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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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In-Depth Issues:
Hamas Exploitation of Civilians as Human Shields (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
Hamas Officials Hiding in Gaza Hospital Maternity Ward - Avi Issacharoff
(Ha'aretz)
Hamas Steals Aid Supplies for Its Own Hospital for Gunmen - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Wounded Israeli Troops Yearn to Be in the Fight - Griff Witte (Washington Post)
Synagogue Set Alight During Rise in Anti-Semitic Attacks in London - Robert Mendick and Neil Millard (Evening Standard-UK)
Calls to Use Oil as Weapon in Gaza Fight Fall Flat - Adam Schreck
(AP/Washington Post)
Search Key Links Media Contacts Back Issues Fair Use |
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
After meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected any truce in Gaza that fails to end Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. "The results of the operation must be...that Hamas must not only stop firing but must no longer be able to fire. We cannot accept a compromise that will allow Hamas to fire in two months against Israeli towns." "It will not be wise to pass a (Security Council) resolution on the issue because experience has shown that Israel cannot afford losing its freedom to act against terrorism." The French president noted, "Hamas acted in an irresponsible and unforgivable manner....Hamas is to blame for the suffering of the Palestinians." (AFP) See also Israel Rebuffs Calls for Gaza Border Observers - Adam Entous Israel on Monday rebuffed European proposals for international observers in Gaza after any cease-fire, pushing instead for equipment and teams to help search out and destroy tunnels Hamas could use to rearm. "We don't need a monitor to tell us that 'At 10 a.m. this morning Hamas launched a rocket into Israel'," a senior Israeli official said. "What we need is tangible action to prevent Hamas from rearming at the end of this crisis." (Reuters) President Bush said Monday that any cease-fire agreement must ensure that Hamas is unable to continue to fire rockets into Israel. Bush also blamed Hamas for starting the fight by violating an earlier cease-fire. "I understand Israel's desire to protect itself and that the situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas," Bush said. "Instead of caring about the people of Gaza, Hamas decided to use Gaza to launch rockets to kill innocent Israelis. And Israel has obviously decided to protect herself and her people." "I know people are saying, 'Let's have a cease-fire,'" Bush said. "And those are noble ambitions. But any cease-fire must have the conditions in it so that Hamas does not use Gaza as a place from which to launch rockets." (Washington Post) See also U.S. Wants Gaza Deal on Rockets, Tunnels, Crossing Points - David Gollust The Bush administration is pushing for a Gaza agreement that will end Hamas rocket fire into Israel, arms smuggling through tunnels from Egypt, and re-open Gaza crossing points for relief supplies and commerce. (VOA News) For nine days Avraham Tiger has not left the Emergency Medical Center in Sderot, where he is chief paramedic. "There has been an unending barrage of rockets. We live by the warning sirens." In the nine years since Gazans first developed missile-launching capabilities, Mr. Tiger's home has been hit twice. "Two years ago I collected one friend in a body bag. Another friend was struck in the neck by shrapnel from a rocket and died in my arms." "Two days ago we treated a young Palestinian boy that was brought out of Gaza. We suddenly came under fire from rockets as we were treating him but we acted as though he was one of our children." (Times-UK) Fewer than 100 people showed up on Monday in Nablus for a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza. The lack of interest was not for lack of support for Hamas, but there is no sign of a third intifada, or uprising, despite Hamas' call for one. People also said they were intimidated by the Palestinian security forces of Mr. Abbas and his appointed prime minister, Salam Fayyad - forces subsidized by the U.S. and trained by Jordan - which have cracked down on a series of demonstrations. The same newly organized police forces that are providing better security in the West Bank are trying to repress popular anger over Gaza. (New York Times) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Three IDF soldiers were killed and 24 others were injured on Monday in a friendly fire incident in Gaza when a tank fired a live round at a building in Jabalya in which IDF forces had taken cover. Col. Avi Peled, commander of the Golani Brigade, sustained minor injuries in the incident but refused to leave the scene until the last of his troops were evacuated. (Ynet News) See also Fighting in Gaza Intensifies - Ron Ben-Yishai Sources estimated that between 80 and 100 terrorists were killed Monday, and 100 gunmen were apprehended and are undergoing interrogation in northern and central Gaza. Hamas has intensified its attempts to strike back at the advancing forces, utilizing mortar fire, snipers and gunmen wearing explosive belts. IDF sources reported several cases in which suicide bombers lunged at the troops but failed to detonate. Hamas operatives are also incessantly trying to abduct soldiers. (Ynet News) Palestinians in Gaza fired a rocket the deepest yet into Israel Tuesday, wounding a 3-month-old baby in the town of Gedera, about 45 km (28 miles) from Gaza. (AFP) See also Gaza Rocket Strikes Empty Kindergarten in Ashdod Over 40 Kassam and Grad rockets were fired Monday from Gaza at Israel, striking Ashkelon, Ashdod, Sderot, Kiryat Malakhi, near Ofakim, Netivot and Beersheba. One of the rockets exploded in a kindergarten in Ashdod, causing extensive damage to the structure. (Ha'aretz) See also Two Israelis Wounded by Gaza Mortar Fire Two Israelis in the town of Sha'ar Hanegev were wounded by a Palestinian mortar shell fired from Gaza on Monday. (Ha'aretz) The U.S. is determined to thwart any Arab initiative aimed at forcing the UN Security Council to assume a direct role in the Gaza crisis. Reliable sources at the UN say that the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, has received explicit instructions from the State Department to torpedo any initiative proposed by the Arab bloc which is designed to grant the Security Council the status of an official arbiter that will have direct involvement in the Gaza crisis. (Ha'aretz) See also Egypt's Mubarak to EU: Hamas Must Not Be Allowed to Win in Gaza - Barak Ravid Hamas must not be allowed to win its conflict with the IDF, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a delegation of European foreign ministers Monday. Mubarak said Hamas "must not be allowed to emerge from the fighting with the upper hand." Regarding Israel's demand that Egypt halt arms smuggling from its territory into Gaza as part of any cease-fire agreement, Mubarak denied that any such smuggling takes place. He insisted that the weapons arrive not via tunnels from Sinai, but in barrels thrown overboard from ships passing near Gaza's coast. (Ha'aretz) Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that "a necessary war on terror does not end with an agreement. We don't sign agreements with terror; we fight terror." If we sign an agreement with terror we will not longer be able to advance a peace deal, she said. "We will insist on achieving our goals: Halting the rocket fire and terror from Gaza, stopping the smuggling into the Gaza Strip, and international supervision," she added. "The equation according to which Hamas attacks Israel whenever it wants and Israel exercises restraint must be changed. It ended on the day we launched the operation. The moment Israel is attacked - it will respond." (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Israel sees that its cities have been hit for seven years by the rockets of Hamas and other organizations in the Gaza Strip and it now wants Hamas to make a firm undertaking that they're not going to fire rockets at Israel. As long as it takes to get that undertaking, Israel will continue with this military operation. If Israel is perceived as not securing a victory that is bringing about an end to rocket attacks against Israel, that is not just a problem for Israel. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. That will hearten and embolden radical Islamic organizations in Egypt, in Jordan, and even in Europe. Therefore, denying Hamas its military goal of having the right of armed resistance against Israel by hitting Israeli civilians, that victory is essential for Israel and it is also essential for many of our allies abroad. (Sky News) Since Hamas' 2007 coup in Gaza, a small coterie of other militant Islamist organizations has emerged. These Salafi-jihadist groups have grown in strength and appear increasingly inclined to act independently of Hamas leadership. They include Jaish al-Islam, Fatah al-Islam, Jaish Allah, al-Takfir, Lion's Den of Jihad Fighters, and Jaljalat. Although they receive no directives from al-Qaeda, these groups identify with al-Qaeda's ideology and model their tactics and strategy on that organization. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy) When Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran became leading players in the Middle East struggle, the land-for-peace game was suspended. The new game is not oriented toward a final agreement. The extremist groups believe in the eventual extermination of Israel. They're not interested in a handshake on the White House lawn. The extremists' goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and wait for God (or Iran) to kill the rest. Israel's goal is to restrain the brazenness of the extremists until their movement somehow burns itself out or is destroyed from within Arab society. Israel's realistic immediate goal is not to achieve some permanent resolution, but to merely suppress terrorism week by week and month by month. (New York Times) The equation of the actions of Hamas and Israel is disgusting. Imagine terrorist group A attacking country B, where A is trying to maximize civilian casualties on both sides and B is trying to minimize civilian casualties on both sides. What sort of moral judgment would have trouble distinguishing between the two? By taking on Hamas, Israelis deserve the gratitude of decent people everywhere. More than that, by sending in troops to fight them on the ground, Israel is risking its precious soldiers to minimize Palestinian casualties. These soldiers risk becoming martyrs to human rights because they are fighting in places where other countries, including the U.S., might have called in an artillery or air strike and been done with it. (Washington Post) Former top Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross said Sunday the U.S. should back a cease-fire in Gaza only if it ensures that Hamas "can't rebuild." "If Hamas is left with the capability to rearm," he said, then the current conflict will have been "just a prelude" to the next round. Ross said achieving an Israeli-Palestinian agreement now would be much different than his last attempt in 2000. Not only is the Palestinian Authority divided and much weaker, but the Israeli public doesn't believe such an agreement is possible. (JTA) Observations: Israel's Gaza Surge - Editorial (Wall Street Journal)
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