ISRAEL - IRAN - SYRIA - HAMAS - HEZBOLLAH - WWWIII?

Hamas fires heavier rockets at Israel
Abed Shana

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas Islamists fired their longest-range rockets at a southern Israel city on Friday after an Israeli air force attack on their Gaza stronghold, in the 11th day of skirmishes threatening a five-month-old truce.

The armed wing of the Islamist group said it fired five Grad rockets at an Israeli city, the longest-range weapon it has used against the Jewish state. Israel said they hit Ashkelon, north of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast, with no casualties.

Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the flare-up since November 4, in which 12 Hamas militants have been killed by Israeli forces 4 and scores of rockets fired into Israel. But both shied away from declaring an end to the Egyptian-brokered truce.

"We will continue to forcefully defend Israeli soldiers and citizens, to thwart attempts to stage attacks when we discover them," said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak. "At the same time, if the other side wants to continue the calm we will definitely give it positive consideration."

Hamas took a similar stand.

"Up to this moment we are committed to the ceasefire," said Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas leader. "Self-defense and resistance" would continue. "We are waiting for the Israelis. If they are committed really (to a truce) we have to address that frankly."

The 1960s-era Soviet-made Grad rocket has a range of 25 km (15 miles). Two of them struck Ashkelon.

Earlier, Palestinian medics said two Hamas fighters were wounded in an Israeli air force strike, which a military spokesman said was in response to an earlier rocket attack.

Hamas said it fired 8 shorter-range Kassam rockets in response, aimed at the city of Sderot.

Two Kassams hit, causing damage to buildings, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. One Israeli was treated for shrapnel wounds, and a number of people suffered shock.

NEXT MOVE

The clashes halted before sundown on Friday, as the Muslim day of prayer ended and the Jewish sabbath began. Israel's caretaker prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was due to consult defense chiefs about the "escalation," his spokesman said.

Israel has closed border crossings with Gaza, halting food and fuel supplies to the blockaded enclave, between Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean coast. Hamas Islamists who control the territory do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

An Israeli official said they would remain shut for now.

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Here is an interesting piece in which a physician brings out the futility of making concessions with the Paletinians. One needs only look at the aftermath of the pullout of settlers from Gaza.

Jason Koutsoukis in Jerusalem
November 15, 2008

NADIA MATAR, the combative leader of the radical Jewish settler movement Women in Green, has a message for Kevin Rudd.

"The incredible audacity of you," she shouts from her home in Efrat, a Jewish settlement of 7700 people in the West Bank, 20 kilometres south of Jerusalem.

Last weekend the Rudd Government reversed a policy maintained by John Howard and voted in support of a United Nation's resolution calling on Israel to stop building more settlements in the West Bank.

"Who are you to tell me I am not allowed to build here, in my homeland?" Mrs Matar demanded. "Jews are allowed to build in France, in New York, in Australia, but I am not allowed to build here? This is my land."

Even for most Israelis, Mrs Matar holds views that are considered extreme.

She believes the 1993 Oslo accords with the Palestinians were a "criminal betrayal" of the Jewish people. She also says the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt - which gave up the Sinai Peninsula land won by Israel in the 1967 Six Day war - was a "tragic mistake".

Three years after the then prime minister Ariel Sharon forced 8500 Jewish settlers to evacuate the Gaza Strip, an orange ribbon protesting at the withdrawal remains tied to the rear-view mirror of her four-wheel-drive.

Mrs Matar, 42, who was born in Belgium, moved to Israel in the mid-1980s to study history at Hebrew University, where she met her US-born husband, David.

The couple have six children.

Mr Matar is a pediatrician at Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, and Mrs Matar devotes herself to expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and to vehemently opposing anyone who argues against the expansion. This includes people such as the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, who in a speech this week commemorating the 1995 assassination of the former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin urged the settlers to give up the dream of a greater Israel.

"We must give up Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem and return to the core of the territory that is the state of Israel prior to 1967, with minor corrections dictated by the reality created since then," Mr Olmert said.

Insisting that such a withdrawal had to be done quickly, Mr Olmert said every future government would "need to tell the truth, which unfortunately will require us to tear out many parts of the homeland in Judaea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights".

Mrs Matar offered a typically defiant response. "Anyone who comes to take me away from my home, I will fight them."

While Mrs Matar represents the extreme right of the settler movement, the views of her and her supporters have proved effective in driving Israeli government policy over the past four decades.

Despite numerous commitments made by Israeli leaders since the 1993 Oslo Accords to halt settlement growth in the West Bank, only Mr Rabin was able to bring growth to a near-standstill. In 1996 under Mr Rabin's successor Benjamin Netanyahu - who is a favourite to win general elections on February 10 - settlement growth was rapidly accelerated.

After Ehud Barak of the Labour Party succeeded Mr Netanyahu in 1999, settlements grew even more rapidly. When Mr Sharon defeated Mr Barak in the 2001 elections, settlement growth reached a rapid rate.

In 1972 there were 1182 Jewish settlers in the West Bank; today there are about 282,000.

Over that same period, settlements in the Palestinian territories have cost Israeli taxpayers about $US10 billion ($15 billion) to pay for things such as new housing, infrastructure, services and protection by the Israeli Defence Force.

That elements of the settler movement are a threat to Israeli security was recognised this month when Yuval Diskin, the head of the country's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, warned cabinet that any attempt to withdraw settlers from the West Bank might provoke violent conflict.

Moderate Palestinian leaders such as Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, believe that the longer Jewish settlements are allowed to expand, the further the chances of peace between Israelis and Palestinians recede.

"How can we have any faith that Israel is sincere about peace when these basic promises are broken?" Mr Barghouti said.

Whether or not a future Israeli prime minister can find a compromise that Palestinians will be willing to accept, the toughest task may be to unite all Israelis behind any such deal.

"Be very careful," Mrs Matar warned of any further attempts by Australia to put pressure on the Israeli settler movement.

"Don't force us to do something. Not because I need your help - I have God on my side. Just for your own sake, because you might be next."

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From your same source, Advocate:

Did you read what you posted? Do you have any idea about politics in Israel?

I absolutely did read the piece I posted, as well as the one you posted. The physician's views may be against those of the mindless Pal supporters, but they are correct. Jews may build in almost any country in the world, but are told they can't in their historical homeland (which include the Pal territories). Of course, the Pals may get a two-state solution at any time they are willing to offer reasonable terms, not ones that effectively call for the destruction of the Israeli state. Further, the Gazans may have the resumption of full services and food shipments anytime they stop rocketing and shelling Israel. Is that unfair?

As I said: you know nothing about politics in Israel.

Nadia Matar (Pikovitch), who studied (Jewish) history [her husband is a pediatrician], fights with her group (and even among the settlers they are on the most ectreme right side) for an Israel as it was promised in the Torah.

That has nothing to do with fairness - it's one of the many kind of religious extremisms which are dangerous.

Hamas does best when a right-wing government is in power in Israel. Hence, the step up in attacks on Israel.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3622993,00.html

Rockets Over Sderot
What should Israel do to stop this outrage?


Three years ago, Israel abandoned the Gaza strip and evicted the over 8,000 Jewish residents who had lived there for generations and who had created an island of civility, industry and prosperity. What has been Israel’s reward for its generosity?

What are the facts.

Israel's many mistakes. In its six decades of history, clouded by almost uninterrupted warfare against it, Israel has made many mistakes. Relinquishing the Sinai to Egypt, Southern Lebanon to Hezbollah, and Gaza to the Palestinians were the most egregious. One lesson to be learned was that one cannot make peace with one’s enemies by giving away pieces of one’s country.

The greatest folly, of course, was the abandonment of Gaza. Virtually since the first day of Israel’s disengagement from the area, the Gazans have launched daily rocket attacks on the city of Sderot. So far “only” about twenty Israelis have been killed. Many more have been wounded.

But it is only a matter of time that one of these rockets is going to hit a school, a hospital or an apartment building, causing unacceptable casualties. Then Israel’s forbearance and patience are likely to snap.

These Qassam rockets, however, are only the beginning. Large quantities of explosives and more advanced weapons systems " presents from Syria and mostly from Iran " are supplied daily through sophisticated tunnels from the Sinai into the Gaza territory. That happens under the “watchful eyes” of the Egyptians, who have foolishly been allowed to be the guardians of the border between Egypt and Gaza.

There is no question what any other country would do if it found itself in a position similar to that of Israel. What would we do if bombs or rockets launched from Mexico landed in San Diego? Obviously, we would obliterate the source of such attack and inflict sufficient additional damage to totally discourage such behavior in the future. But what does Israel do? Does it use its powerful army or its superb air force to destroy the areas from which these rockets are launched? Surprisingly not. Guided by its own moral compass and always concerned about “world opinion,” Israel attempts to pinpoint the source of attacks, taking enormous care not to hurt “innocent civilians.” But the concept of “innocent civilians” is nonsense, of course. Anybody who allows his backyard to be used as a launching pad for rockets should expect his home to become a target for counterattack and for casualties to ensue.

Lessons to be learned. For reasons that are not at all clear, Israel finds itself in the thankless role of being responsible for Gaza’s welfare, adequate supply of food, fuel and electricity. Occasionally, in feeble retaliation, Israel will slow the supply of fuel and electricity, though it never curtails the supply of food and medicine and routinely allows seriously ill Gazans access to its superb medical facilities. When it occasionally does curtail fuel and electricity, the world complains about Israel’s “siege of Gaza.”

Some questions: 1) Who appointed Israel to be the guardian of Gaza and responsible for its welfare and comfort? 2) Why don’t the Gazans and their Iranian and Syrian friends use the sophisticated tunnels leading from Sinai to Gaza to import fuel, food, and medicine instead of explosives and weapons? 3) Why, in sixty years and in the decades before, when Egypt was in charge of Gaza, have the Palestinians been unable to build a functioning power plant that would make them independent in that respect? Surely their Arab cousins, could supply some of their abundant petroleum for that purpose.

Israel’s attempt to stop the shelling of Sderot has so far been a failure. But what should Israel do? The answer is obvious: Israel should openly declare to Gaza and to the world at large that every rocket that falls on Sderot or on any place in Israel will immediately be responded to by a rocket aimed at where it came from. Since Gaza is packed with humanity, it is clear that such a tit-for-tat approach would cause many civilian casualties. That would be a tragedy, of course. But, it is pretty clear that the rockets would stop in short order. Sure, “the world” would object. But a country’s first duty is to protect its citizens from attack. That is what we would do. That is the very least any country would do.

The real tragedy is that the bitter experience with Gaza will make Israel quite unresponsive to our government’s desire to achieve a “two-state final solution” before the end of the year. No such solution is possible in this or in any other year unless Israelis are convinced that the Palestinians wish to live in peace and friendship with them. If, under the pressure of our government and of many other countries, Israel would commit the folly of giving up control of Judea/Samaria (the “West Bank”), not only the Palestinians, but also Syrians and Iranians " with heavy armament, planes and tanks " would pour in and would dominate the Judean ridges and the heartland of Israel. That would finally achieve the long-hoped-for end of the Jewish state. It would bring about what many wars and “intifidas” were unable to accomplish.

--factsandlogic.org

Walter, do you have an opinion as to why the original "Jewish displaced persons" that Britain brought to Palestine, before Statehood, occurred?

Think hard!

I don't think he's approaching it from that angle, Foofie, but point well taken.

It is a given that Israel was the site requested and eventually gained by the displaced Jews mostly due to the yearnings of the Zionists who felt welcome nowhere else and who wanted to return to the land they believe God granted to them. Had the same circumstances necessitated placing displaced Germans, I'm sure that the Germans would hope for a place in their own homeland that their ancestors have occupied for millenia. The same would be true of any people who had experienced generations of persecution and discrimination and who equate at least some of their identity and presumption of peace and acceptance with a place.

To equate such yearnings with extremism, dangerous or otherwise, doesn't place much importance on human nature.

Why do you asked?

[Nadia Matar (Pikovitch) was born on 16 February 1966 in Antwerp (Belgium); her family lived there for generations.
David Matar, her husband - "the doctor" - was an US-citzen.]

Leaving aside the "millenia" - this question is of course present with some in Germany. With those, called sometimes "the Luddites" ('die ewig gestrigen' = those who live in the past).

(It's quite funny, but Prussia ever wanted to get back it's homeland ... )

Hamas kept very busy during the "truce." Notwithstanding the perfidious behavior of the Pals, Israel releases even more Pal prisoners. The Pals, of course, have no prisoners to release. They were murdered.

http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=5696.4052.0.0

Because as a German that has proudly (I believe) explained in the forum that you are descended from "free farmers" (not serfs), you seem unable to appreciate the fact, I believe, that some people would like to enjoy the same continuity of identity that you enjoy. And, let us be honest, if it was not for Germany and its excesses of anti-Semitism in WWII, there would be far fewer Jews in the Holy Land today. The current problem would never have occurred if Germany did not have the need to rectify the Treaty of Versailles through killing six million Jews (if you do not get the sarcasm - I am being sarcastic that killing six million Jews was needed to rectify the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles; however, the citizens of your country seemed to accept some connection in the 1940's. So now that that is "ancient history," you have the luxury, so to speak, of being ever so forward looking (more sarcasm).

Thank you.

I cannot believe you missed my point. Your "thank you" is a polite diversion, I believe. Gute Nacht.

That's what we call "lost in translation." LOL

Hey CI. Are you OK. I havent seen any posts from you for quite a while.

I made a mistake earlier. The Pals do hold an Israeli prisoner, a soldier. Hamas is demanding a quid pro quo arrangement: the release of 1,400 Pal prisoners in Israel for the one solder.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=76375&sectionid=351020202

rabel, Thanks for your concern, but I'm okay. I've been on a journey to Bhutan and India for the past 17-days, and just completed posting my travelogue with pictures today. Was on a Mexican cruise three days before my departure for Bhutan, so I didn't have much time to post.