Islamic Jihad, a relatively small Palestinian faction that shares the powerful Hamas's refusal to accept co-existence with the Jewish state, had vowed
Hamas said such "aggression" risked killing off Cairo's mediation, seen as key to securing enough quiet for there to be progress in U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But Hamas stopped short of scrapping the truce talks. It has largely held its fire since March 3, when Israeli forces ended a five-day offensive against Gaza rocket crews in which more than 120 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and two soldiers died.
Israel has played down speculation a formal ceasefire could be imminent. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to halt attacks on Gaza if there are no rocket launches, but Israel argues that its West Bank raids are needed to stop militants from striking.
"We'll witness more difficult things yet, an even tougher reckoning, before we get to the calm stage," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday.
Yay!
At least 12 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza on Thursday. A house was damaged but no casualties caused, the Israeli military said. "This was our initial response," an Islamic Jihad spokesman said. The faction suspended its Gaza rocket launches on March 5.
HAMAS SETS TERMSThis oughta be good.
As part of any truce, Hamas -- which seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas's forces there -- is demanding a say in the future functioning of the coastal territory's border crossings, a condition rejected by Israel. "There must be a commitment by Israel to end all acts of aggression against our people, assassinations, killings and raids, and lift the (Gaza) siege and reopen the crossings," Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas's administration in Gaza, said in a speech.
A truce, he said, should be "reciprocal, comprehensive and simultaneous," approved by other factions, and apply to Gaza and the West Bank -- territories where Palestinians seek statehood.
Unlike penned-in Gaza, the West Bank has a porous boundary with Israel and is peppered with fortified Jewish settlements. Though Abbas's secular Fatah faction still holds sway in the West Bank, Israel credits its military presence there for the territory remaining free of the rule of Hamas and its allies.
On Wednesday evening, undercover Israeli commandos drove into the West Bank town of Bethlehem and killed a local Islamic Jihad leader, two of his comrades, and a militant from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed Fatah wing. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the soldiers planned to arrest the Palestinians but opened fire after spotting weapons. The Islamic Jihad men had been involved in attacks, she said.
Another Islamic Jihad militant was killed by Israeli troops earlier in the West Bank town of Tulkarm.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Abbas's administration as calling the West Bank killings "an ugly crime" and warning Israel of unspecified "consequences."
Since when has killing terrorists been an ugly crime? Unless you're on the terrorists' side, of course.
Egypt has stepped up truce efforts amid Israel's insistence it is not negotiating with Hamas, which the West also shuns. Israel tightened its Gaza border restrictions after the Hamas takeover there, making life harder for