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SlowwHand
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of The Cooler
Sep 1999
time: 23:30
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Israel to Target More Militant Leaders
12 minutes ago
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel plans to kill more militant chiefs in raids mirroring a lethal missile strike on a top Hamas leader, Israeli officials warned Friday, as tens of thousands of Palestinians at his funeral promised revenge.
Palestinian leaders said the killing of Ismail Abu Shanab, a top aide to Hamas chief Ahmed Yassin, ruined an imminent campaign against militants by Palestinian security forces that would have included arrests and weapons roundups.
The militants called off their two-month-old cease-fire and promised more suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli targets, raising chances that a new round of Mideast violence will sink a U.S.-backed peace plan that aims to stop three years of violence and create a Palestinian state.
Hamas quickly dispatched squads of young activists in Gaza to launch homemade rockets into Israel. By Friday morning, six of the crude projectiles had been fired, damaging two houses but causing no injuries. More than a dozen mortars were also launched at Jewish settlements within Gaza, damaging another house.
Several high ranking Israeli military officials said on condition of anonymity that there were plans to kill other top Hamas leaders if new Palestinian suicide attacks occur and Palestinian police forces make no efforts to arrest extremists.
Speaking at the funeral of Abu Shanab, another Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who survived an Israeli rocket attack on his car in June, said that if the Israelis kill him and other top militants, a secret leadership is ready to take over.
"They think that targeting leaders will stop Jihad (holy war). They are mistaken," he said. "All of us in Hamas from top to bottom are looking to become like Abu Shanab."
In the funeral procession in Gaza City, men carried the bodies of Abu Shanab and his two bodyguards. The streets echoed with shouts for revenge. Some in the crowd chanted together a warning for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz: "Sharon and Mofaz listen very well, our retaliation will send you to hell."
A Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus on Tuesday killed 20 people, including six children, prompting Israel's strike on Abu Shanab, 53, trained in the United States as a civil engineer.
On Friday, Israel's Maariv newspaper published photos of 34 top Palestinian militants on a deck of cards imitating the U.S. military deck of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. The ace of hearts is Yassin. The joker is Yasser Arafat (news - web sites).
Khaled Batch, an Islamic Jihad leader picked as the nine of clubs, quipped: "We fear only God, not their cards."
An Israeli security source said all Hamas leaders were now considered fair targets and new strikes would be launched after a 24 hour lull to give Palestinians a chance to act on their own against militants. "We were waiting to see even just one Hamas arrest," he said.
The "road map" peace plan launched June 4 requires the Palestinians to dismantle Islamic and other militant groups.
After Tuesday's suicide attack in Jerusalem, aides to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said for the first time that he would go after militants, something he had earlier rejected for fear of setting off civil warfare. But those plans were scrapped after Israel's helicopter attack, which killed Abu Shanab and two bodyguards, the aides said.
Palestinian legislator Ziad Abu Zayyad said the renewed violence threatens to topple the already weak prime minister — also known as Abu Mazen — who was appointed in April under pressure from U.S. and Israeli leaders searching for an alternative to Arafat.
"If this situation continues, Abu Mazen will not last long," Abu Zayyad said. "Those interested in Abu Mazen's success must pressure Israel to stop undermining his government."
Abbas, largely failing to win his own people's support because talks with Israel did not produce the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, appeared to be losing confidence among Israelis as well.
A poll published Friday, found that only 35 percent of Israelis thought peace talks with Abbas should continue following Tuesday's bombing. The survey of 501 adults by the Dahaf polling company was printed in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper and quoted a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner said Israel's strikes on militants were necessary to move along the road to peace. "The strategy is legitimate self-defense," he said. "We go only after those who hit us."
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers again set up road blocks along Gaza's main north-south highway, effectively cutting the strip in half. Hundreds of motorists were stranded on the roadway, which had been briefly reopened in one of Israel's most significant gestures Israel to improve the daily lives of ordinary Palestinians.
The military said it closed the road to try to stop the firing of rockets into Israel.
Egypt sent an adviser to President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites), Osama el-Baz, to meet with Arafat, in an apparent effort to try to salvage the cease-fire. Israel Army Radio reported that the envoy was also to meet Israel's foreign minister.
In the West Bank, Israeli tanks and other armored vehicles rolled into the towns of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus for a second night of raids searching for wanted Palestinians. Troops used explosives to demolish three houses that belonged to the families of militants who carried out attacks.
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Defiant
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WISCONSIN
Aug 1999
time: 05:30
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Ming Made me come here.
How Is This Fair?
Thousands of Palestinians protest leader's death
Palestinian leader urges bigger U.S. role as peace disintegrates
Friday, August 22, 2003 Posted: 9:42 AM EDT (1342 GMT)
Mourners carry Abu Shanab's body as his wife and son look on
Israel insists on a Palestinian crackdown.
PLAY VIDEO
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Israeli missile attack kills Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab.
PLAY VIDEO
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Excerpt from a 2002 CNN interview with Hamas founder Ismail Abu Shanab.
PLAY VIDEO
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SPECIAL REPORT
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• Interactive: Timeline
• Map: Occupied lands
• Interactive: Key Players
• Gallery: Mideast lands
• Special Report
GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- Thousands of Palestinians packed the streets of Gaza City on Friday to mourn the death of top Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab and denounce Israel for killing him.
Many of the Palestinians fired gunshots into the air, and chanted angry messages against Israel, which remains on high alert, fearing a retaliatory attack for Abu Shanab's death. CNN Correspondent Michael Homes estimated the crowd at around 50,000 people.
Abu Shanab was considered by many to be a moderate member of Hamas' political wing and was an architect of the Palestinian cease-fire, in effect before the most recent violence. The Israeli military, however, said he had been involved in recent attacks against Israeli civilians. (A talk with Abu Shanab)
He had been buried earlier on Friday. He had been one of the founders of the fundamentalist Islamic organization.
Almost immediately after the Hamas leader and two of his bodyguards were killed on Thursday, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- the militant offshoot of Arafat's Fatah movement -- said they would no longer abide by their self-declared cease-fire.
The Israeli strike on Abu Shanab came two days after a bus bombing that killed 20 people in Jerusalem. Both the military wing of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that terror attack. Both groups have carried out numerous attacks on Israeli civilians and military targets in the past.
As a security measure before Abu Shanab's funeral, Israeli forces reestablished road blocks along Gaza's main highway, effectively dividing the strip into three parts, and stopping thousands in southern Gaza who wanted to travel to Gaza City for the funeral.
Israel had dismantled the road blocks a few weeks ago, as part of a goodwill gesture.
Three Israeli missiles had hit the car carrying Abu Shanab and his bodyguards Thursday as they drove through the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City. The two bodyguards were also killed.
A call for U.S. observation units
Ahead of the Palestinian Authority's meeting with an Egyptian representative Friday, Palestinian Cabinet member Yasser Abbed Rabbo called for a "strong American role -- stronger than before."
Rabbo has asked the United States for strong observation units in the region. He has also asked the United States to send a message to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urging him to give the Palestinian Authority a chance to control security.
"The Americans should tell everybody and Sharon himself, they should respect completely the road map," Rabbo said. "Implement it all, without preconditions, without excuses, and without delay."
"If this happens, perhaps, we can resume things the way they were."
Israel should have allowed the Palestinian Authority to follow through on its plans to crack down on the terror groups, before launching the missile strike on Abu Shanab, Palestinian Cabinet member Rabbo said.
A plea for 'road map'
With the situation rapidly deteriorating, the Bush administration's Mideast "road map" was facing one of its toughest challenges to date. At the United Nations, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Palestinian and Israeli leaders to stick to the road map -- a step-by step plan for peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The alternative, Powell said, would be "a cliff that both sides will fall off of."
An 'ugly crime'
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas called the Israeli airstrike on Abu Shanab an "ugly crime" that was "against peace and the peace process."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said Israel "had no choice" but to strike after Tuesday's suicide bombing.
Video from the scene showed a gutted car in flames with angry Palestinians gathering in the streets. Abu Shanab's body was carried to Shifa Hospital, where thousands of Palestinians demonstrated, many of them calling on Abbas to resign.
Ismael Hania, a Hamas spokesman, addressed the crowd, vowing to avenge the death and calling on Abbas to resign.
"Leave the Palestinian territory immediately instead of fighting our people," Hania said of the new Palestinian prime minister.
Palestinians put crackdown on terror 'on hold'
According to an aide to Palestinian Authority security chief Mohammed Dahlan, the missile strike came shortly before Palestinian police intended to launch raids against Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Elias Zananiri, Dahlan's spokesman, said Palestinian security forces had been given new rules of engagement, which would have allowed them to arrest militants and confiscate weapons. He said the new measures would have stripped Hamas and Islamic Jihad of their military wings.
"Now everything is put on hold," Zananiri said.
After Tuesday's bus bombing, Israel warned it cannot take further steps along the U.S.-backed road map to peace unless "substantial and meaningful" steps are taken against militants staging attacks.
Palestinian Authority Information Minister Nabil Amr called the Gaza attack "irresponsible" and said it would obstruct Palestinian efforts to crack down on militants.
"Now the Palestinian Authority has to re-evaluate the decisions from last night and the necessary steps taken to protect the Palestinian people," Amr said
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Defiant
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WISCONSIN
Aug 1999
time: 05:30
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"Almost immediately after the Hamas leader and two of his bodyguards were killed on Thursday, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- the militant offshoot of Arafat's Fatah movement -- said they would no longer abide by their self-declared cease-fire.
The Israeli strike on Abu Shanab came two days after a bus bombing that killed 20 people in Jerusalem. Both the military wing of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that terror attack. Both groups have carried out numerous attacks on Israeli civilians and military targets in the past"
Ming canceled what I wanted show, this is the two paragraphs I wanted to show. My question is, how can you(Hammas) blow up 6 children and then Israel kills the Hammas leader and now Hammas says the cease fire is off, what, only Hammas can kill?
There terrorist cannot be reasoned with, negociated, they only understand one thing, killing, so Israel should show what they can do and take all Palestine territories and end this once and for all.
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Eli
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Israel
Jul 2000
time: 07:30
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The Hudna lasted for a month and a half, Abu Mazen had time to "crack down on terrorists".
If they need a terrorist attack as a pretext, 7 Israelis were killed during the hudna in a number of gun attacks and suicide bombing.
If they need a large attack as a pretext, 36 hours passed between the Jerusalem Bus bombing and the latest assasination.
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Bereta_Eder
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The context is the demolition of Palestinian houses. Besides the material destruction there have also been deathsincluding that of a 16 year old Palestinian girl.
Anything else?
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Bereta_Eder
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Exactly, poor Palestinians. Nothing unintentional in killing at least 2.000 Palestinians during the last year though.
And I didn't notice you skywalker cry over Afganis, Serbs, Iraquis...
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Edan
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quote:
Originally posted by Defiant
My question is, how can you(Hammas) blow up 6 children and then Israel kills the Hammas leader and now Hammas says the cease fire is off, what, only Hammas can kill?
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What, you were expecting something else? Thats why some of us were skeptical of the "cease fire"
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22-08-2003 18:48
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