Posted on 07/26/2002 12:13:01 AM PDT by ppaul
JERUSALEM, July 25 (AFP) - Blasted internationally for its Gaza bombing raid which killed nine children, Israel was investigating its blunder Thursday as it moved to ease curbs on the Palestinians while remaining on full alert for retribution. But as Israel sought ways to loosen the noose on the West Bank without compromising its security concerns, a rabbi from a Jewish settlement in the north of the territory was shot dead in his car by Palestinian gunmen.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on a visit to France, said Monday's raid was proof positive that Israel "does not want a resolution, does not want peace."
The Egyptian leader lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, accusing him of wanting to "torpedo all initiatives" aimed at bringing Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table.
Palestinian militant groups have vowed bitter revenge for the bombing which killed the military leader of the Islamic radical group Hamas.
On Thursday, Rabbi Elimelher Shapira, 43, was shot dead in an attack on his car in the northern West Bank, while a passenger was seriously injured. It was the first killing of an Israeli since Monday's devastating air strike.
Israeli security services said they were holding an internal inquiry into the raid, in which one of the military's F-16s dropped a one-tonne bomb on a residential area of Gaza City, killing Salah Shehade, who topped Israel's most wanted list, his bodyguard, and 13 civilians.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the devastating bombing a "mistake," although Sharon, who personally approved the raid, called it one of the air force's most successful operations.
Israel's olive branch failed to staunch the flow of criticism from the international community. A furious Arab League in Cairo called for the United States to stop selling fighter bombers to Israel.
Arab ambassadors agreed to "urge all states to stop the export of weapons, particularly the F-16, to Israel, which uses it to strike Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "We are concerned about the incident," adding that Washington was constantly reviewing the manner in which Israel usef military hardware provided by the United States.
With even Washington calling the strike to kill Hamas' military chief "heavy handed," Israel said it was ready to unblock desperately needed Palestinian funds withheld since the start of the uprising 22 months ago.
An official said Israel dropped its demand that a mechanism be set up to monitor how Palestinian customs revenue from goods passing through Israeli ports is used, frozen for fear it would find its way to militants attacking Israel.
The first disbursement of 14 million dollars will be made at the beginning of next week, the official said.
Israel holds around 420 million dollars of Palestinian funds, which the Palestinians say is vital to finance the administrative and security reforms demanded by the world community.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said the decision was made under "very heavy pressure" by the United States to relieve the conditions in the reoccupied West Bank, where the Israeli army has kept around 800,000 Palestinians under a regime of curfews for more than a month.
The invasion, which Israel says is to stamp out militant networks, has further crippled a Palestinian economy already on its knees after almost two years of blockade.
One Palestinian official who asked not to be named called Israel's conciliatory gesture "propaganda" and said no official promises of unblocking the money had been made.
In another move to cool tempers, Peres said Israel was studying a Palestinian proposal for Israeli forces to withdraw from West Bank areas that have remained calm and for Palestinian security services to move in to prevent further attacks.
The plan is expected to start with Hebron and Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.
The dovish foreign minister also met Thursday with a team of foreign diplomats tasked with advising Palestinian officials on the reforms expected of them by the international community, a high-ranking Israeli official said.
"This was a first contact to examine what Israel could do to help things move forward," the official said on condition of anonymity after the Tel Aviv meeting.
But Israel had a great deal of work to do to repair the damage from Monday. Israel was roundly condemned Wednesday in the UN Security Council for the strike, with the Palestinian envoy calling for war crimes charges to be filed in the International Criminal Court.
Link to article HERE.
Cannot believe it!
They actually used the "A" word.
Betcha a headline writer is in deep doo-doo.
For once, however, truth in a media headline.
Israeli security services said they were holding an internal inquiry into the raid, in which one of the military's F-16s dropped a one-tonne bomb on a residential area of Gaza City, killing Salah Shehade, who topped Israel's most wanted list, his bodyguard, and 13 civilians.
Well, they finally got the mass murderer. But nobody pats Israel on the back for that. They did humanity a favor. It is not their fault that he used civilians as his "bodyguard". The blame belongs squarely on the terrorists - not Israel.
Do these two talk?
You know, it gets more confusing by the day, doesn't it? Things seems all turned upside down to me. So just imagine the information that the general public is digesting. That thought scares me to death.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, July 26 — Israeli tanks entered Gaza City early Friday, residents said, approaching a crowded neighborhood in the first military activity since the Israeli bombing of a house killed a Hamas leader and 14 other people. Witnesses said seven Israeli tanks, two armored personnel carriers and a jeep moved about 1½ miles inside Gaza City, firing machine guns.
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Uh, I guess you hit that nail right on the head!
My view entirely. The pali pigs shouldn't bank on a change in tone from the Israelis. The rag heads had this hit and more coming. The Europeans are nothing more than the same old nazis their parents and grandparents were. Their press reflects their views as nazis.
What an understatment. Israeli school children murdered, teenagers killed at Pizzaria, mothers and babies murdered intentionally and the world yawns.
A murdering animal responsible for these and other actions surrounds himself with children for proctection and a few are killed as colateral damage and the world, including us, absolutely freaks out. The world is NUTS.
Let me tell you why ...although i think your question was essentially rhetorical and you already knew the answer.
Basically when a force for good and a force for evil collide several things occur. First of all it can be observed that the force for evil can take any form ....by this i mean it can be evil PLUS it can even take the form of good. A good example of this analogy is the Palestinian terrorists and other Jehadi groups who will have the callous tendency to go and murder scores of Israeli civilians ....but once things get a little too hot for them (that is when the IDF starts to attack them and blow them up) the jehadi terrorists turn face and start pleading to the international community that they are being 'oppressed, suppressed and repressed.'
That is why you can see most (if not all) terrorist groups having 'political parties' to espouse their 'cause' and make themselves look valid and 'righteous.' This is also why groups like Hamas have 'Civil' units that spend their time building hospitals and schools in Gaza and other Palestinian hubs. They kill people left right and center, yet have the temerity to not only say they are civil but actually go as far as performing public service acts to make themselves have a sugar coated facade. This evil will perform the acts of evil .....yet at the same time have fronts of civility, and furthermore if things get too 'hot' it will run to the international community screaming bloody murder!
Good on the other hand has to be good. It is expected to be good, and has to stick up to a much stricter standard. Good cannot be caught in consort with evil! Which is weird for Israel. Israel has the vital obligation to protect itself as a nation as well as its citizens! It has to ensure that subversive as well as extremist elements do not rise up and threaten both its sovereignity and its citizens! Thus Israel has to ensure that it 'neutralizes' people like that Hamas leader since letting him continue to walk about would probably mean the death of innocent Israelis in the coming weeks. That is a fact!
However when Israel defends itself by taking that monster out what happens? The monster's fellow cronies go running out to the international scene claiming Israel is being 'bad' and asking for retribution from the UN and even the US (it hurt seeing the White House speak out against that strike when Israel really did not have a wide variety of choices).
Israel tries to do what any nation that cares for its safety would do, and what happens! It has commited 'atrocities.' Yet when Hamas, Hezbollas, Islamic Jihad ad infinitum slay dozens with homicide bombers what happens in the international community? Simply this: people shake their heads, mutter how things in Israel are going to the dogs, and jot down the Jewish deaths in their statistical charts for later 'analysis.'
When Palestinian civilians die it is an atrocity. When Jewish civilians die it is 'an unfortunate attack on several people by fringe extremists belonging probably to an Islamic matyrdom freedom group.' Actually when you look at televised discussions between Israeli and Palestinian politicians an interesting trend can be noticed .....the Palestinians will spout forth endless rhetoric and vitriol about how Israel has 'slaughtered' myriads of Palestinians ....YET when the Palestinian officials are asked to explain why Fatah and Hamas go forth and kill Israeli civilians their explanation is either to:
1) Say that Israel kills many more Palestinians than Hamas kills Israelis and it is all the Israelis fault.
2) Claim that the reason is because they are engaged in a 'war' with settlers and thus the Israeli civilains are actually 'combatants' because they have settled in Palestinian land.
Thus according to them Israeli citizens are 'combatants' and thus viable targets; but Palestinians are all innocents (including the members of Hamas and Islamic jihad) and any Israeli attacks are 'racist, genocidal and backed by nefarious people with links to the US.' And thus they run to the UN (and US even, believe that) with stories of how the Israelis are commiting 'war crimes' and such.
Anyway going back to the good/evil analogy. Evil can be evil ....or it can be good. As long s it accomplishes its objectives. Good on the other hand, true good, has to stay true to its name. And in the process it will be much maligned by evil. The Palestinians are like a rabid mongrel that goes around making a mess of everything, barking wildly and generally being a public nuissance. However it meets up with a stronger force (in this case the Israeli 'leopard') and once it sees it will get thrashed what does the (suddenly deflated) pooch do? It goes off running to its master with its tail between its legs crying bloody murder and making the leopard to be the villain!
(By the way the reason i used the leopard analogy is because i spent many years in Africa where i noticed that in the areas next to National Parks leopards seem to have a GREAT liking for dog flesh, and it is not unusual for a leopard to come streaking down a tree, grab a dobberman, alsatian or rodgeback, and with the dog in its jaws amazingly leap up several branches up the tree and disappear).
Just some extra info. :D
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says the Hamas terrorist assassinated by Israel in a controversial Gaza air raid on Tuesday was a ticking bomb. "We call it mega-terror," Ben Eliezer said, adding that Israel had intelligence information that the plan was to pack a ton of explosives into a truck and blow it up in Israel. He said hundreds of people might have been killed in the biggest terror strike Israel has ever seen.
Many innocent civilians in Israel needed this to be done. PERIOD
AFP can't even bring themselves to print the dead-rabbi's real name, EliMelech which means God is King.
Especially Shimon Peres himself...how many dead Israeli's are piled up on that terrorist-enabler's doorstep?
Even with all the mass-murdering Islamists surrounding them, the greatest evil of all is sitting in their midst: Peres.
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