Eliyahu Asheri, an 18-year-old Jewish settler from the West Bank settlement of Itamar, is seen in this undated photo released by his family on June 28, 2006. ISRAEL OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVES (Handout/Reuters)
Posted on 06/28/2006 3:07:14 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Airstrikes and sonic booms shook Gaza on Wednesday as thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks penetrated the impoverished coastal strip in a show of might designed to force Islamic militants to free a soldier whose fate has jolted Mideast politics.
In a bold warning to the country that shelters the political leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, Israeli warplanes buzzed the home of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Palestinians filled up on basic supplies after warplanes knocked out electricity, raising the specter of a humanitarian crisis. The Hamas-led government's information ministry warned of "epidemics and health disasters" because of damaged water pipes to central Gaza.
Witnesses reported heavy shelling around Gaza's long-closed airport, and Israeli missiles hit two empty Hamas training camps and a rocket-building factory. Warplanes flew low over the strip, rocking it with sonic booms and shattering windows. Troops in Israel backed up the assault with artillery fire.
No casualties were reported in the incursion, launched in southern Gaza. The area's normally bustling streets were eerily deserted, with people taking refuge inside their homes. Dozens of people living near the airport, which Israeli troops took over, fled to nearby Rafah.
There was no sign of ground troops moving into northern Gaza. But late Wednesday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets urging residents to avoid moving in the area because of impending military activity. Three gates in a border fence were open, in apparent preparation for the Israeli forces, and Israeli helicopters hovered at low altitudes.
Dozens of Palestinian militants — armed with automatic weapons and grenades — took up positions, bracing for attack.
Anxious Palestinians pondered whether the incursion, the first large-scale ground offensive since Israel withdrew from Gaza last year, was essentially a "shock and awe" display designed to intimidate militants, or the prelude to a full-scale invasion.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened harsher action, though he said there was no plan to reoccupy Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deplored the incursion as a "crime against humanity."
Further complicating the situation were militant claims that they had kidnapped two more Israelis: an 18-year-old Jewish settler in the West Bank named Eliahu Asheri and a 62-year-old Israeli from the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. Asheri's mother confirmed her son was missing, and police said they had a missing person's report that matched the older man.
The Israeli assault came as diplomatic efforts to free the 19-year-old Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, bogged down with Hamas demanding a prisoner swap and Israel refusing, demanding Shalit's unconditional release. Shalit was abducted by Hamas-linked militants on Sunday and is believed to be in southern Gaza.
"We won't hesitate to carry out extreme action to bring Gilad back to his family," Olmert declared.
Abbas and Egyptian dignitaries tried to persuade Assad, the Syrian president, to use his influence with Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas leader exiled in Syria, to free Shalit. Assad agreed, but without results, said a senior Abbas aide.
Israeli airplanes flew over a residence belonging to Assad near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria, military officials confirmed, citing the "direct link" between Syria and Hamas. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved in the low-altitude flight, and that Assad was there at the time.
Syria confirmed Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace, but said its air defenses forces the Israeli aircraft to flee.
As for Mashaal, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said the hard-line Hamas leader, who appears to be increasingly at odds with more moderate Hamas politicians in Gaza, is in Israel's sights for assassination.
"Khaled Mashaal, as someone who is overseeing, actually commanding the terror acts, is definitely a target," Ramon told Army Radio.
Israel tried to kill Mashaal in a botched assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997. Two Mossad agents injected Mashaal with poison, but were caught. As Mashaal lay in a Jordanian hospital, King Hussein of Jordan forced Israel to provide the antidote in return for the release of the Mossad agents.
The European Union on Wednesday urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "step back from the brink" and, echoing a statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to give diplomacy a chance.
The White House kept up its pressure on Hamas, saying the Palestinian government must "stop all acts of violence and terror." But the U.S. also urged Israel to show restraint.
"In any actions the government of Israel may undertake, the United States urges that it ensures that innocent civilians are not harmed, and also that it avoid the unnecessary destruction of property and infrastructure," said White House press secretary Tony Snow.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged restraint in a phone call to Olmert, saying he had spoken with Assad and Abbas and asked them to do everything possible to release the soldier. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called on the U.S. to assume its role as "honest broker" and to make the Palestinian-Israeli conflict its top priority in the Middle East.
Israel's concern goes beyond the rescue of the soldier and the negative precedent abducting soldiers would set. Olmert's government is alarmed by the firing of homemade rockets on Israeli communities around Gaza and support for Hamas in the Arab world, especially from Syria, which hosts the exiled Hamas leaders.
Hamas' negotiators' tentative acceptance Tuesday of a document that Abbas allies claimed implicitly recognizes Israel appeared beside the point a day later, with Israel saying no political agreement can substitute for Shalit's freedom.
On Wednesday, Palestinian militants braced for a major strike, fanning out across neighborhoods, taking up positions behind sand embankments and firing several rockets into Israeli communities bordering Gaza. Civilians stockpiled food, water, batteries and candles after warplanes destroyed the coastal strip's only power plant, and main roads linking north to south.
Gaza's economy was already in the doldrums before the Israeli assault, a result of five years of Israeli-Palestinian violence and an international aid boycott that followed Hamas' parliamentary election victory in January. The Israeli assault threatened to turn a bad situation into a disaster — underscoring the extent to which hopes have been dashed following the optimism that accompanied Israel's pullout.
Palestinian plans for high-rise apartments, sports complexes and industrial parks in lands evacuated by Israel have given way to despair, with rising poverty, increasingly violent relations with Israel and a looming threat of civil war.
The strike on the power plant early Wednesday knocked out electricity for about 750,000 residents, two-thirds of Gaza's population, said Walid Sayel, executive director of the strip's power company. Sayel said power will be out in Gaza for between three and six months, and that the power cut will affect hospitals and medical centers as well as households.
Areas in northern Gaza that get electricity from Israel still had power, and some southern areas were able to get power from Egypt. Generators relieved darkness in other places.
Yes, think of the children that are being brain washed to hate and told that the ultimate reward for them is to be suicide bombers of other children that differ from them.
Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1657493/posts
at least 8 Hamas leaders detained
Enough said.
Eliyahu Asheri, an 18-year-old Jewish settler from the West Bank settlement of Itamar, is seen in this undated photo released by his family on June 28, 2006. ISRAEL OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVES (Handout/Reuters)
ROTFLMAO. They were too busy changing their pants.
This was a message to mini-me Assad that they know where he is and can kill him whenever that so choose.
05:04 Hamas: Israel has launched open war on the Palestinian gov`t, people (Israel Radio)
05:03 Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead at Israel (Reuters)
05:10 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, missing since Sunday, found dead in Ramallah (Haaretz)
http://www.haaretz.com/
I understand exactly what you are saying. A person's "word" is meaningless. There is no concept of a verbal contract or even personal honor in business dealings. They will tell you anything you want to hear. (Just to be clear, it is not all Muslims who are that way --- but the Arabs generally are -- you can not trust them.)
But if their own daughter is even seen by a man, they will kill her without remorse to protect their "honor."
It is a medieval culture that should be avoided if at all possible. East is East and West is West. There is no trust between individuals there -- only lies. That is why they live like pigs.
The War to Keep the War
PJM in Sydney | June 28, 2006 5:57 PM
The Big Pharaoh links to a Jerusalem Post article which believes that Syrian-based Hamas leaders engineered the abduction of Gilad Shalit to draw the IDF into Gaza, thereby compelling rivals who would negotiate with Israel to return to its arms.
http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/06/the_war_to_keep_the_war.php
05:38 Militant arrested in connection with murder of Itamar teen (Israel Radio)
Hamas Leaders Arrested; Israeli Executed
06.28.2006, 08:48 PM
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/06/28/ap2847889.html
| 62 Hamas men arrested in W. Bank, including 30 ministers, lawmakers (Israel Radio) |
That's a couple busloads at least, Thanks for the info.
yeah, isn't that the truth.........answers so simple but never thought up in the simple minds of the Islamofacist who wears masks and carries a big gun............sticks and stones can break my bones but masks will never hurt me, are they all nuts, well, I would say, a one mind philosophy that originated around 500A.D. , they are still fighting the world to take it over, never, never, all those masks for what?
And where will they keep them all?
(I can just hear Amnesty International - GULAG!)
07:11 IDF gets go-ahead for wide-scale arrests of senior Hamas officials (Haaretz)
http://www.haaretz.com
07:31 IDF troops arrest 87 Hamas military and political leaders overnight (Haaretz)
Doubtful, the US would offer nothing, the Israelis would have to ask for assistance first.
Rice is urging calm and non-military solutions. I doubt that the USA would offer help to Israel militarily at this point, and if there was help, it would be in the form of ordnance and other material.The IAF already has every terrorist location in Gaza marked for precision bombing. They could take out 75% of the Hamas political leadership in an hour.
And that is just what they WILL do if the Israeli soldier is killed like Ashire was.
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