Posted on 05/21/2007 1:15:51 PM PDT by rocksblues
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated dangerously Monday when Israel killed five militants in airstrikes and hinted Hamas political leaders could be their next target. A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli woman, inviting a harsh response.
The woman was the first Israeli to die in a Palestinian rocket attack since November.
Even before the fatal salvo, Hamas leaders feared for their safety. They turned off their cell phones, stayed out of official vehicles and reduced their movements as militant groups declared a state of emergency.
The precautions followed an Israeli airstrike late Sunday on the home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya that killed eight people. Israel denied al-Haya, who was not there at the time, was the target. But Israel's leaders said they would employ more drastic measures to stop daily barrages of rocket fire into Israel.
On Monday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad men, killing all of them. A spokesman for the group said they were targeted just after firing rockets into Israel.
Islamic Jihad, which has carried out hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide bombings in recent years, threatened "earthshaking" revenge.
Other airstrikes Monday killed a Hamas militant and hit suspected weapons-storage facilities, the Israeli army said. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a decision last week to start hitting back for the rocket barrages.
The Israeli strikes have not slowed the rockets. Militants launched at least 18 homemade rockets at Israel from Gaza on Monday, according to the military and Israeli media, bringing the total over the past week to more than 150. In addition to the death Monday, 16 Israelis have been wounded in the past week and the barrages have disrupted life in Israeli towns near Gaza.
At sundown, a Palestinian rocket hit a car and set it on fire in the Israeli town of Sderot, about a mile from GazaThe woman died en route to the hospital and two others were wounded in the attack. Deaths in rocket attacks often trigger a harsh Israeli response.
The salvo came during a meeting in Sderot between Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief. They were not harmed.
At a news conference in Sderot, Solana denounced the violence, and Livni called for international action "to put pressure on the terrorists and the Palestinian government and not compromise with terror."
Hamas pledged to "strike at the enemy anywhere in Palestine, whether with suicide attacks or operations against soldiers," said the group's military wing spokesman, Abu Obeida. Since 2000, Hamas has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, killing more than 250 people.
The Israeli Security Cabinet decided Sunday to step up measures against militants, prompting calls to target the Hamas political leadership.
"I say we have to put them all in the crosshairs," Cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a retired army general, told Israel Radio.
Government spokeswoman Miri Eisin pointedly did not rule out the possibility.
"What was decided yesterday in the security meeting is that all terrorists, including those that plan attacks, call for attacks or carry out attacks, are not immune," she said. "We cannot differentiate between those who call for attacks and those who carry out attacks."
In 2004, at the height of Palestinian-Israeli violence, Israel killed the founder of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, in airstrikes just weeks apart. Israeli officials have claimed the assassinations frightened the Hamas leadership and caused a significant reduction in the group's attacks, especially suicide bombings.
Now, however, Hamas dominantes the Palestinian government after sweeping to power in a 2006 election. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is the most visible Hamas political leader.
He and other Hamas leaders attended a mass funeral Monday for the Palestinians killed in the airstrike next to al-Haya's house. Addressing the crowd of tens of thousands, Haniyeh said they were being targeted "because you are supporters of resistance in Palestine." He called on his people to persist "until we achieve either victory or martyrdom."
Later, Hamas leaders went at least partially underground, turning off their cell phones to avert detection by Israel, avoiding official vehicles and restricting their movements.
"We have to be careful," Hamas official Ayman Taha said.
U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones urged Israel to do its best to avoid harming civilians.
"We constantly urge Israel to target its response as closely as possible at those who are responsible for the actions, and to avoid innocent collateral damage," he said.
The Israeli operations appear to have helped cement a truce between Hamas and Fatah, which have clashed in Gaza over the past week.
There was a feeling in Gaza that the Israeli retaliation was bringing the Palestinian factions together in the face of a common enemy - which might have been Hamas' intention when it ratcheted up its rocket fire at Israel and attacked a Gaza-Israel border crossing last week.
Internal violence flared briefly in Gaza on Monday when three masked men stormed a building in the town of Khan Younis and shot two men from Hamas, wounding one seriously, Hamas and security officials said. Hamas blamed Fatah-allied security men for the attack, but the incident did not spark more factional fighting.
So Hamas and the PLO targeting and killing each other in droves is a state of 'normal' in land of the Phillistines (the area mistakenly called by it's Latin name)? However when they attack their sovereign neighbor repeatedly and that neighbor kills the attackers (as verified by Hamas) then THAT is a "state of emergency".
You do not have to be completely insane to be an islamofascist, but they must have preferential hiring and large quotas for it.....
Dead pool alert on hamas
You know, Israel is the only Jewish nation on Earth. You’d think that their leaders might be at least passingly familiar with some of the multitude of nuggets of knowledge in the Talmud...starting with “Say little and do much.”
http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter1-15b.html
“Shammai said, make your Torah study fixed, say little and do much, and receive everyone with a cheerful countenance.”
Shammai next tells us to “say little and do much.” Rather than pumping yourself up with boastful and vainglorious promises, deliver on your promises, or better: deliver without the bragging. What counts is what you accomplish, not how much you promise.
SO, my advice to Israel is to kill the SOBs in Hamas, and afterward announce to the world what they’ve done...with a big smile on the face of the announcer.
“U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones urged Israel to do its best to avoid harming civilians.”
Did he also urge Hammas to do the same? Mr. Jones you embarrass me.
The arab style seems to be just the opposite.
As if it wasn't already dangerous? Or maybe it was safe when the "violence" was only Qassams being launched into Israel?
Remember, this is the same line of thought the anti-gun crowd and the left in general use when faced with the “would you shoot someone trying to kill you” question. As with this story, they hem and haw that the person who the killer is about to attack (replace the killer's victim with “Israel” or “USA”) will only “escalate” the situation by fighting back and defending themselves FROM ATTACK.
Hence, one reason why we never responded to the hundreds of major and minor terror attacks in the 90s. The left was afraid of “escalation” and the Islamists just laughed all the way from the mosque to the bombing.
Remember the above in 08.
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