Palestinian woes
It's amazing to what extent a war distracts the press to forsake their favorite victims, the Palestinians, and run after the most sensational news items. While the focus has been, and still largely is, on Lebanon, Israel has been pummeling the Palestinians in the PA. In several incursions, intended to stop the firing of Kassam rockets into southern Israel, to find tunnels and to prevent suicide bombings, the IDF has had some success. Over 200 Palestinians have been killed in the past month, the majority of them terrorists.
In Nablus early on Thursday morning a gunfight between an IDF patrol and a group of al Aksa Martyr's Brigades gunmen resulted in the death of 6 of them and their leader Fadi Kafishe, who was on the IDF's most wanted list and was one of their most prolific bomb makers, responsible for dozens of Israeli deaths. Also, on Thursday in Gaza, Rayid Nahal, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, also on the most wanted list, was assassinated by gunmen. It was not clear if this was done by the IDF or if gunmen from another Palestinian faction were responsible.
A major IDF incursion near the Sharjayieh camp in Gaza resulted in the killing of 18 gunmen, and the finding of a tunnel (150 m long) that lead from a private house (owned by a Hamas representative in Syria) to the Karni crossing, that was evidently to be used in an attack on the crossing. Also, a few days ago a huge tunnel complex nearly 2 km long was discovered in Lebanon near Rosh Haniqra right near the Israeli border, that included rooms, bathrooms, stores of rockets and other ammunition. These tunnels were destroyed by the IDF.
The continuing pressure and intensity of these IDF attacks are in response to the continued shelling of Sderot and the holding of the IDF hostage, Gilad Shalit. Although there has recently been a lull in the rockets, on Thursday 6 rockets fired by Fatah hit Sderot and two women were injured. The problem is that the Palestinians seem not to get the message that their suffering will continue until Shalit is released and the firing of rockets stop.
Pres. Abbas in a revealing speech in Ramallah before leaving for Gaza for yet more negotiations with PM Haniyeh of Hamas, was quite frank. He said that the IDF operations were hurting the PA, that the cause was the rockets fired into Israel and the taking of the hostage, and that these were not in the interests of the Palestinian people. He also said that the situation in Gaza was verging on chaos, that armed gunmen are causing "death and destruction," and there are many civil servants who have no salaries. However, Fatah recently gave him the go-ahead in a meeting in Amman to form a united government with Hamas. To expect that this could produce any useful result for the Palestinians, or indeed for Israel, would be optimistic in the extreme. While attention is diverted, nevertheless the Palestinian pot continues to boil.
In Nablus early on Thursday morning a gunfight between an IDF patrol and a group of al Aksa Martyr's Brigades gunmen resulted in the death of 6 of them and their leader Fadi Kafishe, who was on the IDF's most wanted list and was one of their most prolific bomb makers, responsible for dozens of Israeli deaths. Also, on Thursday in Gaza, Rayid Nahal, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, also on the most wanted list, was assassinated by gunmen. It was not clear if this was done by the IDF or if gunmen from another Palestinian faction were responsible.
A major IDF incursion near the Sharjayieh camp in Gaza resulted in the killing of 18 gunmen, and the finding of a tunnel (150 m long) that lead from a private house (owned by a Hamas representative in Syria) to the Karni crossing, that was evidently to be used in an attack on the crossing. Also, a few days ago a huge tunnel complex nearly 2 km long was discovered in Lebanon near Rosh Haniqra right near the Israeli border, that included rooms, bathrooms, stores of rockets and other ammunition. These tunnels were destroyed by the IDF.
The continuing pressure and intensity of these IDF attacks are in response to the continued shelling of Sderot and the holding of the IDF hostage, Gilad Shalit. Although there has recently been a lull in the rockets, on Thursday 6 rockets fired by Fatah hit Sderot and two women were injured. The problem is that the Palestinians seem not to get the message that their suffering will continue until Shalit is released and the firing of rockets stop.
Pres. Abbas in a revealing speech in Ramallah before leaving for Gaza for yet more negotiations with PM Haniyeh of Hamas, was quite frank. He said that the IDF operations were hurting the PA, that the cause was the rockets fired into Israel and the taking of the hostage, and that these were not in the interests of the Palestinian people. He also said that the situation in Gaza was verging on chaos, that armed gunmen are causing "death and destruction," and there are many civil servants who have no salaries. However, Fatah recently gave him the go-ahead in a meeting in Amman to form a united government with Hamas. To expect that this could produce any useful result for the Palestinians, or indeed for Israel, would be optimistic in the extreme. While attention is diverted, nevertheless the Palestinian pot continues to boil.
posted by Jack Cohen at 11:52 AM
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