February 12, 2008
Calls Intensify For Gaza Invasion
Angry Israelis are pressing for retaliation against Palestinian militants in Gaza, even as the repercussions of the humiliating 2006 war with Hezbollah are still being felt.
Dozens of residents from Sderot, an Israeli town that sees a near-daily barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza, traveled to Jerusalem over the weekend to protest perceived government inaction. Israeli Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, have joined the cries for harsher tactics against Gaza militants, particularly after two brothers, ages 8 and 19, were seriously injured while fleeing rocket fire with their family.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit advised the military to give one Gaza neighborhood a day to empty out, and then to destroy it, BBC News reports. The Israeli army has yet to make a significant military incursion into Gaza, despite its nearly complete isolation from the friendlier regime in the West Bank and the world community.
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February 04, 2008
Suicide Bombing Comes In Time Of Weakness For Olmert
The first suicide bombing that Israel has seen in more than a year killed a 20-year-old woman and injured 11 others, and comes at a particularly delicate time in renewed Mideast peace negotiations.
The attack was claimed by al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the unofficial terrorist wing of the Fatah Party, and took place at a shopping center in the southern town of Dimona. A second bomber was shot and killed by police before he could detonate explosives strapped to his body.
"Monday's terror attack gives us a painful reminder that we must be vigilant and maintain our readiness in all areas," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "We are waging a war on terror. It is continuing without bounds and we will get to everyone involved in terror activity."
According to BBC News, an al-Aqsa spokesman hinted that the breach along the Gaza-Egypt border made the bombing mission possible. Gaza militants blew up the border two weeks ago amid an Israeli-enforced blockade that made travel to purchase goods and visit family members nearly impossible.
Egyptian security forces finally sealed the last remaining breach on Sunday, but not without violent exchanges with some lagging Palestinians. Officials haven't yet confirmed whether the Dimona bombers entered Israel via Egypt, but the bombing has already led to calls for suspending peace negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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November 27, 2007
Mideast Summit: 'We Are Ready'
UPDATED.
Reading a joint statement issued by the international participants of the Annapolis conference on Israeli-Palestinian relations, President Bush heralded what is widely seen as a last-ditch attempt to broker a lasting peace between the two Mideast parties.
"We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples; to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition; to propagate a culture of peace and nonviolence; to confront terrorism and incitement, whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis," Bush said before representatives of the U.N., EU, G-8 and nearly every major Arab League nation. "In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, we agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty, resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception."
Seated on stage to the president's side were Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the two leaders who will do the heavy lifting in the negotiations. The joint statement was, as expected, a declaration of support from the world community of the two-state solution advocated by both parties as well as the United States. The statement also included a recommitment to the 2003 road map established by the Quartet -- the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia -- shepherding the peace process.
But Bush also clarified the role the U.S. will play during the coming stretch of talks. While Washington won't exactly be in the thick of negotiations, it will be overseeing and assessing Israel's and the PLO's progress on the road map requirements. Exactly how much of a taskmaster the U.S. is in the process will probably be determined by the depth of involvement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the mastermind behind the new push for a two-state solution.
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November 13, 2007
Violence Mars Uneasy Approach To Mideast Talks
Overnight raids in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip netted hundreds of Fatah activists in the area after days of clashes between the two Palestinian factions. A Fatah spokesman said 400 activists were rounded up; a Hamas official disputed that figure and said it had been fewer than 50.
The clashes began yesterday, after about 200,000 people marched at a Gaza rally to commemorate the third anniversary of the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Palestinian factions have splintered since the longtime leader's death disrupted the uneasy status quo between the Fatah leader's more moderate party and the radical Hamas.
The rally was the largest since Hamas took over Gaza in June. Seven people have been killed and more than 50 injured in the clashes, according to Fatah representative Hazem Abu Shanab.
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October 15, 2007
Rice: Palestinian Statehood Now
In a sign that the Bush administration views a two-state Mideast solution as a critical accomplishment before the clock winds down to 2009, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that now was the time for the Palestinians to achieve statehood.
"Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice said today during a visit to the West Bank.
Rice appeared to indicate that she had grown weary of the negotiations process, which has been fraught with leadership changes and other stops and starts since President Bush rejuvenated Washington's role there in 2003.
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July 16, 2007
Bush Issues Ultimatum, Of Sorts, To Hamas
President Bush today presented Hamas with a choice: Abide by the Quartet provisions, or get left out of a future independent Palestinian state.
"We're showing the Palestinian people that a commitment to peace leads to the generous support of the United States," Bush said after announcing Washington was sending $190 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Implicit in Bush's remarks was that not a drop of aid would be delivered to the Gaza Strip unless the Hamas-run government there meets the conditions laid out by the Washington-drawn "road map." Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the West, has repeatedly said it has no intention of ever renouncing violence and recognizing Israel -- two of the road map's conditions for Palestinian statehood.
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July 05, 2007
Johnston Release A Promising Start For Hamas
Hamas' role in securing the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza won't change the U.S. and EU boycott of its government, but could open a path toward better standing in the world community.
The Palestinian political party, which advocates the destruction of Israel, has been cut off from sorely needed international aid since violently seizing control of the Gaza Strip three weeks ago. Hamas' pledges to restore peace and prosperity to Gazans are meaningless, Israel and the West have said, so long as the Quartet conditions of recognizing Israel and renouncing violence are not met.
Still, the British government has expressed gratitude for the pivotal part Hamas played in Johnston's release. While sure to carefully avoid anything that smacks of quid pro quo with the Gaza government, it's difficult to see how Hamas won't be rewarded in some way, even if only with goodwill, a currency Hamas badly needs right now.
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June 19, 2007
Refugees Amass On Israeli Border
The breakup of the Fatah-Hamas unity government has created a potentially critical refugee crisis, as hundreds of people attempt to flee the Gaza Strip in fear of reprisals by militant Hamas, which now controls the territory. AP is reporting that 600 people are trapped in the Erez Tunnel at the Israeli border, hoping to pass through Israel to the West Bank.
Hamas promised amnesty for Fatah fighters, but according to one of the men hoping to escape at Erez, "They forgave people before, and later killed them. There's no way we'll go back."
Israeli officials have so far refused entry to most of the refugees, arguing that many of them may be terrorists and that their danger in Gaza is overstated. One Israeli officer told Israel Radio, "We don't think that all of them there are threatened.... There is a clear conflict between security needs and humanitarian considerations."
But at his news conference with President Bush at the White House today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert differed somewhat with this assessment.
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Hamas To Feel The Squeeze As World Community Lines Up Behind Abbas
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert heads to Washington today as Western powers and Israel formulate a plan to cripple militant Hamas through isolation.
The EU and Israel have agreed to release aid and frozen tax revenues to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah government, which is in control of the West Bank. Abbas reaffirmed plans to seek a peace agreement with Israel; the moderate leader is backed by Washington and the EU. In a phone call to President Bush today, "President Abbas told Mr. Bush that this is the time to resume the political negotiations and to revive the hope of the Palestinian people," an Abbas aide said.
The White House seems poised to join the EU in re-releasing aid to the new Fatah government. That issue, along with resumption of peace talks, is expected to be on the table when Olmert and Bush sit down today.
The situation in Gaza, where unemployment and poverty are a much bigger problem than in the relatively peaceful West Bank, was already dire before Hamas gunmen wrested control of the region from Fatah. Now with the international community threatening to cut off the tiny Gaza Strip monetarily and Israel hinting it will do so physically, life for the area's nearly 1.5 million residents may get much, much worse.
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Posted at 12:30 PM
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