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IDF kills 20 Palestinians in Gaza, W. Bank, including 5 children
Haaretz Staff and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 2/28/2008
Israeli security forces struck a range of targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing a total of 20 Palestinians, including five children. Meanwhile, militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets at southern Israel, striking as far north as Ashkelon. The deaths come a day after IDF troops killed 12 Palestinians and an Israeli was killed in a Qassam rocket strike on a college outside Sderot. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that Israel’s response to the deadly barrage of Qassam rockets would be particularly harsh. Another Israeli airstrike late Thursday hit an electric company vehicle in Khan Younis, killing two workmen, medics said. The Israeli military said they hit a car carrying militants. Late Thursday, an Israel Air Force missile strike hit an electric company vehicle in Khan Yunis, killing two workmen, medics said. more..
Israeli forces bomb and destroy the main Medical Relief building in Gaza City
Palestine News Network 2/28/2008
The PMRS head office was housing the main PMRS clinic in the Gaza Strip, the main pharmacy, an ambulance, a loan centre for handicapped people and all the administrative offices. The ambulance, all the medicine and most of the equipment have been destroyed. The building itself is badly damaged and cannot be used again without extensive repairs. The attack also hit a nearby residential building, killing five month old Mohamad Nasser Al Borey in his family home. Palestinian Legislative Council member and President of the PMRS, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, declared "the collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza reached unbearable levels. This latest attack destroyed a key part of the already badly hit Gazan health system. Israel has lost all sense of humanity, and the silence of the international community enables its murderous escalation against a people imprisoned in a giant jail." more..
Death toll in Gaza reaches 27
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/28/2008
Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday evening that Rami Khalifah 25 died of wounds he received during earlier Israeli shelling of Gaza city. Meanwhile Amjad Al Sakani, 12, was found dead after being shot by the Israeli army in Rafah city in the southern part of the Gaza strip. On Thursday evening one Palestinian civilian was killed and another four injured when Israeli jet fighters shelled a police station in Gaza city. Four Palestinian children were killed and one critically injured when Israeli jet fighters shot several missiles at civilians in Jabalia town, located in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon. Medical sources identified the four as, Mohamed Hamudah, 7, Ali Dardonah, 8, Omer Dardonah, 14, and his brother Deib, 11. Palestinian sources also reported that a separate air raid targeted a civilian vehicle in Beit Hanoun, also in the northern part of the Strip. more..
Teenage Egyptian Bedouin girl shot to death near Israeli border
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 2/29/2008
A teenage Bedouin girl was fatally shot on Thursday in the Sinai Peninsula near Egypt’s border with Israel, an Egyptian security official and medics said. The girl, identified as 12-year-old Samah Nayyef Abu Garad, was hit in the head by a bullet, eyewitnesses and the security official said. "She was shot by a stray bullet from the other side of the border (Israel), due to the ongoing fighting today between the Palestinians and Israelis," the Egyptian security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. A witness said Abu Garad was shot while standing near her home in the village of Umm Ammad, about 400 meters from the Israeli-controlled border point of Kerem Shalom and close to the Gaza Strip. Imad Kharboush, head of the emergency unit at el-Arish hospital,... more..
Children killed in new Israeli raid
Al Jazeera 2/28/2008
An Israeli missile attack has killed at least two Palestinian youngsters playing football in the Gaza Strip, during an intensified Israeli military operation that has left at least 22 people dead since Wednesday. Medics said the youths, all under the age of 16, were killed in an Israeli air assault in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday. They said another child was severely injured while playing in a field in the town of JabaliyaIn an earlier raid, Israel killed three Palestinian fighters. Hospital officials said a fighter from Hamas and two from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) group were killed on Thursday. Two fighters from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were also killed by Israeli air raids in Nablus , in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The Israeli military confirmed the attack, saying they hit command posts and weapons manufacturing and storing sites. more..
IOF troops kill five Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza and Nablus
Palestinian Information Center 2/28/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The IOF troops killed at dawn Thursday five Palestinian fighters three of them during air strikes on east of the Shujaia neighborhood in Gaza and the other two during clashes with invading IOF troops in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus; whereas, a Palestinian child was proclaimed dead after he sustained wounds during an earlier Israeli strike on Gaza. With these new deaths, the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation during 24 hours rose to 17 victims including four children one of them a five-month-old baby. In Gaza, Palestinian security and medical sources announced on the same day the death of Luay Qunaita, a fighter of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and the injury of another after they were targeted by Israeli warplanes east of Shujaia. Another Israeli air strike on Shujaia in Gaza killed two Palestinian fighters affiliated... more..
IDF kills 5 gunmen in Gaza, Nablus
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/28/2008
Three armed Palestinians killed in army strike in northern Gaza’s Sajaiya neighborhood early Thursday morning. IDF forces operating in Nablus’ Balata refugee camp kill two other militants, local sources report - Three Palestinian gunmen were killed early Thursday in an IDF strike in the Gaza neighborhood of Sajaiya. Two of the men killed belonged to the Popular Resistance Committees’ military wing and the third was a Hamas militant. Palestinian sources reported that another gunman was wounded in the strike. An IDF spokesman said that army forces operated against armed militants in the northern Gaza Strip. Later Thursday, the IDF struck a Qassam launching cell near the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Shortly after the strike, three Qassams were fired from Gaza and landed in open fields in Israel’s western Negev region. more..
Olmert threatens to assassinate Hamas political leaders
Palestinian Information Center 2/28/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli premier Ehud Olmert has threatened to assassinate the Hamas Movement’s political leaders, adding that "no one was immune". Olmert, who is currently visiting Japan, described the situation in the south of occupied Palestine as a real war because of the Palestinian resistance’s missiles fired at Israeli targets adjacent to the Gaza Strip in response to Israeli atrocities. Hebrew press reported that Israeli war minister Ehud Barak telephoned Olmert and informed him of the IOF attacks on the Palestinian people and discussed with him means of retaliating to the killing of an IOF soldier in Sderot. Meanwhile, a senior IOF officer said on Wednesday evening that his forcers would react strongly to the killing of the soldier and to the continued fall of Qassam missiles on Sderot and western Negev. more..
Israel vows unprecedented response
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/29/2008
A senior defense official said last night that the Israeli response to the rocket fire on Sderot and Ashkelon is expected to be particularly harsh, and that Israel does not intend to let pass Hamas’ decision to escalate its offensive measures. Late last night, Israeli jets blasted a government building in Gaza. Palestinian health officials said a baby was killed in the attack, and 30 people were injured. Witnesses said the building was empty. The IDF said all targets that were attacked were centers of terrorist activity. Military sources told Haaretz that in the next few weeks the IDF will complete its preparations for a major ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. However, they added that the final decision on a wide-scale incursion is in the hands of the government, and no decision has been made yet. Discussion over entering Gaza ratcheted up yesterday following the death... more..
Barak: Wide ground operation in Gaza is ’real and tangible’
Amos Harel and Barak Ravids and Reuters, Ha’aretz 2/28/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that a large scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip is a "real and tangible" response to the escalation of violence in southern Israel, with Gaza militants firing an unusually high number of Qassam and Grad rockets into Ashkelon, Sderot and western Negev communities in recent days. Barak spoke one day after a 47-year-old college student was killed outside Sderot as some 50 rockets pounded southern Israel. "We must prepare for continued escalation," the defense minister said. "We are not eager [to carry out a large-scale ground operation in Gaza], and not shying away from it," the defense minister said. "There is a wide range of considerations regarding the timing, which we can’t share with the public or with Hamas." more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 2/29/2008
Dozens of public shelters in Sderot are to open partially today to allow residents to take cover during Qassam attacks. The shelters, which have been renovated for long-term stays, have remained locked because of concerns over vandalism, residents and security officials told visiting deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai yesterday. Vilnai ordered the shelters opened so residents could take cover in their entrance hallways. However, the main rooms will be opened only in case long-term stays are needed. (Yuval Azoulay) The Knesset’s Finance Committee demanded increased funding for the Sapir College in Sderot, including student scholarships in a debate yesterday, before a student was killed near the college campus. College directors headed by Professor Zeev Tzahor and student representatives pushed for full scholarships in view of the security situation. more..
Hamas response / Calculated escalation
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/29/2008
Hamas responded Wednesday to the assassination of five of its operatives in Khan Yunis with an "object lesson" of some of the means at its disposal. Sderot and the Negev communities came under a murderous barrage of more than 40 Qassam rockets, killing one student at the Sapir College and injuring a number of other people. Ashkelon, a target Hamas strikes less frequently, suffered a number of rockets that managed to disrupt some of the city’s electricity. Ashkelon has been attacked at least five times in the past by long-range Katyushas and Qassams. But until now the rockets have fallen in open areas or the city’s southern suburbs. Wednesday’s rocket, which fell near the city’s Barzilai Medical Center, was a harsh illustration of the fact that tens of thousands more Israelis are now in range of Hamas fire. more..
Two fighters killed in Balata refugee camp
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/28/2008
Palestinian sources reported that two Palestinian fighters were shot and killed on Thursday at dawn during armed clashes with Israeli forces that invaded Balata refugee camp, east of the city of Nablus. Two other fighters were injured and abducted by the army. The two slain fighters were identified as Maher Abu Al Reesh from Balata refugee camp, a member of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Ahmad Al Nadi from Askar refugee camp, a member of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of President Abbas’ Fatah party. The bodies of the two deceased were moved to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, while the two injured fighters were kidnapped and transferred to an unknown destination. The invading military bulldozed some of the road surfaces and infrastructure in the Market Street area, in addition to demolishing doors and awnings of several stores. more..
Two Al-Aqsa Brigades members killed in Balata camp
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Two Palestinian activists affiliated to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades were killed on Thursday morning as fierce clashes erupted between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Sources within the Al-Aqsa Brigades told Ma’an’s reporter that 28-year-old Mahir Abu Ar-Reish and 35-year-old Ahmad An-Nadi were killed and 30-year-old Muhammad Abu Arab wasinjured and arrested. Furthermore, 30-year-old Ahmad Abu ’Isha was injured in a two-hour bout of fierce clashes between Israeli forces and a number of Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters. The sources added that some of the fighters lhad eft the Palestinian security headquarters in Nablus after an undercover Israeli targeted it killing Ibrahim Al-Masimi and injuring four others. Eyewitnesses said that a large Israeli force invaded Balata camp early... more..
IDF pounds Gaza; scores hurt
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/28/2008
Army launches relentless strikes on Gaza targets; at least 13 Palestinians killed Thursday. Night attacks target vehicles, buildings; Palestinians say ’Israelis realize their defeat, target civilians’ - IDF pounds Gaza targets: At least four Palestinians were killed in IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip Thursday night, Palestinian sources reported. The latest attacks brought the number of Palestinians killed in the Strip Thursday to 13. Around 11:10 pm, the Palestinians reported that many civilians were hurt in an attack on the Palestinian Workers’ Union in the northern Strip. According to the report, a 2-month-old baby was critically hurt. Earlier, two Palestinians were killed in a strike on a truck traveling next to the Shifa hospital in the Strip, the Palestinians said. The sources said the truck was transporting soft drinks, but the identity of those killed is unknown at this time. more..
Palestinian military groups launch barrages of homemade projectiles towards Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing affiliated to Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades launched a barrage of 35 homemade projectiles towards Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip on Wednesday evening. Thirteen of the projectiles were fired at the Israeli town of Sderot and the rest landed in other the towns of Miftahim, Kfar Azza and Kissufim. Meanwhile, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said their fighters launched two homemade projectiles at near the western Negev. Separately, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and Abu Ar-Rish Brigades claimed responsibility for launching four homemade projectiles at Sderot. The Brigades said in separate statements that their action came in retaliation for Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israeli media sources confirmed on Wednesday evening that a barrage... more..
VIDEO - Grad lands near Ashkelon school
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/28/2008
(Video) Girl lightly wounded in latest rocket barrage; Defense Minister Barak orders ’Red Color’ alert to be employed in southern town of Ashkelon as well. More than 30 rockets fired at southern communities Thursday - VIDEO - Residents of the southern city of Ashkelon experienced one of their toughest days since rockets from Gaza started hitting the town. Single rockets were fired at the city in the past, but on Thursday a total of 10 rockets hit the city, leaving growing anxiety in their wake. Two long-range Grad rockets fired from the northern Strip Thursday evening hit Ashkelon, with one of the rockets landing near a school in the center of town. a 17-year-old girl suffered light shrapnel wounds in the latest attack and several other people suffered from anxiety. More than 30 Qassam and Grad rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel throughout the day. more..
VIDEO - Qassams pound Sderot; 2 lightly injured
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/28/2008
(VIDEO) Rocket fire on western Negev continues throughout Thursday; officer on Minister Dichter’s security detail, 70-year-old Sderot resident lightly wounded by shrapnel in Qassam attacks. Meanwhile, IDF kills son of senior Hamas commander in Gaza - VIDEO - The Qassam fire on Israel’s western Negev continued uninterrupted throughout Thursday, a day after a student at Sderot’s Sapir College was killed in a rocket attack. Two people were lightly wounded in the attacks, while several others suffered shock. A raw-materials factory in Sderot’s industrial area sustained a direct Qassam hit. A fire broke on the premises and firefighters were sent to the place to extinguish it. A Qassam fired from northern Gaza landed near the college Thursday morning, wounding an officer belonging to Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter’s protection detail. more..
Shin Bet arrests female terror suspect, 17, from East J’lem
Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz 2/28/2008
The Shin Bet security service on Thursday announced that a 17 year-old female resident of East Jerusalem was recently arrested for attempting to carry out a suicide attack in Israel. The suspect was arrested three weeks ago for reportedly meeting with leaders of the Islamic Jihad, where she voiced her hatred of Jews as well as her intention to carry out a suicide bombing attack within Israel. The Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Thursday extended the suspect’s remand by three additional days, while two other activists of the Islamic Jihad from East Jerusalem were also arrested. [end]
Female terror suspect detained; Jerusalem bombing averted
Aviram Zino, YNetNews 2/28/2008
Shin Bet arrests 17-year-old girl; would-be bomber says she was motivated by hatred for Jews - Terror attack thwarted: The Shin Bet has detained a Palestinian girl from a village near Jerusalem about three weeks ago on suspicion that she planned to carry out a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. The story was only cleared for publication Thursday. Security officials suspect that the young woman sought to join Islamic Jihad in order to carry out the attack, which was already in planning stages. The suspect, a 17-year-old girl from the village of Abu Tur, south of Jerusalem, was detained after the Shin Bet received intelligence information about her intentions. The girl’s interrogation revealed that she turned to Islamic Jihad members several months ago with the purpose of joining the group and carrying out a terror attack in the Jerusalem area. more..
Defense Min. orders rocket alert sirens be activated in Ashkelon
Mijal Grinberg, and Agencies, Ha’aretz 2/28/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided Thursday to employ the "Color Red" alert system, a siren that warns of incoming rockets, in the southern city of Ashkelon. This decision came after 10 Grad rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, some 15 kilometers south of Ashkelon, pounded the port town on Thursday. One of the rockets directly hit a home and several people were wounded in the barrages. The alert system is already in place in the Qassam battered western Negev city of Sderot. The system was also installed in Ashkelon in preparation for wide ranging rocket attacks, but it was never activated. The Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command announced later Thursday that the system would be activated in Ashkelon on Friday, in all likelihood. The Home Front Command and the Ashkelon municipality explained earlier this week... more..
Ongoing Israeli raids on Gaza claim 28 Palestinians, including 8 children and 5-month-old baby
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – One Palestinian has been killed and three others injured in a raid against a police station in the west of Gaza City. The station is located next to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s house. Dr. Mu’awiya Hassanain, head of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, said that ambulances transferred the dead body and the casualties to a hospital in Gaza. Four Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli air raid in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon, bringing the number of those killed in the Gaza Strip to 28 in the last 24 hours. Eight of the dead are children. Mu’awiya Hasanain said the bodies of 11-year-old Deib Darduna and 14-year-old ’Umar Darduna arrived at the Kamal Udwan hospital in Beit Hanoun torn to pieces. more..
Israeli military kidnaps 8 Palestinians in Jenin
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/28/2008
Israeli forces invaded two villages in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, kidnapping eight Palestinians in the early hours of Thursday morning. Local sources reported that troops in several military vehicles invaded Siliat Al Harthiya, west of Jenin, and carried out a large-scale search operation in civilians’ homes. Among the six abducted were Tal’at Shawahna, 21, Fadi Zayoud, 18, and Mohammad Jaradat, 24. In the town of Jaba’a, south of Jenin, troops kidnapped two Palestinians after attacking their homes. They were identified as Farahat ’Alawna, 25, and Mohammad Ghannam, 22. All eight were transferred to an unknown detention center. Following Israeli operations in the area on Wednesday, there have now been 15 Palestinians abducted by the Israeli military form the Jenin area in the last two days. more..
An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades clash with undercover Israeli force
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees(PRC), the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades said on Wednesday evening that a group of their militants clashed with an undercover Israeli force at the town of Khuza’a east of Khan Younis. They said in a statement, "Israeli helicopters flew over the area which indicates there were casualties amongst the Israeli soldiers." The statement added that the operation came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian security arrest 3 Hamas affiliates in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Hamas said on Thursday that the Palestinian security services affiliated to the Fatah-led caretaker government based in the West Bank arrested three Hamas members on Wednesday evening. The statement said that one of the arrestees is Sheikh Aziz Fattash from Salfit in the northern West Bank. Another Hamas affiliate was arrested in the village of Jamma’in north of Salfit. In Qalqilia in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian security arrested a university student. [end]
Israeli war planes fire missile at agricultural land
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli war planes fired a missile in the Ad-Dabour area east of Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Eyewitnesses reported the sound of a large explosion and described seeing smoke and flames where the missile landed. Palestinian medical sources confirmed that the raid targeted an agricultural area and that there was no information regarding any injuries. [end]
Two injured at Al-Qassam training ground
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Two Palestinians were injured during an Israeli air raid on a training site for members of the Hamas affiliated Al-Qassam brigades, in the area of Tal Az-Za’tar in the Gaza Strip Eyewitnesses reported the warplanes bombed and destroyed the entire site. Ambulances transferred the injured to hospital as medical sources reported no fatalities. [end]
Israeli forces arrest 12 Palestinians across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/28/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces apprehended 12 Palestinians, who are allegedly activists, after raiding several West Bank cities on Thursday morning, Hebrew sources said. The sources said the arrestees were from cities and villages in Jenin and Nablus in the northern West Bank and Ramallah in the central West Bank. [end]
Two brothers kidnapped in Ramallah by Israeli army
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/28/2008
Israeli forces kidnapped two brothers in a pre-dawn invasion of Beit Uniya, west of Ramallah on Thursday. In the same operation, the Israeli army invaded several neighborhoods in the central West Bank city of Ramallah and patrolled the area, but with no further abductions reported. [end]
’Dead terrorists’ resurface in Egypt
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/28/2008
Palestinians initially featured in terror tape in wake of Dimona bombing imprisoned by Cairo - Mystery solved: The two Palestinians who were initially said to have carried out the recent terror attack in the southern town of Dimona are alive and well in an Egyptian prison, Ynet has learned. The attack, which occurred about three weeks ago, claimed the life of one woman and wounded 10 people. A short time after the bombing, two groups claimed responsibility for the attack: the Popular Front’s Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and the Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The two groups also published a videotape featuring the two supposed suicide bombers. In the tape, the two Gaza men indicate that they intend to blow themselves up in Israel. However, a short while later Israeli security officials raised doubts regarding the bombers’ identity, after photographs of the Dimona bombing site failed to match the videotape. more..
Hamas leader ’thanks God’ for son’s death
News agencies, YNetNews 2/28/2008
’This is the 10th member of my family to receive the honor of martyrdom,’ says proud Hamas lawmaker after his son was killed while en route to fire rockets at Israeli towns. IDF strikes in Gaza continue as situation escalates, troops target Hamas outpost 150 yards from Haniyeh’s home - Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya fondly kissed the bloodied head of his son Hamza in a Gaza morgue Thursday, saying he was proud that his son had given his life for the Hamas cause and joined a long line of family members killed in the conflict with Israel. Hamza died in an Israeli air strike Thursday morning as he led a squad firing rockets against Israeli towns, Hamas said. ’’I thank God for this gift,’’ Khalil al-Haya said. ’’This is the 10th member of my family to receive the honor of martyrdom. ’’ Al-Haya has himself escaped attempts on his life, including an Israeli strike last... more..
Palestine Today 022808
Ghassan Bannoura- Audio dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/28/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 4 m 0s || 3. 66 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday February 28th, 2008. Eleven Palestinians have been killed due to the Israeli army bombardment of the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank; the Israeli army killed two Palestinians in Nablus city. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast Three Palestinian children were killed, and one critically injured, when Israeli jet fighters shot several missiles at a group of civilians in Jabalia town, located in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday at midday, two Palestinians were also killed during attacks targeting the northern Gaza Strip. Medical sources identified one of the deceased as Abdullah Al Zwidi, 23, believed to be a member of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement. more..
Israeli planes kill 10 in Gaza after deadly rocket strike
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 2/28/2008
GAZA CITY: Ten Palestinians, including at least six militants, were killed in Israeli air strikes Wednesday, while Palestinians rockets killed an Israeli in a spate of attacks in and around the Gaza Strip. The fresh violence came the day after the UN urged Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians to find a fresh strategy to end the blockade of the Gaza Strip and halt rocket firing into Israel. The deadliest attack occurred in the southern Gazan town of Khan Yunis where five Hamas fighters were killed in a raid which also wounded one civilian, medical sources told AFP. It was followed by a second strike on the same site that left three people wounded, the sources added. Another militant from the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad movement was killed overnight in an air strike in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said. more..
A bloody day in Gaza: Israeli military adds 3 children to list of dead
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Gaza-Ma’an- Three Palestinian children were killed and six injured in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday evening, in the Al Taw’am area close to the Khazandar gas station, north of Gaza City. The total number of Palestinians injured was 17, including the six children. Dr. Mu’awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry, said that ambulances transported the injured and dead children, including the headless body of a child, to the Shifa’ and Kamal hospital. He added that five children were rushed to the intensive care unit and the operating room, with one clinically dead. Witnesses said that those involved were passing by a local-made missile launcher that was struck by the Israeli forces. Earlier in the day, two Palestinians were killed and two others injured when Israeli artillery targeted an orange grove in the Ash-Shuja’iyya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City. more..
Rocket kills student in Sderot
Globes correspondent, Globes Online 2/27/2008
20 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the Western Negev area today. One person was killed and another was wounded today when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hits Sapir College in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Five people were treated for shock. The person killed, a man aged about 30, left a classroom and was walking towards the car park of the college when the rocket struck. A Magen David Adom paramedic described the scene to Galei Tzahal (Israel Army Radio). "I arrived there in my intensive care vehicle and found a man of about 30 very severely hurt, unconscious, in a critical state. We tried to revive him, but in the end he was pronounced dead on the spot." Studies at the college were suspended and many students left. The heads of the college will review the situation this evening, but one of them said, "Since the college has been under fire for a long time, people know what to do when there’s a warning of an attack. more..
Israeli siege on Tulkarem itensifies
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an - Israeli forces intensified military and security measures in the northern West Bank district of Tulkarem on Wednesday, preventing Palestinians from crossing through the Jbara checkpoint south of the city. Ma’an’s reporter quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint are using oppressive measures, detaining people for long hours. Our reporter added that the Israeli forces erected a flying checkpoint on Wednesday morning at the entrance to Al-Jarushiya village north of Tulkarem, hindering contiguity with the northern Tulkarem district. At the beginning of February Israeli forces closed all entrances leading to Tulkarem, and erected many barriers, especially near Al-Quds University in the city. The Israeli military forces crippling closure on the city and its surrounding areas has continued for more than three weeks. more..
Israeli air strike hits Haniyeh’s Gaza office, baby killed
News agencies, YNetNews 2/27/2008
Air Force strikes Hamas leader’s office, nearby Interior Ministry in response to deadly Qassam attack at Sapir College; six-month-old Palestinian baby killed, more than 30 wounded. Earlier three Palestinians children killed in Israeli aerial attack - Israeli aircraft struck the empty office of Gaza’s Hamas premier Ismail Haniyeh and nearby premises of his Interior Ministry Wednesday night, killing a baby and wounding more than 30 other people, Palestinians said. Health officials said the 6-month-old baby was hit by shrapnel from the attack. His family lived near the Interior Ministry building in a Gaza neighborhood. The airstrike came hours after rocket attacks from Gaza killed an Israeli student in the southern border town of Sderot. Hamas security officials said missiles fired from helicopters hit the buildings, sited in downtown residential neighborhoods,... more..
Leftover cluster bomb suspected in another blast in southern Lebanon
DPA, Ha’aretz 2/27/2008
An explosion late Wednesday near a mosque in a Shiite village in southern Lebanon wounded at least four people, Lebanese police said. The blast occurred in the village of Chabiyeh east of the southern port city of Tyre. In Beirut, the press office for the Shiite militia Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon, said that blast was from a bomb dropped during the July 2006 war with Israel. "It wasn’t a bomb that was planted today," a source in the office said. Lebanese police cordoned off the blast area and started an investigation. Israel launched a 33-day war against Hezbollah in July 2006, during which many cluster bombs were dropped over southern Lebanon. Since the war ended, 30 people have been killed by explosions of leftover munitions, mostly cluster bombs. more..
Israeli forces raid Al-Fari’a refugee camp; clash with local youths
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Tubas – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided Al-Fari’a refugee camp north east of Nablus in the northern West Bank and besieged several houses under the pretext of searching for ’wanted’ activists. Meanwhile, Palestinian young men hurled stones and empty bottles at the invading forces. No injuries or arrests have been reported. The Israeli forces withdrew before dawn and came back two hours later and besieged the home of Muhammad Sarhan in an attempt to arrest his son who is allegedly a ’wanted activist. ’ New clashes erupted between the invading forces and Palestinian youths until the Israeli forces withdrew without apprehending any body. [end]
Eight Palestinians, Israeli killed in Gaza unrest
Middle East Online 2/27/2008
Eight Palestinians, including at least six militants, were killed in Israeli air strikes Wednesday and an Israeli was killed by a Palestinian rocket in a spate of attacks across the Gaza Strip. The fresh violence came the day after the United Nations urged Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians to find a fresh strategy to end the blockade of the Gaza Strip and halt rocket firing into Israel. Five Hamas fighters were killed in a raid on the southern town of Khan Yunis, which also wounded one person, medical sources said. It was followed by a second strike on the same site that left three people wounded, the sources added. An army spokeswoman confirmed that the military had "carried out strikes on vehicles in Khan Yunis and identified hitting them." Another militant from the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad movement was killed overnight in an air strike in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian medical sources said. more..
IOF missile raid kills 5 Qassam members
Palestinian Information Center 2/27/2008
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Five members of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas Movement, were killed on Wednesday in an IOF missile raid that targeted their bus in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. Medical sources in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis city said that a sixth Qassam member was critically injured and was undergoing surgery in the hospital. Eyewitnesses said that an IOF Apache fired two missiles at the bus directly hitting it, and added that IOF Apaches fired at another vehicle in the vicinity of the first one but no casualties were reported. The interior ministry in the PA caretaker government denounced the new Israeli bloodbath, saying that anyone hinging hopes on peace with the "Zionists" was dreaming. Ehab Al-Ghussain, the ministry’s spokesman, urged PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to end his "absurd negotiations" with the Hebrew state and to return to the embrace of his people and its resistance project. more..
Gaza: Palestinian killed in IDF strike
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/27/2008
Sources in Strip say man killed by Israel Air Force missile; army says targeted rocket-launching cell - One Palestinian was killed during an Israel Air Force missile strike in Gaza, sources in the Strip reported Wednesday afternoon. According to the report, an aircraft launched a missile at a group of Palestinians near the former Civil Administration building in the Jabalya area. The victim’s identity has yet to be revealed. The IDF confirmed that it had attacked a rocket-launching cell in northern Gaza. According to military sources, the cell was behind the latest Qassam barrage on Sderot, but could not say whether it had launched the rocket that killed an Israeli student at Sapir College. Earlier Five members of Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were killed after an IDF aircraft fired missiles at a bus and another vehicle carrying the group’s operatives west of the Gaza town of Khan Younis. more..
47-year-old man killed in Qassam attack
Ynet reporters, YNetNews 2/27/2008
Over 40 rockets fired from Gaza on Wednesday, hitting factories, homes and a hospital. Sapir College Student Union who lost peer slam prime minister for failing to stop attacks while Meretz party calls for dialogue with Hamas. Olmert, still in Japan, briefed by defense minister on situation - Over 40 rockets were fired by Palestinian groups from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel on Wednesday afternoon. During one of the barrages an Israeli college student was killed after a rocket landed in a parking lot adjacent to the Sapir College campus. Medics alerted to the scene also treated two more Israelis for minor wounds. The victim, Roni Yechiah, 47, reportedly died shortly after sustaining massive wounds to his chest. Yechiah, a father of four from the community of Bitcha near Ofakim, underwent a kidney transplant operation in the United States five years ago. more..
Israel, Hamas violence spikes on Gaza border
Nidal al-Mughrabi, ReliefWeb 2/27/2008
GAZA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A rocket launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip killed a man in Israel on Wednesday, the first such fatality in nine months, after Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians, most of them militants, in the territory. The rocket attack, claimed by Hamas, seemed certain to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order tougher military action in the Gaza Strip, including a possible widescale ground operation. Mounting violence could complicate peace talks between Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, negotiations which the United States hope can lead to a statehood deal this year. "Israel will take the necessary steps to bring these lethal rocket attacks to an end. Those attacking us will be confronted by an Israel that is compelled to defend itself, and that is how we shall proceed," said David Baker, a government spokesman. more..
Israeli undercover force kill one Palestinian in Nablus
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/27/2008
A special undercover unit of the Israeli army invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday morning, killing one, wounding three and kidnapping five,local sources reported. Eyewitnesses stated that troops disguised as vegetable traders drove a truck into the city. Troops opened fire at a Palestinian security office in Nablus city as five resistance fighters of the Al Aqsa brigades the armed wing of Fatah were leaving it. The five fighters were injured, then taken political prisoner by the undercover force. The Israeli army later announced the death of Ibraheem al-Masemi, 25, one of those injured previously. He was handed over to Palestinian ambulance crews at a nearby military checkpoint. Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of the Palestinian Medical Relief Services in Nablus told IMEMC that the troops prevented local medics from attending t the injured and forced the ambulance back. more..
QB threatens retaliation to bloodbath as Qassams kill settler
Palestinian Information Center 2/27/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, on Wednesday charged that the IOF bloodbath earlier today in Gaza reflected that it was not interested in calm with the Palestinians. Abu Obaida, the QB spokesman, said that the IOF murder of five QB members near Khan Younis at a time when missile firing was on downward spiral indicated that Israeli occupation was not concerned with calm. The QB would study the appropriate reprisal to the IOF crime and its retaliation would be made in the opportune time and place. Meanwhile, the QB declared responsibility for firing a barrage of locally made Qassam missiles that slammed into the Israeli settlement of Sderot north of the Gaza Strip and Miftahim settlement. Hebrew media report said that an Israeli man was killed and two others sustained minor wounds while a few were treated for shock in Sderot. more..
Al-Aqsa gunman killed in Nablus operation
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/27/2008
Special forces in pursuit of several gunmen in West Bank city seriously wound two Fatah operatives, evacuate them to Israel for treatment. One dies of his wounds. Two additional wanted men lightly wounded - Two Palestinian gunmen belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, were seriously wounded on Wednesday morning by Israeli counterterrorism forces in the West Bank city of Nablus. Two additional wanted men were lightly wounded. The four wounded men were evacuated to an Israeli hospital for treatment, where one of the seriously wounded gunmen died shortly afterwards. The fifth member of the group was taken for questioning. Defense officials said the force gave chase after five wanted gunmen, called on them to halt and opened fire at them when they failed to comply. One of the men was armed with a handgun. more..
Nablus terror cell operated from PA housing
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/27/2008
Israel says cell apprehended in West Bank was planning to carry out attack in coming days, claims Palestinian security troops entrusted with detaining cell allowed them complete freedom of movement. Gunman killed in arrest operation had dispatched suicide bomber to Israel in 2003 - Defense officials said on Wednesday that the wanted gunman killed by security forces in Nablus earlier in the day is a senior-ranking Tanzim leader named Ibrahim Masyami. The 23-year-old was killed during a joint IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police operation to arrest a Tanzim cell planning to carry out a terror attack in Israel in the coming days. Three other gunmen were wounded in the arrest raid and a fourth was taken in for questioning. The men were meant to have been under the custody of the Palestinian Authority but were apparently allowed to move freely within Nablus. more..
Sderot boy injured by rocket to undergo further operations
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 2/27/2008
The 10-year-old Sderot boy who was wounded Monday when fragments of a Qassam rocket struck his shoulder remains in serious condition, doctors at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon said Tuesday, and he has been put into isolation due to fear of infection. Yossi Haimov is slated to undergo another operation for shoulder bone reconstruction once his situation improves. The doctors are planning to wait at least two days to decide when they will be able to operate. Since Haimov’s hospitalization, his family has been staying at a hotel in Ashkelon and spending most of the time in the hospital. Haimov’s sister Maria walked back and forth Tuesday between her brother’s hospital bed and her mother and aunt, who were maintaining a vigil in a nearby waiting area. Asked whether she wanted to return to Sderot, a stony-faced Maria merely shook her head no. more..
Israeli army kills seven Palestinians in under 24 hours
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/27/2008
Both medical sources and eyewitnesses reported that five resistance fighters members of the Al-Qassam Brigades have been killed, with three others wounded in two Israeli air strikes early Wednesday morning. Medics have confirmed that four of those killed were from the Jabalia refugee camp north of the Gaza Strip, while the fifth came from the southern city of Khan Younis. Three others were also wounded in the missile attack. Eyewitnesses saw, a civilian car driving along Mawasi agricultural road in Khan Younis city. Two missiles were shot from an Israeli Apache helicopter directly at the vehicle. It is believed that those inside the car were killed instantly. The Al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza identified the victims as their own , and stated that the attack was a Israeli targeted assassination. more..
One Al-Aqsa Brigades activists killed; 3 injured in Israeli undercover raid in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Undercover Israeli forces apprehended four Palestinian men in Nablus in the northern West Bank on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s reporter that he saw a number of undercover Israeli soldiers getting out of a minibus at Tel Street in western Nablus. They approached a Palestinian taxi and opened fire on its four occupants. The injured occupants were then abducted by the soldiers. Ma’an learned that the abductees were 25-year-old Ibrahim Al-Masimi, 27-year-old Wa’il Al-Masimi, 20-year-old Yasir Al-Masimi and 21-year-old Ali ’Isha , 20-year-old Ibrahim Al-Jibrini. The eyewitnesses affirmed that they saw the abductees bleeding after they were hit. Israeli authorities later reported that Later on, the Israeli authorities told the Palestinian authority that Ibrahim Al-Masimi had died of his injuries. more..
Israel continues deadly air raids
Al Jazeera 2/27/2008
Israeli forces have killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, while a rocket launched from the strip has killed an Israeli man and wounded another in southern Israel. The Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on Wednesday. The group said it had launched more than 20 rockets at Israel, including eight at Sderot, the town where the deadly strike took place. Israel’s air force later bombed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, killing a 6-month-old baby and wounding at least 14 other people, hospital officials said. The baby boy, Mohammed Bourai, was killed when three missiles fired by an Israeli helicopter struck the building in the Gaza Strip, a hospital source said. more..
Abu Ar-Rish Brigades claim Sderot projectile attack
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Fatah’s Abu Ar-Rish Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in the western Negev. They said in a statement that the shelling was in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. [end]
Seven Palestinians kidnapped in Israeli operation in Jenin
Ali Samoudi, translated by Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/27/2008
Israeli forces kidnapped at least seven civilians in a pre-dawn invasion. Among those kidnapped were relatives of wanted Palestinians on the Israeli list from the northern West Bank city of Jenin. In Jenin refugee camp, the army kidnapped three Palestinians and transferred them to an undisclosed detention center. [end]
Palestinian security arrest 3 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Hamas said on Wednesday that Palestinian security services have arrested three Hamas members in the West Bank. They said in a statement said that two of the arrestees were from the district of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank and one from Ramallah district in the central West Bank. [end]
Israeli forces arrest 17 Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli forces arrested 17 Palestinians in the West Bank on Wednesday morning, claiming they were ’wanted’ activists. The Israeli forces said they found several Molotov Cocktails near Jericho ready to be used. [end]
Environment Ministry touts response to 2006 oil spill caused by Israeli bombing
Sara Mansour Special to The Daily Star, Daily Star 2/28/2008
BEIRUT: The Environment Ministry has released a new booklet containing information about the environmental catastrophe caused by Israel’s bombing of the fuel tanks at the Jiyyeh power plant during the summer 2006 war. Funded by the Hanns Seidel foundation and entitled "One Year On... Oil Spill Crisis, July 2006," the 15-page booklet in both English and Arabic recounts the history of the spill between July 2006 and July 2007. This includes a rundown on the events and phases, estimates of environmental degradation and costs and other information, including action that was taken and is to be taken, such as surveys and interventions. The impact of the spill, estimated at between 12,000 and 15,000 tons, was determined by wind and water currents that spread it across 150 kilometers of Lebanese coast. Reactions to the oil spill came through different phases. more..
Palestine Today 022708
Ghassan Bannoura -Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/27/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday February 27th, 2008. Seven Palestinians killed during Israeli army attacks on Gaza, while in the West Bank undercover army forces kill one Palestinian and injuring four, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Palestinian medical sources reported that two Palestinian farmers were killed, on Wednesday afternoon, during Israeli shelling of farm land near Gaza city in the northern part of the coastal region. Dr, Mo’awiah Abu Hassanin of the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza told reporters that, two farmers were killed with two others injured when Israeli tanks stationed at the borders near Gaza city shelled nearby farmland. more..
Palestinian farmer shot dead by Israeli troops in Khan Younis
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
Palestinian Medical sources reported on Tuesday at night that a Palestinian farmer died of wounds sustained during evening hours when Israeli troops opened fire at him as he was farming his land in Al Qarara town, near Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis stated that resident Hasan Abu Sabt, 35, was seriously injured when troops stationed at the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip opened fire at him while he was tilling his land. Abu Sabt was seriously injured and died of his wounds at Nasser hospital later on, the sources added. Meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesperson claimed that a tank spotted a Palestinian planting a bomb near the Kissufim border crossing, and shot him dead. The spokesperson added that the slain resident was an armed resistance fighter. more..
Israeli army attacks Palestinian societies and schools in Hebron
International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces invaded several buildings belonging to the Islamic charitable Association and Muslim Youth Association in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The Army then confiscated property on the attacked sites based on military orders. Sources also declared that the military operation included the main buildings of the Associations and they confiscated equipments, documents, computers and other related properties. In the meantime, the army issued military orders to close the Associations and to transfer the ownership of the offices and buildings to the Israeli authorities. In the issued military orders, authorities closed the entrances of the buildings and imposed a penalty of imprisonment for five years if anyone came into the sites. According to the sources the operation is ongoing and Israeli soldiers are still imposing tight measures on the targeted sites. more..
Report: Palestinian homes are demolished in East Jerusalem, construction is prohibited
Maisa Abu Ghazaleh, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
A report issued on Tuesday by the Society of the Arab Studies indicated that the Israeli Ministry of interior and Jerusalem Israeli Municipality are actually implementing a daily and systematic policy which prohibits the Arabs for building in the city, and encouraging the demolition of Arab homes in East Jerusalem. The report added that since 1967, the Israeli authorities had demolished 8500 houses of East Jerusalem under several pretexts. The Society had documented 786 demolished homes in the period between January 1, 2000, and September 30, 2007. The houses were demolished under the pretext of violating the Israeli construction law. 86 of the demolished constructions were leveled between January and September 2007, the demolition orders included most of the neighborhoods, villages and suburbs of East Jerusalem. more..
Israeli Soldiers detain eight residents in Nablus
IMEMC News - Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
Palestinian Security sources in Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, reported on Monday evening that Israeli soldiers detained eights residents including family members, in Khallit Al Amoud area in the city. Seven were released later on, and one was moved to an Israeli hospital. The eight were identified as Soheib Al Kharraz, Osama Al Kharraz and his two sons Moayyad and Ziad, Mohammad Saleh Al Kharraz and his son Ayman, Osama Makkawi, and Mohammad Oleywi. Seven of the detained residents were released later on, while resident Osama Makkawi was injured and moved to an Israeli hospital. The abductions were carried out when the army invaded Ras Al Ein and the Eastern Area in Nablus. Moreover, troops invaded Tulkarem city in the northern part of the West Bank and searched several homes. more..
Israeli forces raid Nablus, Jenin, and Tubas
Ma’an News Agency 2/26/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – An undercover Israeli force on Tuesday besieged the home of a Palestinian an Islamic Jihad activist in Qabatia in the northern West Bank. According to Palestinian security sources the Israeli force failed to apprehend Salih Abu Zaid, an activist within the Al-Quds Brigades, as he was not at home. Separately, Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank city of Jenin and ransacked several homes. No arrests or casualties have been reported. In Tubas, in the northern West Bank, Israeli patrols invaded the city amidst heavy gunfire. They stationed themselves in front of the municipal council building. There have been no casualties, nor arrests reported. more..
Israeli forces arrest 8 Palestinians across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/26/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli forces apprehended eight Palestinians from different West Bank districts on Tuesday morning, after raiding several cities and towns. Israeli sources said the army arrested eight "wanted activists" in the district of Nablus district in the northern West Bank and Bethlehem also in the north. [end]
Israeli military jeeps storm Bethlehem, and clash with local youth
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
At least 15 Israeli military jeeps stormed on Tuesday noon the West Bank city of Bethlehem, IMEMC learned. According to an IMEMC correspondent, the Israeli incursion started Tuesday at midday as Israeli jeeps entered the city from several directions. Several jeeps stormed the nearby town of Beit Sahour and local youth hurled stones at them. The standoff lasted for half an hour before the jeeps left the town and headed back to Bethlehem. Palestinian security sources in Bethlehem said that no kidnapping or injuries have been reported. The sources added that invading forces left the Bethlehem area on Tuesday afternoon. Update from: Israeli military jeeps storm Bethlehem Tuesday February 26, 2008 14:06 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC Exclusive IMEMC learned that on Tuesday, at least 15 Israeli military jeeps stormed the West Bank city of Bethlehem. more..
Fatah accuses Executive Force of abducting four Fatah members in Rafah
IMEMC News - Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
Sources close to the Fatah movement, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, reported on Monday at night that Hamas-controlled security forces in the Gaza Strip arrested four members of Fateh in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported that Hamas Executive Force members arrested Ibrahim Qishta, a senior Fateh leader in Rafah, as he was heading back home from work. Qishta was reportedly attacked and taken to an unknown destination. Executive Force members also arrested three members of Fateh in the same area; the three are residents of Al Nasser neighborhood. They were identified as Mohammad Abu AL Haseen, Subih Abid-Rabbo Abu AL Haseen and Imad Ali Abu Al Hasseen. more..
An-Nasser Brigades attack Israeli kibbutz
Ma’an News Agency 2/26/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the An- Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claimed responsibility on Tuesday for launching eight homemade projectiles at the Israeli Kibuttz of Nirim east of Kissufim near the Gaza border. They said in a statement that the shelling was part of a military campaign dubbed "Messages from Hell" in retaliation for the assassination of the PRC leader Abu As-Sa’id, and the frequent assaults on resistance fighters. The number one leader of the PRC, ’Amir Qarmoot Abu As-Sa’id, was assassinated in the Gaza Strip on 4 February, when an Israeli warplane fired a missile at his car in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. more..
Palestinian military groups fire at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 2/26/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claimed responsibility on Monday evening for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli military post of Kissufim in the central Gaza Strip. Separately, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, along with a group from the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades said they fired four mortar shells at the area near the Erez crossing. The military groups said they will continue to resist the Israeli occupation in light of the continuous aggression against the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian National Resistance shells Israeli military base in Gaza
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
Palestinian National Resistance, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for attacking an Israeli military base in Gaza, Sofa base, on Tuesday morning. In a statement to the press, Resistance confirmed that they shelled the military base with home- made shells. The National Resistance declared that the attack came as a response to the continuous attacks of the Israeli military on the Palestinians. At the end of their statement, the National Resistance vowed to continue their resistance and to defend the Palestinian lands until the end of the occupation. [end]
Unidentified gunmen fire at minister of agriculture guard
Ma’an News Agency 2/26/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – One of the security officers who guard the house of the Palestinian minister of agriculture in the caretaker government Mahmoud Al-Habbash came under fire on Monday evening, security sources told Ma’an. The security sources added that the guard was near the house in Ramallah when he came under fire by unidentified gunmen. The minister was not at home at the time. They explained that the motive was related to a personal dispute between the perpetrators and the guard and has nothing to do with the minister of agriculture. [end]
PFLP’s military wing targets Israeli towns
Ma’an News Agency 2/26/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli border towns of Sderot and Zikim. The military group said in a statement that "the Israeli criminal acts against the Palestinian people must be met with more military operations." [end]
Hamas: PA security forces arrest five members of the movement from the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
Hamas movement sources reported on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority security forces controlled by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah arrested five members of the movement from several parts of the West Bank on Monday. According to the sources the arrests were made in the cities of Tulkarem, Salfit and Nablus located in the northern part of the West Bank. [end]
IOF troops storm two charities, confiscate property
Palestinian Information Center 2/26/2008
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- IOF soldiers stormed at dawn Tuesday the premises of two Islamic charities in Al-Khalil city, confiscated their property and arrested the employees. Sources close to those societies told PIC correspondent that the soldiers burst into the two headquarters and wreaked havoc inside them. The commander of the invading unit ordered the confiscation of buses and vehicles that serve students who study in those societies’ schools and kindergartens. Both societies were the frequent target of similar attacks at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces and their staffers were also detained on previous occasions. The IOF command ordered closure of the two societies, which threaten the future of thousands of orphans and poor students who study in their schools, in addition to stripping their teachers and the administrative staff of their sole source of income. more..
IDF seizes Hamas charity in West Bank city of Hebron
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 2/26/2008
Israel Defense Forces troops seized the facilities of a Hamas-affiliated charity in the West Bank city of Hebron, saying it funneled money to the Islamic group’s militant activities and recruited members to its ranks, the army announced Tuesday. The move against the Islamic Charity Movement came three weeks after two Hamas members from Hebron carried out a suicide bombing that killed a woman in the Israeli town of Dimona. The Islamic charity is a front to strengthen Hamas’ foothold in the West Bank, the military said in a statement Tuesday. Hamas, which advocates Israel’s destruction, violently seized power in the Gaza Strip in June, and both Israel and the moderate government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are afraid the group will try to wrest control of the West Bank as well. more..
Palestine Today 022608
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/26/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday February 26th, 2008. The Israeli army kidnaps nine civilians from the West Bank, while the Palestinian resistance attacks Israeli military site in Gaza, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces invaded several buildings belonging to the Islamic charitable Association and Muslim Youth Association in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The Army confiscated property from the properties. Sources of the targeted associations reported that large forces of the Israeli army backed by armored vehicles and military trucks carried out a wide-scale military operation for several hours at the Associations owned buildings, offices and schools in different parts of Hebron city. more..
VIDEO - Qassam lands near Sderot school; child seriously injured
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/25/2008
(Video) Ten-year-old boy sustains serious injuries to his arm during rocket attack on western Negev town; total of five Qassams fired toward Israeli territory from Gaza since morning hours - VIDEO - A 10-year-old boy sustained serious injuries to his arm Monday when a Qassam fired by Palestinians in north Gaza landed near a school in Sderot. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack. Video courtesy of infolive. tv - Paramedics dispatched to the scene managed to stop the bleeding and evacuate the boy to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. A number of other residents were treated for shock. The parents of 10-year-old Yossi Haimov of Sderot received good news on Monday afternoon, after the hospital’s deputy director-general, Dr. Ron Lobel, informed them that the doctors had managed to save their son’s arm which was badly injured in the rocket attack. more..
Israeli forces seize four Palestinians in Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized four young Palestinian men in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem on Monday morning. Palestinian security told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers raided the town of Al-Khadr, south of Bethlehem, and apprehended 27-year-old Ahmad Hasan Salah and 24-year-old Muhammad Khalid Al-Ammuri. Israeli troops also stormed the Hindaza Mountain area, south of the city of Bethlehem, and arrested the Hamas activist Nadir Jubran, local sources said. The activist’s wife said that Jubran suffers from bleeding in the stomach and was scheduled to undergo a surgical operation. Local sources reported that Israeli forces also raided the town of Ad-Doha, south of Bethlehem city, and seized 20-year old Muhammad Salhad. more..
Stone-throwing youths confront invading Israeli forces in Zeita
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank town of Zeita north of Tulkarem and ransacked several houses on Monday morning. Ma’an’s reporter said that a fierce confrontation erupted near the separation wall in the town between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces. Teenagers pelted the invading forces with stones and empty bottles while the soldiers fired gunshots and sonic bombs. No casualties or arrests have been reported. Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli troops invaded the town’s graveyard on the pretext of searching for searching for stone-throwers who hid in the graves. [end]
Israeli forces seize three Palestinians in Balata refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli military forces seized three Palestinians in Balata refugee camp east of the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank on Monday. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an’s correspondent that a number of Israeli military vehicles raided the area at 3:00 at dawn and arrested three Palestinians after forcing their way into several houses and searching them. The sources named the detainees as Fadi Dweikat, Yasser Dweikat and Hamdi Dweikat. [end]
Israeli forces seize six Palestinians in daylight raid in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Undercover Israeli forces afternoon raided the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Monday and seized six Palestinians. Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that an undercover Israeli force entered a shop and started shooting into the air before more Israeli forces arrived. Then they seized six Palestinians and withdrew. The eyewitnesses added that they saw blood on the ground after the Israeli forces left. [end]
VIDEO - News / Woman, two children hurt in Qassam attack on Sderot
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 2/25/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for February 25, 2008. In this edition: Palestinian militants in Gaza fire rockets at Israel which hit Sderot, wounding a woman and two children. A Gaza protest against Israel’s blockade yields a disappointing turnout. Three Israel Defense Forces officers are injured in blast at a central Israel base. An American tourist drowns in a flash flood near the Dead Sea. [end]
Two Palestinian military groups claim attack on Israeli military vehicles
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Two armed wings affiliated with Fatah, the Al-Mujahideen Brigades and the Abu Ar-Rish Brigades, claimed to have jointly launched two mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles stationed at the "Malaka forest" on Monday morning. The said that the shelling was in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian resistance fire home made shells at southern Israel
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/25/2008
A Palestinian resistance group claimed responsibility for firing three home-made shells at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. The action caused no damage or injures. In a press release, the Al Aqsa brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the rocket launches. The group said that the attack was in response to Israeli military offensives against the Gaza strip. Israeli attacks on the Palestinian coastal region left 4 Palestinians killed on Monday. In related news,Palestinian resistance groups also announced that they targeted Israeli tanks stationed at Israeli borders, near Gaza city. The Israeli army have reported no damage or injures. [end]
Palestinian military groups target Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Al-Fatiheen Brigades, a military wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching two projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, in the western Negev, on Monday. Separately, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Bridages, said that their fighters fired three mortar shells at the Israeli military site of Kisufim, east of Al-Qarara in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday. The military groups said in separate statements that it is their right to respond to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. more..
Two IDF officers injured in blast at central Israel base
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/25/2008
Two Israel Defense Forces officers were injured Monday in an explosion at the Palmachim base in central Israel. The accident occured during the course of a test of weapons seized from the Lebanon-based guerilla group Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. One officer suffered serious wounds in the blast and lost his arm. A non-commissioned officer was moderately hurt. The explosion was apparently caused by a Hezbollah rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), which accidentally went off in the vicinity of the victims. Rescue services arrived at the base, which is located south of Rishon Letzion, and administered first aid treatment to the injured soldiers, who suffered shrapnel wounds. The wounded were then evacuated by helicopter to hospitals for further treatment. more..
IDF base blast caused by Hizbullah weapons
Ynet, YNetNews 2/25/2008
Ynet learns new details on explosion which left three soldiers injured at military base near Rishon Lezion: Rocket-propelled grenade taken as booty during Second Lebanon War explodes in midst of test aimed at examining force of weapon which threatened IDF tanks during war - The circumstances of the explosion which occurred Monday at the IDF’s Mivtach 24 base near Rishon Lezion have yet to be clarified, but Ynet had learned new details on the blast, which left three soldiers injured. The explosion took place as a group of soldiers and officers examined a rocket-propelled grenade antitank weapon. One of the officers was seriously injured in the blast and lost part of his arm. The weapons tested were taken as booty from Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War. The Syrian army and Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon possess such arms, which are considered a significant threat on armored vehicles and tanks. more..
Grief, anger as Gaza buries another day’s dead
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinians in Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza City held funeral processions for four Palestinians on Monday who were killed by Israeli attacks earlier in the day. The funeral of the Hamas fighter Husam Abu Hain was held in Gaza City. The funeral headed from Ash-Shifa hospital to the deceased’s family home then to the mosque for prayer before the burial. Meanwhile, the funeral of Hamas activists Tha’ir Hani Salah and Tha’r Musbih headed from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis to their families’ homes before going to mosque, and then to the cemetery. In Rafah, mourners took part in the funeral of 21-year-old Midhat Awwad, an activist with the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades. The mourners in all funeral processions condemned the Israeli criminal acts against the Palestinian people, demanding that Palestinian military groups take revenge. more..
Man murdered in Tira; residents say he was a collaborator
Raanan Ben-Zur, YNetNews 2/25/2008
Ahmad Ziad Samara shot to death by masked gunmen in his office; attackers still at large. Residents: Samara was a collaborator from Qalqilya, no one is sad he was killed - Shot to death in middle of town in broad daylight: Ahmad Ziad Samara, 35, was killed Monday morning after he was shot by masked gunmen who burst into his office at a driving school he owned in the Israeli-Arab town of Tira close to the Green Line. Police are investigating. Samara was seated at his desk at his office when, primary reports indicate, a vehicle stopped in front of the building and two masked gunmen got out of the vehicle. They proceeded into Samara’s office where they sprayed him with gunfire and fled the scene. "We heard dozens of shots," a resident said. Samara collapsed on the ground and began hemorrhaging from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, neck and stomach. more..
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades deny fighter intended to surrender to PA
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Nablus – Ma’an - The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades denied on Monday a claim by the governor of Nablus that one of their fighters intended to turn himself in to the Palestinian Authority (PA) before he was seized by Israeli forces three days ago. Nablus Governor Jamal Muheisin told Ma’an on Sunday that activist Majdi Mabrouka aimed to renounce armed struggle in exchange for amnesty from Israel as some other fighters have done. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said in a statement that the news about Mabrouka’s intentions to turn himself over and hand his weapon were false and baseless rumors. They held the PA responsible for his arrest." While everybody recognizes the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to keep security and order, it has become evident that ending Palestinian resistance and getting rid of the wanted activists were part of those efforts," the statement added. more..
Al-Aqsa Brigades launch projectiles at Israeli town of Kfar Aza
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching two projectiles at the Israeli town of Kfar Aza, near the northeastern border of the Gaza Strip, on Monday. They explained the attack as part of their retaliation for Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades launch three projectiles south of Ashkelon
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching three homemade projectiles at the Israeli industrial zone south of Ashkelon on Monday. They said that the attack was in retaliation for Israeli crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Israeli forces seize two Palestinians near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 2/25/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank city and refugee camp of Jenin, as well as the town of Zububa, northwest of Jenin, on Monday. The invading forces ransacked several homes in Zububa before apprehending 15-year-old Saddam Jaradat and 22-year-old Fida Qan’eer. Ma’an’s correspondent added that the soldiers also conducted a search in the lands belonging to Zububa, near the separation wall. [end]
Palestine Today 022508
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/25/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 4 m 0s || 3. 66 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Monday February 25th, 2008. In Gaza, the Israeli army kills four Palestinians, while in the West Bank the Israeli army took six civilians political prisoner, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Palestinian sources reported that four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during three separate operations in the Gaza strip on Monday. Hussam Abu Hieen was killed when Israeli jet fighters shelled residential areas east of Gaza city on Monday at dawn, medical sources reported. Meanwhile Hani Abu Salah and Tha’er Misbah were killed when Israeli drones, fired missiles at a group of resistance fighters in Khan Younis city in the southern part of the Gaza strip. more..
Israeli strike kills three civilians in Gaza
Middle East Online 2/24/2008
GAZA CITY - An Israeli missile strike in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun killed three Palestinians near the border fence with Israel on Saturday, a Palestinian hospital official said. Doctor Muawiya Hassanein, the director of Gaza emergency medical services, identified the men as Mohammed al-Zaanin, Ibrahim Abu Jarad, and Mohammed Hassanein, employees at the Bank of Jordan, who were picnicking near the border with Israel when the missile struck." They were in an area near the border and they were having lunch outside. They were not militants, but civilians," Hassanein said. An Israeli army spokesman said the men were "killed by a land-to-land missile while they were on their way to fire mortars" but could not confirm that the men were carrying weapons. Israel has carried out near-daily assaults against the Hamas-ruled territory in recent months in a bid to halt rocket and mortar attacks by militants on southern Israel. more..
Israel to confiscate 766 dunams of Palestinian land near Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli authorities issued a military order on Saturday to confiscate 766 dunams (a dunam is 1000 square meters) of Palestinian land belonging to the West Bank town of Adh-Dhahiriyya as well as land belonging to the Ramadin clan south of Hebron. The land is to be used for expansion of the Israeli settlement of Eshkolot. Palestinian cartographic expert Abdul-Hadi Hantash told Ma’an’s reporter that the Israeli authorities handed warrants to Palestinian farmers. According to the Israelis the confiscation orders fall under the category of "border adjustment." Hantash compared the confiscation orders with his maps, and concluded that the affected area will actually be more than 900 dunams. An additional 2400 will fall behind the Israeli separation wall, which he says is a form of indirect confiscation. more..
Two Hamas militants killed in IAF strike on southern Gaza Strip
Yuval Azoulay, and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/24/2008
Two Hamas militants were killed and at least two others wounded early Monday in an Israel Air Force strike on the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed the air strike, saying it targeted a group of gunmen spotted in the area. IDF troops on Sunday uncovered five tunnels in southern Gaza used for smuggling weapons. The tunnels were found during an IDF operation in Dahaniyeh, east of Rafah. Troops from the Givati Brigade, Armored Corps and Engineering Corp arrested some 40 Palestinian militants suspected in terror attacks against Israel during the operation, the IDF said. [end]
Israeli siege on Gaza reaps more lives of sick Palestinians
Palestinian Information Center 2/24/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian citizens Mohammed Ahmad Al-Hindi and Ahmed Lubbad died on Saturday after the Israeli occupation authority denied them exit permits to receive medical treatment outside the besieged Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources reported. The Gaza Strip has been under crushing Israeli economic blockade that was strongly supported by the USA and the EU. The embargo killed scores of innocent Palestinian civilians. The death of Hindi, 52, and Lubbad, 47, brings to 101 the number of sick Palestinian citizens who died since the IOA sealed off all crossing points of Gaza Strip and denied Palestinian patients treatment in hospitals outside the Strip nine months ago. According to the sources, thousands of sick Palestinian citizens in Gaza, including children, women, and elderly people are awaiting their death as a result of the Israeli refusal to allow them to be treated abroad. more..
Israeli air strike on Gaza kills two militants
Middle East Online 2/24/2008
GAZA CITY - An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Friday killed two Palestinian militants, Palestinian medical sources said. The attack near Bureij in the southern part of the Gaza Strip killed two 20-year-old members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Ayman Abu Said and Mohammed al-Hazin, said the medics. It brings to 6,151 the number of people killed since the eruption of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians. Of those, 190 have been killed since Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks at a US-sponsored conference in November. Meanwhile, Hamas welcomed a European Parliament resolution calling for an end to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Palestinian Islamist group. However, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was more circumspect with regard to the resolution’s call for an end to rocket fire on Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza. more..
IDF uncovers 5 smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/24/2008
Ground forces operating in southern Gaza arrest over 50 Palestinians suspected of involvement in terror activity, uncover tunnels used to smuggle weapons into Strip - IDF troops operating in the Dahaniya area in southern Gaza throughout Sunday uncovered five tunnels used for weapons smuggling and arrested some 50 Palestinians suspected of terror activity. The men have been detained for initial questioning. Forces came under fire on several instances and responded towards the gunmen. No injuries have been reported. Forces also detained some 50 Palestinians suspected of involvement in terror activity. Three Palestinians were killed and five more were wounded in an IDF strike on Saturday. The army said troops targeted a Palestinian cell in northern Gaza that was moments away from firing a Qassam rocket while Palestinian sources claimed the three men were unarmed civilians uninvolved in terror. more..
IDF to use ’all means’ to stop Gazans breaching border during mass march
Amos Harel Avi Issacharoffs and Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/25/2008
The Palestinians are planning to hold a mass rally today in the Gaza Strip to protest Israel’s economic sanctions against the Hamas-controlled area. As part of the demonstration, the protesters are scheduled to march toward the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces has bolstered its forces along the border with the Gaza Strip, fearing that the rally’s participants will try to break into Israel. Commanders have received orders to stop entry into Israel "by all means," including sniper fire against the legs of the demonstrators. The organizers of the demonstration are planning a "human chain" which will stretch along the main highway running north to south in the Strip. The head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege of Gaza, an independent member of the Palestinian parliament, Jamal al-Hudari, who is close to Hamas, said that the chain will... more..
A hot season in Gaza
Dr. Nasri Qomsiyya - Translated by Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/24/2008
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently issued orders to the commanders of his army to prepare to launch a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, but with "œself-restraint and calmness... without recklessness." We can draw two conclusions from these statements: first, that the Israeli political and military leadership has become convinced that military action is necessary in the Gaza Strip; and second, that Israel wants to prepare carefully for this invasion, in order to avoid a defeat similar to its defeat in Lebanon in 2006. But Israeli government sources have leaked information revealing that the true aim of this military assault will be three-fold: stopping the flow of smuggled weapons through the Egyptian-Palestinian border; ending the firing of homemade shells from the Gaza Strip across the border into Israel; and third, eliminating the Hamas movement or at least "œpolitically neutralizing the movement". more..
Two arrested in YMCA bombing case, de facto Gaza Strip government claims
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Palestinian Interior Ministry affiliated with the Hamas-led de facto government announced on Sunday that police have arrested two people who were allegedly involved in the explosion at the library of the YMCA in Gaza City on 15 February. The interior ministry affirmed that all the group have been revealed and police is pursuing the rest of them. The Interior Ministry said that initial investigations suggest that the blast was politically motivated and intended to increase tensions between the Christian minority and the Hamas government at time when Christian-Hamas relations are strong. The ministry added that Christians in Palestine have been and will continue to be a component part of Palestinian society. The YMCA library, a popular facility that contained 8,000 books, was completely destroyed in the explosion. more..
Two Qassam members wounded in IOF artillery shelling
Palestinian Information Center 2/24/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Two members of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, were wounded at dawn Sunday in an IOF artillery barrage of their position east of Shujaia suburb in Gaza city. Witnesses reported that an artillery shell fired from Nahal Oz at a group of fighters stationed in Shujaia wounded Jabr Hillis and Mohammed Al-Hajjaj. Medical sources said that Hillis’s wounds were light while Hajjaj’s injuries were serious and had to undergo an urgent surgery. The shelling spread panic in lines of citizens especially women and children who woke up on the sound of the powerful explosion. In another unrelated development, the Israeli prisons authority deferred the release of Maha Awad from Nablus city from [Feb 7 2008] till [June 7 2008] without any declared reason after she had already served her 45-month-sentence. more..
Al-Qassam Brigades fighters survive Israeli attack
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Saturday evening that a group of their fighters survived an Israeli assassination attempt. The Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that Israeli artillery fired a shell towards the group at Ash-Shua’yya neighborhood in Gaza City, but the shell missed them, and some were slightly injured by shrapnel of the shell. [end]
Israeli forces raid Qabatiya
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – More than 30 Israeli military vehicles raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, on Sunday morning and ransacked several Palestinian homes. Snipers were deployed on roofs of tall buildings. Local sources told Ma’an’s reporter that the Israeli forces entered the town from the north at 2:00 am. No casualties or arrests have been reported. [end]
Israeli forces arrest two Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli military forces detained two Palestinians in the West Bank on Saturday night, Israeli sources said. The sources added that one of the arrestees was seized trying to smuggle ammunition through the Huwwara checkpoint south of Nablus. The other one, according to the Israeli sources, was arrested under the pretext of pelting Israeli vehicles with stones near Jenin. [end]
An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades ’launch ten projectiles at Sderot’
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, claimed responsibility on Sunday afternoon for launching ten homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, north of Gaza. The spokesperson of the An-Nasser Brigades told Ma’an via telephone that the shelling was part of a joint campaign with other Palestinian resistance factions. He also affirmed that the group who launched the projectiles had earlier survived Israeli artillery shelling. [end]
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claim attacks on Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 2/24/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Saturday evening for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, north of Gaza. They also said their fighters fired mortar shells at any Israeli missile launching pad near the area of Juhor Ad-Dik in southern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for the killing of PFLP fighter Muhammad Za’aneen. [end]
PM: We absolutely won’t fortify every building in Gaza area
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 2/24/2008
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday during the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel would not undertake a fortification project to protect all Gaza-area homes from Qassam rocket attacks. Olmert stressed that Israel had "absolutely no intention of fortifying every building in the Gaza-area or in Sderot." Later in the meeting, the cabinet approved a previously proposed plan to build a ’safe room’ measuring 9 square meters in each residential building within 4. 5 kilometers from the Gaza border. The plan had already been approved by a special ministerial committee last week. The Cabinet allotted a NIS 327 million budget to the fortification project. The prime minister added that by the year 2010 Israel will be in possession of a multi-layer anti-missile defense system. more..
Qassam Brigades: We will return fire
Palestinian Information Center 2/24/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, on Sunday warned that it would continue targeting Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip as long as Israeli occupation forces continued to target the Palestinian people. Abu Obaida, the Qassam spokesman, said in a statement published on Qassam website that the Sderot settlement north of Gaza would remain a "legitimate target for our Mujahideen" similar to other settlements in retaliation to the IOF crimes. "As long as our people are killed, their homes shelled and assassinated in their streets, cars and homes then the people of Sderot would never enjoy security or stability," he underscored. The Sderot mayor had offered Hamas a ten-year truce to stop the fall of locally made Palestinian resistance missiles on his settlement. more..
Three Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardment near Beit Hanoun
Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2008
Gaza – Ma’an - Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli artillery bombardment on the An-Nizar area, east of the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Dr. Mu’awiyya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, named the victims as Muhammad Talal Az-Za’aneen, Ibrahim Zeidan Abu Jarad and Muhammad Hassanein, an employee at the Jordan Bank in beit Hanoun. All three victims were taken to Ash-Shuhada Hospital in Beit Hanoun. Residents said the three were having lunch with a friend and had just finished eating when Israeli forces fired a ground missile at the house. The three men were killed immediately the missile struck. The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades announced that Muhammad Talal Az-Za’aneen was one of their members. more..
IDF braces for mass march on Gaza border
Amos Harel Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/23/2008
Gasoline ran out in Gaza over the weekend in the wake of Israeli limits on its import except for emergency vehicles. Diesel fuel is also said to be in short supply. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces beefed up troops along the border with Gaza, fearing thousands of Palestinians may march on the border in protest Israel’s economic sanctions. Israel fears that crowds of Palestinians might rush the border, and that large numbers of casualties will result from the army’s attempts to stop them. The concerns are based on the breaching of the Gaza-Egyptian border a month ago, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed across Rafah into Egypt after Hamas blew up the wall there. Israel believes Hamas is now planning a new action, directed at Israel, to break the siege on the Gaza Strip and draw global attention to the plight of Gaza’s Palestinians. more..
Israeli army invades Tulkarem
Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2008
Tulkarem - Ma’an - The Israeli army invaded the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank on Friday night, amid gunfire and sound bombs. According to our correspondent, quoting from Palestinian security sources, the Israeli army had informed the Palestinians of its intention to expand its security checks in the city but without specifying its goal. This warning was followed by the invasion of Israeli forces into the city. The troops opened fire on shops, forcing their owners to close and also stopped a number of passing cars in the city especially around Gamal Abd An-Nasser Square, Ma’an’s correspondent said. The city of Tulkarm then witnessed clashes between young men throwing stones and the Israeli soldiers. more..
The Israeli army kidnaps four civilians from the southern part of the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/23/2008
Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army kidnapped four Palestinian civilians during two invasions targeting the southern part of the West Bank on Saturday morning. Two civilians were taken from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem when Israeli soldiers invaded the city and searched homes there. Local sources identified the two as Adham Al Arraj, 28, and Khalil Rabayi’ah, 35. Also today the Israeli army invaded the town of Sourif, located near Hebron city in the southern part of the West Bank and kidnapped two civilians. Local sources said that Israeli troops stormed and ransacked several homes then kidnapped Ahmad Al Howwuar, 22, and Mos’ab Al Howwuar 23 and took them to unknown locations. more..
Israeli forces seize Palestinians in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an - Israeli forces seized four citizens from the town of ’Atil north of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, at dawn on Saturday. Ma’an’s correspondent reported that the Israeli army stormed the town on Friday evening, raiding several houses and arrested 19-year-old Leith Muhammad Ekteish, 23-year-old Mamoon Badawi, 21-year-old Sulaiman Badawi and 20-year-old Bilal Jalal Salim. Our correspondent added that the four men were taken to an unknown destination. Meanwhile also on Saturday, Israeli forces apprehended two men from the town of Sourif northwest of Hebron, in the southern West Bank. [end]
Three injured as the army invades Nablus
Ameen Abu Wardeh, International Middle East Media Center 2/23/2008
Three Palestinian civilians were injured when Israeli troops stormed al-Ein Refugee camp located in the northern West Bank city Nablus on Saturday morning. The army surrounded the house of Majdi Mabruk, 30, and fired a number sounds bombs and detonated explosives near the house injuring Mabruk sister Nabeelah. One man identified as, Sabah Salam and one child were lightly wounded by shrapnel of the sound bombs. Eyewitnesses reported that soldiers hand-cuffed and blind-folded Mabruk and took him to an undisclosed location. Local sources said that Mabruk is a leader of the Abu Ali Mustafa brigade, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (PFLP) and has been wanted by the Israeli army since three years. Witnesses stated that the military operation lasted for several hours, during which at least 17 military vehicles roamed in the camp and troops searched scores of homes in the camp. more..
3 Palestinians killed in IDF strike in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/23/2008
IDF confirms troops operating in northern Gaza targeted cell en route to launch rocket attack against Israel. But Palestinians say all three were civilians, with one report claiming they were bankers holding a picnic - Three Palestinians were killed and five more were wounded in an IDF operation in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon. The IDF confirmed forces operating in the Strip targeted a Palestinian cell en route to launch rocket attacks from against Israeli towns. The casualties have yet to be identified, largely due to the fact that the bodies were reportedly charred. It is unclear if those killed are indeed gunmen or civilians. Contradictory Palestinian reports say the three were either Fatah political operatives unaffiliated with the movement’s military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades or - according to a report by the Associated Press - three... more..
Three Palestinians killed in IAF strike on Gaza
Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies, By Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/23/2008
Three Palestinians were killed yesterday afternoon in an Israel Air Force air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said. Family members of the three men killed identified them as an employee of a Jordanian bank, a former government employee and a student. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the air strike, but said it targeted Palestinian militants on their way to fire mortar shells at Israel. The air strike came a day after an Israeli missile killed two Palestinian militants and wounded a third in central Gaza, according to Palestinian medical staff and Hamas security officials. The Hamas officials, who did not wish to be named, said the militants were members of the Islamic Jihad group who were on foot east of the Maghazi refugee camp when they were targeted. Israel frequently carries out missile strikes and raids against militants in the... more..
Low morale and rebellion among troops of elite Israeli brigade
Palestinian Information Center 2/23/2008
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Hebrew media sources reported that a collapse in morale and a state of rebellion have surfaced in the ranks of the IOF troops stationing along the Gaza Strip after the Israeli Givati brigade, one of the elite units in the Israel army, refused to carry out their military assignments near Gaza. The Israeli Yediot Ahronot newspaper said on Friday that at the height of the military preparations to wage a large-scale incursion in Gaza, many veteran officers of the Givati brigade refused on Thursday to stay in the Sufa military base near the Strip and disobeyed military orders. The aforementioned military base is constantly exposed to rocket attacks waged by the Palestinian resistance factions atop of them the Qassam Brigades. Meanwhile in retaliation to Israeli incursions, the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced that it clashed at... more..
IDF nabs senior PFLP member in Nablus
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/23/2008
Majdi Mabruk was behind several suicide and shooting attacks against Israel targets, security officials say. During arrest terrorist was in possession of an M-16 assault rifle, a hand grenade and 15 bullet cartridges - IDF forces operating in the West Bank during the early hours of Saturday morning apprehended a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the Nablus refugee camp of Ein Bet Ilmeh. He was taken in for questioning by security personnel. According to army sources, during his arrest Majdi Mabruk was in possession of an M-16 assault rifle with a telescopic lens, a hand grenade and 15 bullet cartridges. During the activity Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the soldiers several times, but no injuries were reported. The soldiers returned fire. Officials in the security establishment said Mabruk, 30, was involved... more..
Israeli raid kills Palestinians
Al Jazeera 2/23/2008
At least three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli missile attack in the northern Gaza Strip, according to health department and Hamas officials. A Hamas official said the attack occurred near the Israel-Gaza border on Saturday. Moawiya Hassanain, a Palestinian health ministry official, said two people were injured by the missile fired between the towns of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya. Relatives of the three people killed said they were all civilians - employees of a Jordanian bank who were having a picnic in an open field when the missile struck. Israel frequently carries out missile strikes and raids against fighters in the Gaza Strip. Officials say the raids are intended to stop the fighters from launching rockets into southern Israeli towns. more..
Israeli forces seize senior Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades commander
Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2008
Nablus – Ma’an - Israeli forces stormed Al-Ein refugee camp west of Nablus on Saturday, arresting one of the senior commanders of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). His relatives told Ma’an that special Israeli forces surrounded his house at dawn on Saturday with around 15 Israeli military vehicles. They used explosives to blast through the front door of the house, before detaining 30-year-old Majdi Mabruka. Majdi Mabruka has eluded capture for three years since Israel put him on their ’wanted’ list. He is one of the senior leaders of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades in the West Bank. [end]
Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths clash in Anbata
Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an - Palestinian youths threw stones at Israeli troops in the town of Anbata east of Tulkarem north of the West Bank on Saturday. According to our correspondent, quoting eyewitnesses, three Israeli military vehicles stormed the town amid gunfire and sound bombs. No injuries were reported. [end]
Israel Extends Closure of Palestinian Offices in Jerusalem
The Associated Press, MIFTAH 2/23/2008
Israel is keeping Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem shut tight, despite its pledge to reopen them under a recently revived peace blueprint, Palestinian officials said Thursday. Peace Talks Olmert: We didn’t discuss Jerusalem; Palestinians: Yes we did / Ali Waked Prime minister says Jerusalem wasn’t discussed during Tuesday’s meeting with Abbas; Palestinian version completely different Full Story This month, the officials said, Israel renewed its order to close a leading Palestinian think tank known as Orient House, the city ’s Arab Chamber of Commerce and other symbolic buildings that are a rallying point for the Palestinians’ claims to Jerusalem’s eastern sector as capital of a future state. Israeli police shut down the institutions in 2001, shortly after the relaunch of the Palestinian uprising against Israel, and has since issued orders every six months renewing the closure. more..
Bar-Ilan scholar recants controversial blood libel theory
Adi Schwartz, Ha’aretz 2/23/2008
A Jewish historian over the weekend published an edited version of his book on the killing of a Christian child in the Italian city of Trento in 1475, denying that the Jews implicated in the murder were in any way involved. In the new edition, Bar-Ilan University Professor Ariel Toaff writes: "Jews were not involved in ritual murder, which was an entirely Christian stereotype." "There was no relationship whatsoever between the so-called ’ritual of blood’ and ritual infanticide," Toaff stated. Toaff caused controversy when he wrote in his 2007 book that he did not rule out the possibility that the murder was carried out by Jews who intended to use the youth’s blood in a Passover ritual. The remark sparked a huge backlash from Israeli and foreign historians who said his claims were unsubstantiated and demanded its immediate removal. more..
Study: Suicide bombers ’not mentally unstable’
Rhonda Spivak, Ha’aretz 2/23/2008
TORONTO - In an extensive study of Palestinian suicide bombings, three University of Toronto researchers have concluded that the bombers were not psychologically unstable and were often motivated by personal vengeance, not religious zeal. The study was carried out by political sociologist Robert Brym, with the assistance of two Ph. d students, Palestinian Bader Araj and Israeli Yael Maoz-Shai. Writing in the academic journal Social Forces, Brym noted, "The organizers of suicide attacks don’t want to jeopardize their missions by recruiting unreliable people. It may be that some psychologically unstable people want to become suicide bombers, but insurgent organizations strongly prefer their cannons fixed." He also found that the suicide bombers did not experience extraordinary high levels of economic deprivation. more..
Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in Gaza bombing
Palestine News Network 2/22/2008
Gaza / PNN -- Israeli forces bombed the Gaza Strip again at dawn Friday. The target was the central Strip with several reconnaissance planes dropping missiles into the heavily populated area. Two Palestinians were killed. Both are from Saraya Al Quds, the armed resistance wing of Islamic Jihad. Medical sources at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital report that the bodies of Bassam Haznan and Ayman Said arrived in pieces, "fragmented by the heavy Israeli shelling." Several other citizens were injured in the attack when Israeli warplanes launched a number of raids throughout the night and into dawn today. The two people that Israeli forces killed were both from Al Maghazi Refugee Camp into which three missiles were fired directly. Two of the injured are in critical condition. Palestinian security sources report that Israeli gunships opened fire with 15 shells on the northwestern Strip. more..
Israeli Court frees 8 Jewish youth who plan to attack Arabs and burn their homes in Tel Aviv
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/22/2008
An Israeli Court in Tel Aviv released on Wednesday eight Jewish youth who planned to attack Arab residents in Tel Aviv area, and burn their homes. The release was unconditional and only stated that they vow to obey orders to interrogate them is requested. Israeli media sources reported that that eight were arrested on suspicions that the planned to attack Arab residents and suspicions to commit a crime, in Shkhonat Hatikva area in Tel Aviv , and that they also were involved in fistfight with Arab residents. A police source in Tel Aviv stated that the police fears clashes between Jews and Arabs in the city following the release eight. [end]
IOF troops kidnap 10 Palestinians in the West Bank
Palestinian Information Center 2/22/2008
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- IOF troops kidnapped 10 Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank on Thursday night and Friday morning according to Israeli military sources. The IOF described the Palestinians kidnapped as "wanted persons" for the occupation. Six of the Palestinians were kidnapped from the villages of Zeita and Atteel near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, two others were kidnapped near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya, one was kidnapped in the Abu Deis village near Jerusalem and another was kidnapped from the village of Sourif, near Bethlehem. These kidnappings are taking place in a joint campaign where IOF troops make night raids in various parts of the West Bank and Abbas’s security forces make day raids. On Thursday, security forces answerable to Abbas kidnapped four Hamas supporters in the West Bank, three in the Tulkarem district and one in the Ramallah district. more..
Israeli forces seize 10 Palestinians across the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/22/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an - Israeli forces apprehended ten Palestinian citizens, in different parts of the West Bank, on Friday claiming that they are ’wanted. ’ Israeli sources said the 10 were seized in the cities of Tulkarem, Bethlehem and the village of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, stressing that they had been taken to all investigation centers for questioning. [end]
Israel tightens security on airliners
Daily Star 2/23/2008
Israel has ordered airlines to require passengers to return to their seats earlier prior to landing as a precaution against would-be hijackers, the Transport Ministry said Friday. The measure follows the assassination last week of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh. The Lebanese group blamed the killing on Israel and has threatened revenge. Israel has denied any involvement, but is taking no chances and has been beefing up security at home and abroad. The Transport Ministry has ordered all airlines to have passengers in their seats from a distance of about 290 kilometers, or half an hour, from the Israeli coast, ministry spokeswoman Ora Salomon said. Until now passengers were asked to sit and fasten their seatbelts only when the plane was about 150 kilometers, or 15 minutes, from shore. Yediot Ahronot newspaper said "it was feared terrorists would infiltrate a plane... more..
Flights to Israel to buckle up half-hour before landing due to Hezbollah hijacking threats
Reuters, Ha’aretz 2/22/2008
Israel is requiring that passengers on all incoming flights be confined to their seats in the half-hour before landing as part of heightened precautions against hijacking, aviation security sources said on Friday. They said the Transport Ministry order, issued to local and foreign airlines on Wednesday, cited threats by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas to avenge the February 12 assassination of their operations chief by waging "open war" against Israel. "Our new policy is that planes lock their flight-deck doors and activate the ’please fasten seat belts’ signs when 290 km away from Israel," one Israeli security source said. "It’s a precaution against hijackers storming the cockpit in the final approach, given the current terrorist threat level," the source said, adding that previously it was up to the airlines to decide when to ask passengers to remain seated. more..
South Lebanese dread renewed conflict with Israel
Jihad Siqlawi, Daily Star 2/23/2008
Threat of fresh war with Jewish state drives many to mull emigration, but diehards remain - Agence France Presse - AL-HALLOUSIYEH: In this South Lebanese village which suffered heavy destruction during the summer war of 2006, Hassan busies himself digging a shelter in the mountainside. In another village nearby, Iman is desperate for a visa to any country that will grant her one. They are among many residents across South Lebanon fearful of a new conflict following the threats unleashed at the Jewish state in recent days by the head of Hizbullah and its ally, Iran. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel after the assassination of a top Hizbullah commander in Damascus last week that if the Jewish state wanted "open war," his organization was ready to respond in kind. Iran also stepped up its rhetoric against Israel after the killing. The threats have sent jitters across Lebanon. The fear is worst in villages in the South where residents have yet to recover... more..
Two fighters killed, one injured, in the central Gaza Strip
Saed Bannoura & Rami aL-Meghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/22/2008
Palestinian medical sources reported on Friday at dawn that two Palestinian fighters, members of the Al Quds Brigades the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, were assassinated and one was injured in an Israeli military shelling to Al Maghazi refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. The shelling targeted a group of fighters who gathered east of the camp, local sources reported. The two slain fighters and the injured fighters were moved to the Al Aqsa Hospital in Dir Al Balah. The assassinated fighters were identified as Ayman Abu Sa’id and Mohammad Al Hazeen. The bodies of the two fighters were severely mutilated. Eyewitnesses reported that an Israeli military helicopter fired missiles at the fighters and the Al Quds Brigades confirmed that the two are members of the group. The Brigades added that the fighters were monitoring undercover Israeli forces that infiltrated into the... more..
Palestinian officials: Israeli missile kills two Gaza militants
Reuters and The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 2/22/2008
An Israeli missile killed two Palestinian militants and wounded a third in the central Gaza Strip, close to the border fence with Israel on Friday, Palestinian medical staff and Hamas security officials said. The Hamas officials, who did not wish to be named, said the militants were members of the Islamic Jihad group who were on foot east of the Maghazi refugee camp when they were targeted. The militants had been posted in central Gaza near the Israeli border to observe army movements, Islamic Jihad said. An Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman confirmed an air strike had been carried out against "terror elements" in the Gaza Strip. Israel frequently carries out missile strikes and raids against militants in the Gaza Strip in what it says is an effort to stop them launching rockets into southern Israeli towns and planting bombs along the border that target IDF soldiers. more..
Report: 2 Palestinian gunmen killed in IDF strike in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/22/2008
Palestinian sources say IDF missile killed Islamic Jihad operatives in central Gaza; IDF confirms striking ’terror elements’ in area - Two Palestinian gunmen, both members of Islamic Jihad’s military wing the al-Quds Brigades, were killed Thursday night by an Israeli missile in the central Gaza Strip, sources in Gaza reported. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed an air strike had been carried out against "terror elements" In the area. Three days ago, Palestinian sources reported that a 10 year-old boy was killed by IDF fire during an army operation in central Gaza. The sources identified the dead child as Tamer Abu Sha’ar. According to the sources, several other people were wounded after soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in the Khan Younis area. Earlier, medics said that the boy underwent surgery and that his condition was critical. more..
Palestinians killed in Israeli raid
Al Jazeera 2/22/2008
An Israeli air attack has killed two Palestinians and wounded a third in the central Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said Israel launched at least one missile during the attack near Bureij early on Friday morning. The attack killed two 20-year-old members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Ayman Abu Said and Mohammed al-Hazin, the medics said. Officials from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, confirmed the men were members of Islamic Jihad, who had been on foot close to the fence with Israel. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed an air assault had been carried out. Israel frequently launches missiles on the Gaza Strip in what it says is an effort to stop armed groups fighting the Israeli occupation from launching rockets into southern Israeli towns and planting bombs along the border that target its soldiers. more..
This Week In Palestine - week 8 2008
Ghassan Bannoura- Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/22/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 12. 8MB || Time 14m 0s || This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www. IMEMC. org, for February 16th through to February 22nd, 2008. The European parliament lambasted the Israeli government’s actions on the Gaza Strip, and Israeli attacks on the region leaves 17 killed this week. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned. Nonviolent Resistance We begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in the West Bank, IMEMC’s Jane Smith with the details: Bil’in The villagers of Bil’in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with international and Israeli supporters, conducted their weekly protest against the illegal Israeli wall being built on village land. Israeli troops attacked the protesters. more..
National Resistance brigades attack Israeli military jeep
Ma’an News Agency 2/22/2008
Gaza – Ma’an - The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front, claimed they attacked an Israeli military jeep near the Sufa crossing in the southern Gaza Strip at dawn on Friday. They told Ma’an that they scored a direct hit on the jeep and clashed with the soldiers, before safely withdrawing to their bases. The brigades said that this comes within the framework of the responses by the National Resistance Brigades, in response to "the Israeli occupation’s crimes against our people." [end]
Security agencies detain 4 Hamas supporters in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/22/2008
Nablus – Ma’an - Hamas said that the Palestinian security services arrested four of the supporters of the movement in the West Bank on Thursday. A Hamas spokesperson told Ma’an that the security services in Tulkarem arrested Aseed Basheer Badran, Abdullah Laqman Qa’dan and Zeyad Habasheh from the nearby town of Deir al-Ghosun. In the governorate of Ramallah, security services arrested Musa Zahran. He was taken to an unknown destination. [end]
Al-Aqsa brigades launch projectile at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 2/22/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, claimed responsibility for launching a projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot on Friday morning. The brigades said that they heard the emergency alarms in Sderot, adding that this attack comes as a response for the Israeli crimes against Palestinians. [end]
National Resistance target Israeli military base
Ma’an News Agency 2/22/2008
Gaza – Ma’an - The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front, claimed responsibility for launching two missiles at the Kissufim Israeli military base on Friday morning. The brigades said that the attack was in response to "occupation crimes against Palestinian people." [end]
Thousands in Sderot for solidarity shopping
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/22/2008
People from across Israel arrive in rocket-battered town to do their Shabbat shopping, show their support for residents. ’It’s amazing, people have no idea how much this is helping local businesses,’ one Sderot resident says. Sderot mayor: The people have said ’enough,’ the government can no longer take its time - A motorcade of several hundred cars arrived in Sderot on Friday morning carrying thousands of people from across Israel who came to do their Shabbat shopping in the rocket-battered town. While the visitors were still on their way, a rocket fired from northern Gaza landed in an open field north of town, causing no injuries or damage. The convoy left from several rendezvous points in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Raanana early Friday. The visitors were briefed by the police and the Home Front Command on how they should act in the case of a rocket attack. more..
Thousands show solidarity with Qassam-stricken Sderot
Yigal Hai, and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/23/2008
More than 10,000 people came on Friday to the western Negev town of Sderot to show their solidarity with the rocket-battered town. To boost the town’s faltering economy, the visitors bought groceries for Shabbat in the town’s shops. "This is one big carnival," Ilan Cohen, on of the organizers of the event, told Army Radio. "Thousands of people are on their way; 500 vehicles have departed from Tel Aviv. I’m urging everyone who can to come down here. We have all sorts of people." Anti-Qassam protests continue On Thursday, dozens of residents of Sderot and neighboring communities in the western Negev held a protest in Tel Aviv, where they called for the government to take swift military action to fight the daily onslaught of Qassam rockets targeting their communities. more..
Limited incursion in Rafah; Israeli forces open fire on school
Ma’an News Agency 2/21/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Several Israeli military vehicles conducted a limited incursion in the Ash-Shuka area in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amidst heavy gunfire and artillery shelling on Thursday. No casualties have been reported. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an that Palestinian resistance groups confronted the invading forces, firing several mortar shells. Meanwhile, Israeli forces stationed near the Yasser Arafat International airport in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip opened fire on the nearby Ash-Shuka school on Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s reporter that all students and faculty were detained in the school yard. Separately, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National resistance Brigades, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two rocket-propelled grenades at two Israeli military jeeps in Al-Maghazi refuge camp in the central Gaza Strip. more..
Israeli forces seize 23 Palestinians; clashes near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 2/21/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli forces on Thursday morning apprehended 23 Palestinians from different West Bank districts, claiming they were ’wanted activists. ’ Ma’an’s correspondent in Nablus said that Israeli forces raided the northern West bank town of Beita south of Nablus, imposing a curfew and ransacking several homes before arresting 18 Palestinians. Fierce clashes erupted between Palestinian citizens and the invading Israeli forces who fired gunshots, sonic bombs and tear gas canisters injuring 17-year-old Hussain Sabri. He was shot in the shoulder and was taken to hospital. Israeli media sources said the army arrested 23 Palestinians in the West Bank overnight. Two days ago, gunmen opened fire on an Israeli bus at the main crossroads near Beita. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. more..
IOA destroys historic Islamic building in Old Jerusalem
Palestinian Information Center 2/21/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has demolished the historic building of the Supreme Islamic Council in the occupied city of Jerusalem with the aim to build hotels owned by rich Jewish businessmen on it ruins, sources in the Aqsa foundation asserted. The foundation that caters for Muslim holy places in the city accused the Israeli occupation government of distorting the city’s Muslim identity through such demolitions. "Big Israeli bulldozers had completely destroyed the building but retaining only the front façade which will incorporated in the new construction after all signs indicating the Muslim identity of the building were distorted", asserted the AF in a statement it issued in this regard and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC. The foundation cited a number of Israeli procedures that expose the Israeli intention of judaizing the occupied... more..
The Israeli army attacks several villages near Hebron and kidnaps two civilians
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/21/2008
Two Palestinian civilians were kidnapped when Israeli troops attacked several villages located near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday. Troops attacked and searched homes in Sa’er and Sourif villages located near Hebron. Eyewitnesses said that the troops forced families out of their homes during the search. The witnesses added that soldiers ransacked the homes they searched and beat up men. Local sources identified the two kidnapped as; Sayif Abu Al Houwar, 21 and Hakeem Shaladah, 44. Moreover on Thursday afternoon the Israeli army forces invaded Sourif village again, took control of two homes and made them into army posts. [end]
The Israeli army attacks Beita village near Nablus and kidnaps 18 civilians
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/21/2008
On Thursday, Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army attacked and searched homes in the village of Beita located near the northern West Bank city of Nablus and kidnapped 18 civilians there. Witnesses said army jeeps and troops stormed the village at dawn, soldiers searched and ransacked a number of village homes, then kidnapped 18 people and took them to unknown locations. Among those kidnapped were; Ziead Hilal, 40, Mussa Baraham, 20, Iyhab Mustafa, 24, and Taleb Hamaiel, 35. Sources in the village said that troops kept the village under curfew until late morning. [end]
Al-Aqsa militants wanted by Israel escape from PA jail
Avi Issacharoffs, Ha’aretz 2/22/2008
A group of 14 Palestinian militants escaped from a Palestinian Authority prison in Nablus Thursday, Palestinian sources reported. The prisoners, members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, had been involved in fighting against the IDF in recent months and were hiding in Nablus’ old city, the Kasba. Some six weeks ago, the group turned itself in to the PA, following a comprehensive IDF operation in the Kasba. The IDF agreed to let the militants, who are wanted by Israel, stay in the Palestinian prison on condition that the Palestinian security forces keep them incarcerated and deny them weapons and contact with terror organizations until Israel pardons them. So far, however, Israel has refused to include the men in the pardon agreement for Fatah fighters, under which Palestinians give up their arms in return for an Israeli amnesty. more..
Israel considers a U.S-like invasion of Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/21/2008
The Israeli government has been reportedly approved a military plan, similar to the U. S invasion of Iraq in 2003, within underway preparations to massively attack Gaza. According to the Jewish Press online website on Wednesday, Israeli sources said that a plan, drafted by the Israeli general staff, has been endorsed by the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak. The website also reported that such a planned invasion has been discussed by several panels of the Israeli cabinet, involving many cabinet members. A part of the plan, Israel is intending to diminish the Hamas regime in Gaza, with targeting the Hamas leaders and controlling most areas of the Gaza Strip, in a way that dejects momentum of likely international response. At least 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers, backed by warplanes and warships and battle tanks, will be employed in the Gaza invasion, to be deployed at four main access, including the Mediterranean sea side. more..
No ironclad guarantees
Reuven Pedatzur, Ha’aretz 2/21/2008
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was surprised to learn last Sunday that the Iron Dome defense system, which was approved last year and was supposed to protect Israel’s citizens against Qassam rockets, is not capable of alleviating the distress of Sderot inhabitants. "Recent tests found the system to be effective against rockets fired from more than four kilometers away, but not against those fired from closer range," Haaretz noted that same day in its lead story. Because Sderot is less than two kilometers from Beit Hanun, from which the rockets are being fired, Iron Dome will be helpless against them. The upshot is that the prime minister, who just two months ago declared that "we will not fortify ourselves to death," was compelled to approve recommendations to fortify 8,000 homes in Sderot and the communities of the "Gaza envelope," to the tune of NIS 300 million. more..
Sderot residents set up protest tents in Tel Aviv
Roi Mandel, YNetNews 2/21/2008
Rabin Square becomes encampment’s permanent residence. Mayor of rocket-battered town: We have come to shatter the ’Tel Avivian bubble’ - After folding up their protest encampment in Jerusalem, Sderot residents on Thursday moved their tents to Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. The Sderot Municipality’s operations will also be conducted in Tel Aviv until further notice. The encampment was visited by council heads from southern Israel , including the mayors of Beersheba, Dimona and Arad. Other mayors are expected to arrive at the protest tents throughout the day in solidarity with the residents of the rocket-battered city. Beersheba resident Yehuda Alush arrived in Tel Aviv from the Jerusalem encampment , and he plans to sit there and protest as long as it takes. "We are here to tell Tel Aviv’s residents that people can no longer ignore the situation which Sderot residents face on a daily basis. more..
2 rockets hit building near Nahal Oz
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/21/2008
Qassams fired from northern Gaza cause damage to Israeli building; no injuries reported - Two Qassam rockets hit an Israeli building near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel on Wednesday night. There were no reports of injuries. Three rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday evening. Two landed within the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, and the third rocket landed on Palestinian territory. There were no reports of injuries, despite the fact that the Color Red alert system was not activated for an unknown reason. Home Front Command Chief Brigadier-General Yair Golan said Tuesday that a decrease in the number of Qassam rockets fired from Gaza at Israel had been registered in 2007, compared to the previous year. According to data presented by Golan during a meeting of the Knesset’s State Control Committee,... more..
Israeli army carries out an incursion into Rafah city
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/21/2008
The Israeli army carried out early on Thursday a small-scale incursion into the southern Gaza Strip of Rafah. Witnesses in Rafah told news agencies that the Israeli army tanks fired several cannons towards the Shuka village in eastern Rafah city, with no injuries reported. The Palestinian resistance groups encountered the tanks with mortar shells, forcing them to roll back, added the witnesses. Meanwhile, the national resistance brigades ad the aL-Aqsa martyrs brigades, claimed responsibility for firing two mortar shells against Israeli tanks to the east of Maghazi town, in central Gaza. A joint statement, faxed to press, read that the shelling of the Israeli armored vehicles came in response to the continued Israeli attacks on the coastal region. more..
Khalil people bid farewell to martyrs of Dimona operation
Palestinian Information Center 2/21/2008
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Large masses of Al-Khalil people marched on Wednesday evening in the funeral procession of Mohamed Al-Hirbawi and Shadi Al-Zaghir, the Qassam fighters who carried out the human bombing operation in the Israeli Dimona settlement. The IOA had handed the bodies of the two Qassam fighters to their families earlier the same day after three weeks of detention. The martyrs had carried out their raid near an Israeli trade center in the settlement which led to the death of an Israeli nuclear scientist working for the Dimona nuclear reactor and the injury of many others. [end]
Palestinian security arrests 6 Hamas members in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/21/2008
Nablus – Hamas said on Thursday that the Palestinian security affiliated to the Fatah-led government in the West Bank arrested 6 Hamas members on Wednesday. They said in a statement that the Palestinian security apprehended the Mayor of Bidya town in the district of Salfit in the northern West Bank, along with two other Hamas affiliates. According to the statement two other members of Hamas were seized in the northern West Bank village of Jayyous in Qalqilia district, and one was apprehended inthe village of Tammun in the district of Tubas in the northern West Bank. [end]
Hamas developing unmanned planes with Iran’s assistance
Ma’an News Agency 2/20/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Israel fears that Hamas is using knowledge it acquired from Hizbullah to develop unmanned drones, the daily Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth reported on Wednesday. Hamas is supposedly utilizing the expertise of many experts who came from Iran in addition to the help of members of Palestinian universities that specialize in different sciences such as electronic and physical engineering to help them develop their air capabilities, the Israeli security forces fear, according to the newspaper. According to the newspaper, Israeli security services also unleashed their anger on Egypt which they accused of double standards in dealing with Hamas because the Egyptian authorities arrest their members during the day only to release them at night. The newspaper added that Egypt also turns a blind eye to the smuggling operations that Hamas carries out between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. more..
Hamas police seize suspect in failed Haniyeh assassination plot
Ma’an News Agency 2/20/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas-affiliated police have seized a former Fatah intelligence officer accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyeh, the Gaza-based de facto Palestinian interior ministry announced on Wednesday. Muhammad Shabat was a brigadier in the previous Fatah-affiliated intelligence service in the Gaza Strip. "Shabat was the main source who funded the terrorist group, and he coordinated everything with Palestinian intelligence chief, Tawfiq Tirawi and secretary general of the Palestinian presidency At-Tayyib Abdul-Raheem," the de facto interior ministry said in a statement. "This arrest came after intensive efforts by the interior ministry to reveal and apprehend those suspected of attempting to assassinate Haniyeh," the statement added. Last week, the de facto Palestinian interior ministry published details... more..
Border Guard officer to face disciplinary hearing for harming settler
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/21/2008
Police Internal Affairs Bureau cites Border Guard’s Judea and Samaria sector commander for conduct unbecoming an officer, dismisses allegations of undo force, malice, obstruction of justice. Rightists slam decision, say appeal is underway - The Police Internal Affairs Bureau announced Wednesday that it would pursue legal action against Brigadier-General Shlomi Even-Paz, who heads the Border Guard Command in Judea and Samaria, for conduct unbecoming an officer. The IAB further stated it found no evidence for obstruction of justice and so will not recommend any criminal be brought against the officer. The Border Guard Command has turned the case over to the Police National Headquarters’ disciplinary branch. The event for which Even-Paz was cited for dates back to the summer of 2007, when right-wing activists and settlers from the Homesh First, arrived at the location... more..
Palestine Today 022108
Ghassan Bannoura- Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/21/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday February 21st, 2008. The Israeli army invades southern Gaza and opens fire at school children, while in the West Bank Israeli troops kidnap 20 civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Palestinian school children in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah came under Israeli army gun fire on Thursday morning as resistance fighters clashed with the invading troops. The Israeli army forces invaded the city of Rafah on Thursday morning, opened heavy gun fire on Palestinian school children as well as local residents’ homes. During a short time the invading tanks and bulldozers exchanged fire with local resistance fighters and resistance groups announced that they... more..
IDF spends $6-7m on VMware virtual servers
Shmulik Shelah, Globes Online 2/21/2008
20 virtual servers can run on one physical server. The IDF’s immense expenditures on computerization and its importance has forced the army to rethink its spending model. The IDF recently closed a $60-70 million three-year servers tender, considered the country’s largest tender in this field. The tender includes virtual server solutions. Sources inform ’’Globes’’ that VMware Inc. (NYSE:VMW) will supply $6-7 million worth of virtual server solutions over the coming years. The VMware environment simulates the operation of servers on enterprise networks. The company’s software provides a range of computer resources on a physical server irrespective of the server hardware or the amount of memory on it. The main advantage of virtual servers is that they better exploit existing physical servers (an ordinary server is used only 10% of the time), which enables 20 virtual servers to operate off one physical server. more..
IOF troops kidnap 12 Palestinians from a Tulkarm restaurant
Palestinian Information Center 2/20/2008
TULKARM, (PIC)-- IOF troops stormed Tulkarm, north of the West Bank, on Wednesday and rounded up 12 Palestinian youths from a downtown café, local sources reported. The sources said that special IOF units stormed the restaurant that is near to the PA police station and detained all those inside it. Large numbers of IOF troops then arrived to the scene and took away 12 of the young men in the café including Omar Al-Badawi, 20, who is wanted for the IOF for his anti-occupation activity. Citizens in the neighborhood said that the Palestinian police, working under orders of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, did not show up and disappeared from the streets during the raid. In Attil village, north of Tulkarm, IOF soldiers kidnapped a 25-year-old youth after breaking into his family home, assaulting his relatives and wreaking havoc in the house. more..
P.A security arrests six Hamas supporters
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/20/2008
Palestinian security forces arrested on Tuesday six supporters of Hamas movement in several parts of the West Bank, Hamas media sources reported. In Salfit district, security forces arrested Sheikh Imad Ed Deek, a previous official at the Ministry of Waqf and Islamic Affairs and the Imam of the Big Mosque in Kufr Ed Deek village, west of Salfit. Ramadan Shatat, mayor of Bidya village, west of Salfit, was also arrested after the security forces broke into his home and confiscated him personal computer. Member of Bidya village council, Engineer Iz Ed Deen Ibrahim was also arrested and transferred to Betunia prison in Ramallah. It is worth mentioning that Shatat was kidnapped by the Israeli army last year and was imprisoned for two months. In Qalqilia district, Palestinian security forces arrested Saher Nofal and Ahmad Nabeel from Jayyous village. more..
Salah Eldin brigades claims its fighters wounded Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/20/2008
The Salah Eldin brigades, the armed wing of the popular resistance committees said Wednesday it clashed with an Israeli army undercover force near the Kussofim military post to the south of Gaza Strip. In a statement, faxed to press, the brigades claimed that the armed clash with the Israeli army caused a number of injuries among the soldiers. The statement read that such a clash comes as a part of the group’s responses to continued Israeli army attacks across the Gaza Strip. No further details were reported. The Israeli army has been engaged in a series of military incursions and small-scale attacks on Gaza areas, bordering Israel, in different parts of the coastal region. The Israeli military claims its actions against Gaza are meant to prevent firing of homemade shells from the Hamas-ruled territory onto nearby Israeli towns. more..
Ashkenazi warns Israel may face conflict in near future
Roni Sofer, YNetNews 2/20/2008
Prime minister, chief of staff speak at ceremony marking completion of officer’s training course, discuss military’s future 18 months after Second Lebanon War - "I cannot promise we will not find ourselves facing a difficult trial in the near future," IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said on Wednesday at a ceremony for cadets graduating from the officers’ training course. "Our hands are outstretched in peace, but they are also ready for battle," said Ashkenazi. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who spoke before Ashkenazi, said that "even when many of the young officers here today enlisted after the echoes of the war fell silent, I know without a shadow of a doubt that if we are once again called on to face another conflict in that region or any other, you will embody the noble and tangible essence of the spirit of the IDF and serve as Israel’s defensive shield. more..
IDF Chief of Staff: I can’t rule out military conflict in near future
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/21/2008
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that he could not rule out the possibility that Israel will face a military conflict sometime in the near future. "The achievement demanded of the IDF is swift victory in any type of conflict," said Ashkenazi during an officers’ training course graduation ceremony. "I can’t promise that we will not face such a test in the immediate future." "The job of the IDF was and still is to be a true safety net for the continued existence and success of the State of Israel," he added. "We cannot meet all these [obligations] without excellent commanders." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also addressed the ceremony, saying, "the lessons of the Second Lebanon War are being implemented at all levels of the IDF chain of command. more..
Construction continuing in West Bank settlements despite PM’s pledge
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/21/2008
A new neighborhood comprising 27 trailers is currently under construction at the settlement of Eli, north of Ramallah, even though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed publicly after the Annapolis conference that any such building would cease. Even though some of the trailers are being set up on land privately owned by Palestinians, the authorities are taking no action. Similar unauthorized construction has taken place in the settlement of Maskiot in the northern Jordan Valley. Last December, after the Annapolis conference, Olmert promised to freeze construction in the settlements. But developments in a number of settlements suggest that the settlers are trying to initiate a new wave of construction. The most notable case is Eli, where work is underway to link the 27 trailers to infrastructure. more..
Sderot protest moving to Tel Aviv
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/20/2008
Residents of battered Negev town decide to move massive tent housing their protest against state’s inability to stop Qassam fire from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Meanwhile municipal leaders from across the country visit Sderot in show of support, say they regret not acting sooner - The Sderot Municipality is planning to move resurrect its protest tent in Tel Aviv on Thursday as part of the town’s ongoing struggle to raise awareness of the grave security situation in the Gaza vicinity communities. The tent, which up until recently had been pitched outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office in Jerusalem, was recently dismantled on police orders out for fear it may collapse on the demonstrators due to the inclement weather conditions in the capital. On Wednesday a group of 20 municipal leaders from across the country visited the battered western Negev town to offer their support. more..
Gaza boy ’killed in Israeli raid’
BBC Online 2/19/2008
Israeli troops have killed a 10-year-old boy during a raid into central Gaza, Palestinian medics say. Israeli military officials said troops responded when a group of Palestinians opened fire on them, and only gunmen were identified as having been hit. An armed Palestinian was also shot dead by Israeli troops while trying to plant a bomb near the Israeli border. The violence came as Palestinian and Israeli leaders met in Jerusalem to try to promote progress to a peace deal Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were reviewing peace negotiations nearly three months after they were launched at a US-hosted conference. Correspondents say the negotiations appear to be stalled as violence has been on the rise in Gaza Whoever thinks stopping negotiations will stop terror is not in touch with reality Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni more..
Palestine Today 022008
IMEMC - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/20/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday February 20th, 2008. Israeli army intensifies attacks in the west bank and attacks Tulkarem and kidnaps ten Palestinians, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast Local sources reported that forces attacked Na’eem and Khaleel Abu Hasana’s home in ’Ateel, and kidnapped and transferred them to an undisclosed detention center. While in the town, troops broke into and ransacked a number of civilian homes, claiming that they found a missile during the invasion. Later in the day, a large Israeli force invaded the city of Tulkarem and broke into a café in the downtown and took ten Palestinians prisoner. One of those was Omar Badawi, said to be leader of the Islamic Jihad in the city. more..
Palestinians: Child killed in IDF operation in Gaza
Ali Waked and AP, YNetNews 2/19/2008
Sources in Gaza say 10 year-old boy killed after IDF force clashes with Hamas gunmen in Khan Younis area; IDF says unaware of any child casualties - A 10 year-old boy was killed by IDF fire during an army operation in central Gaza Tuesday afternoon, Palestinian sources in Gaza reported. The sources identified the dead child as Tamer Abu Sha’ar. According to the sources, several other people were wounded after soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in the Khan Younis area. Earlier, medics said that the boy underwent surgery and that his condition was critical. The boy later succumbed to his wounds, the Palestinians said. Palestinian officials told the Associated Press that an army squad took over a house in the area and came under heavy fire from Hamas. The troops shot back and the children were apparently shot in the crossfire, the officials said. more..
Israel detains dozens of Gazans
BBC Online 2/18/2008
The Israeli military says it has taken about 80 Palestinians to Israel for questioning following a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the army had a "free hand" to target militants in Gaza. He faces growing pressure to put an end to rocket attacks from the territory. Three Palestinian militants and a civilian were killed in the incursion on Sunday morning. A fifth person died of his wounds on Monday. Separately, the military said it had detained 16 suspected militants in overnight raids across the West Bank. The Palestinian news agency reported raids in Hebron, Tulkarm and in the Jenin area, and said several people were injured when Israeli troops stormed their houses. Israel and the Fatah faction - in charge of Palestinian-administered areas in the West Bank - are pursuing a renewed peace effort launched at a US-hosted conference last November. more..
5 Qassams land in Gaza vicinity communities
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/19/2008
Five rockets fired at Sderot, Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. One hits chicken coop, causing heavy damage; no injuries reported - A Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning hit a chicken coop in one of the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council communities, causing heavy damage. There were no reports of injuries. Earlier Tuesday, a rocket landed in an open area within the regional council, two other rockets hit an open area near the southern town of Sderot and one landed near a factory in the city. There were no reports of injuries or damage in all incidents. Chicken coop hit by Qassam (Photo: Kobi Tom Friedman) Ofer Beider, who owns the chicken coop hit by the rocket, told Ynet that he was at the place only minutes before the attack. "Large parts of the structure were destroyed, at exactly the same spot where the workers were sitting only a short time earlier," he described. more..
Home Front Command: Qassam fire dropped in 2007
Amnon Meranda, YNetNews 2/19/2008
Home Front Command chief tells Knesset committee decrease in rocket attacks registered in 2007 compared to previous year; presents plan for fortification of some 3,000 homes in Sderot region - A decrease in the number of Qassam rockets fired from Gaza at Israel was registered in 2007, compared to the previous year, Home Front Command Chief Brig. -Gen. Yair Golan said Tuesday. According to data presented by Golan during a meeting of the Knesset’s State Control Committee, 1,488 rockets landed in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities in 2006, compared to 1,150 in 2007. Home Front officials told Ynet that some 400 rockets have been fired at the area surrounding Gaza since the beginning of 2008. Golan briefed the MKs on the Home Front’s plan for the fortification of the region, which includes building secured rooms in 3,180 houses in Sderot and its neighboring communities. more..
News in Brief II
Ha’aretz 2/19/2008
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of nine Qassam rockets at the western Negev yesterday, one of which struck the yard of a Sderot house. There were no injuries, but one woman was lightly hurt when she fell on her way to take shelter. Two of the rockets struck near an infirmary in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council kibbutz. The strike caused some damage, and four people were treated for shock. Two more rockets struck open fields in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, causing no injuries or damage. (Mijal Grinberg) Mauritanian authorities have released eight people who had been detained in connection with an attack this month on the Israel Embassy in this northwest Africa nation, officials said yesterday. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the Feb. 1 shooting attack. (AP) Foreign Ministry Director General Aharon Abramowitz yesterday accused visiting... more..
The Israeli army kills a 10 year old boy in central Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/19/2008
A Palestinian child was shot and killed when the Israeli army opened fire at Palestinian homes located in the central Gaza strip city of Dier Al Balah on Tuesday evening. Medical sources identified the child as Tamer Abu Sha’ar, 10 years old. Witnesses said that Israeli troops invaded the area, when confronted with local resistance men troops opened fire at nearby homes and killed the child. Israeli army sources told the media that a small group of troops invaded Dier Al Balah and took over rooftops of local homes, where the soldiers said that they opened fire at Palestinians. Sha’ar is the second Palestinian to be killed by Israeli army fire in the coastal region today. A Palestinian resistance fighter of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s armed wing, was shot dead and another was wounded on the central Gaza-Israel border early on Tuesday. more..
Resistance fighter killed in clashes with Israeli forces in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 2/19/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A 25-year-old resistance fighter was shot dead during clashes with Israeli forces, east of Dir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinian medical sources said. Mu’awiyya Hassanein, head of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian ministry of health told our correspondent that fighter Ismail Jadallah was taken to Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Dir Al-Balah. The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front, confirmed that Jadallah was one of their members and he was killed during armed clashes with Israeli forces. Meanwhile, the National Resistance Brigades and the Abu Rish Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, claimed they clashed with an Israeli special force east of the Kisufim Israeli military base. They said they attacked the force, firing bullets and homemade bombs on Tuesday at dawn. more..
Resistance fighter killed while confronting IOF incursion
Palestinian Information Center 2/19/2008
DEIR AL-BALAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian resistance fighter was killed and another was injured in confrontations on Tuesday with IOF special units trying to infiltrate east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. Medical and security sources told PIC correspondent that Ismail Jadallah, 22, of the Ahmed Abul Reesh Brigades, an offshoot of the AMB the armed wing of Fatah, was killed while another affiliated with the National Resistance Brigades, the DFLP armed wing, was wounded. Both armed wings issued a joint communiqué affirming that their fighters engaged an infiltrating IOF unit with machineguns and grenades while trying to plant an explosive device east of Kissufim in central Gaza at dawn Tuesday. Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Egypt has reportedly summoned the Israeli ambassador to Cairo to protest the firing of an IOF bomb at its territory. more..
IDF kills Palestinian gunman in Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 2/19/2008
Terrorist opens fire at Givati fighters operating in Strip; soldiers shoot him to death - Givati Brigade fighters killed an armed Palestinian who opened fire at them Tuesday morning, near the Kissufim crossing in the central Gaza Strip. The force fired back at the terrorist, attacked and killed him. A Kalashnikov rifle and a vest were found on his body. This is the brigade fighters’ first encounter with a terrorist after not operating in the area for several months. The soldiers, who are more familiar with the Gaza Strip than any other IDF brigade, have recently been training in the Golan Heights, as part of the lessons being drawn from the Second Lebanon War. The Givati fighters replace Golani soldiers who had been in charge of most of the IDF’s activity in the Strip until recently. more..
Al-Aqsa Brigades claim responsibility for shooting at a settler bus near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 2/19/2008
Nablus - Ma’an – The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, took responsibility Tuesday evening for shooting at a settlers’ bus near Beta intersection, South of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. In a telephone call to our reporter in Nablus, Al-Aqsa Brigades spokesperson Abu Mujahed said that one of the Brigades’ groups was able to fire shots at a red bus, with the license plate number "101." Abu Mujahed claimed that the bus was full of settlers, and that some of the passengers were injured. Abu Mujahed also said that the group returned to their base safely. He also added that this operation comes as a response to what he sees as ongoing crimes committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people. The occupation authorities confirmed the incident and claimed that the bus was hit and some material damage was caused. more..
A Palestinian home-made shell lands in an Israeli poultry
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/19/2008
Israeli media sources reported Tuesday that a Palestinian homemade shell landed in an Israeli poultry in the southern Israeli settlement of Ashkelon beach, causing a great deal of damage. The Mojahideen Brigades, a Gaza-based resistance group, claimed responsibility for firing a homemade shell onto the Ashkelon town, which Palestinians call Asqalan, on Tuesday morning. In a statement, faxed to press, the Mojahideen brigades said that this homemade shell fire was a retaliation to the continued Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Israel has placed Gaza under a strict closure of border crossings since June of last year, causing Gaza’s economy to sink in deep recession, with more than 90 percent of local industries closed, leaving 7000 local laborers jobless, according to the Palestinian economy ministry. more..
Palestinian security arrest 7 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 2/19/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Hamas said on Tuesday that the Palestinian security services, affiliated to the Fatah-led government based in the West Bank, arrested 7 Hamas affiliates on Monday evening. They said in a statement that four arrestees were from the village of Atteel near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, and three from the village of Talluza near Nablus in the northern West Bank. The statement added that Palestinian security services stormed mosques in the northern West Bank village of Deir Al-Ghusoon and confiscated computers and Hamas flags. [end]
IDF: Reinforcing private homes in Sderot is our last priority
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/19/2008
Israel Defense Forces GOC Home Front Command Yair Golan said on Tuesday that reinforcing private homes in Sderot and other Gaza border communities is at the bottom of the IDF’s priority list. Golan, who was speaking at a Knesset State Control Committee discussion, told the committee members that the IDF attempted to list the priorities clearly. "First and foremost, we are investing in our ability to alert [ahead of the Qassams], and after that, reinforcing public areas," according to the NRG website. He presented the committee with statistics, including the fact that during 2006, 1,488 Qassam rockets were fired towards Israel in contrast to the 1,150 that were fired in 2007. Golan maintained that the twelve people killed by the Qassam rockets over the years were hit while exposed in open areas, and not in their private houses. more..
VIDEO - "Hizbullah planning to murder Israeli minister"
Itamar Eichner, YNetNews 2/19/2008
(Video) Following assassination of senior organization commander Imad Mugniyah, Shin Bet decides to increase security around Israeli ministers during official visits abroad, as well as private vacations - VIDEO - The Shin Bet has decided that Israeli ministers will be accompanied by security guards during their private vacations abroad, following the assassination of Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah last week, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. Video courtesy of Infolive. tv The General Security Service has improved the ministers’ security procedures for fear that Hizbullah would attempt to avenge the killing, and the new instructions have been relayed to security officers at the various government offices. The main fear is that the Shiite Islamic fundamentalist organization would target a minister, a Knesset member or a current or former defense official. more..
Palestine Today 021908
Ghassan Bannoura- Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/19/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday February 19th, 2008. As the Palestinian and Israeli leaders meet in Jerusalem, the Israeli army clashes with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and kills one, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast A Palestinian resistance fighter of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s armed wing, was shot dead and another was wounded on the central Gaza-Israel border line early on Tuesday. Medical sources identified the killed as Ismail Jadallah, and the democratic front confirmed he was killed during an armed clash with the Israeli soldiers manning the border line. In a statement, faxed to the press, the democratic front said that Jadallah was shot dead whilst... more..
Settlers escalate their attacks against Palestinian lands, property in Silwan
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/18/2008
Over the past few days, Israeli settlers intensified their attacks against lands and properties of the residents of Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. Since the beginning of this year, settlers illegally occupied several Palestinian homes, while Israel continued to dig tunnels in that area causing damage to the houses and streets. On Sunday, dozens of extremist settlers uprooted 30 newly planted olive trees from the land of the resident Mohammad Shaban in Wadi Hilwa area. The attack was carried out on Sunday at night, approximately at 11, when the settlers entered the land and started uprooted the newly planted trees. The settlers escaped when they noticed that several Palestinian youth saw them. Attorney Alesa’ Sha’ban said that he went to the land and saw approximately 30 uprooted trees and graffiti written in Arabic and Hebrew by the settlers stating "This is private property". more..
Sixteen Palestinians seized in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/18/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli forces on Monday morning apprehended 16 Palestinians in several West Bank districts. Hebrew sources said the detainees were from the cities of Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah in the West Bank. Eyewitnesses told our Nablus correspondent that Israeli forces raided the city and seized an employee, 40-year-old Abdul-Hakim Al-Qadah, of the Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs. Local sources in the Palestinian town of Abu Dis in east Jerusalem told Ma’an that Israeli forces stormed the town overnight and ransacked more than ten houses under the guise of searching for "wanted Palestinian activists." They seized three young men, 18-year-old Mahir Badir, 18-year-old Raed Badir and 27-year-old Khalid Bahar. The sources added that the Israeli soldiers ransacked the home of Yousif Badir whose son Ahmad was arrested last week. more..
Palestinian dies of wounds sustained Sunday in Rafah
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/18/2008
Palestinian medical sources reported on Monday that one resident died of wounds sustained during an Israeli military invasion into Al Shouka area in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip on Sunday noon. The sources identified the resident as Awni Abu Taha, 45. He was seriously wounded after he suffered a gunshot injury to his head and died on Monday at noon. He was looking through his window when an Israeli soldier fired at him and injured him in the head. He died at the Gaza- European shortly after he was announced clinically dead. On Sunday, the Israeli army killed four Palestinian fighters and injured 15 residents during an invasion into eastern Rafah. Three of the killed were members of the Salah Ed Deenbrigades of the Popular Resistance Committees and the fourth is a member of the Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. more..
Three Palestinians injured in Hebron
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/18/2008
Three residents of the southern West Bank city of Hebron were injured on Monday, two seriously as army assaulted them. The third was injured as a suspicious device left behind by the Israeli army detonated near him. Medical sources in Hebron reported, that three Palestinian residents have arrived to the emergency room in Hebron hospital as they were severely bruised. Two got bruises in different parts of their bodies as being beaten by Israeli soldiers, near the Abraham Mosque, also known as, the tomb of Patriarchs. Sources identified the two as Labib al-Fakhouri,17 and Yousef Misowadda,19. Menwhile, Hisham Abu Maria, 14, from the nearby town of Beit Omar was injured in his left arm as an explosive device, believed to be left behind by the Israeli military detonated at a close distance where Abu Maria was standing. more..
Rocket explodes near clinic in southern kibbutz
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/18/2008
Four residents suffer from shock, as two Qassams fired from Gaza hit Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. One rocket lands near clinic, causing great damage; other falls near entrance to kibbutz. Several hours later, two rockets land in Sderot, one damages house in town - Two Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit a kibbutz in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council on Monday afternoon, one of them exploding near a clinic. Four residents suffered from shock and were tended to by Magen David Adom paramedics. Another rocket landed at the entrance to the kibbutz. Several hours later, two rockets landed in Sderot, one of them causing slight damage to a house in town. Another rocket landed in an open field in the area. The Color Red alert system failed to go off in all three cases. The kibbutz houses are unfortified, and its residents demonstrated Sunday... more..
Nine Qassams hit Negev, one strikes yard of home in Sderot
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 2/18/2008
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Monday fired a barrage of nine Qassam rockets at the western Negev, one of which struck the yard of a house in Sderot. There were no direct injuries as a result of the strike, but one woman was lightly hurt when she fell on her way to take shelter. Two of the rockets struck near an infirmary in a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. The strike caused some damage and four people were treated for shock. Two more rockets struck open fields in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, causing no injuries or damage. Seven mortar shells and four Qassam rockets were launched at the western Negev on Sunday afternoon. One of the rockets hit the yard of a house in Sderot, near a kindergarten. A number of people suffered from shock as a result of the strike and one woman... more..
Israeli forces raid Huwwara and Beita near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 2/18/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers invaded the northern West Bank towns of Huwwara and Beita, south of Nablus, and raided the headquarters of the Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs in Huwwara on Sunday morning. Ma’an’s reporter in Nablus said that the invading forces imposed a curfew on the towns and fired flash and sonic bombs. The head of Huwwara’s Municipal Council, Samir Mur’ib, said that Israeli forces forcefully entered and ransacked several homes, breaking the doors. [end]
Sources: Israel deploys Patriot missiles fearing Hezbollah strike
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 2/18/2008
Israel has deployed a battery of U.S. -made Patriot air defense missiles near the northern port city of Haifa as part of precautions against a possible attack by Hezbollah in response to the assassination last week of the group’s top commander Imad Mughniyah, Israeli security officials said Monday. The officials said the battery was put on standby Sunday for the first time since Israel’s month-long war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, when the Lebanese guerrillas fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel. Patriot batteries were first deployed in Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, but they failed to stop most of the 39 Scud missiles launched by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. They were originally designed to intercept aircraft, and Israeli media reported their role in the current situation would be to shoot down bomb-laden pilotless planes as well as rockets. more..
Two Palestinians kidnapped in Tulkarem by Israeli military
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/18/2008
Israeli military kidnapped two Palestinians from the village of Thennaba near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Monday at dawn. Palestinian sources reported that a number of Israeli military vehicles invaded several homes in the village and kidnapped two residents from their homes. Palestine News Agency "“ WAFA- quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the military invaded the neighborhood Abed al Hameed Bani Odeh,18 and assaulted his mother Salha 57. The mother was then checked into the hospital for treatment. Her wounds were described as moderate. Troops also kidnapped Omar al-Shahed, a university student, from Tulkarem city and moved him to an unknown location. The number of kidnapped Palestinians has raised noticeably in the past couple of months. So far, there are around 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, including children, women, elderly and Parliament Members. more..
Condition of fighter injured in Gaza improves
Meital Yasur-Beit Or, YNetNews 2/18/2008
Soldier regains consciousness at Beersheba hospital after being hit by Palestinian sniper - An IDF soldier seriously injured in the Gaza Strip on Sunday has regained consciousness and his condition is now defined as moderate, the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba reported Monday. The soldier was hit by a Palestinian sniper during an infantry and combat engineering forces’ operation in southern Gaza, between Rafah and the Kerem Shalom crossing. He was evacuated to hospital by helicopter. The Soroka Medical Center reported that the soldier was still hospitalized in the intensive care unit. He was suffering from gunshot injuries in his shoulder and chest. Abu Mujhid, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, told Ynet the shooter was a senior member of his organization who was subsequently killed in clashes with the IDF. more..
IOF rounds up more West Bankers
Palestinian Information Center 2/18/2008
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces at dawn Monday rounded up 16 "wanted" Palestinians in various West Bank areas and held them in interrogation center, Hebrew press reported. IOF soldiers kidnap Palestinians on daily basis in the West Bank at the pretext of being members or supporters of resistance factions. IOF incursions late night Sunday and early Monday were also reported in Nablus and Jenin districts. The soldiers imposed a curfew on Hawara and Beita villages in Nablus district after a settlers’ car came under machinegun fire at the main street passing near those two villages. Meanwhile, a liberated prisoner said that an Israeli military court had extended the imprisonment of Wadha Fukaha for ten more months. Rajaa Al-Ghoul said that Wadha was about to complete her two years sentence when the court decided to extend her term. more..
Three ’Hamas members’ arrested by PA security forces in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/18/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – The Hamas movement claimed on Monday that Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces arrested on Sunday evening 3 Hamas’ affiliates in the West Bank. According to a statement released by Hamas, the Palestinian security forces seized Sheikh Abdul-Majeed Amarna, the Mufti of Bethlehem, after they stormed the headquarters of "Dar Al-Fatwa" in the city. Amarna telephoned Ma’an and denied that his arrest was related to any political affiliation. However, he said was treated badlyby the security forces as he was arrested after he intervened as a mediator in a dispute between his neighbors. He was released later on Monday. They also seized another Hamas member from Bethlehem and third from Salfit in the northern West Bank, Hamas claimed. more..
Al-Quds Brigades claim two military actions
Ma’an News Agency 2/18/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing three homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in the western Negev on Sunday evening. Separately, they said that their fighters launched a 40-kilogram explosive device at an Israeli infantry force which allegedly infiltrated the area of Juhor Ad-Dik, east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They claimed that several Israeli soldiers were injured in the attack, noting that helicopters were seen flying over the area which suggests that soldiers were being evacuated. They said that their military actions will continue in response to Israeli crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. more..
VIDEO - Sderot kids at J’lem protest speak of their distress
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 2/18/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for February 18, 2008. School kids joined other Sderot residents in Jerusalem last week toprotest against government policy toward the town battered by daily rocket barrages launched from the Gaza Strip. One of the children on the trip was Morel Dadon, who was celebrating her birthday. She said her feelings of anxiety eased as she left the rocket-weary south. [end]
First homemade Palestinian projectile fired at Netivot
Ma’an News Agency 2/18/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades said on Sunday evening that their fighters launched a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Netivot. The spokesperson of the military group Abu Mujahid told Ma’an via telephone that it was the first time a Palestinian resistance group has targeted that city. [end]
Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades fire two projectiles at israeli military base
Ma’an News Agency 2/18/2008
during a training course (MaanImages) Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Monday morningfor launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli military base of Zakeim north of the Gaza Strip. They said the operation came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. [end]
Israeli military kidnaps a Palestinian in Jenin
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/18/2008
Israeli army invaded the village of Kufur Ra’ii near Jenion in the northern West Bank area and kidnapped a Palestinian man, on Monday morning. Also, the army besieged several civilian builfings, claiming they are looking for claimed wanted Palestinians. [end]
Israel hits Gaza as PM pledges rocket protection
Sakher Abu El Ou, ReliefWeb 2/17/2008
GAZA CITY, Feb 17, 2008 (AFP) - Israeli troops killed four Palestinians, three of them militants, in the latest assault on the Gaza Strip on Sunday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unveiled plans to protect nearby homes from rockets. Troops supported by helicopters moved into the southern Gaza Strip overnight, killing a civilian and three militants from the armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement that has ruled the territory since June, medics said. The operation was aimed at "infrastructures of terrorist organisations," an Israeli military spokesman told AFP. "We attacked armed men." The army arrested 80 Palestinians over the course of the operation and took them back to Israel for questioning, the spokesman said. An Israeli elite soldier was "seriously wounded" during exchanges of fire and was evacuated by helicopter to a nearby hospital, the army said. more..
Palestine Today 021808
IMEMC Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/18/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 4 m 0s || 3. 66 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Monday February 18th, 2008. A number of Palestinians were kidnapped in different areas in the West Bank, while a prisoner swap deal seems to be likely. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast Medical sources in Hebron reported that three Palestinian residents were taken to the emergency room in Hebron hospital with severe bruising. The two received bruising as a result of being beaten by Israeli soldiers, near the Abraham Mosque, also known as, the tomb of Patriarchs. Sources identified the two as Labib al-Fakhouri,17 and Yousef Misowadda,19. Meanwhile, Hisham Abu Maria, 14, from the nearby town of Beit Omar received an injury to his left arm as an explosive device, believed to... more..
Israeli forces seize eight Palestinians in the West Bank; Tulkarem closure continues
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Nablus – The Israeli military forces seized five Palestinian activists affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and one affiliated to Hamas in the northern West Bank village of Sabastiya, west of Nablus, on Thursday morning. Palestinian security sources told Ma,an’s reporter that ten Israeli military jeeps stormed the village overnight and ransacked several houses before seizing the six people. In Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians on Thursday morning after invading the city for several hours, Ma’an’s reporter said. He added that the Israeli forces re-erected a flying checkpoint at Al-Jarushiya, north of the city, after it had removed for a few hours. The Israeli forces continued to impose closure on Tulkarem. Palestinians under the age of 35 are prohibited from passing through the Al-Jarushiya... more..
AF warns: Israel building new tunnel near the Aqsa Mosque
Palestinian Information Center 2/14/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa foundation for the reconstruction of Islamic holy shrines revealed Wednesday in photographs that the IOA is building a new underground tunnel adjacent to the western wall of the Aqsa Mosque extending over a distance of 200 meters, calling on the Arab and Islamic countries to save occupied Jerusalem and the holy mosque before it is too late. According to the foundation, the tunnel starts from the left side of the Buraq square and extends into the old town passing under dozens of Palestinian houses up to the Hammam Al-Ein neighborhood where the foundation discovered a year ago excavations carried out under the neighborhood by the IOA in order to build a Jewish synagogue at a distance of 50 meters from the Aqsa. The foundation stated that this tunnel and the serious excavations are threatening the Aqsa Mosque and dozens of Palestinian houses with... more..
IOF troops kidnap 30 Palestinians in Gaza
Palestinian Information Center 2/14/2008
RAFAH, (PIC)-- IOF soldiers kidnapped 30 Palestinians at dawn Thursday in the vicinity of Gaza international airport to the east of Rafah south of the Gaza Strip, local sources reported. They added that special Israeli occupation forces infiltrated into the area before dawn one day after a similar incursion that was met with stiff resistance. The soldiers broke into civilian homes and rounded up all males from 15 to 50 years old for interrogation in IOF basis. Meanwhile, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, fired 8 mortar shells at an IOF special unit east of Khan Younis, south of the Strip, late Wednesday. The same armed wing fired 8 other mortars at a group of IOF armored vehicles in the vicinity of the airport also on Wednesday in retaliation to those soldiers’ incessant incursions and infiltrations into the Strip. more..
IDF bombs Gaza buildings used for launching rockets at Israel
Yuval Azoulay and Mijal Grinbergs, Ha’aretz 2/15/2008
The Israel Defense Forces Engineering Corps on Thursday bombed a number of abandoned buildings in the Gaza Strip that the army said were being used to launch rockets and mortar shells at Israel. Troops began the operation late Wednesday with wide searches near the Palestinian side of the Erez Crossing. The IDF is still combing the area to pinpoint and strike structures suspected to be used by militants to carry out attacks against Israel. By mid-morning on Thursday, militants in Gaza fired four Qassam rockets at Israel. No damages or injuries were reported. A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday directly struck a home in the southern town of Sderot. The house was empty at the time of the strike and no one was hurt, but the house sustained damage. more..
Rocket barrage damages southern homes
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 2/14/2008
No injuries in latest Qassam attack; earlier, rockets fired from north Gaza land in open areas near Sapir College; IDF demolishes structures near Erez Industrial Zone used by Palestinians to fire mortars - Four more Qassam rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip Thursday afternoon. The rockets landed in the western Negev, including one Qassam that landed at a backyard in an area community and damages several structures. No injuries were reported in the latest barrage. Five Qassams fired from northern Gaza Thursday morning landed in open fields in the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage. Two of the rockets landed in open areas near Sapir College, within the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. Another two rockets landed in an open field inside Sderot and just outside the southern town. more..
Condition improves for Sderot boy severely injured by Qassam
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/14/2008
The condition of 8-year-old Osher Twito, who was severely wounded by a Qassam rocket outside his Sderot home and had his left leg amputated, significantly improved on Thursday. Sheba hospital said that now that Twito is capable of breathing by himself and has regained consciousness, his condition is moderate. On Wednesday, he underwent another operation, in attempt to salvage his right leg, which had sustained severe wounds. The condition of his 19-year-old brother, Rami, who was injured alongside Osher, is stable. Following the incident, medical crews rushed the two brothers to Ashkelon’s Barzilai hospital. Rami’s girlfriend, Kinneret, who witnessed the strike, said they did not manage to take cover because Red Color alert had not been activated. more..
Palestinian military groups active in the Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday evening for launching two mortar shells at the Israeli military post of at Erez, and a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot, north of the Gaza Strip. Separately, a joint group of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Popular Resistance Committees and Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades launched two homemade projectiles at the military post of Kisufim. The military groups affirmed in separate statements that their action comes in retaliation for Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. more..
Identity of Palestinian who stabbed Israeli soldier last Tuesday revealed
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Local Palestinian sources have revealed the identity of the person who stabbed an Israeli soldier at a flying checkpoint in the village near Jenin on Tuesday. The sources said the attacker was 17-year-old ’Ala’ Haydariyya from Jaba’. Eyewitnesses said they saw Haydariyya lying on the ground after the Israeli soldiers overpowered him. On Tuesday evening young Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near Jaba’, injuring him slightly before the attacker was arrested. Until now the identity of the assailant has been unknown. [end]
Palestinian man stabbed to death in Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Qalqilia – Ma’an – A 21-year-old Palestinian man named Ahmad Abu Wadi was stabbed to death on Wednesday in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. Palestinian security sources stated that Abu Wadi was found near the Islamic College in Qalqilia bleeding after he was stabbed in the chest. He was taken to the UN hospital where he died. District Attorney Miqdad Hattab said investigations are ongoing in attempts to find the perpetrators. [end]
An-Nasser Salah Addin Briagdes fire two projectiles at Israeli military base
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, said on Thursday morning that their fighter have fired two homemade projectiles at the Israeli military position at Nahal Oz, bordering the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling was part of their retaliation for ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian civilian shot by Israeli soldiers dies
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – 52-year-old Tayseer Nazzal from the town of Qabatiya, in the northern West Bank, on Thursday succumbed to his wounds sustained in an Israeli incursion on February 7th, Ma’an’s reporter said. Nazzal, who was mentally ill, was shot by Israeli soldiers while he was standing in front of his house. He was then evacuated to the government hospital in Jenin where he was pronounced dead today. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades, Al-Quds Brigades shell Israeli military position
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades and Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Thursday morning for launching two mortar shells at an Israeli military position near Juhor Ad-Dik in the Gaza Strip. They said in a joint statement that the shelling was in response to cartoons published about Prophet Muhammad. [end]
Israeli forces raid Jenin, seize man in Qabatiya
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – The Israeli forces detained a young Palestinian man from Qabatiya, near Jenin in the northern West Bank after storming several houses on Thursday morning. Local sources named the arrestee as 19-year-old Jasir Zakarna. In a different regard, an Israeli force raided Jenin from the west and the south amidst heavy gunfire. [end]
Palestinian security forces seize eight Hamas members in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Fatah allied Palestinian security forces detained eight Hamas members in the West Bank on Wednesday night, Hamas said. Hamas released a statement in which they claimed that the arrestees were from the northern West Bank districts of Salfit, Nablus, Jenin and Qalqilia. Two of the arrestees were school teachers [end]
Palestinian youth seized near Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – The Israeli forces seized a Palestinian youth named Badr Az-Zain from the southern West Bank town of Yatta south of Hebron, on Wednesday evening, eyewitnesses said. Israeli sources claimed the arrestee was in possession of a pistol and a rifle as well as ammunition. [end]
ISRAEL-OPT: Israeli experts propose radical changes to West Bank closure regime
Tom Spender/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2/15/2008
Palestinians queue at Beit Iba checkpoint north of Nablus JERUSALEM, 14 February 2008 (IRIN) - A team of Israeli security experts has devised a plan to replace the existing closure regime in the West Bank with an alternative system which they say will offer Israel security while easing restrictions on Palestinians and allowing their economy to grow. Admitting that the current matrix of earth mounds, concrete roadblocks and checkpoints is anachronistic and harmful to the Palestinians, the former defence establishment officials suggested the current system be scrapped - the first thorough overhaul proposed by such senior figures. The new scheme would include removing major obstacles in the West Bank, while pushing for deeper Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation and projects to improve the Palestinian economy, in order to facilitate a political way forward to end the conflict. more..
Ballistic expert: Israel ignoring option of U.S. anti-rocket system
Yossi Melman, Ha’aretz 2/15/2008
Dr. Nathan Farber is a ballistic expert who has been persistently trying, to no avail, to present to the Defense Ministry what he sees as a possibly imminent solution to Qassam fire from Gaza. Farber’s suggestion is to deploy American artillery batteries called Phalanx around the Qassam-battered town of Sderot, to intercept the rockets fired by Palestinians. The U.S. army has been successfully operating the system in Iraq, where it provides its bases with protection from rockets and mortar shells. Canada is also considering deploying it in Afghanistan. Farber told Haaretz his suggestion should not be rejected out of hand. He said that the system could be tested with a budget of no more than $1 million, even in the "battlefield" itself, by deploying one or two Phalanx batteries near Sderot. more..
VIDEO - Sderot students: We want ministers to look us in eyes
Rona Tal, YNetNews 2/14/2008
Youngsters from terror-stricken southern town travel to Jerusalem, hold classes next to Knesset building. ’We came to have fun, step out of our daily routine,’ says student - Not a regular field trip: Maayan, a 10-year old fourth grader from Sderot elementary school Alon Madaim, made a chilly track to Jerusalem Thursday. She and other Sderot students, in conjunction with the town’s parents’ committee, held their classes in a protest tent perched outside the Knesset building in the capital in order to demonstrate against the government’s treatment of the rocket-battered town. "Sderot is not just a little town somewhere in Israel," said Maayan, "lots of kids were born here and can’t just leave their home." Qassam victim regains consciousness. Video: Infolive. tv As part of this planned protest, three classes from Sdeort will make the trek to Jerusalem every single day. more..
Palestinian from Bethlehem seriously injured by grenade left behind by Israeli soldiers
Ma’an News Agency 2/14/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Eighteen-year-old Ala Ubayat was seriously injured in the West Bank city of Bethlehem when a grenade left behind by Israeli soldiers exploded in his hands, sources in the Palestinian police told Ma’an on Thursday. Bethlehem Police Chief Dawood Abu Ghaith said the man was seriously injured when he tried to split the grenade open using an electric cutting machine in his father’s blacksmith workshop. Ghaith added that police engineering unit rushed to the place and found another unexploded grenade, and defused it. Police have opened an investigation into the incident, he said. He blamed the Israelis for the explosion and warned Palestinian citizens to be careful when they find unexploded Israeli ordinance, urging them to inform the Palestinian police immediately when they find any suspect devices. more..
Israeli tanks re-enter southern Gaza; DFLP fighter wounded in earlier incursion
Ma’an News Agency 2/13/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli military vehicles re-entered the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, hours after an earlier incursion on Tuesday night that wounded one Palestinian fighter. Witnesses said five Israeli tanks have positioned themselves near the abandoned Yasser Arafat International Airport near Rafah. The military wing of Hamas claimed to have fired several mortar shells at the invading tanks, who are still in the area at the time of writing. On Tuesday night, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, said that one of their fighters was injured while fighting undercover Israeli forces near the airport. They said in a statement that a group of their fighters confronted the invading forces using machineguns and grenades. more..
Israeli army kidnapps 85 Palestinians in the West Bank in one day
Jessica Frederick & Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/13/2008
The Israeli army on Wednesday invaded both the city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, and the village of Beit Ummer, located near the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank. In total, at least 85 Palestinian civilians were abducted by the invading military. Israeli troops stormed the village of Beit Ummar at around 1:00 am on Wednesday. Troops searched and ransacked scores of homes, with local sources stating that the army placed the village under curfew, not allowing families to leave their homes. As the military operation continued, residents reported that, so far, the army had kidnapped 40 men from the village, their ages ranging from 18 to 45. Israeli troops are still in the village and are not allowing Palestinian ambulances or journalists to enter the village, eyewitnesses reported. When IMEMC photojournalist Ghassan Bannoura arrived at the entrance of the village,... more..
Israeli forces seize 56 Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/13/2008
West Bank – Ma’an – Israeli military forces launched a major campaign of early morning raids throughout the West Bank on Wednesday, seizing 56 Palestinians in the course of a few hours. Most of the arrests took place near the city of Hebron, in the southern West Bank. Witnesses said that more than 30 Israeli military vehicles stormed the town of Beit Ummar, conducting house to house searches, seizing 43 young men and imposing a curfew. The Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) said that the Israeli military has closed four different areas inside the village since 1am. Soldiers are stationed around the local mosque and throughout the village, with two bulldozers and DCO jeeps. The military are denying travel to people in cars or on foot, restricting the freedom of movement for goods and medicine. The military also denied entry to an ambulance attempting to enter the village, CPT said. more..
Al-Quds Brigades fire at Israeli settlement near Tulkarem
Ma’an News Agency 2/13/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an – The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday for opening fire at the Israeli settlement of Harmeish east of the town of Qaffin in the northern West Bank district of Tulkarem. Al-Quds Brigades leader Fadi Kittana said that a group under his command conducted the shooting and withdrew before Israeli forces pursued them, storming the village. Israeli intelligence have been pursuing Kittana for a year and a half. [end]
IOF troops storm Jenin shortly after soldier stabbed
Palestinian Information Center 2/13/2008
JENIN, (PIC)-- IOF soldiers mounting dozens of armored vehicle stormed Jenin city shortly after midnight Tuesday and broke into many civilian quarters in the city after ordering inhabitants out of their homes, locals reported. They said that the occupation forces were calling on the people via loudspeakers to get out of their homes then they ransacked those homes. Two citizens were kidnapped in the operation, one of them is reportedly a Hamas supporter. The sources noted that the Palestinian teenager who attacked an IOF soldier with a knife was identified as Alaa Abdul Latif. IOF sources claimed that the teen confessed to attacking the soldier to avenge the occupation forces’ aggressions in Palestinian lands. The IOF siege on the Jenin district is still in force for the second week at the pretext of warding off human bombing attacks. more..
Qassam strikes a Sderot house causing damage but no injuries
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 2/13/2008
Israel Defense Forces A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday directly struck a home in the southern town of Sderot. The house was empty at the time of the strike and no one was hurt, but the house sustained damage. Two Qassam rockets were fired at the Western Negev Wednesday. On Tuesday, one rocket and ten mortar shells struck open fields in communities bordering Gaza, causing no injuries or damage. Israel Defense Forces troops carried out two operations in Gaza before dawn Wednesday, wounding seven Palestinian militants. An IDF patrol battalion operated in the northern Gaza Strip, injuring several militants. One IDF soldier was moderately injured in the exchange of fire. Also on Wednesday, an armored corps battalion spread throughout the northern Negev and struck a terrorist cell that was preparing to launch anti-tank missiles in the soldiers’ direction. more..
Qassam rocket strikes Sderot house
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/13/2008
Several hours following foreign minister’s visit to southern town with 70 foreign diplomats, terror organizations fire two rockets at city. One rocket believed to have landed in PA territories, other causes damage to Sderot building; several people suffer from shock - Two Qassam rockets were fired Wednesday afternoon from the northern Gaza Strip towards the southern town of Sderot. One of the rockets directly hit a house in the city, causing damage. Several people suffered from shock. The rocket hit a three-story building. One of the tenants told Ynet, "The building has three floors with a tile roof. The rocket caused damage inside the house, where a newlywed couple, married about three month ago, lives. "By chance they arrived at their apartment a fem minutes after the rocket fell, and were amazed to see what happened inside. more..
Israeli tanks roll into eastern Rafah, southern Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/13/2008
Israeli tanks have rolled into the eastern parts of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, leaving one resistance fighter injured. Witnesses in the area said that at least five Israeli tanks invaded the vicinity of Gaza International Airport, an area which has suffered frequent Israeli attacks since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada [’uprising’] in September 2000. Witnesses added that today’s incursion directly followed last night’s incursion, which lasted just a few hours. The National Resistance Brigades of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed that one of their fighters was shot and wounded during a clash with the invading Israeli troops. Meanwhile, the Izzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement declared that their fighters shot a barrage of mortar shells towards the incoming tanks. more..
An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades shell invading Israeli forces
Ma’an News Agency 2/13/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claimed that their fighters launched five mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles east of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Separately, Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday night for launching two mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles east of Gaza City. They said in a statement that the shelling came in response to the Israeli incursions into Gaza. Meanwhile the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli military post at Sufa. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip. more..
Despite Dimona bombing, no precedence for Hebron fence
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 2/13/2008
Defense Ministry opts to complete building security fence around Jerusalem with limited budget already spread thin instead of Mt. Hebron region where suicide bombers crossed into Israel two weeks ago - While the IDF and Shin Bet continue to trace the apparent path taken by the two suicide bombers from Hebron who carried out the Dimona attack in early February, defense officials have decided not to complete the construction of the security fence in the South Mount Hebron region, Ynet learned on Wednesday. However the defense establishment has, in the same breath, authorized the renewal of construction around Jerusalem. Within three weeks efforts to complete the fence in the Jerusalem vicinity region will be relaunched after an extended period of suspension due to budgetary constraints. more..
Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinians from commando cell
Ma’an News Agency 2/13/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an – Two days ago Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, believed to be part of a commando cell, on the border with Egypt, credible sources told Ma’an. The men are alleged to have been part of a group of fighters that came from Gaza to the Israeli-Egyptian borders through the Sinai desert and were caught in an Israeli army ambush. The sources added that the premature announcement of the identities of the alleged Dimona bombers alerted Israeli security forces to the existence of another cell that was on its way from Gaza. After this information was revealed, the Israeli security forces on the border with Egypt went on high alert and were able to detect the armed men and to ambush them. Ma’an also learned that their bodies were left at the scene of the ambush, on the Egyptian side of the border after the Israeli special force refused to bring them into the... more..
Ashkenazi: Public must also prepare for next war
Hagai Einav, YNetNews 2/13/2008
Speaking at memorial ceremony for 73 soldiers killed in 1997 helicopter disaster, army chief says Israeli society also has role in future conflicts. Defense minister: There is no escaping the laying down of lives in war - Bereaved families, Defense Minister Ehud Barak IDF Chief of Staff Lt. -Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and one very warmly welcomed Arcadi Gaydamak gathered at the Har Veguy High School in Kibbutz Dafna on Wednesday evening to mark 11 years since the deaths of 73 IDF soldiers who were killed in Israel’s deadliest aviation accident in February 1997. The billionaire Gaydamak recently donated funds for the construction of a monument in the memory of the fallen soldiers, a tribute bereaved parents had long demanded from the Ministry of Defense. "Lebanon has claimed a heavy price from us over the years..." more..
Palestine Today 021308
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/13/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday February 13th, 2008. Israeli tanks invade Gaza and injure one resistance fighter while Israeli troops in the West Bank kidnap 70 civilians. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast Israeli tanks have rolled into the eastern parts of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, leaving one resistance fighter injured. Witnesses in the area said that at least five Israeli tanks invaded the vicinity of Gaza International Airport, an area which has suffered frequent Israeli attacks since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada [or ’uprising’] in September 2000. Witnesses added that today’s incursion directly followed last night’s incursion, which lasted just a few hours. more..
Hezbollah accuses Israel of assassinating senior Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyya; Knesset members congratulate Olmert
Ma’an News Agency 2/13/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – After a 20-year pursuit, the Israeli intelligence services assassinated Hezbollah’s military chief, Imad Mughniyya, blowing up his Mitsubishi jeep in Damascus, Hezbollah officially announced on their satellite channel, Al-Manar. A booby-trapped car exploded in the Syrian capital on Tuesday evening killing Mughniyya and injuring another man, witnesses said. They added, "We saw security officials pulling out a corpse from the area." Another eyewitness said, "Dozens of police and intelligence officers hurried to the place. People panicked because we were not used to such things in Syria." The bombing took place in an upscale Damascus neighborhood, near an Iranian school and a Syrian police and intelligence station. Who is Imad Mughniyya? Known by his nom de guerre, Hajj Radwan, the Hezbollah leader was born into a Palestinian family in 1962. more..
Behind the scenes / Their life’s work ended with his life
Omer Barak, Ha’aretz 2/14/2008
They woke up every morning with him, drank coffee with him, drove with him to meet his wife - or lover - and went to sleep with him. Every day, for years. They were not the best friends of Imad Mughniyah, the senior Hezbollah leader who was killed when his car blew up in Damascus, but it seems they knew him much better than his friends did. Some of them may even have known him better than he knew himself. Even if Israel is not responsible for ending the career of its most wanted terrorist, several Israelis saw their whole lives’ work end with Mughniyah’s life. Their jobs were to collect every fragment and sliver of information on him - every day, for years. They spent hours at it every day, the Sisyphean task of collecting and analyzing every detail of the non-routine life of someone whose physical appearance they barely knew. more..
Senior Hezbollah commander killed in Syria
Middle East Online 2/13/2008
A senior Hezbollah commander on America’s most wanted list was killed in a car bombing in Syria that the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel on Wednesday, an accusation the Jewish state denied. Imad Mughnieh, who headed Hezbollah’s special operations unit, died in car bombing in a residential neighbourhood of the Syrian capital late on Tuesday, Hezbollah officials said. Syrian state television reported only that one person had died in the bombing without identifying the victim but Hezbollah confirmed that it was Mughnieh who had died and accused Israel of killing him. "A great jihadist from the Islamic resistance in Lebanon has become a martyr," Hezbollah said in a statement. "Haj Imad Mughnieh died a martyr at the hands of the Israeli Zionists." In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office denied that Israel was behind the killing. more..
Israel to build 1100 new housing units in Israeli settlements throughout East Jerusalem
Ghassan Bannoura Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/12/2008
The Israeli government announced on Tuesday that it has approved the construction of an additional 1,110 housing units in two settlements in the Jerusalem municipality. According to the government statement, some 360 units will be constructed in the Har Homa settlement located within the occupied territories, between the city of Jerusalem and the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Har Homa settlement was initiated illegally during the early 1990’s on lands belonging to Palestinians from the Bethlehem area and nearby villages. The remaining 750 housing units will be added to Besghat Za’ev settlement, to the north of Jerusalem. Israeli officials said that the new houses are aimed at young Jewish couples, and to encourage Israelis to move into the Jerusalem "city suburbs", in order to achieve the "Greater Jerusalem" plan. more..
IDF arrests W. Bank money changers, confiscates funds destined for terror groups
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
Israel Defense Forces troops raided 14 money-changing offices in the West Bank on Tuesday, confiscating nearly $850,000 and arresting five Palestinians on suspicion funds were transferred from abroad to militant groups, the army said. Palestinian militants in recent months have successfully increased the amount of funds they receive from abroad, allowing them to expand their operations, the army said. In the last three months of 2007, a total of $3. 4 million was transferred to Palestinian militant groups, most of it to Hamas in the West Bank, according to the statement. "The money serves as gas that fuels the terror activities|, the army said. A total of $843,000 was confiscated in Tuesday’s raids, the army said. Israel has said the money comes at least in part from Iran, although the army did not mention the country in Tuesday’s statement. more..
IOF troops wage campaign of piracy against Palestinian exchangers
Palestinian Information Center 12/2/2008
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The IOF troops on Monday night waged a wide campaign of piracy against Palestinian exchange stores in various parts of the West Bank cities and confiscated their contents and a huge sum of money. The IOF troops raided more than 20 stores in each of Al-Khalil, Nablus, Tulkarem and Jenin after they stormed the owners’ houses and kidnapped many of them to an unknown destination. In Al-Khalil, the IOF troops confiscated computers, documents, and money from the store of exchanger Fadel Abdeen and decided to close it for six months. In Jenin, 20 Israeli armored vehicles invaded the city storming and ransacking the houses of a number of Palestinian exchangers, where they stormed the house of Mohamed Al-Saadi and confiscated checks, bonds and identity papers and kidnapped other exchangers in the city before closing their stores. more..
IOF troops attack Zaitun area in Gaza, Qassam repels attack
Palestinian Information Center 12/2/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The IOF troops at dawn Tuesday advanced into east of the Zaitun neighborhood in the Gaza Strip where they were met with ferocious resistance by the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. In a communique received by the PIC, the Qassam Brigades announced that its fighters engaged in armed clashes with the invading IOF troops and fired 73 mortar shells and seven homemade rockets at their armored vehicles, pointing out that Israeli ambulances rushed to the areas to transfer the Israeli casualties. For his part, the PIC reporter said that Qassam fighters also fired an anti-personnel RPG at the invading IOF troops in the neighborhood, adding that the clashes are still raging between the Qassam and IOF troops. The Brigades added that the intensity of its fighters’ gunfire caused great panic and confusion in the ranks of the invading IOF troops, pointing out that the Israeli enemy will hide its losses as usual. more..
Barak issues new warning about heavy assault on Gaza
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 2/13/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel’s top brass warned on Tuesday that its patience was wearing thin over rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, as more people were wounded in army attacks on the Hamas-run territory. Amid growing calls for an all-out assault on the impoverished strip, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the armed forces would do whatever is necessary to stop the attacks. "Israel will not refrain from taking any course of action in order to bring a stop to the fire against Sderot," Barak said, referring to the town that has borne the brunt of rocket fire. "There are reasons why we are not using all our force right now, but it will happen at the right moment," he told journalists traveling with him to Turkey, without elaborating. On Monday, the military’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gaby Ashkenazi, said the army was "prepared and ready to broaden its actions in conformity with the decisions taken. more..
Barak: Ministers’ calls for military operation in Gaza Strip ’dangerous’
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/13/2008
ANKARA - Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday criticized calls by other ministers for stepped-up military action in the Gaza Strip, claiming that such ministerial remarks give the enemy detailed and damaging information. He made the statements after arriving in Ankara for a two-day visit, during which he will meet with Turkey’s president, prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister and chief of staff. Speaking to the Israeli correspondents who accompanied him, Barak said that he saw no danger in journalists speculating about a major military operation, but "it becomes dangerous when people with security experience give the names of targets for attack. The targets will simply disappear." He was apparently referring to proposals that Israel assassinate Hamas’s political leaders, which has been suggested by several ministers, including Shaul Mofaz, who has previously served as both defense minister and army chief of staff. more..
Muzaini to Barak: We would burn the ground if Hamas leaders were targeted
Palestinian Information Center 12/2/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Senior Hamas political leader Dr. Osama Al-Muzaini affirmed on Tuesday that his Movement has many open options and means to avenge any Israeli attempt to target Hamas’s senior leaders. On Monday, Israeli war minister Ehud Barak threatened to kill Hamas’s prominent political leaders, including premier Ismail Haneyya, as requested by the mayor of Sderot colony. "I advise him not to carry out his threats because we will burn the ground under his feet if he targeted any of Hamas’s leaders", asserted Muzaini, underlining that Hamas’s reprisal to any Israeli foolishness of this kind will be "very painful". He also explained that his Movement "possesses more options"¦ more than what was available in the past", and that it was capable of humiliating the enemy if he dared to harm Hamas’s leaders. But he made it clear to the Israeli occupation government that "Even if the... more..
IDF soldier moderately hurt in stabbing attack near Jenin
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 2/13/2008
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was moderately wounded on Tuesday when a Palestinian stabbed him in the back at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Jenin. Security forces detained the assailant and the soldier was taken to the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Ramle for treatment. According to an initial investigation, the assailant is a member of the Islamic Jihad militant organization. Also on Tuesday, IDF troops raided 14 money-changing offices in the West Bank, confiscating nearly $850,000 and arresting five Palestinians on suspicion funds were transferred from abroad to militant groups, the army said. Overnight, the Israel Air Force carried out an air strike in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, wounding two civilians, Palestinian sources said. more..
Israeli army kidnaps one in Tulkarem, two from Jenin and continue their attack on the money changers
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/12/2008
Israeli military continued their attacks on Tuesday morning on the places of money exchange in several areas of the West Bank. The attacked started in the northern West Bank city of Nablus; the army kidnapped eight of Money changers and the operation extended to the central part of the West Bank in Ramallah city when the army kidnapped another money changer. Eyewitnesses reported that the operation coincided with the continuous attack against the places of money exchange as army attacked several places in the city of Tulkarem, confiscating computers and other documents. In Jenin, forces kidnapped two brothers from the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin and invaded several homes of money changers. Sources added that several military vehicles invaded the town, besieged several civilian homes and kidnapped the brothers Mohammad,20 and Tha’er abu al Rab,24. more..
A Palestinian is kidnapped by Special Forces of Israeli army
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 2/12/2008
On Tuesday morning the Special Force of the Israeli army kidnapped a Palestinian from the village of Kafr Qdoum, north of Qalqilia city in the West Bank. Sources indicated that the objective of the operation was not known and the abducted man was moved to an unidentified detention center. [end]
Undercover Israeli forces abduct Palestinian activist near Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2008
Qalqilia – Ma’an – An undercover Israeli force on Tuesday abducted a Palestinian activist from the northern West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum in the eastern Qalqilia district. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s reporter that Israeli soldiers were disguised in civilian clothes and were traveling in a Palestinian-plated microbus when they kidnapped 21-year-old Faysal Ubeid from his shop. [end]
Palestinian security forces ’detain 11 Hamas members’
Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces have detained 11 Hamas members in the West Bank, Hamas claimed on Tuesday. Hamas said in a statement that five of the arrestees were from Salfit district in the northern West Bank; two others from Ramallah in the centre; two from Tulkarem in the north; one from Jenin, also in the north and one from Nablus in the northern West Bank. [end]
Israeli forces seize six Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli forces seized six Palestinians in several West Bank cities claiming they were wanted activists on Tuesday morning. Hebrew sources said that one was arrested in Ramallah in the central West Bank, four in Hebron in the south and one in Nablus in the north. [end]
Palestinian-Israeli group claims responsibility for drive-by shooting in the Golan Heights
Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Ahrar Al-Jalil ("Free People of the Galilee") Brigades, a militant Palestinian-Israeli group, has claimed responsibility for a shooting attack that left two Israelis injured in the Golan Heights on Monday night. The Israeli police expect that the shooting came from a speeding car near Waset Junction. Several checkpoints have been set up in the region in attempts to arrest the perpetrators. According to Israeli sources, the injured were taken to Ziv Hospital in Safed. Ahrar Al-Jalil claimed responsibility for killing an Israeli soldier in the Old City of Jerusalem in 2007, and vowed to carry out more attacks inside Israel’s borders. [end]
Two Palestinian military groups fire at Israeli targets near Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility on Monday evening for launching a homemade projectile at an Israeli military position at Kisufim east of the Gaza Strip. Separately, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, said their fighters fired a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Monday evening. The military groups said in separate statements that they will continue to respond with more resistance to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. [end]
Israeli forces arrest DFLP activist in Tubas
Ma’an News Agency 2/12/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – The Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian activist affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) from the northern West Bank city of Tubas after raiding the city on Monday evening. Local sources told our correspondent that the Israeli forces ransacked home of 31-year-old Najib Maslamani before seizing him. [end]
Hamas sources: "PA security arrest 11 supporters"
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/12/2008
Media sources close to the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, reported that Palestinian Security Forces, loyal to Fateh movement in the West Bank, arrested 11 members and supporters of the movement in several West Bank areas. The sources stated that in Salfit district, security personnel arrested Abdul-Ghani Canaan and his brother Suleiman after breaking into their shop in Jama’een village, near Salfit. Security forces also arrested Mohammad Suleiman and Nael Khafsh from Marda village, north of Salfit. Resident Ali Al Qaoud was arrested from the nearby village of Kafr Al Deek. In Ramallah district, north of Jerusalem, security forces arrested Farid Shreitih and his brother Mreshih. In Tulkarem district, in the northern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested Mahdi Hasan. In Nablus district, also in the northern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested Taiseer Sawalma from his shop in Aseera Al Shimaliyya village. more..
UN agency eases woes of Lebanese hit by housing crisis since 2006 war with israel
Mohammed Zaatari, Daily Star 2/13/2008
SOUTH LEBANON: More than 5,000 Lebanese civilians in South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley have benefited from the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT), according to the program’s coordinator, Dania Abdel-Malek. "Some 1,000 families in the South and 250 families in the Bekaa have benefited from the project," Abdel-Malek said on Saturday during a meeting in Beit Lif, west of Bint Jbeil. "Our project aims to rebuild thousands of homes that were destroyed or damaged in Israeli raids" during the 2006 war with Israel, she explained. "It consists of drawing maps, delimiting borders and preparing lists of the needed construction materials." The project is financed by the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and is being executed in collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council, according to Abdel-Malek. The project’s director, Hassan Bazih, said the importance of the project... more..
VIDEO - Sderot resident recalls Qassam attack that cost brother his leg
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for February 12, 2008. Rami Twito recalled on Monday the moments immediately after a Qassam rocket attack on his Sderot home on Saturday night. At first, Twito thought that the rocket had killed his younger brother Osher, who was more seriously hurt in the attack, after which doctors were forced to amputate his leg. [end]
Israel continues to expand settlement in Jerusalem
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/12/2008
The Israeli Housing Ministry declared on Tuesday that preparations are being carried out to build at least 1100 houses for settlers in east Jerusalem and its surrounding Arab areas. The Ministry said that the Jerusalem Municipality released bids to build 750 houses in Pesgat Zeev area and 370 houses in Jabal Abu Gheim, a green mountain near Bethlehem which was illegal annexed by Israel and its trees were uprooted when Israel built houses for settlers. Israeli Housing Minister, Ze’ev Boim, said that his ministry will build anywhere in Jerusalem and around it, while his assistant stated that the new bids for the 370 houses will not be released until the results of a previous bid for 307 houses are officially released. Israel surrounded Jerusalem with illegal settlements and the illegal annexation wall and always accelerated settlement construction and expansion in the city in... more..
Palestine Today 021208
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/12/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday February 12th, 2008. The Israeli army invades Gaza city leaving one Palestinian resistance fighter and an Israeli soldier injured; whilst in the West Bank the Israeli army seizes 17 Palestinian civilians. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast A number of Israeli army tanks from an undercover unit arrived in the eastern neighborhood of Gaza City on Tuesday morning. Local Palestinian sources said that the Israeli troops clashed with a number of resistance fighters, who were deployed in the area, in defense of the civilian population. Medical sources confirmed the slight injury of two fighters during the first few hours of gun fire. more..
2 wounded in IAF strike in Gaza Strip
Yuval Azoulay and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
The Israel Air Force carried out an air strike yesterday in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, wounding two civilians, Palestinian sources said. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the air strike, saying it targeted a car carrying members of Hamas’ military wing. The army said the car was hit in the strike. Meanwhile, Palestinian militants fired two Qassam rockets at Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet internal security service are preparing to step up assassinations against key Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip in response to the continued Qassam rocket attacks against Sderot. The renewed campaign of targeted killings is not likely, at this stage, to include members of the Hamas political leadership. more..
Infiltrating Israeli special force kills PFLP fighter in Jabalia
Palestinian Information Center 2/11/2008
JABALIA, (PIC)-- An Israeli special force killed a fighter of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the PFLP, called Rami Karim during fierce armed clashes with them east of Jabalia town, northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, while his fellow fighters managed to return to their bases safely, according to the PIC reporter. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed on the same day its responsibility for engaging with the Israeli special force in Gaza. In a related context, a group of the Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the popular resistance committees, survived on Sunday an Israeli attempted assassination after an Israeli missile targeted their car in the Beit Hanun town, while two Palestinian citizens present in the targeted scene were injured and transferred to a nearby hospital. A field commander of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, was assassinated by an... more..
Hamas leaders go underground to escape IDF strikes
Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies, By Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
The leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip has adopted a low profile and is avoiding making public appearances for fear of an Israel Defense Forces strike. Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip said yesterday that the Hamas leaders had turned off their cellular telephones and moved from their homes to safe houses, which suggests they are taking seriously Israel’s warning that those responsible for dispatching Qassam rocket crews will be targetted. Among those who have gone underground are members of the political leadership of the organization, including former Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, former Interior Minister Said Sayam, Nizar Rian and others. The leadership of Izz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of the organization, has been underground for some time. Former Palestinian Authority prime minister Ismail Haniyeh has not gone entirely underground, but is certainly keeping a lower profile. more..
Ismail Haniyeh goes into hiding for fear Israel might try to kill him
Roee Nahmias, YNetNews 2/11/2008
London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reports Hamas PM has gone into hiding fearing assassination by Israel. Palestinian sources report other Hamas, Jihad leaders follow suit, drop out of sight - Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Hanieyh has gone into hiding for fear Israel might try to assassinate him over the ongoing Qassam fire emanating from the Gaza Strip, the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported Monday. According to the report, only a handful of bodyguards have knowledge of Haniyeh’s whereabouts and movements. Palestinian sources told Ynet that Hanieyh is known for frequently changing locations and accommodations even in times of calm. The sources further revealed that other prominent Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives have begun taking extra precautions, for fear Israel will try to target them. more..
Barak: IDF preparing for large-scale operation in Gaza
Amnon Meranda, YNetNews 2/11/2008
Defense minister tells Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee IDF has killed 200 terrorists in Gaza Strip in last four months; vows not to deter from any course of action needed to ’give the residents of Sderot their peace’ - Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday and said that the IDF is "operating in all manners possible to stop the Qassam fire against Israel." According to Barak, "the IDF is preparing for a large-scale operation in Gaza, its possible alternatives and consequences. We will not deter from any course of action needed to give the residents of Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities their peace." The defense minister told MKs that during its extensive operations in the Strip, the IDF has killed some 200 terrorists in the last four months, including 16 in recent days. more..
Ashkenazi: IDF ready to widen Gaza actions as much as needed
Yuval Azoulay, and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday that the army is ready to expand its operations against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, but is waiting on orders from the political echelon. "The IDF is prepared and ready to deepen and expand the operations in Gaza as much as necessary, in accordance with [the political echelon’s] decisions," said Ashkenazi during a conference of top military officers at the IAF base in Hatzor. "The coming year will be full of security challenges, and IDF must be prepared to meet them," he added. During the conference, IDF officers presented the army’s goals and working plans for the coming year, at times touching on the lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War as well as the Winograd Committee’s final report on the war. more..
Settlers attempt to demolish a Palestinian house in Hebron
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
The Palestinian Popular (Folk) Committees reported on Monday that an extremist settlers group attempted todemolish a Palestinian house in Bani Neim village, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The settlers are from Bani Hefar illegal settlement outpost. The settlers attacked the home, which is mainly under construction, destroyed the windows, doors and stones used for constructing the house. Israeli soldiers were present in the area but did not attempt to stop the settlers. Azmi Shiokhy, secretary-general of the Committee slammed the attack and stated that it is part of ongoing violations carried by settlers and soldiers in an attempt to force the residents out of the area and cease their land. Shiokhy added that the ongoing settlement construction and expansion in villages around Hebron, and the rest of the West Bank,is a direct violation to the rights of the residents and their lands, and a violation to the international law. more..
Peki’in house rented to Jew set on fire
Jack Khoury, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
A house in Peki’in rented out to a Jew was set ablaze yesterday in what police believe was intended as a warning to Jews to stay out of the largely Israeli Arab town. The two-story house, which is located next to the Peki’in’s ancient synagogue, was rented out to Naftali Friedman, who intends to open a guest house on its premises. "I’ve never had any problems with the local residents," said Friedman, from the nearby town of Maalot. "I am not involved in any political movement and I just thought it would be a good idea that could promote tourism in the town." The northern town of Peki’in, which has been home to a mixed community of Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze for hundreds of years, was shaken by riots last October in which Jewish property was damaged. Friedman arrived at the house yesterday after he was told by the contractor renovating it that it had been sabotaged. more..
The Israeli army kidnaps two Palestinians from Hebron
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
The Israeli army kidnapped two Palestinian civilians from the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Monday. Local sources stated that troops attacked and searched homes in Hebron city center and kidnapped Mohamed Zughier, 21 and attacked homes in the nearby Al Aroup refugee camp and kidnapped Mohamed Mahfouth, 22. Witnesses said that when troops attacked homes in the city of Hebron soldiers attacked beat up men during searching the homes their. Meanwhile the Palestinian Prisoners Society in Hebron announced on Monday that the number of Palestinian civilians kidnapped from the city since the beginning of February 2008 now stands at 30 civilians. [end]
Hamas sources: "PA Security arrests 13 Hamas members in the West Bank"
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
Hamas media sources reported on Monday that Palestinian Security Forces, loyal to Fateh movement , arrested on Sunday 13 members and supporters of the movement in several areas in the West Bank. In Jenin district, in the northern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested Ghassan Al Jammal, Mohammad Abu Al Nour, Ala’ Abu Hammad, Mohammad Al Haifawi, andMohammad Al Waqiyya. Al Waqiyya is wanted by the Israeli Security since ten months. In Tubas city, security forces arrested Ra’ed Shawar in front of the Al Quds Open University. In Ramallah district, security forces arrested Ziad Amriyya, Midhat Amriyya, and Nael Al Fahil, The three are from Kobar village, west of Ramallah. In Qalqilia, in the northern part of the West Bank, security forces arrested journalist Mustafa Sabri. Sabri is also a member of Qalqilia municipality council. more..
Israeli forces seize Palestinian security officer in Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 2/11/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized a member of the Palestinian National Security services in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday, Palestinian security sources said. During a morning raid, the Israeli military detained 22-year-old Salem Ubayyat. Ten Israeli military vehicles invaded Bethlehem. Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades and shot in the air, laying siege to several houses. The sources added that the Israeli forces damaged properties in the Palestinian houses they ransacked. The major damage was in the house belonging to Ali Ubayyat at which the Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades. In a different regard, the Israeli forces erected a flying checkpoint on Sunday evening on the main road between Bethlehem and Ramallah near the area of Qabir Hilwah, east of Bethlehem, searching all cars going in and out of Bethlehem. more..
Palestinian young man joins his brothers killed in Israeli air raid
Palestinian Information Center 2/11/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian medical sources announced Monday morning the death of Saleh Nabhan, 22, after he sustained last Thursday morning serious injuries in the same Israeli air raid that killed his two brothers Sa’id and Jawdat near the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. Dr. Muawya Hassanain, the director general of ambulance and emergency at the health ministry, stated that Nabhan was in a critical condition and the third martyr of the same family, adding that with this new death, the number of the victims killed during the last Thursday air raid rose to nine Palestinians. In another context, Palestinian medical sources announced the death of a Palestinian woman suffering from kidney failure called Fathia Abu Warda, 40, after the IOA insisted on barring her from traveling abroad for medical treatment. more..
A Palestinian man dies of earlier wounds
IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man died on Monday at dawn of wounds he sustained last week. The sources identified the man as Saleh Nabhan, doctors said that Nabhan was admitted to on Friday to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza after sustaining critical wounds due to an Israeli air strile targeting Gaza city. Nabhan was clinically dead by Sunday and was pronounced dead on Monday at dawn, doctors added. Nabhan is the third Palestinian to die in Gaza on Monday. Two Palestinian cancer patients died in the coastal region on Monday due to the Israeli army siege imposed on the region since June 2007. [end]
Gaza: 2 Palestinian casualties in IAF strike
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/11/2008
Sources in Gaza say two bystanders his during Israeli strike on vehicle traveling in Rafah - Palestinian sources said and Israeli aircraft opened fire Monday evening on a vehicle traveling in the south Gaza town of Rafah. According to the report, two bystanders were hit in the attack, but no details were given as to their condition. Shortly before the strike a Qassam rocket fired from north Gaza landed in an open field south of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported. Defense Minster Ehud Barak told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday that the IDF is "operating in all manners possible to stop the Qassam fire against Israel," adding that during its extensive operations in the Strip, the army has killed some 200 terrorists in the last four months, including 16 in recent days. more..
Sderot mayor: A boy with an amputated leg is too much
Moran Zelikovich, YNetNews 2/11/2008
Embattled town leader visits Tuito boys injured in Qassam rocket attack at Tel Aviv hospital; says there is a justified discontentment amongst Sderot residents. Hundreds of protestors take to streets in protest, blocking major route in Tel Aviv and calling for Olmert’s resignation in Jerusalem - There were a lot of tears of sadness and pain on Monday at the convalescence wing of the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer outside of Tel Aviv, as Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal visited the two young victims of the recent Qassam rocket attack. Osher and Rami Tuito are being hospitalized at Sheba after a Qassam rocket made impact just a few feet away from the two brothers causing serious injury. Osher, 8, had to have a part of his leg amputated and his older brother Rami, 19, sustained moderate injuries. more..
Sderot supporters block Ayalon highway
Avi Cohen, YNetNews 2/11/2008
Despite mass deployment of police forces across Tel Aviv metropolitan area, protesters manage to block major highway, stop traffic. Demonstrators use loudspeakers to bring Color Red alarm to Tel Avivians - Supporters of Sderot’s struggle to raise awareness to the grave security situation in the Gaza vicinity communities blocked one of the major traffic routes of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area Monday noon. The protesters, who blocked the Ayalon highway near the Azrieli center and Hashalom train station in Tel Aviv, managed to completely paralyze all northbound traffic for a while, until they were pushed back by police. Demonstrators later disrupted traffic on the central Menachem Begin Road in Tel Aviv. The rally was accompanied by a vehicle carrying loudspeakers that repeatedly played the Color Red alarm, which is used to alert Negev residents before rocket attacks. more..
Sderot protest clogs central Tel Aviv streets
Yigal Hai and Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
Around 200 people from Sderot blocked streets in central Tel Aviv yesterday to protest the government’s inability to stop Qassam rocket strikes on their city. Protesters blocked the Ayalon Highway and the intersection of Arlosoroff Street and Begin Way, just by the Central Train Station. Police showed restraint and allowed the demonstrators to block the roads for a few minutes. They raised banners reading "We are not sitting ducks" and "No security, no shelters, no government" and called for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s resignation. During the rally, demonstrators sounded sirens and lay down on the street, simulating a rocket attack. Some of them held the remains of Qassams that had exploded. "The purpose of the protest is to awaken the people from central Israel from their sleep," Daniel Swisa, 50, of Sderot said. more..
VIDEO - News / Sderot residents rally in T.A., protest against Qassam fire
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for February 11, 2008. In this edition: Sderot residents rally in Tel Aviv, protesting against ongoing Qassam rocket fire. Four police officers are wounded, one seriously, in a car chase after Bedouin drug smugglers in the Arava. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad incites crowd of tens thousands to call for the death of Israel. [end]
Police arrest five at Sderot residents’ protest in Jerusalem
Ruth Sinai and Yigal Hai, and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
Police detained five demonstrators for questioning Monday after they blocked Jerusalem streets during a second day of protests organized by the Qassam-battered town of Sderot against government inaction to halt the rocket fire. Hundreds of Sderot residents and their supporters erected on Monday night a protest tent opposite the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, near the Prime Minister’s Office. They also blocked several roads in the capital, which were subsequently reopened. Alon Davidi of the Committee for a Secure Sderot addressed the demonstrators, and called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign. Sderot mayor Eli Moyal and National Union whip MK Uri Ariel have visited the tent. Earlier on Monday, protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s central Ayalon freeway and then marched to the Defense Ministry’s compound. more..
Al-Quds brigade attacks Sderot with home-made shells
George Rishmawi, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
Al-Quds brigade, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement declared that they have fired a number of home-made shells at the Israeli town of Sderot, northeast of the Gaza Strip. IMEMC received a press statement from the brigade stating that its armed forces fired home-made shells at 18:23. No damages or casualties were reported. Meanwhile, the Israeli right wing Shass party threatened on Monday to withdraw from the Israeli government if peace talks with Palestinians continue as long as the firing of home-made shells continues. Shas Chairman Eli Yishai said "If there is any diplomatic progress in the negotiations with Palestinians beyond the current situation, and we are still under fire from Qassams and West Bank incidents, Shas will quit the government immediately." Palestinian resistance groups have been firing home-made shells at the Israeli town of Sderot and some... more..
Hamas: Israel will pay high price if Hamas leaders are harmed
Palestinian Information Center 2/11/2008
GAZA, PIC-- Hamas Movement has made it sound and clear to the Israeli occupation government on Monday that it will strongly retaliate to any Israeli attempt to kill Hamas political leaders, and that the Movement will use all possible means in this regard. The Movement also warned the Israeli occupation government of paying a high price for any foolishness it might commit [against Hamas political leaders], adding that the response of Hamas will be unprecedented and with all available means. Hebrew media outlets had earlier reported that the Israeli occupation government decided to assassinate Hamas political leaders inside and outside occupied Palestine, asserting that the legitimate PA premier Ismail Haneyya was on the assassination list. In a press statement he issued and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, the spokesman of Hamas Movement in Gaza Strip, described the Israeli threats against high-ranking Hamas officials as "serious escalation"... more..
Khalid: "Israel approved the construction of 7000 settler home in Jerusalem"
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Taiseer Khalid, stated that the Israeli decision to build 7000 homes for settlers around Jerusalem is another Israeli violation which aims at annexing all Arab areas around the city. Khalid stated that three week ago, the Jerusalem Municipality Council decided to build 7000 homes for Israeli settlers in land illegally annexed from the Palestinian residents. He added that this project, and all settlement projects in Jerusalem and around it, aim at emptying the area from its Palestinian residents and force new realities on the ground by totally isolating Jerusalem from its surrounding Arab cities and towns. Khalid also said that Israel is ongoing in digging tunnels, building bridges and hundreds of housing... more..
Palestine Today 021108
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMc - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/11/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Monday February 11th, 2008. Three Palestinians die in Gaza whilst the Israeli army kidnaps nine civilians from the West Bank, these stories and more coming up. Stay tuned. The News Cast Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man died early on Monday morning, of wounds he sustained last week. The sources identified the man as Saleh Nabhan. Doctors said that Nabhan was admitted to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza on Friday after sustaining critical wounds from an Israeli air raid targeting Gaza city. Nabhan is the third Palestinian to die in Gaza on Monday. Two Palestinian cancer patients died in the coastal region as a result of the Israeli army siege imposed on the area since June 2007. more..
Haifa cable car reopens after damaged during Lebanon War
Fadi Eyadat, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
Seven-year-old Baruch, accompanied by his little sister, Hely, and his parents, came to see the aerial cable car in Haifa last week. But he was hesitant to travel 400 meters in the air, to the Stella Maris lookout point on the slopes of Mount Carmel, in a transparent carriage. "It’s fun," he said hesitantly, as if trying to persuade himself to get into the car. Hely, on the other hand, who is 4, simply ran ahead and was the first to climb into the carriage without any fear. But as the car pulled off, she burst into tears. The cable car was being run in at the end of last week, in anticipation of its reopening yesterday - a year and a half after being hit during the Second Lebanon War. The car climbed up slowly as it approached the slope of the mountain. Behind it one could see the sea; the stone houses of Bat Galim on the shore alongside... more..
VIDEO - IDF veterans relieve post-traumatic stress through sailing
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 2/12/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for February 11, 2008. A group of Israel Defense Forces veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress symptoms go sailing every week in a Defense Ministry rehabilitation project. One of the shell-shocked veterans is Uri Lerner, who rescued under fire seven of his comrades after his unit was hit by an anti-tank missile during the Second Lebanon War. [end]
One fighter killed, at least ten residents injured in several Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/10/2008
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported late of Saturday night that one fighter was killed and at least ten residents, including children, were injured in several Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. The sources stated that the Israeli air force shelled an area in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip and killed one fighter; several residents were injured. The killed fighter was identified as Mohammad Mteir, 23, memberof the Al Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Mteir was walking near Khalid Bin Al Waleed Mosque, in Al Salaam neighborhood in Rafah when he was targeted by an Israeli missile. He was seriously injured and died of his wounds at Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah. Troops also shelled a house in Al Shaboura neighborhood in Rafah; damage was reported, no injuries. more..
IDF imposes closure on Jenin to thwart would-be suicide bomber
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
For the first time in months, the Israel Defense Forces imposed a full closure on the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday after receiving a tip that a suicide bomber planned to use it as a base to attack an Israeli target. Security forces fear renewed efforts by militants to carry out attacks, because of the escalation in violence between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the strikes on wanted Palestinian militants in the West Bank. An active Islamic Jihad terror cell planned and carried out a number of suicide bombings from the northern West Bank between 2003 and 2006, until its senior leaders were killed by the Israel Defense Forces. Meanwhile, the Shin Bet security service announced Sunday night that it would allow dozens of wanted Palestinians affiliated with Fatah to travel unharmed in the West Bank as part of an ongoing amnesty deal with Israel. more..
VIDEO - Leg of boy injured by Qassam amputated
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/10/2008
(Video) Doctors at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon forced to remove part of eight-year-old Osher Tuito’s leg following serious injury by Palestinian rocket. Boy’s brother, Rami, also wounded in attack. Defense Minister Barak visits southern town of Sderot following Saturday’s barrage - VIDEO - Doctors at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon were forced Sunday to amputate part of the left leg of eight-year-old Osher Tuito, who was seriously injured in a rocket attack on the southern town of Sderot on Saturday evening. The boy’s right leg was also seriously hurt. He was anaesthetized and his situation was reportedly stable. Video courtesy of Infolive. tv Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in Sderot on Sunday morning and visited the place where the rocket landed, injuring Osher and his 19-year-old brother Rami. more..
VIDEO - Sderot residents block entrance to Jerusalem
Neta Sela, YNetNews 2/10/2008
(Video) Residents of southern city have had enough of government’s helplessness in face of rockets fired at their town and its surroundings. Dozens of them protest outside Prime Minister’s Office, are pushed away by police officers as they try to break into building. ’This is no joke, the Qassam kills,’ one of demonstrators says - VIDEO - Dozens of Sderot’s residents were pushed away by police officers as they tried to break into the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon. Protest in Jerusalem (video courtesy of infolive. tv) Earlier the residents blocked the entrance to the capital in protest of the Qassam rockets fired at their city from the Gaza Strip, following the serious injury of an eight-year-old boy Saturday. Dozens of Jerusalem’s residents joined the protestors in solidarity. more..
Protestors block J’lem entrance
Ruth Sinai, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
Some 200 Sderot and Gaza-area residents demonstrated yesterday outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem against the government’s handling of the Qassam bombardment of the western Negev. At the rally, demonstrators displayed shrapnel from Qassam rockets as well as pictures showing wounds suffered by Sderot residents as a result of the attacks. Initially, protesters wearing red shirts blocked the main entrance to the capital and brought traffic in and out of Jerusalem to a halt. "We are of no interest to anyone," a female protester said angrily. "We came here to Jerusalem to make sure that no one can ignore us." Protesters held up banners reading "the fate of Tel Aviv is the same as Sderot," "our children are being targeted" and "no security, no shelter, no government." From the city entrance, protesters marched to the nearby Prime Minister’s Office, where the weekly government meeting had just ended. more..
Sderot residents set to protest in Tel Aviv
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/10/2008
Inhabitants of the embattled southern town plan to disrupt traffic, demonstrate in front of Defense Ministry. Later, furious citizens to set up protest tent and hold rally in Jerusalem - First we’ll conquer Tel Aviv - then Jerusalem: Sderot residents intend to continue their protests in Tel Aviv on Monday where they plan to disrupt traffic on the Ayalon highway, a major Tel Aviv thoroughfare, and demonstrate in front of the Defense Ministry. According to the protest organizers’ plans, they will hold a protest march around the Azrieli towers and the Kirya military compound. Afterwards, the group intends to return to Jerusalem to set up a protest tent in front of the Knesset where they plan to hold another rally with the participation of Knesset members and public officials. Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal is expected to take part in the demonstrations. more..
Olmert under pressure as Gaza siege brings only more rockets
Daily Star 2/11/2008
Israel threatened on Sunday to target Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip as pressure grew on the government to act after a boy hit by shrapnel in a rocket strike from the territory had a leg amputated. With the escalating violence hampering the recently revived Middle East peace process, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to visit the region next week in a new bid to advance negotiations, Palestinian officials said. Speaking after talks with security officials, Premier Ehud Olmert warned that no one from the Islamist Hamas movement would be excluded from continuing military strikes against the territory it has ruled since June. "We will continue to reach all the terror bodies - those responsible for them, those who send them and those who operate them. We will not exclude anyone," Olmert said at the weekly Cabinet meeting. more..
Israel decides to assassinate Hamas leaders
Palestinian Information Center 10/2/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation government has decided on Sunday to target Hamas political leaders inside and outside occupied Palestine as its occupation army relentlessly kills leaders of its armed wing along with Palestinian civilians on daily basis. According to Hebrew media outlets, the decision was taken during a security meeting called for by Israeli premier Ehud Olmert, in which Israeli war minister Ehud Barak, Israeli chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and intelligence chief Yuval Diskin participated. The meeting, according to Hebrew sources, ended up with a clear decision calling for the assassination of Hamas political and military leaders without discrimination. The Israeli army radio suggested that the IOF troops will start targeting "specified targets", suggesting that the Israeli occupation government will start targeting political leaders of Hamas... more..
IOF kills Qassam leader, targets steel foundry in Gaza
Palestinian Information Center 10/2/2008
RAFAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian resistance commander of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, was killed Saturday night in an Israeli air strike that targeted him while walking past a local mosque in Rafah city. Palestinian medical and security sources identified the victim as Mohammed Mutair, 23, confirming that he sustained serious wounds all over his body before he succumbed to his injuries shortly after he arrived to the city’s Abu Yousef Al-Najjar hospital. For its part, the QB mourned the fighter, adding that he participated in several armed attacks against the Israeli occupation troops in Gaza Strip. In Bani Suhaila town, east of Khan Younis city, an Israeli F-16 warplane fired an air-to-surface missile at a QB post, inflicting big damage on it but no casualties were reported in the strike. more..
Gaza Escalation / Hamas’ new policy of deterrence
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
The injuries suffered by the two Twito brothers as a result of Saturday night’s Qassam rocket strike on Sderot has still not sent the Israel Defense Forces into the Gaza Strip on a major ground offensive. Israel’s political leadership remains unconvinced that the military plan will necessarily bring about a positive change to the situation along the border with the Strip. In spite of the political pressure to take action, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would like to maximize the room they have to maneuver before they order a large-scale military operation. However, the direction of developments in recent weeks is clear. It is hinting more and more toward a direct confrontation, in the near future, between Hamas and the IDF. One of the main reasons for the escalation stems from the attempt by Hamas to establish a new deterrent against Israel. more..
Olmert, Barak want more time before ordering Gaza offensive
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoffs, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
The injuries suffered by the two Twito brothers as a result of Saturday night’s Qassam rocket strike on Sderot has still not sent the Israel Defense Forces into the Gaza Strip on a major ground offensive. Israel’s political leadership remains unconvinced that the military plan will necessarily bring about a positive change to the situation along the border with the Strip. In spite of the political pressure to take action, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would like to maximize the room they have to maneuver before they order a large-scale military operation. However, the direction of developments in recent weeks is clear. It is hinting more and more toward a direct confrontation, in the near future, between Hamas and the IDF. One of the main reasons for the escalation stems from the attempt by Hamas to establish a new deterrent against Israel. more..
IDF slaps closure on Jenin after terror alert
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/11/2008
For the first time in months, the Israel Defense Forces yesterday imposed a full closure on the West Bank city of Jenin after receiving a tip that a suicide bomber planned to use it as a base to attack an Israeli target. Security forces fear renewed efforts by militants to carry out attacks, because of the escalation in violence between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the strikes on wanted Palestinian militants in the West Bank. An active Islamic Jihad terror cell planned and carried out a number of suicide bombings from the northern West Bank between 2003 and 2006, until its senior leaders were killed by the Israel Defense Forces. Meanwhile, the Shin Bet security service announced last night that it would allow dozens of wanted Palestinians affiliated with Fatah to travel unharmed in the West Bank as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel. more..
A group of resistance fighters survive an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/10/2008
A group of resistance fighters of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), survived Sunday afternoon an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza Strip. The air strike, reportedly hit the fighters in the northern city of Beit Hanoun, wounded two civilian passersby slightly, medics confirmed. Spokesperson of the Salaheldin brigades, the armed wing of the PRC, Abu Mojahed, told media outlets that the group had thrown their mobile phone, consequently the Israeli missile hit the phone instead. Abu Mojhed added that the fighters were driving in the Beit Hanoun city, which borders Israel. On Sunday morning, the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, told a cabinet meeting that his army will step up attacks on what he termed ’ terror organizations in Gaza’. Late on Saturday night, at least one resistance fighter was killed and ten others including civilians were injured during an Israeli air strike on northern Gaza. more..
One Palestinian killed as Israel launches four strikes on Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 2/10/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – An Israeli air raid on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah killed one Palestinian activist affiliated with the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, on Sunday morning. Sources in the Al-Qassam Brigades named the victim as Muhammad Mtair. Israeli warplanes launched another strike on an abandoned Al-Qassam Brigades position in the city of Khan Younis, also in the southern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported there. A third Israeli air raid targeted a warehouse used bythe Al-Qassam Brigades in Ash-Shabura in Rafah. Three missiles were fired at the warehouse, but no casualties have been reported. Earlier, Israeli fighter jets fired a missile at a blacksmith’s shop in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, injuring 8 people, one seriously. The attack also resulted in severe damage to neighboring houses. more..
Palestinian military groups fire projectiles at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 2/10/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Saturday evening for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot north of the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West bank and the Gaza Strip. Separately, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees announced on Saturday evening that their fighters fired a homemade projectile at the Israeli military base of Zikim, near the southern Gaza Strip. They also said two other projectiles have been fired at the Israeli Kibbutz of Netiv Ha’asarah and at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. more..
Fresh Israeil airstrike leaves two injured in Beit Hanoun
Ma’an News Agency 2/10/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Two Palestinians were injured when an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a car in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, Ma’an’s reporter said. Palestinian medical sources said the injured men were evacuated to a hospital after sustaining minor wounds. Abu Mujahid, the spokesperson of the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said that the missile was aimed at a group of their activists, and that the group survived the shelling. [end]
4 Arab teens arrested for stoning Israeli cars
Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 2/10/2008
Nazareth Police, Shin Bet detain four youths suspected of throwing stones at vehicles on north’s Route 77. ’Incident posed a real risk to drivers,’ says police commander - The Nazareth Police along with Shin Bet officers arrested four 16 and 17-year old Arab teenagers on Saturday night on suspicion of hurling stones at cars in northern Israel on Saturday evening. The four, who implicated themselves in the act, were interrogated by the Nazareth Police and by the Northern District Police. Sources in the police told Ynet the motive for the youths’ actions was still unclear. The four will be brought before the Nazareth Magistrates’ Court later on Sunday, where the police will ask they be remanded to custody. At around 6:30 pm on Saturday, the Northern Police received a call from a driver who said car was stoned in the area of Route 77 - leading from Hamovil Intersection to Alonim. more..
Israeli police kidnap four Palestinian minors in Nazareth
Palestinian Information Center 10/2/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli police in the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948 announced that they kidnapped four Palestinian minors in the Nazareth city at the pretext of their participation in throwing stones on Saturday at three cars belonging to Israeli settlers. The Hebrew radio claimed that the stones led to the injury of an Israeli woman and caused material damage to the cars, adding that the minors will appear in court on Friday. In another related context, the Hebrew radio said Sunday that the IOF troops continued for the second week respectively their broad campaign of pursuit against Palestinian workers in the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948 where they rounded up more than 700 workers at the pretext of not holding work permits. A number of workers reported that Israeli policemen waged raids on their work places in workshops and agricultural lands and... more..
Dozens protest stone throwing in West Bank
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/10/2008
Settlers arrive at village of Azun in light of recent increase in incidents of stone throwing by Palestinians on Israeli vehicles traveling in area - West Bank settlers have had enough of the stones hurled at their cars. Dozens of Israeli vehicles arrived Sunday morning at the entrance to the village of Azun, east of Qalqilay, in protest of the hurling of stone and Molotov cocktails at Israeli cars traveling in the West Bank. The organizers of the demonstration, which was authorized by the police, protested against the security forces’ helplessness in their battle against the stone throwers. The demonstrators did not enter the village, but parked their cars at the roadside and made an appearance. Military forces secured the demonstration, which ended an hour later with no unusual incidents. The settlers told the assistant commander of the district’s brigade... more..
IAF chief: Qassam fire necessitates wide scale Gaza operation
Ahiya Raved, YNetNews 2/10/2008
Air Force Commander, Brig. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi tells Druze students that situation in Strip ’obliges consideration of continuing operations there’; Druze spiritual leader brings up hardships faced by discharged Druze soldiers - "The situation in Gaza is complex and very troubling. The attack on Sderot yesterday, the injuries of the youths and the continuous Qassam (rocket) fire is very troubling and obliges the consideration of the continuing operations in the Gaza Strip," Air Force Commander, Brig. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi said on Sunday during a visit to the Druze village of Julis in the Western Galilee. Shkedi estimated that the scope of IDF operations in the Palestinian enclave would be increased. "The continuing fire will at the end of the day obligate us (to carry out) a wide scale operation in the Strip. more..
Israel to Intensify Strikes if Rocket Fire Continues
Ellen Knickmeyer, MIFTAH 2/9/2008
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened Thursday to intensify military operations in the Gaza Strip if fighters continue using the Palestinian territory for rocket attacks on southern Israel. Earlier in the day, Israeli troops supported by tanks, artillery and fighter jets raided Gaza, killing six Palestinian gunmen, according to Palestinian and news service accounts. Also, a 42-year-old Palestinian high school chemistry teacher was killed when a shell hit a school just before classes started in the morning, said Jamil Suleiman, director of the hospital in the Gaza village of Beit Hanoun. Three 16-year-old Palestinian boys, all students, were wounded, Suleiman said. Israel denied targeting the school, saying it was firing at rocket teams that use the border village as a base for attacks on Israel. On Thursday, fighters fired at least seven rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, wounding one person, the Israeli military said. more..
Israeli forces arrest Palestinian man in Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 2/10/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli forces arrested on Sunday morning a Palestinian near Ramallah in the central West Bank claiming he was "a wanted activist." Israeli sources said the arrestee was accused of conducting several attacks on Israeli targets near Ramallah. [end]
Israeli missile kills Hamas fighter
Al Jazeera 2/9/2008
An Israeli air raid in the southern Gaza Strip has killed a leader from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip in June. Mohammed Mutar was killed in Rafah by a missile launched late on Saturday by a drone aircraft, a medical source said. No one was injured in a second air raid against an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades position in Khan Yunis, Hamas said on Saturday. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the two raids and said Mutar was suspected of involvement in the "transfer of illicit arms" across the Gaza-Egypt border. The official said they had acted on information provided by Israel’s internal security service. Israel also pounded Gaza on Thursday, killing seven people days after a suicide bombing claimed by the Strip’s Hamas rulers. more..
2 brothers injured in rocket attack on Sderot
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/9/2008
Eight-year-old boy sustains serious injuries to his legs, 19-year-old adolescent light-to-moderately hurt when rocket fired by Palestinians in north Gaza lands near residential building in western Negev town; Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades claim responsibility. Furious residents call for broad IDF operation in Strip - An eight-year-old boy sustained serious injuries to his legs and his 19-year-old brother was light-to-moderately wounded when a Qassam fired by Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip landed near a residential building in Sderot Saturday evening. The mother of the two boys as well as an additional brother suffered from shock in the incident, along with 13 other Sderot residents. A total of five rockets landed in Sderot and surrounding areas in the evening hours. One of the rockets made impact near a residential building in the town and injured the two boys who were standing nearby. more..
The Israeli army attacks Palestinians homes in Hebron and kidnaps five civilians
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/9/2008
Local sources in the southern West Bank city of Hebron reported that the Israeli army attacked and searched several homes in the city of Hebron and kidnapped five civilians on Saturday morning. The sources said that during the search Israeli troops attack and beat up men while kidnapping them. The five men were identified as; Sulaiman Al-Qawasmi, 25, and two of his brothers Mohamed, 21 and Suliman 23, who were taken from their family home located in the old part of Hebron. Meanwhile Hammam Al-Qawasmi and Bilal Salam were taken from their familiy homes located in the southern side of Hebron city. [end]
Israeli forces seize five locals from Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Hebron – Ma’an - Israeli forces apprehended five Palestinians from the city of Hebron early on Saturday morning, taking them to Israeli investigation centres. Local sources told Ma’an that soldiers seized three brothers, twenty-five-year-old Sulaiman Al-Qawasmi, twenty-three-year-old Muhammad Al-Qawasmi and twenty-one year old Hammam Al-Qawasmi, after breaking into their home near the Al-Jihad mosque in Wad Abu Qtilah, Hebron. Another man was seized when Israeli soldiers broke into his house in the Al-Jilda area of Hebron. The detainee’s mother claimed that her other four sons were also beaten by the soldiers. Security sources also claimed that thirty-nine-year-old Bilal Abdel Nasser Salam was seized and taken from his home in the Al-Jilda area in Hebron. more..
Israeli forces overrun Tubas
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces blocked the entrance of Tubas, in the northern West Bank, after overrunning the area early on Saturday morning. They blocked the road that links Jenin with Tubas, and closed off the entrance to the town of Tubas. Security sources claimed that the forces entered the area on the Al-Aghwar road and congregated in front of the Tubas’ governor headquarters, launching sound bombs. [end]
Israeli forces break into house and seize local from Al-Yamon
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized a Palestinian man from his home at Al-Yamon in Jenin, early on Saturday morning. Twenty-year-old Salem Muhammad Smodi was taken from his house after Israeli forces surrounded the building. The detainee’s father claimed the family members were forced into one room whilst his son was apprehended. Israeli forces overran Al-Yamon opening fire and ransacking houses. [end]
Palestinian security services arrest three Hamas members in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Hamas claimed that the Palestinian security services seized three of its members on Friday. Hamas told Ma’an that the security services arrested Muhammad Al-Khatib in Bethlehem after he was called in for investigation. Likewise, in Tulkarem, security services arrested Muhamad Jamil Qad from Deir Al-Ghosun, he too was called in for investigation before being arrested. [end]
Palestinians injured in Israeli shelling near Beit Hanoun
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an - Two Palestinian citizens were injured on Saturday when an Israeli aircraft targeted a gathering of citizens in northern Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip. Mu’awiya Hassanein, director ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry said the injured were first taken to Beit Hanoun hospital and then transferred tKamal Edwan hospital. He described their injuries as moderate. Israeli forces said that the attack was aimed at a group of Palestinians who were launching rockets against the area in the western Negev. [end]
Two injured in Israeli shelling to northern Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/9/2008
Palestinian sources reported on Saturday that two Palestinian resistance fighters were injured due to an Israeli shelling targeting the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hannon. Witnesses reported that unmanned Israeli plane fired several missiles at a group of resistance fighters injuring two. Medical sources said that the two injured sustained moderate wounds. Israeli sources conferment that attack. The sources added that Palestinian resistance fired three Qassam home-made shells at northern Israel, no damage or injuries were reported. Israeli government sources stated on Saturday that the Israeli representative in the UN will file complaint in the UN Security Council regarding the Qassam shells firing. This week the Israeli army attacks on Gaza and the West Bank left 20 Palestinian killed while for the same week Palestinian attacks left one Israeli dead and 12 injured. more..
IOA isolates Jenin as it reduces fuel, electricity supply to Gaza
Palestinian Information Center 9/2/2008
JENIN, (PIC)-- A hermitic closure was imposed by the IOF troops on Jenin Friday night that isolated it from the rest of the West Bank cities, alleging that information pointed to possible Palestinian attacks in the Israeli depth originating from that city. Local Palestinian sources pointed out that the IOF troops installed military barriers and mobilized patrols at the main junctions that connect Jenin with Tulkarm city and the Jordan Valley. Eyewitnesses in the area revealed that the Israeli occupation army sealed off entrances of a number of Palestinian towns surrounding Jenin with sand barriers, thus isolating the Palestinian vital city from the rest of the world. A number of Palestinian citizens were stranded at the city and failed to return to their homes in nearby cities after the IOF troops declared Jenin a closed military zone. more..
Hebrew sources: IOF troops gear up for Gaza invasion
Palestinian Information Center 9/2/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A full-scale Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip became a possible scenario after the IOF troops failed to stop home-made Palestinian missiles unleashed by Palestinian resistance fighters on Israeli colonies adjacent to Gaza Strip, Hebrew press sources asserted. According to the sources, the Israeli occupation government wants to prevent three possible threats that deeply disturb them; the first threat is the ability of the Palestinian rockets to hit the strategic Ashkelon city with more accuracy. The second threat, the sources added, was the nightmare of possible Palestinian armed attacks in the Israeli depth starting from Gaza Strip; and the third threat was Israel’s fears of Hamas’s growing popularity in Gaza and its ability to develop its military capabilities despite all the troubles it had confronted, the sources pointed out. more..
PRC spokesman: Sderot almost fully evacuated months ago
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/9/2008
Minister Dichter’s comment on relocation of Negev towns’ residents proof of Qassam attacks’ efficiency in ’creating a balance of terror and deterrence against the Zionist enemy,’ Abu Mujahid tells Ynet. Adds: Extensive IDF operation in Gaza will result in hundreds of Israeli casualties - A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) on Saturday warned Sderot’s residents of additional Qassam attacks and urged them to "leave town." In response to Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter’s statement according to which twenty percent of the western Negev town’s residents have already relocated as a result of the incessant rocket fire, Abu Mujahid said "this is not the first time the Israelis have admitted the fact that Sderot was almost fully evacuated a few months ago." He added that Dichter’s comment was proof of the Qassam rockets’ efficiency... more..
Dichter: Sderot is a battered and empty city
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/9/2008
Internal security minister visits southern town hit by dozens of Qassam rockets over past week, says fifth of residents have left their homes. ’As I entered Sderot I saw desolated streets. People are shutting themselves in their houses,’ he says - Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter visited the southern town of Sderot on Satuday after more than 30 Qassam rockets were fired the western Negev since Friday morning. "I found a battered city. Twenty percent of its residents have got up and left," he said. "The residents have harsh feelings, because they believe the end of the Qassams is not in sight." One of the places Dichter visited was the Peretz family home, which was directly hit by a Qassam rocket Friday evening. He listened to a teenage boy, a relative of the family, who told him that he was scheduled to go on an annual school trip... more..
Al-Quds Brigades claim responsibility for launching projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility on Saturday for launching a projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot, near the northern Gaza Strip. The brigades said that this attack comes as a response to the Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. [end]
Resistance Brigades attack several Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian resistance brigades in the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility for attacking several Israeli sites on Saturday. The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for detonating an explosive device near an Israeli target, east of the Al-Breij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. Separately, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for shelling the town of Sderot with two missiles on Friday evening. Meanwhile, the newly-formed National Resistance Brigades and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades clashed with Israeli special forces, at the evacuated Israeli settlement of Dughit, north of Beit Lahiya, on Friday night. The brigades said that the number of missiles launched on Thursday amounted to nine rockets at the Israeli towns of... more..
Brothers badly wounded by Qassam in Sderot
Mijal Grinberg Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/10/2008
Two brothers aged 8 and 19 from Sderot were seriously wounded yesterday when a Qassam rocket struck near a home in the city. Defense officials threatened retaliation for the attack - for which the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility - but said for now Israel would not employ "new methods." The two wounded brothers were rushed to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with the 8-year-old suffering serious injuries to his legs. "The child was walking in the street when the rocket fell," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. A medic said he heard a loud explosion and rushed to the scene. "I found two injured people - one boy very seriously wounded in the legs," the medic said. The younger brother’s legs were at least partially severed by the explosion, sources said. He also suffered from injuries to his upper body. more..
Three Palestinians seriously wounded in IOF assassination attempt
Palestinian Information Center 9/2/2008
BEIT HANUN, (PIC)-- A Palestinian activist was seriously wounded in an IOF assassination attempt north of the Gaza Strip on Saturday while two civilians were also wounded in the same attempt. Local sources said that a member of the Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the popular resistance committees, was standing near to his home in Beit Hanun with a number of other persons when the missile was fired at them. He was seriously wounded and the two others were reportedly in moderate conditions, the sources elaborated. The same armed wing had declared responsibility Friday night for firing three locally made Naser-2 missiles at the Nahal Oz military position east of Gaza. The armed wing said its members fired nine home made missiles at Israeli targets on Friday in retaliation to the IOF assassination of commander Abul Sa’ed and the incessant Zionist aggression on the Palestinian people. more..
Qassam rocket damages house in Sderot
Palestinian Information Center 9/2/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- In retaliation to the ongoing Israeli aggression and siege against the Palestinian people, Qassam homemade rockets inflicted Friday evening big damage to a house in the Israeli Sderot settlement located in the western Negev. In a communiqué received by the PIC, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, stated that its fighters fired on Friday evening five rockets on Sderot; thus, the number of rockets that targeted the settlement since Tuesday rose to 36 rockets. In another communiqué issued earlier on the same day, the Brigades claimed responsibility for firing two rockets on IOF troops in the Soufa military post located to the east of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. According to the Brigades’ website, the Qassam fighters had started Friday to intensify attacks since the early morning hours, where they managed to fire 22 rockets and seven mortar shells on different... more..
An-Nasser brigades members survive Israeli assassination attempt
Ma’an News Agency 2/9/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Brigades, said several of their members survived an Israeli assassination attempt in the Gaza Strip. "With God’s care and protection those members who were about to be assassinated by an Israeli explosive device were able to leave the car before it exploded," An-Nasser military spokesman, Abu Yousef said in a statement. Abu Yousef said the Israeli forces were only able to carry out the attempted assassination because of informants giving them details of the whereabouts of the Brigades’ members. "We can only remind all parties that the An-Nasser Brigades are intractable and everybody knows how we deal with anyone that exposes our members to danger," he added. "The security apparatus of the An-Nasser Brigades will dig under every rock to reach those who deal with the occupation to assassinate our members and we won’t have any mercy," he warned. more..
2 Qassams land in western Negev
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/9/2008
Rocket fire resumed Saturday morning, as two Qassams hit Shaar Hanegev regional council; no injuries or damage reported. Simultaneously, IDF attacks launching cell, seriously injuring one of its members. Twenty-nine rockets fired at Israel on Friday - The rocket attacks on the southern town of Sderot and the western Negev continued Saturday morning. Two Qassam rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed in the Shaar Hanegev regional council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. At around 8:30 am, the Color Red alert system was activated in the Sderot area, followed by two explosions. Simultaneously, the IDF attacked a terrorist cell spotted near immobile rocket launching pads in the northern Strip. The army reported that a hit was identified. Palestinian medics said the airstrike seriously wounded a member of a Gaza rocket squad. more..
2 Israelis injured by stones in West Bank
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/9/2008
Teen, another person sustain light wounds after stones are thrown on their car near village of Azun. Molotov cocktail hurled at Israeli car in same area Friday; driver lightly injured - Two Israeli citizens were lightly injured Saturday afternoon as Palestinians threw stones at the car they were traveling in near the West Bank village of Azun, east of Qalqilya. Among the injured was a 15-year-old boy who managed to reach his house in the settlement of Karnei Shomron, and was evacuated from there to the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba by a Magen David Adom crew. IDF soldiers began combing the area in search of the stone throwers. Another Israeli was lightly injured in the same area on Friday, after a Molotov cocktail was hurled at his car. An MDA crew dispatched to the area evacuated him to the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. more..
Israel reduces Gaza power supply
Al Jazeera 2/8/2008
Israel has begun cutting electrical power to the Gaza Strip as part of a plan to sever economic ties with the territory, an Israeli defence official said. Tel Aviv on Thursday cut five per cent of electricity on one of 10 high-power lines that supply the Gaza Strip. It is the latest step Israel has taken to increase pressure on Gaza after it cut fuel supply to the area last month. The reduction will be less than 1 per cent of the 124 megawatts Israel supplies for the territory, Shlomo Dror, a spokesperson for Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, said. "This is a signal to the Palestinians that we see their conduct in Gaza and that we want to continue the disengagement process. I hope they will focus their effort on getting new sources of energy instead of developing. more..
Occupation forces step up travel restrictions in the northern West Bank
Palestinian Information Center 2/8/2008
The Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus TULKAREM, (PIC)-- Palestinian residents living in the northern West Bank were surprised by new steps taken by the IOF to make their movement between towns and villages more difficult through setting up new roadblocks and tightening security on existing one. The IOF closed tens of roads, including dirt roads that connect towns and villages. Eyewitnesses told PIC that IOF troops escorted huge bulldozers on Thursday and used them to close dirt roads in the Tulkarem district and that on Friday morning the main road connecting Bala’a to Tulkarem was closed using mounds of earth and rocks. The Bizzarya-Tulkarem road was also closed. These two roads connect the Tulkarem district with the Jenin district. Furthermore, dirt roads connecting Bala’a with Deir al-Ghsoun, Anabta and Ektaba. more..
Israeli man hurt in Molotov cocktail attack on car in West Bank
Ron Kamara, Ha’aretz 2/9/2008
An Israeli man sustained light burns Friday evening when Palestinian terrorists threw a Molotov cocktail at the car in which he was traveling in the northern West Bank. The man, an Omer resident in his seventies, was taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava for medical treatment after suffering burns to his hands and face. Israel Defense Forces troops arrested a Palestinian man in the West Bank village of Azzun in connection with the firebomb attack, Israel Radio reported. The Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the radio. The Molotov cocktail shattered the rear window of the vehicle, hitting the back seat where the injured man was sitting, a relative told Haaretz. The driver of the vehicle was able to proceed to a safe location, where he stopped and extinguished the flames, the relative said. more..
Palestinian shot and wounded by Israeli kibbutz guard in north Israel
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli sources said that a security guard working at a Kibbutz in northern Israel shot at two Palestinians on Friday, injuring one of them. The incident happened at the Has kibbutz. One of the Palestinians suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, the other escaped without injury. The sources added that the Israeli police are investigating claims the Palestinians were trying to attack the kibbutz guards. [end]
IOF troops advance into Rafah, round up Palestinians in West Bank
Palestinian Information Center 2/7/2008
RAFAH, (PIC)-- Special IOF forces at dawn Thursday infiltrated into Nahda suburb east of Rafah city to the south of the Gaza Strip and occupied a number of homes after firing in all directions while advancing into the neighborhood. Local sources said that a big number of soldiers infiltrated through the Soufa crossing and nearby groves, and feared that the step might herald a bigger invasion of the Rafah city. In the West Bank, IOF soldiers rounded up 17 Palestinians after storming and ransacking their homes. In retaliation to the IOF crimes, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, fired six locally made missiles at the Israeli settlement of Sderot to the northeast of Gaza. Hebrew media reported that the rockets caused damage to a building while five settlers were treated for shock. The armed wing had earlier Thursday fired a number of missiles and mortar shells at IOF military positions surrounding the Strip. more..
Israeli power rationing fails to subdue Palestinian fighters
Fred Attewill and agencies, The Guardian 2/8/2008
Palestinian fighters today launched 20 rockets into Israel in defiance of threats to progressively cut off electricity to Gaza until attacks cease. Israel said yesterday it had cut off 1% of the power it supplied to the impoverished coastal strip and would continue to reduce supplies until the Hamas government stopped rockets being fired into its territory. An Israeli defence spokesman said: "It’s their choice. They need to choose if they want to keep investing in rockets and in attacking Israel or if they want electricity from Israel." There were no reports any of the rockets caused any casualties. Hamas has repeatedly said it would not bow to Israel’s strategy of cutting electricity. Israeli human rights groups and the UN have condemned the power cut strategy which last month caused widespread blackouts, describing it as collective punishment which harms innocent civilians and is illegal under international law. more..
Israeli forces seize Palestinian
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized a Palestinian man on Friday at dawn from Al-Mazra’a Al-Kabalieh, west of Ramallah, alleging he is ’wanted. ’ Hebrew sources said that the Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian, adding that he was taken to an unknown destination for interrogation. [end]
Resistance factions continue rocket attacks on Sderot and Negev
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Brigades claimed responsibility for launching three missiles at Sderot in the early hours of Friday morning. They also announced they earlier targeted the Israeli border town with four rockets, as well as attacking an Israeli military patrol. They described the attacks as "the shortest way to achieve the legitimate rights." Abu Abir, spokesman for the An-Nasser Brigades said the brigades were responding to Israeli massacres committed against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Separately, the Al-Quds Brigades the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, claimed responsibility for shelling the Israeli town of Ashkelon on Friday morning. The brigades confirmed that the shelling was a response to "the continuous Israeli aggression against our people in the West Bank... more..
Israeli raids near Salfit and Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli forces overran the village of Deir Estayah, north of Salfit on Friday, raiding many houses. Ma’an’s correspondent said that Israeli forces seized 17-year-old Amer Muhamad, before withdrawing from the area. He added that several military vehicles also went into the village of Orta, east Nablus, ransacking homes houses and firing a barrage of sound bombs at local residents. The Israeli soldiers prevented people from going to mosques and moving through the streets of the village. [end]
Israeli forces increase roadblocks and checkpoints across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Tulkarem – Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli forces increased the numbers of roadblocks and checkpoints in the northern West Bank on Friday, further restricting Palestinians’ freedom of movement. Ma’an’s correspondent in Tulkarem quoted witnesses and Palestinian security sources as saying that Israeli forces closed the main roads and prevented people from traveling, especially in the Wadi Ash-Sha’er area, east of Tulkarem and the Ash-Sha’rawiyah area, north of Tulkarem. Moreover, Ma’an’s Nablus correspondent said that the Israeli forces blocked off the roads that link Nablus with Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqilia, in addition to the crossroadsin the village of Bazaria that links Nablus with the northern villages. more..
PA security services arrest 5 Hamas members across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Nablus – Salfit – Ma’an – Hamas said that the Palestinian security services five of their members in the West Bank on Thursday. Hamas said that in Bethlehem the security services arrested Mu’ath Ibrahim ’Amarneh and Muhamad Basem Sarasra for the third time. In Jenin the security services arrested Murad Hasis and Muhamad Suqia. In Tulkarem, the security services arrested Sameh Sa’id Al Jabsheh after interrogating him. [end]
Rocket hits Sderot home
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/7/2008
Four family members suffer shock after Qassam hits roof of their home during dinner; two more residents lightly injured while seeking cover; angry locals block junction south of Sderot to protest government inaction - Sderot under attack: At least seven Qassam rockets were fired Friday evening from the northern Gaza Strip at western Negev communities. One house in Sderot sustained a direct hit in the latest barrages. The rocket that hit the home penetrated it through the roof while a girl, her parents, and her grandfather were eating dinner. All four suffered from shock. Rafi Peretz, whose house was directly hit, told Ynet: "We just finished dinner when we heard the ’Red Color’ alert. We didn’t even have time to run to our fortified room"¦we were very lucky and it was a great miracle that we were all on the first floor, so nobody was hurt. more..
Israel reduces power supplies to Gaza, reaps rockets in response
Daily Star 2/9/2008
The Israeli military said Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip fired 17 rockets toward Israel on Friday, without causing casualties, after the Jewish state cut its power supply to the beleaguered territory. Eleven of the primitive rockets landed in Israeli territory, including five in part of the Sderot township and the remaining six on uninhabited land south of Ashkelon. The military source said the rockets had caused some damage. It was not known where the other six rockets fell, although the home-made missiles often fall short and land inside the strip itself. The Islamist movement Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since a bloody power struggle against Fatah party supporters last June, and Islamic Jihad both claimed the rocket attacks in separate statements. Meanwhile, Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli aircraft carried out a dawn raid against militants of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza but that there were no casualties. more..
Israel says it’s starting to cut power to Gaza
Ori Lewis, ReliefWeb 2/7/2008
JERUSALEM, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Israel said it was reducing electrical power to the Gaza Strip on Friday as part of its plan to sever economic ties with the territory. The move was the latest in a series of Israeli steps that increases pressure on Gaza, ruled by the Islamist Hamas since last June and the source of repeated rocket attacks into the Jewish state. Critics have accused Israel of imposing a blockade that amounts to "collective punishment" of the population of the territory after it cut fuel to Gaza’s main power plant last month, leading to blackouts. "We are trying to reduce the Gaza Strip’s dependence on Israel in many fields... the High Court ruled that we are acting in a correct and approriate manner," deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said. A spokesman for Vilnai said Israel would reduce electricity on one of ten high-power lines by less than one megawatt by the end of Friday. more..
Israeli television: Hamas have Hizbullah-style underground missile launchers
Ma’an News Agency 2/8/2008
Jerusalem – Ma’an – There is evidence that Hamas have adopted Hizbullah-style underground platforms used to launch missiles, Israeli television Channel 2 reported on Friday. Military correspondent Roni Daniel reported the existence of a videotape showing the underground missile launchers that are able to evade monitoring and can not be detected by Israeli aircraft missiles. The Israeli television channel described the daily bloody battles in Gaza as "a war of attrition," quoting Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak that Israel will continue to increase strikes against the Gaza Strip as long as missile attacks against Sderot continue. On Wednesday Barak visited the army military command near Sderot, flying by military helicopter over the western Negev settlements, amid reluctance to the idea of engaging a wide-scale military operation against Gaza Strip. more..
Defense officials: Hamas attacks in the works
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 2/7/2008
Security official: Hamas members more highly skilled, better equipped than before - The defense establishment is dealing with an increasing number of warnings regarding Hamas plans to carry out a major attack in the Gaza Strip area, security sources say. In meetings held this week the emerging picture was that in light of ongoing IDF military operations in the region against Hamas targets, the organization seeks to boast an achievement via terrorism. "We are talking about an organization that has the ability and motivation, and therefore we are treating this issue with the utmost seriousness," a security official told Ynet Friday. Dozens of Hamas members have been killed in recent weeks in clashes with IDF troops in the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Air force attacked several Hamas targets in response to ongoing Qassam fire. more..
This Week In Palestine - week 6 2008
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMc - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/8/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 15. 5 MB || Time 17m 0s || This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www. IMEMC. org, for February 2nd through to February 8th, 2008. The Palestinian government demand more American pressure on Israel and Israeli army attacks this week leave 20 Palestinian dead, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned. Nonviolent Resistance Let’s begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in Palestine and Israel, IMEMC’s Elisa Sprout with the details: Bethlehem Six Palestinian civilians were injured at midday on Friday when Israeli troops attacked a nonviolent anti-wall demonstration in the village of Al Khader, located near Bethlehem city in the southern West Bank. The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Al Khader organized the protest to demonstrate against... more..
Israeli spy plane fires a missile at Palestinian civilians in eastern Gaza, two injured
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
Palestinian sources reported that an Israeli army spy plane fired a missile at a group of Palestinian civilians, on Wednesday morning, in the town of Jabaliya located in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip and injured two of them. Witnesses told the media that a group of civilians were gathered near a local mosque in Jabaliya when an unmanned airplane fired a missile at them. Medical sources said that two men sustained light wounds and were moved to the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital. Meanwhile another unmanned airplane fired several missiles at a group of civilians gathered in a street located in the southern side of Gaza city, medical sources reported no injures. On Tuesday the Israeli army conducted several air strikes and a ground invasion targeting several Gaza Strip areas, those attacks left nine Palestinians dead. more..
2 girls lightly injured in Qassam attack on western Negev
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/6/2008
Rocket fired by Palestinians lands near kindergarten in Eshkol Regional Council kibbutz; two girls, aged two and 12 lightly inured from shrapnel, mother suffers from shock. Another Qassam hits Sderot home; no injuries - Two girls, aged two and 12-years-old, were lightly injured from shrapnel Wednesday afternoon when a Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza landed near a kindergarten in a kibbutz in the Eshkol Regional Council in the western Negev. An hour later another Qassam rocket hit a house in Sderot. No injuries were reported, but the structure was damaged. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack. Tchelet, the two-year-old, sustained shrapnel injuries to her leg, and her mother suffered from shock. more..
Troops demolish a Palestinian-owned house in Jerusalem
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
On Wednesday morning the Israeli army demolished a Palestinian-owned house located in the old city part of Jerusalem. The two-story house, which is owned by Isma’il Al-Masri and his family, is the home of 30 people. The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem issued a warning last week to Al Masri that he should demolish the house or the municipality will demolished it and make him pay the costs. The house is located near the Jewish holy site of the Wailing Wall or known to Palestinians as the Al-Buraq Wall. The Israeli authorities said that the house was built without building permits, a document which has been rarely given to Palestinian families since Israel occupied the city in 1967. more..
Israeli bulldozers demolish Palestinian house in Jerusalem
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli military forces demolished a Palestinian house in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday on the pretext that the house was built without a permit. The two-story home on Al-Buraq Street, belonging to the Isma’il Al-Masri family, housed 30 people. Israeli bulldozers began to destroy the house at 10am local time, the family said. The family said that they had received warning that the house would be demolished. Israeli authorities told the family that if they did not destroy the house by itself, they would have to pay the costs of demolishing it by force. The family claimed that they had in fact begun to dismantle the house, and were surprised to find Israeli bulldozers toppling their home this morning. Building permits are often extremely hard for Palestinians to obtain, and are therefore used as a pretext for house demolition. more..
Israeli forces seize 11 Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized 11 young Palestinian men in the West Bank claiming they were “wanted” on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Israeli sources reported that the Israeli army apprehended 11"wanted activists" in Hebron West Bank, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Qalqilia. [end]
Troops shell the house of a Hamas leader east of Khan Younis
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
The Israeli Air Force shelled on Wednesday evening the house of Sheikh Zaki Al Dardeesy, one of the political leaders of Hamas movement in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Hammad Al Raqeb, spokesperson of Hamas, stated that the family survived "a potential massacre" as the army fired two missiles which hit an empty room. One woman was injured in the shelling. Al Raqeb added that this attack is part of the ongoing Israeli assaults against the Palestinian residents, and that these assaults target civilians and do not differentiate between political and military leaders of the Palestinian factions. He added that Israel is targeting the families of political leaders and leaders of resistance factions and that these violations will only strengthen the determination to fight against the occupation. more..
Home made shells at Israeli towns near Gaza, Israel threatens with a ground invasion
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
Palestinian sources in the Gaza strip reported that several Palestinian resistance groups had fired a number of Qassam home-made shells at Israeli towns neighboring the coastal region on Wednesday. Three of those shells landed in an industrial zone at the southern Israeli town of Ashkilon. The shells landed in open spaces near power generators causing no damage or injures. Seven shells, which were fired from Gaza, landed in the Western Nagave area near the Palestinian coastal region, again the shells caused no damage or injures. The Al Qassam brigades the armed wing of Hamas said that the firing of those 10 home made shells comes in response to the Israeli army attacks on the Gaza strip on Tuesday that left seven Palestinian police officers and two resistance fighters of Hamas dead. The Israeli army told Israeli media that if Palestinian resistance continues to fire home... more..
Qassams land near Ashkelon, in western Negev
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/6/2008
Again, rocket falls outside southern city, five others land in open fields in Negev. Eshkol Regional Council head calls on government to speed up fortification of houses in region - A Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza trip landed in an open field south of Ashkelon Wednesday morning. No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. Five Qassam rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council since the morning hours. All the rockets fell in open areas, causing no injuries or damage. The regional council’s head Haim Yalin told Ynet, "We are eagerly awaiting the start of fortification works, as promised us by the prime minister. At present not all houses in the regional council have security rooms. "We will not be able to enjoy complete security until all those houses are fortified. more..
Israeli strikes wound Gaza gunmen, civilians, Hamas says
Ali Waked and Reuters, YNetNews 2/6/2008
Air Force strike near Beit Hanoun wounds three Palestinian militants as they try to launch makeshift rockets Israel; four civilians injured in two additional air strikes on unoccupied metal foundry, caravan located outside Hamas security position - Just several hours after a Qassam attack on a western Negev kibbutz left two girls lightly wounded, an Israel Air Force missile strike wounded three Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip Wednesday evening as they tried to launch makeshift rockets into the Jewish state, Hamas and medical officials said. Palestinian sources in the coastal swath said one of the gunmen, from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, was gravely wounded in the strike. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the strike on Palestinian gunmen near the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. more..
Israel ’plans new barrier’ along Egyptian border
Daily Star 2/7/2008
Violence flared in and around the Gaza Strip Wednesday as Hamas and the Israeli military exchanged rocket salvos and air strikes. Also Wednesday, the Israeli government divulged a plan to build a reinforced fence along parts of its border with Egypt, citing fears of infiltration by Palestinian resistance fighters. Early Wednesday, Israeli aircraft fired at militants who were apparently part of a rocket launching squad, the Israeli military said. Hamas said that four of its men were lightly wounded in the attack. The air strike followed assaults Tuesday which left nine Palestinians dead, including seven Hamas police officers. Hamas responded in kind, firing upward of a dozen rockets into southern Israel. One exploded at Kibbutz Beeri, a communal village about 6 kilometers from the border fence, and wounded two young sisters, police said. more..
Suicide Bombing Revives Israeli Push to Finish its Wall
Ilene Prusher, MIFTAH 2/6/2008
In the aftermath of the first Palestinian suicide bombing in more than a year, many Israelis have returned to an old conclusion: build a barrier. Some politicians said that the answer to Monday’s attack on the southern town of Dimona was to resurrect an existing, but never-implemented, plan to build some combination of a wall and fence between Egypt and Israel. The barrier would be similar to the West Bank wall that Israel started erecting more than six years ago, at a time when there was an almost nonstop cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. That separation barrier, which Israelis call a fence and Palestinians call a wall (it’s actually a combination of both and a collection of watchtowers, gates, cameras, surveillance roads, and checkpoints), has never been completed. Amid questions as to whether it was really necessary and economically feasible to complete the barrier, the Defense Ministry told the 10 contractors building it to stop last November for lack of funds. more..
Security Experts Fear New Wave of Terrorism in Israel
Pierre Heumann, MIFTAH 2/6/2008
Terrorists struck again in Israel on Monday in the first suicide bombing the country has seen in a year. It was an attack that politicians and military officers say they have seen coming for days. The bloody deed, which claimed the lives of one Israeli woman and the two suicide bombers, came as no surprise for many Israelis. Now that the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is open, it has become easier for terrorists to reach Israel from Gaza. Security experts have been warning that terrorists in Gaza would see this as a new opportunity -- and would take advantage of it. This week, they were proven right. Three organizations claimed responsibility for the attack in a shopping center in the southern Israeli city of Dimona. The first is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is fighting an uncompromising battle against Israel. more..
Police official: Gap in W. Bank barrier is calling out to bombers
Shahar Ilan, Ha’aretz 2/7/2008
Police Southern District commander Uri Bar Lev said Wednesday that the 10-kilometer gap in the separation fence between Israel and the southern part of the West Bank is "calling out to terrorists." Bar Lev spoke before the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee following a suicide bombing in Dimona on Monday in which one woman was killed and 11 people were hurt. "Every day, thousands of Palestinians enter [Israel] without supervision through the gap in the wall. The suicide bombers in Be’er Sheva two and three years ago came in through this gap, as did the bombers two days ago in Dimona. It is imperative to obstruct the passageway," Bar Lev said, adding that Israel has knowledge of additional planned attacks in the area. David Cohen, head of the southern district in the Interior Ministry, said that the 10 missing kilometers in the fence on southern... more..
VIDEO - News / Qassam wounds two girls in Kibbutz playground
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 2/7/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for February 6, 2008. In this edition: Two young girls are wounded when a Qassam rocket strikes a playground in a southern kibbutz. A Winograd panelist makes a statement hinting the committee may have made political considerations in formulating its report. And, the government decides to promote a proposal to build a barrier on the Egypt-Israel border. [end]
Dimona victims were a team in the physics lab and at home
Ofri Ilani, Ha’aretz 2/7/2008
Lyubov Razdolskaya, 73, who was killed in Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Dimona, was a theoretical physicist who studied sub-atomic particles, like her husband Eduard Gedalin, 74, who is in critical condition due to injuries suffered in the attack. Neither one is well known in Israel’s scientific community. The couple immigrated to the country in the 1990s and settled in Dimona. They participated in Ben-Gurion University’s program for absorbing immigrant scientists. Few acquaintances knew that they were talented scientists with decades of research in the Soviet Union behind them, but their colleagues in Be’er Sheva who knew them described them as brilliant scientists who made a significant contribution to particle physics. They coauthored several scientific articles, with titles such as "On convergence of the ChPT HFF expansion for one loop contribution to meson production in NN... more..
Gaza besieged as Israel and Hamas launch attacks
Elizabeth Stewart, The Guardian 2/6/2008
Tit-for-tat Israeli strikes and Hamas rocket attacks continued today after Monday’s suicide bombing in southern Israel - the first such attack inside the country for more than a year. In the latest assault by Hamas, a rocket fired from Gaza hit a kibbutz four miles from the Israeli border, wounding two sisters aged two and 12 as they played outside their home, Israeli medics said. The rocket was one of more than two dozen fired by Hamas in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike last night that killed seven Hamas policemen. The injury of the two girls raised the prospect of harsher reprisals, with the Israeli authorities vowing to keep hitting Hamas. "We need to understand there is a war in the south," the vice premier, Haim Ramon, told Israel Radio. "The war against Hamas has to be fought on all fronts." In Gaza, MPs of the Hamas-dominated parliament cancelled today’s session, fearing... more..
The Israeli army kidnaps four Palestinian civilians from several parts of the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
Four civilians were reported kidnapped by the Israeli army from several parts of the West Bank during pre dawn invasions on Wednesday. In Hebron city located in the southern part of the West Bank, the Israeli army continued to close the city and searched all cars coming in or out of the city. Sources said that Israeli troops attack and search Palestinian homes in the city if Hebron and nearby village. During morning search Adly Tanninah, 50, was kidnapped by the Israeli army from his home located in the village of Tarqumyia near Hebron. Meanwhile one Palestinian civilian was kidnapped when Israeli forces attacked and searched homes in Selwwad village located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Local sources identified the man as Rouhie Al Salhy, 33. In the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday the Israeli army stormed a number of homes located in the city center and kidnapped two men. more..
Palestine Today 020608
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday February 6th, 2008. Israeli spy plane attacks Palestinian civilians in Gaza and injures two while the Palestinian resistance fire home-made shells at Israeli towns near the coastal region, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast An Israeli army spy plane fired a missile at a group of Palestinian civilians, on Wednesday morning, in the town of Jabaliya located in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip and injured two of them. Witnesses told reporters that a group of civilians were gathered near a local mosque in Jabaliya when an unmanned airplane fired a missile at them. Medical sources said that two men sustained light wounds and were moved to the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital. more..
Palestinian man sentenced to 45 years for 2001 killing of Israeli tourism minister
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – An Israeli court has sentenced the Palestinian man named Basil Asmar to 45 years in prison on a charge of killing the Israeli minister of tourism Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. Asmar was found guilty of plotting to kill Zeevi in retaliation for the assassination of the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu Ali Mustafa, in 2001 by Israeli forces. According to the Israeli court, Asmar was the mastermind of the assassination of Zeevi’s assassination, and that he cooperated with Hamdi Qur’an, who shot Zeevi dead. [end]
Funeral for seven police officers killed in Israeli raid on Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Crowds of Palestinians in Khan Younis took part in the funeral processsion on Wednesday for seven police officers affiliated to the Hamas-run de facto government who were killed yesterday in Israeli raids on the southern Gaza Strip. Several gunmen led the procession, firing into the air to express their anger. The mourners shouted slogans condemning Israeli acts against Palestinian resistance fighters. Hamas spokesman, Salih Ar-Ruqab, emphasized during the funeral procession that Palestinian resistance will continue. "These Israeli atrocities will not deter or scare us because we are not afraid of death. Neither are we afraid of Israel and its allies in the US," he said. He called on Palestinian military groups affiliated to different factions to join ranks and take revenge for the death of the "martyrs. more..
Israeli forces arrest two in Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli forces on Wednesday afternoon seized two Palestinians from the Al-Haras and the university neighborhoods in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Local sources told Ma’an’s reporter that 10 Israeli military vehicles raided the area and erected a checkpoint inspecting Palestinian cars, what resulted in a traffic jam. They besiged the home of Muhammad Hirbawi, who blew himself in Dimona yesterday before they apprehended Murad Natsha and Hasan Sunnuqrut. Palestinian security sources told our correspondent that the Israeli force ransacked a computer shop in the Al-Jalada area for unknown reasons. [end]
Israeli army considering more targeted assassinations of Palestinian faction leaders
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli army is considering more targeted assassinations against leaders of Palestinian factions in the aftermath of the Dimona bombing, the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv said on Wednesday. According to the newspaper the Israeli security cabinet which convened on Wednesday morning has not decided to undertake a wide-scale military incursion in the Gaza Strip, as they are fearful that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit may then be killed. According to a high-ranking Israeli official, the security cabinet decided to give the army more space for maneuvering, yet without using ground incursions. [end]
Islamic Jihad guns down 2 Israeli soldiers
Ma’an News Agency 2/6/2008
Gaza- Ma’an- The military wing of Islamic Jihad in Palestine, the Al-Quds Brigades, took full responsibility today for the shooting of two Israeli soldiers at the Sraij gate east of Al Qarareh. The Brigades added in a statement sent to Ma’an that this mission comes as part of the continuous response to the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to confirm the choice of struggle until Palestine is liberated. [end]
Jurisdiction over Joseph’s Tomb disputed
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 2/6/2008
Military enraged by judicial system’s continuous release of those arrested for illegally entering Joseph’s Tomb compound in Nablus on grounds of lack of jurisdiction. ’Someone is going to end up getting killed,’ warns IDF - The IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division is furious at what they call "Israel’s inability to enforce the law due to judicial ping-pong," referring to the circular arrests of Breslov hassidim who enter Joseph’s Tomb and their release by the courts, which cite they have no jurisdiction over the matter. Located in the West Bank city of Nablus, Israelis are prohibited from entering Joseph’s Tomb, unless sanctioned - and accompanied - by IDF forces. The last three months, however, have seen Breslov hassidim and right-wing activists enter the compound repeatedly, two-to-three times a week. more..
IDF raids Dimona bomber’s home in Hebron
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/6/2008
Soldiers once again pay visit to suicide bomber Mohammed Herbawi family’s house in West Bank where they confiscate cell phone and pictures; terrorist’s smother praises her son’s actions, his sister suffers heart attack - IDF forces raided the home of the one of the perpetrators of the suicide bombing in Dimona, Mohammad Herbawi, in Hebron on Wednesday. The neighborhood of the West Bank town where the raid was carried out is considered a Hamas stronghold. The soldiers searched the home and questioned neighboring residents. They ordered Palestinian Authority forces in the area to remain inside their headquarters during the operation. Three Palestinians were injured in clashes that took place in the area after the IDF responded to stone-throwing with tear gas and rubber bullets. more..
Seven killed in IAF strike on Hamas police headquarters in southern Gaza
Avi Issacharoff, News Agencies and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/6/2008
At least seven Hamas members were killed Tuesday when an Israel Air Force missile struck a Hamas police headquarters in the southern Gaza Strip, the Islamist group said. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the air strike, east of the town of Khan Yunis, in response to Qassam rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel Tuesday morning, which hit two factories in the southern city of Serot. Several people were wounded in the IAF strike and some were in critical condition, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, a Palestinian Health Ministry official. Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Hamas police, said the strike hit the police station in the southern Gaza village of Abassan. He said the men were performing afternoon prayers when the building was hit. A Hamas leader, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Israel would pay a high price for "these crimes". more..
The Israeli army kills two Palestinian resistance fighters in southern Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/5/2008
Two Palestinian resistance fighters were reported killed by the Israeli army during clashes at the southern Gaza Israel borders on Tuesday at dawn. Palestinian sources stated that the Israeli army invaded areas in the southern Gaza strip city of Rafah located at the borders with Israel; witnesses said that armed clashes with local resistance fighters took place. The invasion that lasted for two hours finished when Israeli tanks and bulldozers left the area. The Al Qassam brigades the armed wing of the Hamas movement said that two of its fighters were killed in clashes, they were identified as Mohamed Abu Tahha and Baker Abu Rajjal. Medical sources reported that the two men were dead when they reached the hospital after sustaining multiple wounds in the abdomen and head. Israeli sources confirmed that the army invaded the area in Rafah and clashed with the local resistance. more..
The Israeli army attacks Palestinian homes in Hebron city and kidnaps two civilians
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/5/2008
On Tuesday morning Israeli forces attacked a number of Palestinian homes located in the old part of the southern West Bank city of Hebron and kidnapped two civilians. Local sources said that Shahier Al Qawasmah, was kidnapped from his home when troops attacked and searched it. Meanwhile the sources added that the same forces attacked another Palestinian house located near the Ibrahemi mosque also known as the Tomb of Patriarchs, troops left the house after kidnapping Abed-Al Mughani Bedeir, 18. Several homes were also attacked on Tuesday by the Israeli army in the northern part of Hebron, no kidnappings were reported. [end]
Girl moderately injured in rocket attack
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/5/2008
Two hours after IAF warplanes attack Hamas police post in Khan Younis, killing seven, Palestinians fire 10 Qassam rockets at Sderot. Teenager moderately hurt, three people lightly hurt; electricity to parts of town cut off. Hamas’ military wing claims responsibility - A 14-year-old girl was moderately wounded by flying shrapnel when a Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza on Tuesday evening struck a house in Sderot. Three residents were lightly injured as a result of smoke inhalation and several others suffered shock. The attack caused damage to the house the girl was in when the attack occurred. In addition, the power was cut for an hour to a number of areas in the rocket-battered town apparently as a result of the rocket barrage. At least 12 rockets landed in the Sderot area Tuesday evening in four separate barrages. more..
Dichter: Fence needed opposite Hebron, Sinai or J’lem
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/5/2008
Internal Security Minister Dichter visits Dimona following terror attack, says Israel cannot build security fences everywhere at once. Mayor praises town’s residents; victims recount horror of bombing - A day after the deadly suicide bombing in Dimona, the commercial center returned to its regular routine Tuesday. A few residents laid flowers and lit candles at the site of the blast. Insurance appraisers came to assess the damage caused to the businesses hit by flying shrapnel. Blood stains were cleaned from the ground. Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen arrived at the area of the attack and told Ynet that he had "discovered a new town, residents helping one another, tough residents who are not afraid to return here in spite of the attack yesterday." "The warnings exist and until the State builds a fence, this situation is likely to continue. more..
Migron founders: Gov’t okayed, funded settlement
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 2/5/2008
The Migron outpost, which the state promised the High Court of Justice to dismantle by August, was established with the encouragement of former prime minister Ariel Sharon and the approval of then-defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, two of Migron’s founders have told Haaretz. As the High Court hearing on Migron resumes today, members of the outpost plan to argue that it was built on land purchased in part by Jews, contrary to the state’s announcement that it was private Palestinian land. Migron, west of Ramallah, was founded in 1999, and again in 2001. Today there are 45 families living there. Talia Sasson’s report on West Bank outposts states that Migron was established illegally on private Palestinian land, and without official clearance. Sasson revealed that despite this, the government found various means of budgeting nearly NIS 4 million for building Migron. more..
Hamas vows retaliation after Israeli attacks kill nine in Gaza
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 2/6/2008
GAZA CITY: Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed nine members of Hamas on Tuesday as the Jewish state went on high alert a day after the first suicide bombing on its soil by Palestinian militants in a year. An Israeli air raid hit a police station near the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis hours after an early morning incursion by soldiers in the nearby border town of Rafah left two Hamas men dead. Medics said seven militants from the Islamist movement were killed in the late afternoon air strike and another two were wounded. "The men were in afternoon prayers inside the police station when the missile struck," said a security official for Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since seizing it in June. An Israeli Army spokesman said the attack targeted a Hamas military position "in response to the Qassam [rocket] launchings that hit [the southern Israeli town of] Sderot this morning. more..
Six people hurt in Qassam rocket barrage on Sderot
Amos Harel and Mijal Grinbergs and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/6/2008
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening fired eight Qassam rockets at the southern town of Sderot, one of which directly struck a home in the city leaving six people lightly wounded. Palestinians in Gaza fired three Qassam rockets in the direction of Ashkelon late Tuesday night. No injuries or damage was reported. According to Sderot’s senior security officer, most of the rockets hit open fields around the city, but the barrage knocked out the power in one of the city’s neighborhoods. The rockets were fired at Sderot precisely during the time that President Shimon Peres was meant to be visiting the area. Earlier Tuesday, two Qassam rockets struck two factories in Sderot’s industrial zone. Militants belonging to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and to another faction, the Popular... more..
Detainee sentenced to one-life term and twenty years for participating in killing Ze’evi
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 2/6/2008
The Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem sentenced on Tuesday afternoon, detainee Basil Asmar, to one life-term and additional twenty years for "participating in the killing of the Israeli Minister of Tourism Rahba’am Ze’evi in October 17, 2001, the Arabs48 News Website reporte. Asmar was convicted earlier this year of membership with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and of "attempted murder" against Israelis is a number of attacks. The Israeli prosecution claimed that the participation of Asmar in the assassination of Zee’vi was essential since he, according to the prosecution, was the person of ordered it, and that he acted along with Hamdi Qar’an. Qar’an was sentenced to one-life term after the Israeli court, in earlier sessions, convicted him of shooting Ze’evi in the head. The prosecution also stated that Asmar and Ze’evi jointed the Popular Front... more..
Israeli raids kill nine in Gaza
BBC Online 2/5/2008
Israeli forces have killed nine Hamas members in Gaza, as the Islamist group’s armed wing said it was behind Monday’s suicide bombing in Israel. Seven Hamas men died in an air strike in southern Gaza and two others were shot near the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas officials said the seven men were holding afternoon prayers at a security compound when the missile struck. The Dimona suicide attack, in which a woman and two bombers died, would be Hamas’s first inside Israel since 2004. However, there remains confusion about the identity of the bombers, after rival groups claimed the attack in the hours afterwards. Hamas said the attackers came from the West Bank city of Hebron. Its main militant rival, the al-Aqsa Martyrs, said they had come from Gaza, whose closed border near Rafah was breached on 23 January, prompting Israeli fears of infiltration by Palestinian militants via Egypt. more..
Israeli shells kill 7 Palestinian policemen in Khan Younis
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/5/2008
The Palestinian police force in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, reported that the Israeli Tuesday shelling to the police station in Abasan town, near Khan Younis, left seven policemen dead and at least ten others were injured. The seven policemen were identified as Ra’fat Qdeih, Ahmad Al Misbih, Wafi Abu Yousef, Osama Abu Sa’ada, Mohammad Abu Sa’ada, Mo’taz Abu Shahla, and Abdul-Nasser Abu Teir. The police and security forces in the Gaza Strip are controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. In a press release, the force mourned the seven policemen and stated that these attacks will not "deter force members from performing their duties in protecting the residents and the country". Earlier on Tuesday, two Palestinian fighters were shot and killed during clashes with Israeli troops near the southern Gaza-Israeli border. more..
7 killed, 13 injured in Israeli attack on police headquarters in Khan Younis
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Seven Palestinian policemen affiliated to the Gaza-based de facto government were killed and 13 others injured in an Israeli helicopter attack on the police headquarters in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon. Muawiya Hassanein, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health, ministry named the victims as Raefat Qdeih, Ahmad Musbih, Abdul-Nasir Abu Nasr, Mu’taz Abu Shahla, Sami Abu Sa’adah and Rami Abu Younis. He also said that six of those injured were taken to the European hospital in Khan Younis. Three of them are seriously injured. Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli raid came as the police officers were conducting afternoon prayers. Local Palestinian residents took the victims to hospital in private cars. Separately, four other policemen affiliated to the de facto government were injured... more..
Hamas: "P.A security arrests four three supporters"
IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 2/5/2008
Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, issued a press release on Tuesday accusing Palestinian security forcesloyal to Fateh movement in the West Bank, of arresting three members and supporters of the movement on Monday. Hamas stated that in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian security forces arrested Hani Hamdi, from Al Ein refugee camp and Mohammad Olewy from Khallit Al Eman village. In Salfit district, security forces arrested Sheikh Jom’a Ramadan, the Imam of a local mosque and the deputy mayor of Zeta Jama’in village. Moreover, Hamas stated that Israeli soldiers arrested Mustafa Abu Arra, head of Aqaba village council, after stopping him at a military roadblock in the area. Abu Arra was recently release from a Palestinian prison after two months in detention. In Qalqilia, in the northern part of the West Bank, Israeli forces arrested Amjad Haneesh and Mo’ammar... more..
Two Palestinian projectiles hit Israeli factories in Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli sources said on Tuesday that two homemade projectiles launched from the Gaza Strip have hit two Israeli factories in the town of Sderot in the western Negev. The sources stated that the projectiles caused some damage to the factories and cars parked in the area. Several Israelis are reported to be suffering from shock. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Al-Mujahidin Brigades, affiliated to Fatah, claimed responsibility for the attack. They said in a statement that the operation came in retaliation for the assassination of the PRC leader Abu As-Sa’id in Beit Lahiya on Monday. Amir Qarmoot Abu As-Sa’id, was assassinated in the Gaza Strip when an Israeli warplane fired a missile at his car. The PRC vowed to continue launching more projectiles at Israeli targets. more..
Hamas in northern Gaza Strip praise Dimona bombing
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday praised Monday’s bombing operation in the southern Israeli city of Dimona that left an Israeli woman and the two bombers dead and at least 16 people injured. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and a previously unknown faction, the United Resistance Brigades all claimed responsibility for the attack. The northern Gaza Strip branch of Hamas on Monday called on all the Palestinian resistance factions to continue their resistance against the Israeli occupation in retaliation for the assassination of the leader in the Popular Resistance Committees Abu As-Sa’id. Amir Qarmoot Abu As-Sa’id, was assassinated in the Gaza Strip when an Israeli warplane fired a missile at his car. more..
Hamas claims responsibility for suicide bombing in Dimona
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 2/6/2008
Hamas on Tuesday claimed responsibility for Monday’s suicide bombing in Dimona, saying it was carried out by two operatives from Hebron. The organization identified the bombers as Mohammed al-Hirbawi and Shadi al-Zaghair. Hirbawi, 20, had been arrested when he was 15 and spent two and a half years in an Israeli prison. Hamas’ announcement put an end to more than a day of speculation about the identity of the terrorists and their place of residence. A gag order remains on publishing details of the Shin Bet security service’s investigation. Palestinian sources in Hebron said that the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet have arrested several relatives of the two bombers. An examination of the bomb belts used in the attack indicated they were improvised explosive devices. more..
Al-Aqsa Brigades dispel doubts about identity of second Dimona bomber
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A prominent leader in the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, has confirmed the identities of the two bombers who attacked a shopping center in the Israeli city of Dimona on Monday. Speaking to Ma’an on Tuesday, Abu Al-Walid reiterated that the bombers were Luay Al-Ghawani and Mousa Arafat, saying that photographs of the two attackers published by the Israeli media were in fact of them. Israeli security officials had expressed doubt about the validity of the image of the second bomber, who was shot dead by an Israeli police officer. "Luay Al-Ghawani was the one who blew himself up, while Mousa Arafat was hit by several bullets to the head resulting in changes in his facial features, yet Al-Aqsa Brigades identified him from his body features," Abu Al-Walid added. more..
Palestinian security seizes 3 Hamas affiliates in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – The Hamas movement said on Tuesday that the Palestinian security services affiliated to the West Bank-based Fatah government arrested three Hamas members in the West Bank on Monday evening. The movement said in a statement that two of the arrestees were from the Nablus district in the northern West Bank and the third from the Salfit district also in the north. [end]
Israeli forces arrest teenager in Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – The Israeli soldiers morning seized a Palestinian teenager near the Ibrahimi mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday morning. Ma’an’s reporter named the boy as seventeen-year-old Abdul-Ghani Badir, confirming that he was physically assaulted by the soldiers during his arrest. The Israeli forces claim the boy was in possession of a knife and was attempting to stab a soldier. [end]
Israeli forces seize 3 Islamic Jihad activists
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested three Islamic Jihad activists on Tuesday, from the northern West Bank town of ’Atteel north of Tulkarem, during a wide-scale military operation. Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli forces stormed the town and seized twenty-three-year-old Eyhab Ghawi, twenty-six-year-old Amjad ’Atteeli and twenty-year-old Sa’id Abu Khazna. The sources affirmed that all three arrestees were Islamic Jihad activists. In the same regard, Palestinian security sources added that another Israeli force raided the northern West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, east of Tulkarem, and ransacked two homes. No arrests were reported. Israeli patrols also entered the village of ’Illar near Tulkarem and erected a flying checkpoint at the main entrance to Qaffin, north of Tulkarem. more..
Israeli forces seize Palestinian intelligence officer; 20 others in Gaza raid
Ma’an News Agency 2/5/2008
Gaza - Ma’an - Israeli forces seized an officer from the Palestinian intelligence services on Tuesday. Khalil Suleiman Abu Jazar was taken, along with 20 other Palestinian citizens, in an Israeli raid on an area near Gaza airport in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. [end]
Rehavam Ze’evi’s killer sentenced to 45 years in jail
Aviram Zino, YNetNews 2/5/2008
Jerusalem District Court finds Basel al-Asmar guilty of murder, attempted murder, membership in terror group; orders he serve life term additional 20 years - The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Basel al-Asmar to 45 years in prison Tuesday for his part in the murder of former Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi at Jerusalem’s Hyatt hotel on October 17, 2001. Asmar was convicted of murder, attempted murder and membership in a terror organization and sentenced to life imprisonment and an additional 20 years, to be served consecutively. "We have no doubt that Asmar fully cooperated with Hamdi Quran in perpetrating the crime and had a major contribution to the act," judges Moshe Ravid, Orit Efal-Gabai and Aharon Farkash, who presided over the hearing, wrote in their ruling. Hamdi Quran was convicted for his part in the murder in August 2007. more..
Peres visits Sderot as Qassams hit city
Aviram Zino, YNetNews 2/5/2008
President says he insisted on coming to southern town despite rocket barrages which began before his arrival. Color Red alert system activated during visit; rocket lands south of city. Earlier, Peres watches IAF strike in Gaza from Shin Bet headquarters in south - The firing of Qassam rockets towards the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday evening did not stop even as President Shimon Peres visited the city. During the visit, the Color Red alert system was activated, and a rocket landed south of the city. Shortly before the president’s arrival, a Qassam rocket hit a house near the place he planned to visit. Some of the president’s would-be hosts suffered from shock. A 14-year-old girl was moderately injured by shrapnel. Thirteen rockets were fired at Sderot and the western Negev on Tuesday evening. more..
’We heard dad was injured and knew immediately’
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/5/2008
Lyubov Razdolsky, 73, a former physics professor, stopped to rest at Dimona commercial center when bombing occurred; she was killed immediately, her husband critically injured - Lyubov Razdolsky was on her way to the bank at the Dimona commercial center Monday along with her husband. As she stopped to rest a moment in the pleasant winter sunshine, a tremendous explosion took place. Razdolsky was killed instantaneously, her husband Edward Gedalin remains in critical condition. He still remains hospitalized in the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. The couple immigrated to Israel from Russia in 1990, and worked in the physics department of Ben Gurion University until they retired in 2002. They were set to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary thus year. Professor Michael Gedalin, the couple’s son, has followed in his parent’s footsteps... more..
Dimona bombing victim’s son: Mom was to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 2/6/2008
Dr. Lyubov Razdolskaya, who was killed in a terrorist bombing in Dimona on Monday, was laid to rest in the Be’er Sheva cemetery on Tuesday. Rodolskaya’s husband, Edward Gadlin, is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the city’s Soroka Medical Center in critical condition. The couple worked at the physics department of the Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva over the last ten years. Michael Gadlin, one of the couple’s two sons and a professor at the university’s Physics department, told Haaretz of the incident, saying "I was in Be’er Sheva, and I spoke to mom shortly after 10 a. m. My parents were on their way to the bank to run errands and she told me that they had completed their errands. After 30 or 40 minutes, my daughter called and told me that there had been a bombing in Dimona. more..
Mother of suspected Dimona suicide bomber: ’I still expect him back’
Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 2/5/2008
HEBRON - "At about 4:30 in the morning, he woke me up," said Ahmed al-Harbawi, brother of Muhammad, one of the terrorists who carried out Monday’s suicide bombing in Dimona. "He told me that he was going to prayers and asked me to close the door behind him. He did not say anything else and I did not feel anything unusual in his behavior." Basma, Harbawi’s 42-year old mother, said that "when I heard of the bombing in Israel and he was late in coming home from prayer, I understood that something was amiss, but I did not believe it was him. At about 3 in the afternoon the army raided our home and arrested his father and older brother. They wanted to know where he slept and where his bed was, where he went and what he had done in recent days. I still think that it is not he who carried out the attack. After all, they ran the video of the testaments of the two from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades from Gaza." more..
Bomber’s aunt: He was depressed following parents’ divorce
Ali Waked, YNetNews 2/5/2008
One of suicide bombers from Hebron who carried out attack in Dimona left his mother letter saying he plans to detonate himself ’in order to get rid of this life which caused me to suffer so much’ - Ten days before carrying out the Dimona attack, one of the suicide bombers, Mohammed Herbawi, left his mother a letter saying he planned to detonate himself "in order to get rid of this life which caused me to suffer so much." Herbawi’s aunt told Ynet on Tuesday evening that he was in a difficult emotional state following his parents’ divorce and because his father married another Palestinian woman. According to the aunt, he recently paid many visits to his relatives in Jerusalem. Herbawi was jailed in Israel until about a year ago after being charged with being a member of the Islamic Jihad. more..
3 Qassam rockets land in Ashkelon
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 2/5/2008
Several loud explosions heard in south of city Tuesday night; no injuries or damage reported. Palestinians report IDF fired at launching cell in northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. Earlier, 12 rockets launched towards Sderot, western Negev; 14-year-old girl moderately injured - Three Qassam rockets landed Tuesday night in southern Ashkelon. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Hamas claimed responsibility for firing the rockets. At around 11:15 pm, the Color Red alert system was activated in the city’s southern industrial zone. According to police reports, several explosions were heard in the area. Shortly afterward, Palestinians sources reported that a loud explosion had been heard in the Beit Lahiya area in the northern Gaza Strip. The sources estimated that the IDF had fired at the cell which launched to rockets towards Ashkelon. more..
Witnessing Gaza’s rocket militia
Paul Martin, BBC Online 1/29/2008
BBC, Gaz - The Abu Rish brigade’s rockets have a habit of misfiring - On a bright and sunny afternoon in Khan Younis, in the eastern Gaza Strip, Abu Haroun places a Kalashnikov rifle into the hands of his nephew. The gun is twice as tall as the little child. "Remember, as I may not be coming back, learn to use this against the enemy one day," he says, giving the boy a farewell cuddle. Abu Haroun is a black-clad militant from the Abu Rish brigade, one of the main groups which fires rockets into Israel. He has three children and is a veteran of the conflict. He says he first threw stones at Israeli soldiers as an 11-year-old. Then he began firing bullets late in the year 2000, the start of the second intifada, and soon learned how to prepare and fire rockets. New recruit Not far away, in a small room with peeling walls and pictures of past so-called martyrs, is a 23-year-old called Mohamed. more..
Palestine Today 020508
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMc - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 2/5/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday February 5th, 2008. Eight killed in Gaza due to Israeli army attacks while in the West Bank eight civilians were reported kidnapped by the army during a pre-dawn invasion to the region, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Sources said that Israeli jet fighters fired several missiles at a Palestinian police station in Khan Younis. Witnesses reported hearing an additional three explosions in another location of Khan Younis. Medical sources at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis confirmed that six men were killed in the attack. The medical sources added that all were severely mutilated because they were hit directly with the Israeli missiles. more..
Day after Dimona bombing, Israel reverts to high security alert
Amos Harel and Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 2/5/2008
Israeli security forces were on high alert Tuesday after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a shopping center in the southern city of Dimona, killing one person and wounding 11 others. Police were out in higher numbers at entrances to cities, shopping malls and bus and train stations, following the attack, which was the first of its kind in over a year. Overnight, border police arrested 240 Palestinians who had entered I srael illegally to work, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The woman killed in the suicide bombing in Dimona on Monday has been identified as Lyubov Razdolskaya, 73. Eleven other people were wounded in the attack, including Rodolskaya’s husband, who remained hospitalized on Tuesday in a critical condition. A total of five casualties from the suicide bombing, the first terror attack... more..
Woman killed in Dimona explosion
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 2/4/2008
(Video) Loud explosion rocks southern Israeli city Monday morning. Woman killed, about 10 people injured as suicide bomber detonates explosive belt in commercial center. Second terrorist shot and killed by police officer - VIDEO - A woman was murdered Monday morning and about 10 people were injured in a terror attack carried out by a suicide bomber at a commercial center in the southern Israeli city of Dimona. A police officer who was in the area, Superintendent Kobi Mor, shot and killed another terrorist. The explosive device on the second bomber’s body did not explode, and sappers were dispatched to the scene of the attack to detonate the device in a controlled manner. Video: Infolive. tv A loud explosion was heard at the Dimona commercial center at around 10:30 am. Police forces and Magen David Adom crews attended to the injured, one of whom sustained serious wounds. more..
Islamic Jihad fighters die in Jenin
Al Jazeera 2/4/2008
Israeli troops have killed two fighters belonging to the Islamic Jihad group near the West Bank city of Jenin. A special forces unit operating in the Kabatiya village, spotted three armed fighters and opened fire, a military spokesman said. "We know that two were killed and one wounded. We found three assault rifles on them." the spokesman said. The Islamic Jihad group announced over loudspeakers in Jenin that Ahmed Abu Zeid and Imad Zakarneh, its local leaders were killed in the incident. Israeli forces frequently raid West Bank towns in search of fighters suspected of involvement in attacks against the country. Source: Agencies [end]
Palestinians: PRC leader killed, 2 hurt in IAF strike on north Gaza
Avi Issacharoff and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Service and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 2/5/2008
An Israel Air Force aircraft attacked a car traveling in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, wounding three people, two of them seriously, Palestinian medical officials said. The Popular Resistance Committees said Abu Said Qarmout, its leader in northern Gaza, was killed in the strike. The reported air strike came a short time after a suicide bombing in the Negev town of Dimona which killed one woman and wounded at least 11 people, but there was no formal indication that the Gaza incident was in retaliation for the blast. The PRC has fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel, frequently sparking IAF strike and military reprisals. The group, which has close ties to the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas, said Qarmout had previously escaped four other Israeli attempts to kill him. more..
Fatal clash at Egypt-Gaza border
Al Jazeera 2/4/2008
A Palestinian has been shot dead and five people wounded, including two Egyptian border guards, in an exchange of fire along the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian medics and Egypt’s news agency Mena say. The Palestinian sources on Monday named the dead man as Hamed al-Qadi, 40. In addition to the three other Palestinians shot and wounded, 12 people were treated for tear-gas inhalation. The injuries occurred after Egyptian police opened fire to disperse a protest by a crowd of angry Gazans, medics said. Mena said two policemen were shot and wounded on Egypt’s side of the border, after witnesses had earlier reported three policemen were shot. Thirteen more policemen were treated in hospital for injuries caused by stones, medics said. more..
The Israeli army kills one Lebanese civilian and kidnaps another at the borders with Israel
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 2/4/2008
Lebanese media sources reported on Monday that the Israeli army shot and killed one Lebanese civilian and kidnapped another from a village at the southern Lebanese Israeli borders on Sunday night. Witnesses reported that an Israeli army post located at the borders opened fire at a group of farmers near the border village of Al Khiyam, one man was killed and two others injured while the Israeli forces kidnapped another civilian. The UNFIL peace keeping force moved the dead and the injured to a Lebanese hospital, media sources reported. The residents of Al Khiyam told media agencies that the Israeli army is conducting nightly operations at the borders and usually fires light bombs at the village. Al Khiyam among other Lebanese villages located in the south of Lebanon witnessed the second Israeli war on Lebanon ground operations. more..
Hamas claims Dimona attack, says bombers came from Hebron
Amos Harel and Mijal Grinbergs and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 2/5/2008
Hamas’ armed wing claimed responsibility for a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed a woman in Dimona on Monday, the first such attack inside Israel claimed by Hamas since 2004, a Hamas source told Reuters. Both the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Bridgade and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack earlier in the day. Palestinians had reported that the militants, who they said were from Gaza, entered Israel through Egypt, but the Hamas source said the two Palestinians who died during the attack came from the West Bank city of Hebron. Israel Police were still investigating. The last time Hamas’ armed wing claimed responsibility forsuicide bombings inside Israel was August 2004, when 16 people were killed and 100 wounded in explosions on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva. more..
Israeli forces kill two Islamic Jihad activists near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 2/4/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Two Palestinian activists affiliated to the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, were killed in an Israeli ambush on Monday morning in the northern West Bank town of Qabatia, south of Jenin. Palestinian medical sources said that 32-year-old Ahmad Abu Zeid and 20-year-old Ammar Zakarna were killed, while 21-year-old Neji Nazzal was seriously injured and was sent to the government hospital in Jenin. Sources in the Al-Quds Brigades said the activists were sitting under the trees in the western neighborhood of the town after blocking the access road to the area with rocks to impede potential Israeli patrols. When they rose to move, they were surprised by an Israeli infantry unit, who ordered them to surrender. According to the Al-Quds Brigades sources, after they refusing to surrender, they exchanged fire with the Israeli troops and Nazzal was injured in the thigh. more..
PM vows ’relentless’ war on terror in wake of Dimona attack
Haaretz Service and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 2/5/2008
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Monday that Israel will not relent in its struggle against terrorism, after a suicide bombing in the southern town of Dimona earlier in the day. The United States issued a statement Tuesday condemning the attack and urging the Pal