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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas threatens suicide attacks |
| 2008-12-23 |
| Hamas threatened on Monday to resume suicide attacks if Israel launches an offensive on its Gaza stronghold, as the Jewish state kicked off a diplomatic campaign to win support for any military action. "It is our right as an occupied people to defend ourselves from the occupation by all means possible including suicide attacks," Ayman Taha, a Hamas leader, told AFP. The warning came as Israel kicked off a campaign to muster international support for any major military offensive to try to halt rocket fire from the impoverished Palestinian territory. Tensions have mounted since the expiry on Friday of a six-month truce in and around Gaza between Israel and Hamas. UN: In a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Israel's envoy to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev said the government would respond to continuing rocket fire, foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the main governing Kadima party, has ordered Israeli ambassadors around the world to emphasise that Israel "will not hesitate to react militarily if necessary" to protect its citizens. She is also due to meet foreign ambassadors to Israel and speak with her counterparts abroad. "The world must understand that the situation in southern Israel is intolerable for hundreds of thousands of citizens exposed to rocket fire," Palmor said. "We cannot remain with our arms crossed. Either the international community intervenes or we will have to act," he told AFP. The public relations effort came a day after Israel threatened a major offensive against the impoverished territory that has been ruled by Hamas since June last year. Violence around the enclave has steadily escalated since Friday, when Hamas said it would not renew a six-month truce with Israel, which came into effect after months of Egyptian mediation. Since then, the army has carried out several air strikes, killing one militant and wounding several Palestinians, and militants have launched several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, wounding a handful of people. Despite the bellicose rhetoric, observers say the Israeli government is wary of launching a major offensive less than two months before the general election for fear it would not be able to score a decisive victory against Hamas. "The politicians aren't in any rush to reach election day with an incomplete military operation and only partial results hanging around their necks," wrote military analyst Alex Fishman in top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot on Sunday. "And worse than that, to be accused of having ordered a military operation just to improve their chances at the ballot box," he said. A senior Hamas group official said on Monday Palestinian armed groups in Gaza were observing a 24-hour halt to rocket fire against Israel at the request of Egyptian mediators. Ayman Taha said the brief ceasefire went into effect on Sunday evening. He said Hamas might consider a longer truce if Israel were to reciprocate by ceasing all military attacks in Gaza and lifting an embargo on the impoverished territory. "Hamas and other factions agreed in order to give a chance to the Egyptian mediation and to show that the problem was always on the Israeli side," Taha told Reuters. An Israeli military spokesman said that, as of Sunday evening, Palestinians in Gaza had fired at least one rocket and four mortar bombs across the border. New truce: A member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet, meanwhile, questioned the long-term efficacy of any major military sweep of the crowded and impoverished coastal strip, and said renewing the truce could be an option. "The calm is, of course, one alternative, and it is an alternative that can be seriously examined," Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog told Israel Radio. "I, like many of my colleagues, am ready to consider continuing the calm, on terms that are comfortable for Israel." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Nothing wrong with the tank tread tracks. The left one just ran over the 3. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-12-23 23:32 |
| #4 Hmmmm. Shoulda put a line feed above those tracks to make 'em both go below the #3 but you get the point, there, Ayman. Right? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque on Linux 2008-12-23 11:57 |
| #3 ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque on Linux 2008-12-23 11:54 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-12-23 03:21 |
| #1 You Hamaas, FU and Die. Bless the IDF. you are petty fools funded by stupid petty arab nations and when I am through with those, you will not have a shekel to your name. This all is over. And over NOW. I told you you were overstepping. All you moslems are. Take your allah to your grave. |
| Posted by: newc 2008-12-23 03:06 |