Posted on 10/28/2005 11:33:19 AM PDT by Alouette
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun on Friday, killing a Palestinian militant in the latest in a series of violent confrontations that have all but buried peace efforts.
Expressing growing frustration with the Palestinian leadership, Israel's defense minister dismissed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as "a one-man show" bereft of support from his own people and said he saw little chance of reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians in the present generation. A Palestinian negotiator rejected the pessimistic outlook, and insisted the Palestinians were partners for peace.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted a white Subaru carrying militants on a mission to fire rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group affiliated with Abbas' governing Fatah party, said an Israeli drone targeted the car carrying its members after the rockets were already fired.
"The occupation will pay a heavy price for this crime," said an Al Aqsa spokesman, going by the code name Abu Ahmed, referring to Israel.
The dead man was identified as Majid Natat, 28, of the Gaza town of Beit Lahia, where many rocket attacks against Israel have been launched.
The week of bloodletting began Monday when Israeli troops killed the top Islamic Jihad gunman in the West Bank. An Islamic Jihad revenge bombing Wednesday killed five Israelis in the central Israeli town of Hadera.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened a "broad and relentless" offensive against militants, including mass arrests and airstrikes, and declared he would not meet Abbas until the Palestinian leader took "serious and tangible action" to crack down on militants.
On Thursday evening, in Gaza's Jebaliya refugee camp, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad members, killing them and three bystanders. Hospital officials said 15 people were wounded.
Among those killed was Shadi Mohanna, Islamic Jihad's field commander for northern Gaza. Israel said Mohanna was responsible for rocket barrages on Israeli towns and for recruiting attackers.
About 20,000 mourners, among them hundreds of masked gunmen, turned out for the funeral Friday, parading the bodies on stretchers from a mosque near Jebaliya. Islamic Jihad threatened "a painful, immediate response" to the missile strike.
Late Thursday and early Friday, Israeli helicopters repeatedly fired missiles at northern Gaza, targeting areas where militants fire rockets. Electricity was knocked out in several places. In the West Bank, Israeli troops rounded up 12 Islamic Jihad activists.
A rocket and a mortar fired from Gaza fell on empty ground in southern Israel on Friday, causing no damage, the military said.
The rise in violence prompted the U.S. to urge Israel to respond cautiously to militant attacks. "Israel, of course, has a right to defend itself ... (but) we also encourage Israel ... to consider the consequences of its action on ... achieving the overall goal ... (of) two sides living side-by-side in peace and security," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Since Israel's pullout from Gaza last month, it has pledged not to tolerate any attacks from Gaza. In comments published in Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, was ineffective and isolated from his people.
"Abu Mazen is a one-man show," Mofaz was quoted as saying. "Behind him, there is nothing, only emptiness. Governmental vacuum. In fact, there is no one to talk to. Abu Mazen and his colleagues in the Palestinian leadership ... haven't done a thing so far. The Palestinian Authority is not an address for us."
Mofaz said the best that could be expected was another round of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. "I'm not at all sure that we can ever reach a peace agreement with the present Palestinian leadership," Mofaz told the paper. "We shall have to wait for the next generation."
While Israeli leaders have by and large avoided personal criticism of Abbas, Mofaz's comments are in line with Sharon's preference for a long-term interim deal that would allow Israel to avoid dealing with explosive issues, such as the fate of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Mofaz's statements were symptomatic of Israeli contempt for Palestinian institutions, bred by years of Israeli occupation.
"I don't think Israel's problem is with this generation or that generation of Palestinians or this person or that person, Israel's problem is with the whole Palestinian people," he said. "My call to Mr. Mofaz is that he should respect the democratic structures of the Palestinians and I would tell him he always has a partner here."
In other news, some 200,000 Muslims prayed at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest shrine, on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Israeli troops initially barred entry of all worshippers from the West Bank, which, like Gaza, had been sealed Thursday after the Hadera bombing. This provoked some of the 5,000 Palestinians waiting at an Israeli checkpoint north of Jerusalem to try to break through, and Israeli border police fired stun grenades and tear gas in response, border police spokeswoman Sarit Philipson said.
Later, men over 45 and women of all ages were allowed to reach Jerusalem, Philipson said.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
One down, 1 million to go.
Wonderful news!
Funny how the Leftist media avoids mentioning that the strikes were retaliatory following Palestinian terrorist attacks.
The Leftists gleefully ignore suicide bombers as "burying peace efforts," and condemn the Israelis for making the world a better place by eliminating those terrorists.
What a screwed-up world we got here.
I know the Israelis are quite good at targeting, but they have gone about 5 for 5 in recent days and in areas where the IDF does not have a presence.
Could Abbas' and his people actually be helping them? It makes sense on several levels.
He's dead, Jim.
The people from Gaza are not even out of hotels yet, and things are back to bloody normal. You just cannot buy off killers.
Only level it does not makes sense at is it is Abbas's guys getting waxed, and who did the initial terror attack against the falafal stand.
At this point I have given up on all efforts to make peace with these Arab nutjobs, they need to be wiped from the face of the earth for the sake of mankind. Remember how they whined about the sanctity of Ramadan when the US might have retaliated against them? How holy and important it was not to defile the "holy" month with violence?
Is shredding shoppers with satchel charges is not violence?
I think they are just cowards, looking for any excuse, skirt or child to hide behind.
Is Peres finally saying to use an "iron hand" against terrorists?
Heaven forbid. It's right-wing religious Jews.
..........................................
The only way to deal with "Palestinian" "Militants" (a.k.a. Arab terrorists.)
Yes but that assumes that Abbas is in control of the Fatah party and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. It appears to me that he is in charge of Jack and Shi* and Jack left town.
It would not be the first time that an Arab politician used someone else to eliminate his rivals or people who will not plan ball. He could be consolidating power and Israel doesn’t mind accommodating him.
I know, probably just wishful thinking on my part hence the tinfoil hat.
Agree
I agree. Israel needs to ignore everyone (including this government) and just clean out all the pali-scum.
Abbas would never ask the Israelis to help him eliminate his rivals. That would be "humiliating" and it would also make him a "collaborator."
Too bad they stopped at two missles. Truckloads would be better.
The targeted assasinations seem to work well. The last time Israel was doing this the Palis were crying like little girls for it to stop.
Yes, but it is still a good rumor to spread. No down side.
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