Analysis

Khaled Meshaal's suicide bomb

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM - Don't be fooled by the victory slogans of Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Cairo or the scenes of celebration in Gaza on Wednesday.

The bomb that exploded on Bus 142 in King Saul Boulevard next to the Israeli army headquarters, Ministry of Defence and Tel Aviv's museum, law courts and opera house, was not a suicide attack, but from the point of view of Hamas, the hundreds of nails it contained might as well have been prepared for the group's own coffin.

Hamas has now committed diplomatic suicide. The Islamic Resistance Movement is about to undergo the humiliating procedure of having its weapons extracted. It is unlikely to survive the operation in its current form.

The M-75 and Fajr-5 rockets aimed at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv last week gave Israel no choice other than to neuter the militant monster now camped on its border. The US and Europe are firmly in agreement.

The eight days of Israel's Operation Pillar of Defence have been hell for the Palestinians in Gaza, but the international community places the blame for their suffering squarely on Hamas. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon this week described Israelis near Gaza as “living in fear and terror,” a situation he described as “unacceptable, irresponsible and reckless.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announcing the ceasefire on Wednesday, reserved the right to renew military action at any time. "I realize that there are citizens who expect a harsher military action and we may very well need to do that. But at present, the right thing for the State of Israel is to exhaust this possibility of reaching a long-term cease-fire," he said.

If Hamas carries out another attack on Israel or tries to re-arm, Netanyahu's decision not to invade now has given him international backing to wipe out Hamas completely next time around.

"Any serious long-term deal that comes out of this has got to ensure that Hamas is not re-armed," UK Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt told me in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

“We can’t go on as we are. There has to be a sustainable Gaza and that clearly implies that the missiles that are smuggled through the tunnels – that’s got to stop," said Burt. "The only way Gaza can move forward is if it is no longer a base for these sort of attacks and then we can start to think of the future of Gaza another way."

Burt was clear that the entire supply chain from Iran through Sinai via Sudan must be closed down and that the international community would help achieve that.

"Clearly there is a route," Burt told me. "All those involved in the route have an obligation to make sure that this stops and Israel is right to insist upon that.”

European governments agree. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels this week: “We need to find a long-term solution to Gaza. We have to find a way to prevent the kind of violent rocket attacks that we've seen.”

Even Egypt, whose Muslim Brotherhood government has close historic and doctrinal ties to Hamas, cannot risk its own stability by allowing Sinai to be the smuggling route for Hamas's armoury.

“Sinai right now is an unfolding catastrophe,” said a senior European diplomat who asked not be identified.

Hillary Clinton did not mention Hamas by name in Jerusalem on Tuesday, but her meaning was clear.

“The rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside Gaza on Israeli cities and towns must end and a broader calm be restored,” she said. “The goal must be a durable outcome that promotes regional stability and advances the security and legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

She pointedly praised “President Morsi's personal leadership and Egypt's efforts thus far. As a regional leader and neighbor, Egypt has the opportunity and responsibility to continue playing a crucial and constructive role in this process.”

Egypt is still supporting Hamas in public, but western diplomats say that behind the scenes Morsi applied the intense pressure that persuaded Hamas to sign Wednesday's deal. Hamas's diplomatic isolation is almost complete, and with the attack on Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Hamas may have kissed its last shreds of domestic support goodbye.

Palestinians are overwhelmingly opposed to a renewal of attacks against Israeli civilians.

A poll carried out in early November for the Palestinian Jerusalem Media and Communications Center showed 65% of Palestinians in favor of “peaceful negotiations” or “non-violent resistance” compared with just 28% who wanted a return to “armed resistance” – as the Palestinians call terror attacks.

The same poll revealed that Palestinians in Gaza were already wearying of their Islamic Resistance Group government before the current round of fighting began, with 40% saying they would vote for the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with Hamas support at just 22.4%. In the West Bank, support for Hamas was even lower at 16.6%.

Most Palestinians would reluctantly accept the deal Israel is currently offering - a demilitarized Gaza in return for open borders and a chance to start again. As far as the extremists are concerned, there is now little to choose between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas has now followed Fatah in negotiating with the Zionist entity, and - worst sin of all - agreeing to stop armed attacks. The remaining supporters of the Islamic Resistance Group are asking what happened to the Hamas promise of constant jihad until the liberation of Palestine?

The growing gulf between the militants - now in a dwindling minority - and the vast majority of Palestinian public opinion was sharply illustrated by Ziad Nakhleh, deputy leader of the Islamic Jihad just this week, complaining about Israel's demand that he be stopped from acquiring more weapons.

"Smuggling weapons is seen as if it is smuggling drugs," Nakhleh protested. "We say our people has the right to get weapons by all means. Without them, we won't be able to stand steadfast, and we won't be able to bomb the capital of the Zionist entity."

Exactly.

After 8 days, the Israeli Foreign Ministry springs into action - just in time for the conflict to end

Opening of Israel Government Press Office Center in Ashkelon

(Communicated by the GPO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

The Government Press Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have, today (Wednesday, 21 November 2012), opened a press center in Ashkelon in order to better assist the international and Israeli press in covering Operation Pillar of Defense from southern Israel.

The press center is currently open and will operate from the lobby of the Holiday Inn Ashkelon<http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/ashkelon/askil/hoteldetail/directions> (9 Yekutiel Adam St.; see link for map & directions) daily and until the end of hostilities, 24 hours a day.

The press center will organize daily briefings, press tours, provide current information updates and is here to respond to press requests. The center may be contacted at 08-6748802 orIsraelpresscenter@mfa.gov.il<mailto:Israelpresscenter@mfa.gov.il>.

Representatives at the press center include:

Nitzan Chen, Government Press Office Director, 050-6236213

Akiva Tor, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 050-6203968

Miri Belisha, Government Press Office, 050-6205402.

Day 8: Ceasefire

Israelis and Palestinians agree ceasefire despite Tel Aviv bus bomb leaving 20 people injured

MATTHEW KALMAN  JERUSALEM  WEDNESDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2012

Hours after a bomb ripped through a bus in Tel Aviv, apparently sinking all hope of ending eight days of violence in Gaza, Hillary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr announced a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

There were few details released about the deal, which came into effect at 9pm local time (7pm UK time) and followed a frantic final day of diplomacy in which Mrs Clinton shuttled between Jerusalem, Ramallah and Cairo to help seal the seal.

Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem indicated that an immediate truce, if it held, would be followed by a staged departure of some 60,000 Israeli troops deployed along the Gaza border, followed by a gradual lifting of the trade and passenger restrictions imposed by Israel on Gaza in return for the gradual disarming of militant groups in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

Addressing reporters in the Egyptian capital, Mrs Clinton pointedly praised the “responsibility and leadership” of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who played a key role in applying pressure to Hamas, just as US President Barack Obama brought all his weight to bear on Israel, to accept the truce.

“This is a critical moment for the region. Egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone for regional stability and peace,” she said at a joint news conference with her Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr, adding that the deal was designed “to consolidate this progress, improve conditions for the people of Gaza, provide security for the people of Israel”.

Now comes the tough job of repairing the damage wreaked on Gaza in eight days of ferocious bombing, while maintaining the fragile truce between the two sworn enemies. More than 150 Palestinians have been killed; five Israelis have been lost their lives.

Israelis and Palestinians had waited anxiously all day to see whether a sharp spike in violence would be the climax of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defence after eight bloody days or whether the nails hidden in a Tel Aviv bus bomb would also tear apart the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire plan just as it was due to go into effect.

The final hours of the confrontation proved to be some its bloodiest, with at least 18 Palestinian dead and six Israelis wounded.

At noon, an explosion ripped through a Number 142 bus without warning as it passed through King Saul Boulevard, the military and cultural artery of Israel’s populated heartland.

More than 20 people were injured, two seriously, as black smoke billowed into the air above Israel army headquarters, the Ministry of Defence, and Tel Aviv’s opera house, law courts and art museum.

Police cast a dragnet over the city, searching for two women that some eyewitnesses suspected of planting a bomb and then escaping. The nearby Azrieli Mall was closed and security personnel across the country were placed on high alert.

Two suspects were arrested several hours later on a road leading to the West Bank.

“We have been on alert for the past week, prepared for the possibility of incidents, of terror attacks, like this,” Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino told reporters at the scene.

It was the first attack for several years in Tel Aviv, though it has been targeted by Hamas rockets in the past week, all of which were intercepted.

“There was a horrible explosion. We were sure at first that it was a strike on Tel Aviv and the sirens just didn’t go off,” said Tomer Simon, whose office overlooks the scene.

“I opened my office window and saw the bus wrecked. I ran and tried to help those who were injured as much as I could. All the windows of the bus were smashed,” Mr Simon told the Israeli Ynet news website.

Last Saturday, Al-Aqsa, the Hamas TV station, released a video taunting Israelis in Hebrew: “We miss the suicide bombings. Wait for us at bus stops and cafes.”

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri welcomed the explosion. Celebratory sweet cakes were handed out in Gaza's main hospital.

”Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres...in Gaza,“ Mr Abu Zuhri told Reuters. ”Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression.“

Meanwhile, Hamas rained down more than 115 rockets across southern Israel, sending people running for cover all day. One barrage aimed towards Beersheba was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system. A house in Beer Tuvia was struck twice. Seven people were seriously injured.

Israeli forces kept up a continuous bombardment of more than 100 targets across the Gaza Strip, including four rocket-launching cells in Khan Younis and Jabalia. At least eight people were killed by Israeli airstrikes that demolished several houses and targeted smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border.

The army said it also attacked “several buildings that belong to senior Hamas operatives and serve as command and control centers.”

A four-year-old child was killed and her mother wounded in an Israeli airstrike on al-Nuseirat refugee camp. A two-year old child was killed in an airstrike on Nima tower block in Gaza City, which houses the offices of Agence France-Presse. Foreign reporters protested to the Israelis, saying they were being deliberately targeted. The Israeli army said they had destroyed a militant communications centre hidden in the building.

”The population lives in constant fear; there is no safe space remaining in Gaza,” reported UNRWA, and blamed “intensive tank fire in the border areas” for “creating panic among the population.”

In Cairo, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, arrived from meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leader to encourage negotiations for a long-term armistice that would end the fighting and demilitarise the Gaza Strip under joint US-Egyptian-Israeli supervision.

Hamas now faces a solid Israeli-US-European coalition with Egyptian support.

“Any serious long-term deal that comes out of this has got to ensure that Hamas is not re-armed,” Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt told The Independent in Jerusalem. “We can’t go on as we are. There has to be a sustainable Gaza and that clearly implies that the missiles that are smuggled through the tunnels – that’s got to stop. Clearly there is a route. All those involved in the route have an obligation to make sure that this stops and Israel is right to insist upon that.”

Day 7: Rockets in Beersheba

While ceasefire talks gather pace, the death toll continues to rise

Matthew Kalman finds support for Benjamin Netanyahu's aggression in the besieged town of Beersheba, southern Israel

MATTHEW KALMAN  BEERSHEBA TUESDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2012

A ceasefire was expected to be announced last night ending seven days of bloodshed in and around Gaza that has claimed the lives of at least 139 Palestinians and four Israelis, and left nearly 1,000 injured.


"An agreement for calm has been reached. It will be declared at 9pm and go into effect at midnight," Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters from Cairo, where diplomatic efforts have been focused.

Israeli warplanes and artillery continued to pound the Gaza Strip while Hamas and its allies launched dozens of rockets into Israel yesterday as a tag team of international diplomats converged on Cairo and Jerusalem to press both sides into a truce.

An announcement was expected in Cairo last night that the fighting would end at midnight, local time.

Details emerging from the Egyptian-brokered plan suggested a two-year ceasefire guaranteed by a joint Egyptian-US-Israeli mechanism. Hamas wanted an immediate, unconditional truce and the opening of Gaza's borders. Israel insisted on a long-term agreement underwritten and enforced by international guarantors.

As darkness fell on the seventh day of violence, both sides appeared to be pressing hard right up to the possible cessation of hostilities.

Hamas launched repeated barrages of rockets, including for the second time an M-75 missile aimed at Jerusalem that nearly hit the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

An 18 year-old Israeli soldier was reported to have been killed while a civilian was seriously injured when rockets struck a shop and an apartment building in Ashkelon, and a woman was hurt in a strike on a house in Rishon Le Zion, near Tel Aviv.

Israel dropped thousands of leaflets on northern Gaza in the late afternoon instructing locals "for your own safety to evacuate your residences immediately and move towards central Gaza city" – an apparent prelude to an extended aerial or ground operation against rocket launchers in the area.

The Israeli army said it targeted "11 terrorist squads," 30 underground rocket launchers and a safe house containing weapons and ammunition. Other targets included the Islamic Bank and smuggling tunnels.

Meanwhile, a Who's Who of international diplomacy led by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, the German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, and the British Foreign Office minister, Alistair Burt, criss-crossed Israel while 11 foreign ministers from the Arab League and Turkey paid an unprecedented visit to Gaza.Israeli leaders insisted that nothing short of an enforceable armistice would end the fighting.

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, threatened "Operation Defensive Shield 2" in Gaza, referring to Israel's 2002 incursion into the West Bank during the intifada uprising.

"We are not looking for a ceasefire," said the Israeli Environment Minister, Gilad Erdan, hours before the fighting was due to end. "What we are trying to advance today is to achieve long-term quiet and security with international backing and guarantees. As long as that is not achieved, the operation will continue."

The day began with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza, including 16 aimed at Beersheba at 8am. Nine were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system and three of them hit a bus, car and house in the city.

The driver of the bus on Tuviyahu Boulevard instructed his passengers to take cover when the sirens wailed. The rocket landed right in front of him, shattering the bus windows and sending thousands of ball-bearings shooting in all directions. Yehiel Navon, a 22-year-old salesman, came out of his home find the windscreen and bodywork of his Hyundai Accent riddled with holes.

"When the siren sounded, I took cover in our safe room," Mr Navon told The Independent.

"There was a huge boom. I came out and saw the bus outside my house completely destroyed. My car was ruined, full of holes drilled by shrapnel and ball-bearings that ripped straight through the chassis. It's a miracle no one was seriously injured."

Lilian Peretz, a long-time Beersheba resident whose three sons have been called up to the reserves, said that if the armistice does take hold, and Israel is able to stop further rocket attacks without invading Gaza, it will be a huge political success for the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces re-election in January.

"We can't live this way with rockets falling on our heads. I don't want the army to go into Gaza. We'll just have more dead Israeli boys and more kidnapped soldiers. We don't want war, we just want quiet," said Ms Peretz.

"I don't like Netanyahu. I didn't vote for him and I urged other people not to vote for him. He doesn't care about the poor and the weak in Israeli society. But he's done this right."

Gaza Day 6: Update - Israeli envoy in Cairo

Gaza counts its dead as Israel plans invasion

MATTHEW KALMAN , ROB WILLIAMS

 

ASHKELON  MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2012

Gaza suffered its bloodiest day since Israel launched a military offensive in the Hamas-controlled enclave, with a sharp escalation in the ferocity of attacks from both sides amid frenzied last-minute diplomacy to try and forestall an Israeli ground assault.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a “significant expansion” of Israel’s military onslaught, even as an Israeli envoy was reported to be travelling to Cairo for ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators.

Nabeel Sha’ath, a senior Fatah official, has been dispatched to Gaza by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to intercede with the leaders of the rival Hamas group.

The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has joined the chorus of prominent officials calling for a ceasefire as the pounding of Gaza entered its sixth day.

Fresh strikes continued this morning with some sources claiming three rockets fired from Gaza hit the Israeli town of Ashkelon.

He is expected to visit Cairo to join talks aimed at bringing an end to the current escalation of the ongoing conflict - which has already claimed the lives of eighty-six Palestinians and three Israelis in six days.

The Israeli army said it had targeted 80 sites overnight, among them police stations, weapons facilities and militant-owned buildings.

At least 24 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air and artillery attacks during yesterday – and Palestinian sources said 18 people were killed in the raids overnight.

Yesterday was the bloodiest since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday with the assassination of the Hamas military chief, Ahmed al-Jabari. Israel said the commander of the Hamas rocket unit was among yesterday’s targets.

Eleven Palestinian civilians were reported killed when an Israeli missile levelled their home in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in an apparent strike against the home of a senior Hamas militant. The Palestinian Ma’an News Agency said that four women and four children from the same family were among the dead.

The Israel Foreign Press Association, meanwhile, lodged an official complaint with the Israeli army after six journalists were injured, one seriously, when Israeli missiles destroyed the offices and studio of two television stations linked to Hamas in Gaza City high-rises that also house Sky News Arabic and other international media bureaus.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Israel had bombed the Al-Quds bureau “because it had enraged the Zionists by its coverage” of Israel’s “crimes in Gaza.” Both pro-Hamas networks continued broadcasting from other locations, but their programmes were interrupted by messages from the Israeli army warning Gaza residents to stay away from Hamas installations and personnel.

At least four Israelis were injured as Palestinian groups unleashed repeated barrages of rockets at Beersheba, Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod throughout the day. There were several direct hits on homes and cars. One Grad rocket hit the roof of a four-storey apartment block in Ashkelon and drilled through to the second floor.

“The apartment was torn to pieces. It’s a miracle I am still alive,” 71-year-old father of nine Malai Molalem told The Independent, huddling in a bomb shelter as the hollow boom of falling rockets sounded again and again.

Hamas fired two long-range Fajr 5 missiles at Tel Aviv, 40 miles away, making four attempts in three days. They were both destroyed by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

Addressing the Israeli cabinet in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu said Israel had attacked more than 1,000 targets since Wednesday and was “achieving significant hits on weapons aimed at Israeli citizens, as well as on those who use these weapons and those who dispatch them.”

“The IDF is prepared for a significant expansion of its operations,” Mr Netanyahu warned as the cabinet approved the mobilisation of 75,000 troops. Roads were blocked as thousands of reservists and military transporters loaded with tanks and armoured cars rumbled southwards.

With rumours of an imminent ground offensive, other countries in the region moved to try and find a negotiated settlement.

In Cairo, President Mohammed Morsi was reported to be putting intense pressure on Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to agree to a ceasefire. Egyptian officials confirmed that an Israeli envoy had arrived in the city but radicals on both sides appeared to be digging in their heels.

Ziad Nakhleh, deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, told the Al Hayat daily it was time to teach Israel a lesson.

“We don’t fear them, the resistance is too strong and capable of confronting them,” said Mr Nakhleh. “We hit the belly of Israel. The prime minister and leaders of Israel were forced to go to shelters. Israel wants calm. Egypt wants it to stop the bloodshed. We also want to preserve our dignity as Palestinians. The siege on Gaza Strip should be lifted, the crossings should be opened, the Palestinians should be treated well. We will not accept a humiliating offer.”

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel sought “a long-term arrangement” and laid out strict conditions for any possible ceasefire.

“The first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza,” said Mr Liberman before meeting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Sunday, adding that all militant factions would have to commit to cease rocket fire and there could be no further smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

In London, Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Israel that past experience proved it risked losing the support even of its closest allies if it embarked on a ground invasion. He today repeated his calls for a ceasefire.

His comments were echoed by President Obama, who told reporters Sunday that it would be “preferable” if Israel exercised its right to self-defence “without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza.”

Gaza Day 6: Death toll rises

Ceasefire hopes slim after death toll passes 100

Hamas sticks to demand for end to Israeli blockade as UN chief arrives for talks

CATRINA STEWART, MATTHEW KALMAN  MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2012

The death toll in Gaza soared above 100 yesterday on the sixth day of Israel's military operation, despite frantic diplomatic efforts in Cairo to end the fighting.

Inside the beleaguered Hamas-controlled enclave, Israeli aircraft and artillery pounded what the army described as "terrorist targets", but many civilians, including children, were among the victims. The Israeli army said it had attacked 1,400 targets, including individual militants, weapons storage, production facilities and smuggling tunnels.

An Israeli strike on the Al-Shorouk tower block housing several international media bureaux unleashed a furious response from journalists in Gaza and abroad. Militant group Islamic Jihad later conceded that one of its most senior figures had been killed in the attack.

Yesterday's strikes took the number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli operation began last Wednesday to 100, including 53 civilians, Gaza health officials say. Three Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza. Palestinian militants unleashed more than 100 rockets into southern Israel yesterday.

Hopes of an imminent ceasefire seemed slim yesterday as the Hamas leaders stuck to demands for a lifting of Israel's five-year blockade. UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo to appeal for calm as Turkish and Qatari officials joined mediation efforts to end the hostilities.

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, dispatched to Gaza in a show of support for the Palestinians last week, was cautiously optimistic: "Negotiations are going on as we speak, and I hope we will reach something soon that will stop this violence and counter-violence," he said. "I think we are close, but the nature of this kind of negotiation [means] it is very difficult to predict."

Talks looked set to be difficult, however, with Hamas making sweeping demands that would see it emerge stronger following this latest round of violence. Hamas, bolstered by the Arab Spring movements and the rise of the Islamists in Egypt, is seeking an end to the five-year blockade of Gaza, and an end to targeted assassinations. Israel, meanwhile, is seeking assurances of a long-term ceasefire on the Palestinian side, and international guarantees that Hamas will not simply shift its base of operations to the Sinai. It has warned that it will continue the air campaign as long as the rocket fire continues, and ground troops have massed on the border.

But exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal remained defiant yesterday, insisting that while the militant group was not seeking an escalation, it would not cede ground. "We don't accept Israeli conditions because it is the aggressor," he told reporters in Egypt. "We want a ceasefire along with meeting our demands."

Israel's three top decision-makers – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman – had ended a night-long meeting at 4am yesterday with a decision to give more time for Egyptian mediation before invading. A senior Israeli official told Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid the odds were "50-50" between a ceasefire and a ground operation.

Polls show a majority of Israelis back their government, but Mr Netanyahu may be running out of time. Echoing warnings from President Obama, David Cameron and other leaders, opposition leader Shaul Mofaz, a former army chief of staff, and Giora Eiland, a former general and national security adviser, said there was no need to invade Gaza and urged the government to negotiate.

"An agreement with Hamas could be reached within a few days, and it would be preferable to a ground operation," said Mr Eiland.

Turkish and Qatari officials have joined mediation efforts to end the latest round of hostilities.

Death and hope: Day 6 dawns

Letter from Jerusalem: All eyes are on Cairo to forestall Israeli invasion

Matthew Kalman

LONDON EVENING STANDARD  19 November 2012

I awoke early in Jerusalem to a rare few minutes of calm. The attacks on Gaza continued throughout last night, bringing the number of people killed to more than 90. However, no rockets were fired from Gaza during the night and today, at first, the Israeli air strikes appeared to have stopped.

Then at 6.26am, it all started up again. The haunting refrain of “Code Red, Code Red” broke through the morning radio news programme as sirens began wailing and Hamas rockets started raining down on Israel’s southern towns. One hit a school in Ashkelon, where children had already been sent home.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes and artillery resumed their attacks on what they said were terrorist targets — including a sports stadium used to launch rockets —but also hitting dozens of innocent civilians.

Twenty Palestinians were reported killed by noon, the death toll on the sixth day of fighting looking likely to surpass the 29 killed yesterday, who included five women and four children from one family in Gaza City.

The fighting appeared to intensify in proportion to rumours of an impending ceasefire. Yesterday I saw reservists and columns of armoured vehicles streaming into the closed military zone declared by Israel east of Gaza as a staging post for 30,000 troops mobilised for its planned ground invasion.

Now all eyes are on Cairo, where United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon was expected today to join Egypt’s president Mohammed Mursi in pressuring Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to accept a ceasefire and forestall an Israeli invasion that will inevitably lead to hundreds more Palestinian deaths.

A massive majority of Israelis support Operation Pillar of Defence so far, but there is a growing groundswell of opinion among former generals as well as opposition critics, urging prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to invade. The final decision on that, it seems, rests with Hamas.

Medic who could have been the next Gilad Shalit

Mother from Surbiton. Blown up near the border with Gaza

Family of British-Israeli soldier relive the attack that helped trigger the current crisis

MATTHEW KALMAN  BEERSHEBA  SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2012

Shimon Alankri was injured by a rocket on patrol near Gaza

Quique Kierszenbaum

Until last week, the British-Israeli soldier Shimon Alankri, 20, was in peak fitness, serving with the army's Sayeret Givati unit on routine patrol along Israel's border fence with Gaza. Then, on 10 November, a cell from the Gaza Popular Resistance Committees fired a guided anti-tank missile at his jeep. The missile blasted straight through the vehicle and out the other side, wounding them all.

It proved to be one of the triggers that led to Israel's Operation Pillar of Defence, a fierce offensive that has divided opinion abroad, but has proved deeply popular in Israel as the country heads towards elections in January.

After the attack, Mr Alankri, the unit's medic, started treating his injured colleagues. Suddenly, he couldn't see. At first he thought it was smoke, but it turned out to be blood pouring from a head wound and shrapnel in his eyes.

Within an hour, Mr Alankri was airlifted to an operating table in Soroka Hospital in Beersheba where surgeons spent six hours trying to save his sight and removing shrapnel from his eyes, skull and shoulder. His left eye is now stable.

On Monday, he has a second operation to save his right eye. He is in constant pain from wounds to his head and upper body, but glad to be alive.

Recovering in hospital yesterday, Mr Alankri relived the moments when he feared he might become the next Gilad Shalit, the French-Israeli soldier kidnapped in a similar attack. "There was a loud boom and lots of smoke," Mr Alankri told The Independent, speaking slowly and quietly, choosing his words with effort. "We didn't believe it had happened. We were shocked we had been hit. Then we immediately returned fire. When we realised what was going on we thought, what can we do? We've got to fight back."

Mr Alankri's mother, born Diana Morris from Surbiton in Surrey, said soldiers on patrol near Gaza were trained to respond immediately so they would not be kidnapped. "That's the nightmare," she said.

As a serving soldier, Mr Alankri cannot talk politics. But his father, Shalom, reflected the view of many Israelis – views that will not be lost on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an election looms next year.

"They [Palestinians] have been firing at the area around Gaza every day," he said. "We don't know what they want. They spend all their money on weapons and rockets. Our people suffer and their people suffer. We've tried talking, we've tried everything but they use each ceasefire to re-arm. You can't have an entire country sitting in bomb shelters, unable to function. Israel has no choice now but to topple Hamas."

This reflects the general mood in Israel. While there have been some small demonstrations against the fighting in Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Umm el-Fahm and East Jerusalem, a poll conducted for Israel's Channel 10 TV found 91 per cent in favour of the offensive and 75 per cent saying it should continue.

That will please Mr Netanyahu, who faces re-election in January. Three of his predecessors who launched major military operations shortly before elections lost their jobs, in part because the offensives were seen as ineffective.

Operation Pillar of Defence: Gaza Day 5

Bloodiest day yet of Israel's assault on Gaza as desperate last-minute diplomacy attempts to forestall ground assault

MATTHEW KALMAN  ASHKELON  SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2012

Gaza suffered its bloodiest day since Israel launched a military offensive in the Hamas-controlled enclave, with a sharp escalation in the ferocity of attacks from both sides amid frenzied last-minute diplomacy to try and forestall an Israeli ground assault.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a “significant expansion” of Israel’s military onslaught, even as an Israeli envoy was reported to be travelling to Cairo for ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators. Nabeel Sha’ath, a senior Fatah official, was dispatched to Gaza by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to intercede with the leaders of the rival Hamas group.

At least 24 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air and artillery attacks yesterday – raising the Palestinian death toll to 69 and marking the day as the bloodiest since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday with the assassination of the Hamas military chief, Ahmed al-Jabari. Israel said the commander of the Hamas rocket unit was among yesterday’s targets.

Eleven Palestinian civilians were reported killed when an Israeli missile levelled their home in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in an apparent strike against the home of a senior Hamas militant. The Palestinian Ma’an News Agency said that four women and four children from the same family were among the dead.

The Israel Foreign Press Association, meanwhile, lodged an official complaint with the Israeli army after six journalists were injured, one seriously, when Israeli missiles destroyed the offices and studio of two television stations linked to Hamas in Gaza City high-rises that also house Sky News Arabic and other international media bureaus.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Israel had bombed the Al-Quds bureau “because it had enraged the Zionists by its coverage” of Israel’s “crimes in Gaza.” Both pro-Hamas networks continued broadcasting from other locations, but their programmes were interrupted by messages from the Israeli army warning Gaza residents to stay away from Hamas installations and personnel.

At least four Israelis were injured as Palestinian groups unleashed repeated barrages of rockets at Beersheba, Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod throughout the day. There were several direct hits on homes and cars. One Grad rocket hit the roof of a four-storey apartment block in Ashkelon and drilled through to the second floor.

“The apartment was torn to pieces. It’s a miracle I am still alive,” 71-year-old father of nine Malai Molalem told The Independent, huddling in a bomb shelter as the hollow boom of falling rockets sounded again and again.

Hamas fired two long-range Fajr 5 missiles at Tel Aviv, 40 miles away, making four attempts in three days. They were both destroyed by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

Addressing the Israeli cabinet in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu said Israel had attacked more than 1,000 targets since Wednesday and was “achieving significant hits on weapons aimed at Israeli citizens, as well as on those who use these weapons and those who dispatch them.”

“The IDF is prepared for a significant expansion of its operations,” Mr Netanyahu warned as the cabinet approved the mobilisation of 75,000 troops. Roads were blocked as thousands of reservists and military transporters loaded with tanks and armoured cars rumbled southwards.

With rumours of an imminent ground offensive, other countries in the region moved to try and find a negotiated settlement.

In Cairo, President Mohammed Morsi was reported to be putting intense pressure on Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to agree to a ceasefire. Egyptian officials confirmed that an Israeli envoy had arrived in the city but radicals on both sides appeared to be digging in their heels.

Ziad Nakhleh, deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, told the Al Hayat daily it was time to teach Israel a lesson.

“We don’t fear them, the resistance is too strong and capable of confronting them,” said Mr Nakhleh. “We hit the belly of Israel. The prime minister and leaders of Israel were forced to go to shelters. Israel wants calm. Egypt wants it to stop the bloodshed. We also want to preserve our dignity as Palestinians. The siege on Gaza Strip should be lifted, the crossings should be opened, the Palestinians should be treated well. We will not accept a humiliating offer.”

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel sought “a long-term arrangement” and laid out strict conditions for any possible ceasefire.

“The first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza,” said Mr Liberman before meeting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Sunday, adding that all militant factions would have to commit to cease rocket fire and there could be no further smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

In London, Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Israel that past experience proved it risked losing the support even of its closest allies if it embarked on a ground invasion.

His comments were echoed by President Obama, who told reporters Sunday that it would be “preferable” if Israel exercised its right to self-defence “without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza.”

Gaza militants' missiles target Tel Aviv in revenge attack

Three Israelis die as Palestinians launch attacks after Hamas commander killed in air strike

MATTHEW KALMAN

 

ASHKELON

 

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2012

Just 24 hours after the boast by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that Israel had crippled the long-range missile capabilities of Palestinian militants in Gaza, two Fajr-5 rockets fired by Islamic Jihad landed just south of Israel's densely populated commercial heartland.

There was no damage or injuries, but sirens wailed across Tel Aviv for the first time since Saddam Hussein's Scud attacks in 1991, sending surprised residents hurrying to shelters. Israeli military officials warned Tel Aviv residents to expect "an unquiet night".

Yesterday morning, Palestinian militants drew their first blood in Israel's Operation Defensive Pillar when three Israelis were killed when a rocket hit an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi, 20 miles from Gaza – one of more than 120 rockets fired from Gaza since the conflict erupted on Wednesday with the assassination of the Hamas military chief in an Israeli air strike.

Israel continued its ferocious barrage of attacks on more than 200 targets across the Hamas-controlled enclave and began moving bulldozers and tanks into position on the border for a possible land invasion. At least 15 Palestinians have died in the current wave of violence, with dozens more left injured. Among those killed was Omar, the 11-month-old son of the BBC's Gaza-based picture editor, Jihad Masharawi.

"I hope that Hamas and the other terrorist organisations in Gaza got the message," Mr Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv. "If not, Israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people."

David Cameron spoke to Mr Netanyahu by phone last night to express his concern for the "extremely dangerous situation". However, a Downing Street spokesman said he "made clear that Hamas bears the principal responsibility for crisis" and that the recent spate of rocket attacks on Israel were "completely unacceptable".

Israel began preparations to call up 30,000 reserve soldiers. Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Hamas "would pay a heavy price" for firing rockets towards Tel Aviv. The Israeli attacks left a trail of destruction across Gaza and sent plumes of smoke soaring into the air. A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said Israel would also be punished "for this open war which they initiated".

There was some respite after noon prayers, when a crowd of several thousand marched from the Al-Omari Mosque in the centre of Gaza City to a cemetery in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, carrying the body of the Hamas leader Ahmed al-Jabari.

Earlier, hundreds attended the funerals of four children killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday. Then it was back to routine, with militants firing rockets from civilian areas all over Gaza City.

The Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, led Arab calls of condemnation and demanded urgent action from the United Nations and the international community. "The Israelis must realise that this aggression is unacceptable and would only lead to instability in the region and would negatively and greatly impact the security of the region," Mr Morsi said.

His office announced that his Prime Minister, Hisham Kandil, would visit Gaza for the first time with other senior officials in a demonstration of solidarity with the embattled Palestinians. Mr Morsi, who recalled his ambassador immediately after hostilities began, may hold the key to mediating a ceasefire if he threatens to cancel the 1979 Camp David peace treaty that Israel regards as a cornerstone of its security policy.

In Kiryat Malachi, the rocket there destroyed a fourth-floor apartment, killing two Israeli men and a woman from different families. Two others were seriously hurt in the building .

Sirens sounded across the south of Israel every few minutes as rockets rained down in a radius of 40 miles from the border with Gaza. More than 20 rockets were fired at Ashkelon, 13 miles north of the enclave, of which at least 17 were destroyed in mid-air by Israel's Iron Dome air anti-missile system.

Analysis: Behind the Gaza operation

Bombing Gaza with an eye on Iran

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM

Even as Israel unleashes the full force of its military might on its intolerable Hamas neighbours in the Gaza Strip, the attention of Israel’s leaders is concentrated a thousand miles in the opposite direction, towards Tehran.

Operation “Pillar of Defense” has the short-term aim of incapacitating the deadly military nuisance of Hamas rockets raining down from Gaza, but its strategic goal is to humble Iran’s proxy Palestinian militias, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and to send a clear message to President Ahmadinejad that his dream of wiping Israel from the map with Iran’s soon-to-be-completed nuclear weapon will be much harder than he hoped.

In tactical terms, Iran has made it clear that an Israeli strike against its nuclear bunkers will trigger an immediate response from Tehran’s client terrorist groups on Israel’s front line. By silencing Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Israel will remove that threat from its southern border, simultaneously sending a message to Hezbollah in Lebanon, another Iranian creature, that their destruction will follow.

“Taking the time to root out longer-range rockets in Gaza could be viewed as a way of minimizing potential retaliation from there in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran,” says David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

The style of Israel’s assault, and the careful comments of Israeli leaders tying the Gaza operation to Iran at every opportunity, is also designed to send a clear deterrent message to Tehran.

“Rather than build a better future for the residents of Gaza, the Hamas leadership, backed by Iran, turned Gaza into a terrorist stronghold,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv on Thursday, while the Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, accused Hamas of turning Gaza into “a forward base for Iran.”

Major Arye Shalicar, another Israeli army spokesman, said Hamas was now firmly acting in the interests of their Iranian sponsors instead of the Palestinians who elected them in 2006. “Things have to change here. The terror infrastructure, they have to understand, is just not worth it anymore. The problem is they are being sponsored, pushed and trained by the Iranian government,” he said.

The Israeli attack began with the brazen assassination, in broad daylight and in the centre of Gaza City, of Ahmed Jabari, commander of the Hamas Al-Qassam military wing and one of the most elusive and heavily-guarded men in Gaza. It was followed by the wholesale destruction of dozens of long-range Fajr 5 rockets and their covert network of underground launch pads, painstakingly constructed by Hamas in the past five years under a shroud of secrecy.

On Wednesday, Jabari was lured into the open by a sophisticated Israeli disinformation campaign and targeted in a pinpoint aerial strike based on the kind of accurate real-time intelligence that other armies can only dream of. Perhaps it was just a dress rehearsal for the main event. The implications for Iranian leaders are clear.

"At first glance, Operation Pillar of Defence seems to be aimed at the Palestinian arena, but in reality it is geared toward Iranian hostility against Israel,” concludes Amir Oren, military analyst of Haaretz.

“A force which is able to strike against Ahmed Jabari would be able to pinpoint the location of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And a force that destroyed Fajr rockets would be able to reach their bigger siblings, the Shihabs, as well as Iran's nuclear installations,” says Oren.

Apart from the tactical issues, Benjamin Netanyhau sent a very personal message with the F15 fighter-bombers raining down destruction on Hamas targets in Gaza. Until this week, Netanyahu’s fearsome reputation as a dangerous, war-mongering hot-head was based on nothing more than words. In the six and a half years of his two premierships, he is the only Israeli leader in a generation who has pointedly refrained from sending his army into a major military campaign.

Netanyahu broke that duck this week, taking a huge political risk despite being in the middle of a re-election campaign. Recent predecessors who went to the polls after going to war – including Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert – all lost their jobs.

Dan Harel, the Israeli army deputy chief of staff during Israel’s last invasion of Gaza in 2008, said Hamas and Iran had fatally misread the Israeli leader.

“Hamas has tried to change the rules of the game and used new weaponry over the last few weeks, including guided missiles,” Harel said. “Hamas felt they got enough power to stand face to face with Israel, especially in this very delicate moment of elections. They thought we were not going to retaliate. They were wrong.”

Until now, the Iranians could dismiss all Netanyahu’s talk of “Red Lines” and ultimatums about their nuclear programme as the barnstorming bluster of a man who had never led his country to war. From now on, the leaders in Tehran know that in Netanyhau they have a tougher, more determined, more battle-proven enemy than they previously believed.

Gaza Day 2: First Israeli casualties

Israel prepares to mobilize 30,000 reserve troops for possible invasion of Gaza after three civilians are killed in direct hit on their apartment building

The deaths in Kiryat Malachi of two men and a woman were the first in Israel since the nation stunned Hamas by assassinating its military commander in the middle of Gaza City on Wednesday. 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012

BY MATTHEW KALMAN

HATEM MOUSSA/AP
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on Gaza City on Thursday.

KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel — Israel prepared Thursday night to mobilize 30,000 reserve troops for a possible invasion of Gaza after three Israeli civilians were killed in a direct hit on their apartment building and two Iranian-supplied Fajr-5 rockets fell close to Tel Aviv.

There were no injuries or damage in Tel Aviv, but the deaths in Kiryat Malachi of two men and a woman were the first in Israel since the nation stunned Hamas by assassinating its military commander in the middle of Gaza City on Wednesday.

Meni Azriel, a volunteer with the ZAKA disaster rescue group who lives in the next building, said he found a badly injured woman in a fourth-floor apartment among the devastation caused by the blast and tried to save her, but a doctor arrived and pronounced her dead.

“The firefighters then broke into the apartment next door, where we unfortunately discovered two more dead victims,” Azriel told the Daily News. “It was a terrible sight.”

In Tel Aviv, for the first time since Saddam Hussein’s Scud attacks in the 1991 Gulf War, sirens wailed across the city, sending surprised residents hurrying to shelters in Israel’s densely populated commercial heartland.

TSAFRIR ABAYOV/AP
The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod on Thursday.

Israeli military officials warned Tel Aviv residents to expect “an unquiet night.”

The unexpected resilience of Palestinian militants, who managed to fire off 300 rockets across the border despite a 24-hour pounding from Israeli aircraft and naval gunboats, switched Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense into a more offensive mode.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the operation retained its original goals — to “strengthen our deterrence, and restore the peace” — but he warned, “The general rocket fire, and in particular, the rockets at the (Tel Aviv) region, reflect an escalation, and the other side will pay a heavy price for this escalation.”

Israel continued its barrage of attacks on nearly 300 targets across the Hamas-controlled enclave and began moving D9 bulldozers and tanks into position on the border for a possible land invasion.

“I hope that Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza got the message,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv.

HATEM MOUSSA/AP
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Hamas' top military commander Ahmed Al-Jabari, killed in an Israeli strike on Wednesday, during his funeral in Gaza City on Thursday.

President Obama spoke Wednesday with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday. “In both conversations, the President reiterated the United States’ support for Israel’s right to self-defense” while urging Netanyahu to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties, Carney said.

“There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel,” Carney added.

In Gaza, a massive wave of more than 300 aerial and artillery strikes left a trail of destruction and sent plumes of smoke soaring into the air. Several people were reported killed, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 16.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Israel would suffer “for this open war which they initiated.”

There was a brief respite after noon prayers, when a crowd of several thousand carried the body of the slain Hamas leader Ahmed Al-Jabari from the Al-Omari mosque in the center of Gaza City to a cemetery, accompanied by dozens of armed men who fired weapons into the air.

Earlier, hundreds attended the funerals of four children killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday.

Morsi led Arab calls of condemnation and demanded urgent action from the United Nations and the international community.

“The Israelis must realize that this aggression is unacceptable and would only lead to instability in the region and would negatively and greatly impact the security of the region,” he said.

Massed Israeli troops poised for invasion of Gaza

Air strike assassination of Hamas military chief signals start of major operation

MATTHEW KALMAN

 

JERUSALEM

 

WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2012

Israeli troops massed on the Gaza border last night, poised for a possible ground invasion as Israel launched a major military operation it said was designed “to severely impair the command and control chain of the Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist infrastructure.”

Military sources told The Independent that a ground invasion was "a distinct possibility". The army has deployed extra infantry units near the Gaza border, halted major exercises, cancelled soldiers' leave and mobilised some reserve forces.

The opening salvo of Operation Pillar of Cloud was the pinpoint assassination by missile of the Hamas military commander, Ahmed al-Jabari, as he drove through Gaza City, followed by aerial attacks against targets throughout the Hamas-controlled enclave. At least 10 Palestinians, including civilians, were reported dead.

Gaza residents ran for cover as Israeli aircraft pounded targets across the Gaza Strip. It was the most extensive assault since Israel's ill-starred ground invasion ended in January 2009.

Eyewitnesses reported widespread panic as darkness fell, with people rushing to stock up with food. Israel struck 25 separate targets, including Hamas storage sites, some of them hidden in residential buildings. Israel said it bombed stockpiles of long-range rockets – including the Iranian Fajr-5, with a range of more than 25 miles, used to devastating effect by Hezbollah in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War. Hamas warned that Israel "had opened the gates of hell upon themselves."

The Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, said last night that Operation Pillar of Defence had "taken out" most of Hamas's rockets and other infrastructure.

"Israel is not interested in engaging in war, but Hamas's provocation in the past days has made it imperative that we act sharply and decisively," he said. "The operation's goals are to deal a harsh blow to the rocket firing capabilities... It won't happen at once, but we will achieve the goals of this operation. We are at the start of the events and not at the end... In the long run, I believe this will lead to deterrence and the restoration of quiet in the south."

The IDF Spokesman, Brigadier- General Yoav Mordechai said: "Were I a Hamas operative, I would now opt to shelter underground."

Several days of tough talk by Israeli leaders and Egyptian mediation seemed to have ended a massive Palestinian rocket barrage that confined more than a million Israelis to their homes for more than three days.

Then, shortly after 3.30pm yesterday, came the Israeli strike at the heart of the shadowy Hamas armed wing.

Mr Jabari, 52, was commander of the Hamas military wing. He made a rare public appearance just over a year ago, escorting Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit – whose kidnapping he planned – to freedom, but otherwise lived like a hunted man at the top of Israel's wanted list.

He was driving with his bodyguard in Gaza City when the vehicle was torn apart by a single Israeli missile. Both men appear to have died instantly.

Hamas leaders rushed to identify Al-Jabari's body and announce his death. They threatened swift retaliation.

"The Israelis thought they could break Hamas resistance by killing al-Jabari. They are wrong. The Palestinian resistance is still strong. We will co-ordinate our reply to this crime committed by the Israelis," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. "Two days ago there was a ceasefire agreement prepared through Egyptian mediation. The Israelis did not commit to it and now they will pay the price."

Palestinian officials from the rival Fatah party also denounced the killing. "We condemn in the strongest terms this new Israeli assassination which aims to initiate a bloody escalation," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "This exposes that Israel has an agenda for war but not for peace."

In Israel, police and home-front command officers were placed on full alert as rockets began falling. Israeli vice-premier Silvan Shalom hailed Mr Jabari's killing as a fitting end for a man who had masterminded some of Hamas's bloodiest attacks against Israel. "These guys like sending other people to martyrdom, but they don't like martyrdom for themselves," Mr Shalom said.

Israeli leaders may have satisfied recent calls for a tough response to the recent violence, but they are likely to come under diplomatic fire for launching an offensive when an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire seemed to be holding after 24 hours of relative calm. The Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi recalled his ambassador to Israel in protest, while the Arab League said it would meet to discuss the situation on Sunday.

"I am responsible for us choosing the right time to exact the heaviest price, and so be it," the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told residents of Beersheba, which had been targeted by Gaza rockets, just before the assassination. "Whoever thinks they can damage the daily lives of residents of the south, and that they won't pay a heavy price for this – they are mistaken."

Israel's last ground invasion of Gaza killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, including many children and other civilians, and destroyed hundreds of homes. Even though Hamas has allowed the launching of more than 750 rockets into Israel this year alone, Israeli leaders already facing the prospect of diplomatic isolation over a Palestinian bid for UN recognition on 29 November, will be hard-pressed to maintain international support for a repeat performance.

Profile - Ahmed Al-Jabari: Commander was blamed for rocket strikes
Ahmed al-Jabari was one of Hamas's leading figures and head of its military wing.

His death yesterday was the first of a senior Hamas figure at the hands of Israel since Operation Cast Lead in 2008, when Israel launched a full-scale attack on the Gaza Strip.

He had nonetheless been at the top of the Israel Defence Forces' target list for some time. The Israelis held him responsible for the Qassam rocket strikes that have almost continually hit southern Israel – attacks that have escalated in recent days.

It is believed that Mr Jabari had responsibility for overseeing the imprisonment of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006 and held until last year. The deal saw hundreds of Palestinians released from Israeli prisons.

Israel opposes Palestinian UN move, but for Israel the Palestinian Authority has become too crucial to fail

Israel threatens sanctions on Palestinian Authority if it goes ahead with plans to seek UN 'non-member state' status

MATTHEW KALMAN

 

JERUSALEM

 

TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2012

Israel has threatened to slap sanctions on the Palestinian Authority if the PLO goes ahead with plans to seek an upgrade in its UN status to “non-member state” but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seems determined – not least because he knows that Israel now considers the Palestinian Authority too crucial to fail.

Mr Abbas told Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo this week that the application will be brought to a vote on November 29, the 65th anniversary of the 1947 UN partition vote that recommended the creation of two states in Palestine.

Israel fears that the Palestinians, bolstered by the diplomatic victory that seems assured by majority support in the 193-member UN General Assembly, will use their new status to haul Israel before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes. In January 2009, Ali Khasha, then Palestinian Justice Minister, recognized the jurisdiction of the court “for the purpose of identifying, prosecuting and judging the authors and accomplices of acts committed on the territory of Palestine since 1 July 2002.”

Both Israel and the United States say the UN move is a unilateral action that violates the Oslo Peace Accords. The Palestinians counter that Israel’s expansion of West Bank settlements also violates Oslo.

The United States can veto full recognition of Palestine as a full UN member at the Security Council, but the General Assembly can grant observer status. Most European states remain undecided. Britain is leaning towards a “No”.

President Obama even phoned Mr Abbas on Sunday to underline his “opposition to unilateral efforts at the United Nations,” while Congress has threatened to cancel aid to the Palestinian Authority.

But the Palestinian president has decided to defy the pressure from Washington.

“We do not want to clash with anyone, neither with America nor with Israel nor with anyone else,” Abbas said, soliciting the “blessings” of the Arab League.

Israeli ambassadors are mounting a diplomatic offensive against the UN move. Israeli officials have been pondering a range of possible sanctions, including the annexation of West Bank territory and strangling the Palestinian economy.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz has said Israel would retaliate by withholding about $100 million monthly in taxes and customs duties which it collects on the PA's behalf – about one-third of the Palestinian budget.

But Muhammad Shtayyeh, a senior Fatah official engaged in the UN bid, told reporters in Ramallah that Israel had no interest in bringing about the collapse of the PA which administers 38 per cent of the West Bank containing more than 90 per cent of the Palestinian population.

“In my opinion, most of the declared measures will be empty threats, rather than serious ones, because Israel has a vested interest in maintaining the status of the Palestinian Authority,” Mr Shtayyeh said.

Israeli officials confirm that the stability of the PA has become as vital for Israel as it is for the Palestinians.

“The tax money transferred by Israel is critical, essential for the Palestinian Authority. It is in the interest of both Israel and the international community – as well as the Palestinians – to keep the Palestinian Authority afloat,” a senior Israeli security official told The Independent, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Despite the supposed lack of negotiations between the two sides, Mr Steinitz and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad signed a new tax collection and trade agreement on July 31 designed to speed up the transfer of customs and other duties – part of an Israeli effort to strengthen the economy of the PA.

Recently, when the PA faced a cash crisis due to the failure of donor states to honour aid pledges, Israel advanced nearly $200 million to pay the salaries of Palestinian civil servants.

Nor is Israel planning for the PA’s imminent collapse. The Israeli Civil Administration that governs Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank has no plans to expand staff or revive the departments that would be required to restore Israeli governance to areas now under Palestinian control if it should crumble.

Rocket attacks force Israelis to spend nights in bomb shelters

MATTHEW KALMAN

 

JERUSALEM

 

MONDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2012

Israeli leaders have begun preparing domestic and international opinion for a renewed onslaught against Palestinian militants after more than a million Israeli citizens spent a third night in bomb shelters as more than 100 rockets rained across the Gaza border in less than 48 hours.

Politicians and former generals lined up to urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take decisive action to stop the most intensive rocket barrage since Israel's ill-starred invasion of the Hamas-controlled enclave ended in January 2009. Mr Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from both politicians and residents to end Israel's policy of pinpoint attacks against weapons smuggling, storage or production facilities and "ticking bombs" – militants identified with specific attacks.

"The situation is very complex," Israel's Public Security Minister, Yitzhak Aharanovich, told The Independent. "My personal opinion is that we should respond in the harshest manner by striking at the heads of Hamas. Hamas is the controlling power and they must put a stop to this. A million Israeli civilians are confined to bomb shelters under intolerable conditions. The government must reach a decision about the range of options open to them and my understanding is that a decision is not far off."

Ministers were divided on whether Israel should launch another ground invasion or opt for assassinating Hamas leaders. Israel said it holds Hamas, as the controlling power in Gaza, responsible for the rockets.

US Ambassador Dan Shapiro posted on Facebook and Twitter: "Our thoughts are with the residents of southern Israel, who continue to be bombarded with missile attacks from terrorist organisations in Gaza. The United States supports Israel's right to defend itself and its citizens."

Mr Netanyahu summoned the foreign diplomatic corps to Ashkelon, within range of the rockets, to give them a taste of life under fire. "If an alarm is sounded, all of us have exactly 30 seconds to find shelter. A million Israelis... are targeted on a daily basis," he told about 100 foreign ambassadors. "I don't know of any of your governments who could accept such a thing. We're going to fight for the rights of our people to defend themselves. We'll take whatever action is necessary to put a stop to this."

On the Golan Heights, meanwhile, Israeli forces said they scored a "direct hit" on a Syrian mortar position that fired across the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria for the second time yesterday. Israel fired a "warning shot" after a mortar shell landed in Israeli-occupied territory on Sunday, the first Israeli fire into Syria since the end of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. There were no casualties.

Six Palestinians, including four civilians, have been killed by Israeli shells fired on Gaza since Saturday, and 40 wounded. Six Israelis have been injured, including two soldiers badly wounded in a bomb attack.

Hamas called an urgent meeting of Palestinian militant groups yesterday. A Hamas spokesman said Egyptian mediators working to calm the escalating situation would not allow another major Israeli attack on Gaza.