands them to do. Assassinating children? No problem! Saddam used to kill children to terrorize parents into submission

"I have been made victorious with terror" - Muhammad -
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-44,GGLG:en&q=%22I+have+been+made+victorious+with+terror%22

[bert]

Kill Gaza'ns, not Egyptians. The problem is in Gaza not Cairo. Enlarging the scope is counter prodictive. Killing the fish in the Gaza barrel is the most productive target scheme.

[Lurker]

Those 'people' (I used that word very, very loosely here) are Egyptians.

Gaza has been given back to Egypt by way of a peace treaty.

Therefore the 'people' in Gaza are, and always have been, Egyptians.

There is no such thing as a 'palestinian'. It's a fiction.

L

[bert]

Egypt knows they are bad and has forsaken them. Let them sink or swim on their own.

[50sDad]

I can't keep them stright in these backwater third-world hellholes...is Fatah the old guard, "attack the Jews but claim we seek peace" party, or is it the newer "attack the Jews and spew hatred openly" party?

[libstripper]

If they have a civil war I just hope it's so bloody that presious few Plais will remain alive afterwards.

[Cardhu]

I hope you don´t mind Buck but I have asked the Admin to remove your post as it is almost unreadable and replace it with this extract and a link.

The True Identity of the So-called Palestinians

In this essay I would like to present the true origin and identity of the Arab people commonly known as "Palestinians", and the widespread myths surrounding them. This research is intended to be completely neutral and objective, based on historic and archaeological evidences as well as other documents, including Arab sources, and quoting statements by authoritative Islamic personalities.

There are some modern myths -or more exactly, lies- that we can hear everyday through the mass-media as if they were true, of course, hiding the actual truth. For example, whenever the Temple Mount or Jerusalem are mentioned, it is usually remarked that is "the third holy place for muslims", but why it is never said that is the FIRST Holy Place for Jews? It sounds like an utterly biased information!

In order to make this essay better comprehensible, it will be presented in two units:

·1) Myths and facts concerning the origin and identity of the so-called Palestinians;

·2) Myths and facts regarding Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.

Read more at:

The True Identity of the So-called Palestinians

[Cardhu]

Lol, it is confusing isn´t it?

[cookcounty]

"While Gaza has regularly suffered violence, a direct attack on children is unprecedented."

The Wall is so effective that this reporter has plumb forgot about suicide bus-bombings.

Oh I get it: Israel has suffered direct attacks on children, whereas Gaza has not. Correct.