Continuing the war against terror
Further developments in the Gaza area have lead to a continuation and expansion of Operation Summer Rains.
Two enhanced Kassam rockets (home made in Gaza) with extended range (12 km) have landed in central Ashkelon. Noone was killed but an empty school was hit. PM Olmert called this a "significant escalation" of the conflict by the Hamas Government. Ashkelon is a densely populated city of 120,000 people with significant facilities and a port, and Israel cannot allow it to be bombarded with rockets, as they have allowed Sderot to be for the better part of 6 months (!) In response the force that had been held outside Gaza for over a week, in an example of Israeli restraint, has now moved inside and, as I predicted would be necessary, is occupying the northern region of the Gaza Strip where the Israeli settlements of Dugit, Alei Sinai and Nitzanit used to be (it is not populated by Arabs). This clearly indicates that critics of the Gaza disengagement plan had been right in calling upon then PM Sharon not to withdraw from this region contiguous with Israel for fear of giving the Palestinians the ability to target Ashkelon. By occupying this region now, it is hoped that Ashkelon and Sderot will be put out of Kassam range. The IDF will also be much closer to Beirt Hanun and Beit Lahiya, from where most of the rocket activity is initiated.
The terrorists holding Cpl. Shalit have announced that they may be willing to release him (apparently the military pressure is working), if Israel gives them some undertakings to release prisoners. They have been given a tentative way out of the conflict, they can release him to a neutral country (Egypt, France), and without any direct negotiations Israel will subsequently release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners who have not been involved in killings (no "blood on their hands"). However, Egypt has given up its intermediary role out of frustration with the Hamas Government, and now the Turkish Government has agreed to step in and try to help. Three more Palestinain gunmen were killed in clashes with the IDF in Gaza, but there have been no attacks so far by the IDF on populated areas.
On the West Bank on Wednesday the three murderers of Itamar resident Eliahu Asheri, 18-year old student who was kidnapped on June 25, have been captured. They made the mistake of faxing his id from the office of the anti-drug unit in the PA Police HQ in Ramallah, where one of them was a police officer (!), to Gaza. The three were arrested by the PA police and detained and then released, but advised to hide. They chose to hide in the Police HQ. Significantly the PA police, athough they had the three under detention, refused to cooperate with the IDF. The Duvdevan undercover unit with IDF backup in jeeps then surrounded the Ramallah Police HQ and the 3 murderers gave themselves up.
Also on Wednesday, the IDF found a car bomb near Jenin rigged with explosives and blew it up. Another car was supposedly prepared by the same terrorist team, and it is being sought. Traffic in the central Sharon area was severely slowed by this search. The murderer of an Israeli taxi driver 5 years ago was caught in his home in a village near Jericho, and since he refused to give himself up he was shot in an exchange of gunfire. A Palestinian passenger in a taxi armed with a 3 kg suicide bomb was captured by the Shin Bet after a tip near the West Bank town of Barkan. A Palestinian woman was arrested at a checkpoint near Bethlehem wearing a suicide bomb belt. Most of these terrorists in the West Bank are members of al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah (so much for the difference with Hamas).
The members of the PA Hamas Government arrested on the West Bank have been remanded in public court hearings (with defending counsel) for membership in a terrorist organization and for violating anti-terrorism laws (they are not hostages!). The IDF has been given orders by the PM with the full support of the Israeli Security Cabinet, to extend operations in Gaza as necessary to prevent the firing of rockets on Israel and to free Cpl. Shalit. Since the Hamas Government is complicit in these activities it is also a valid target.
Two enhanced Kassam rockets (home made in Gaza) with extended range (12 km) have landed in central Ashkelon. Noone was killed but an empty school was hit. PM Olmert called this a "significant escalation" of the conflict by the Hamas Government. Ashkelon is a densely populated city of 120,000 people with significant facilities and a port, and Israel cannot allow it to be bombarded with rockets, as they have allowed Sderot to be for the better part of 6 months (!) In response the force that had been held outside Gaza for over a week, in an example of Israeli restraint, has now moved inside and, as I predicted would be necessary, is occupying the northern region of the Gaza Strip where the Israeli settlements of Dugit, Alei Sinai and Nitzanit used to be (it is not populated by Arabs). This clearly indicates that critics of the Gaza disengagement plan had been right in calling upon then PM Sharon not to withdraw from this region contiguous with Israel for fear of giving the Palestinians the ability to target Ashkelon. By occupying this region now, it is hoped that Ashkelon and Sderot will be put out of Kassam range. The IDF will also be much closer to Beirt Hanun and Beit Lahiya, from where most of the rocket activity is initiated.
The terrorists holding Cpl. Shalit have announced that they may be willing to release him (apparently the military pressure is working), if Israel gives them some undertakings to release prisoners. They have been given a tentative way out of the conflict, they can release him to a neutral country (Egypt, France), and without any direct negotiations Israel will subsequently release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners who have not been involved in killings (no "blood on their hands"). However, Egypt has given up its intermediary role out of frustration with the Hamas Government, and now the Turkish Government has agreed to step in and try to help. Three more Palestinain gunmen were killed in clashes with the IDF in Gaza, but there have been no attacks so far by the IDF on populated areas.
On the West Bank on Wednesday the three murderers of Itamar resident Eliahu Asheri, 18-year old student who was kidnapped on June 25, have been captured. They made the mistake of faxing his id from the office of the anti-drug unit in the PA Police HQ in Ramallah, where one of them was a police officer (!), to Gaza. The three were arrested by the PA police and detained and then released, but advised to hide. They chose to hide in the Police HQ. Significantly the PA police, athough they had the three under detention, refused to cooperate with the IDF. The Duvdevan undercover unit with IDF backup in jeeps then surrounded the Ramallah Police HQ and the 3 murderers gave themselves up.
Also on Wednesday, the IDF found a car bomb near Jenin rigged with explosives and blew it up. Another car was supposedly prepared by the same terrorist team, and it is being sought. Traffic in the central Sharon area was severely slowed by this search. The murderer of an Israeli taxi driver 5 years ago was caught in his home in a village near Jericho, and since he refused to give himself up he was shot in an exchange of gunfire. A Palestinian passenger in a taxi armed with a 3 kg suicide bomb was captured by the Shin Bet after a tip near the West Bank town of Barkan. A Palestinian woman was arrested at a checkpoint near Bethlehem wearing a suicide bomb belt. Most of these terrorists in the West Bank are members of al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah (so much for the difference with Hamas).
The members of the PA Hamas Government arrested on the West Bank have been remanded in public court hearings (with defending counsel) for membership in a terrorist organization and for violating anti-terrorism laws (they are not hostages!). The IDF has been given orders by the PM with the full support of the Israeli Security Cabinet, to extend operations in Gaza as necessary to prevent the firing of rockets on Israel and to free Cpl. Shalit. Since the Hamas Government is complicit in these activities it is also a valid target.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:05 PM
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