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PA says it arrests Palestinian man who killed 10 year old girl
 EFL
The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday told Israel it had arrested the Palestinian man who opened fire in the southern Gaza Strip the day before, possibly hitting a 10-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl.
How much press will this story get, compared to the original version in which Israel is identified as the culprit?PA security forces had confiscated the man's weapon. The PA did not, however, specify whether the arrested man was suspected of having shot Nuran Dib. She was killed in Rafah under still undetermined circumstances, and Hamas, on the assumption that the girl was killed by Israel Defense Forces gunfire, retaliated with a barrage of mortar shells into Gush Katif.| Hamas hard boyz have been going nutz, not being able to play with their weapons... |
The IDF said the girl was likely shot by Palestinian pilgrims' shooting into the air upon returning from the Hajj, but Hamas said she was shot dead by IDF fire. The 4 P.M. Rafah shooting killed Dib, who was struck in the head by a bullet. A second child, a 7-year-old girl, was hit in the shoulder. Both girls were at the UNRWA school at the time, and since the school is directly opposite and about 500 meters from the IDF's Termit outpost on the Philadelphi corridor, the immediate assumption on the Palestinian side was that troops had fired. But an IDF inquiry found that no Israeli troops in the area had fired their weapons and suspicions fell on Palestinians who were firing guns in celebration of heir successful pilgrimage to Mecca, as stray bullets fired in the air could have landed on the Rafah schoolyard where the girls were playing. Palestinian Authority forces evaded an Israeli offer to conduct a joint inquiry.| "Those Zionists always lie...not like us in Hamas!" |
"According to our examination, the girl apparently was not shot by Israeli army gunfire," the military spokesman's office said. But Hamas was not interested in explanations about trajectories and soon after the girl's burial, mortars began landing in Gush Katif. The attacks continued on Tuesday, when Palestinians fired mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements. Two people suffered from shock after five shells hit settlements and damaged several vehicles. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian police "will pretend to exert every possible effort to stop such firing."
But Hamas threatened further retaliation "if the crimes continue." The military took that to mean the militant group was trying to set a pattern of retaliation for perceived Israeli acts of violence, within the framework of a cease-fire, security officials said. Palestinian militant groups warned in a statement they would resume attacks against Israel in light of what they consider to be an ongoing policy of incursions by the IDF into Palestinian territory, Israel Radio reported Tuesday. The statement was issued jointly by eight groups, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
If Abbas doesn't get rid of them, he will never succeed.| Who sez he wants to succeed? |
IDF Intelligence: Hamas part of 'axis of evil'
The quiet in Gaza and the West Bank largely depends on the will of Hamas leaders, who form part of a regional "axis of evil" that opposes regional calm, the head of Military Intelligence said Tuesday. "Everything can cause a break in the calm," Major General Aharon Ze'evi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Ze'evi said Abbas had agreed to let Hamas leaders hold onto their weapons during cease-fire talks, adding that Hamas and Hezbollah are working together to dash any such halt of attacks. "The axis of evil - which includes the Hezbollah, Hamas and Al-Qaida organizations supported by Iran - adamantly opposes calm, and Hamas and Hezbollah are working together to destroy the cease-fire," he said. Ze'evi added that Palestinians were talking only about establishing "calm," rather than a more stable cease-fire or hudna (temporary truce).
As I understand "hudna," it means "period of quiet for the purpose of rearming."Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (who lives in Beirut):
"There is a talk about pacification," Mashaal said, referring to a truce. "But it is a conditional pacification whereby the (Israeli) occupation must abide by specific conditions. The most important of which is the cessation of all kinds of aggression, invasion, assassination, killings and the release of all Palestinian prisoners."
"If the (Israeli) enemy abides by these conditions, we, in Hamas, and other resistance forces in general, are ready to deal positively with the issue of pacification or temporary truce," Mashaal told the London-based newspaper, which did not say when and where the interview was conducted. |
Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-02-01 |
