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Israel forces enter northern Gaza
Israeli tank at border with northern Gaza
Israeli tanks have reportedly crossed into northern Gaza
Israeli ground forces have reportedly entered northern Gaza, intensifying an assault on the territory sparked by the capture of a soldier by militants.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks had crossed the border into Gaza near the town of Beit Hanoun.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli troops entered southern Gaza and air strikes on the area continued all day.

On the West Bank, Israel has detained at least 10 ministers and lawmakers from the Hamas-led government.

Among those held after the raids in Jenin and Ramallah were four cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister, Nasser al-Shaher.

In Qalqiliya the Hamas mayor and his deputy were taken into custody.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, says Israel is dramatically stepping up pressure on the Hamas government in order to secure its soldier's release.


Gaza Strip in detail

Enlarge Map

Cpl Gilad Shalit was seized by Palestinian militants in an attack on an Israeli border post on Sunday, that also left two Israeli soldiers dead.

Israel has threatened a huge military response if Cpl Shalit is not released and has been massing its tanks along the border with Gaza.

Separately, Palestinian militants in the West Bank are reported to have killed an Israeli settler they said they had abducted at the weekend.

Palestinian security sources were quoted as saying the body of the 18-year-old man, Eliahu Asheri, had been recovered in the city of Ramallah.

Air strikes

Reports of the Israeli incursion into northern Gaza come a day after Israeli forces pushed through the south of the territory, taking up positions near the town of Rafah.


Palestinians evacuating their home close to Gaza's airport
We are living, but we feel as if we are dead
Doaa Abu-Harb
Student, Rafah

Voices from Gaza
In pictures: Gaza offensive
Threat to abducted settler

Air strikes continued throughout Wednesday, with missiles striking a road near the Khan Younis refugee camp and the premises of the Islamic University in Gaza City.

No casualties have been reported so far.

On Tuesday night, Israeli jets struck bridges and a power station in Gaza.

The overnight raid cut electricity to much of Gaza and nervous civilians in north of the territory stockpiled batteries and candles, as well as food and water.

Israeli military said some of the strikes were intended to impair militants' ability to move the soldier they are holding hostage.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would not hesitate to "carry out extreme action" to free the captured soldier but said Israel did not want to re-take control of Gaza.

UN warning

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of the governing Hamas party, criticised Washington for giving approval to the Israeli incursion.

Mr Haniya said Washington had "given the green light to aggression" and called on the United Nations to step in to prevent an escalation in violence.

A spokesman for US President George W Bush has said Israel has a right to defend itself and the lives of its citizens.


CAPTURED ISRAELI SOLDIER
Undated family picture of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit
Cpl Gilad Shalit, 19 years old
Lost an uncle in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war
First Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinians since 1994

Family waits for news
Press review

The spokesman said Hamas must shoulder the blame for the Israeli assault because militants linked to it had kidnapped Cpl Shalit.

Mr Haniya has urged the UN Security and the Arab League to move to end the crisis in Gaza.

"The Israeli occupation must put an end to its aggression before the situation gets complicated and the crisis gets worse," Mr Haniya said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he hoped for a swift diplomatic solution to the crisis in Gaza. He warned that the crisis risked inflaming tensions extending across the region.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli jets flew low over a house in Syria used by President Basher al-Assad.

Israel accuses Damascus sheltering Hamas leaders involved in Cpl Shalit's abduction.

Israel has accused the Syrian-based leadership of Hamas of being behind the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Cpl Gilad Shalit.

The Hamas leader in exile is Khaled Meshaal, a hardliner within the militant group, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt on his life back in 1997.

Khaled Meshaal
For many Palestinians, Khaled Meshaal is a national hero

The Israelis frequently accuse Damascus and militant Palestinian groups based there of orchestrating violence against them.

For the Israelis and the Americans, Khaled Meshaal is an uncompromising enemy of peace and the state of Israel.

For many Palestinians, he is a national hero, just like the guerrillas who kidnapped the Israeli soldier.

It is difficult to know whether orders did in fact go out from Mr Meshaal's office in Damascus.

The Israelis have not made public any evidence they have of such involvement.

But Mr Meshaal's views are well-known, and he has always supported Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Like many Palestinians, he believes that such attacks are a legitimate act of resisting the Israeli occupation.

Expelled by Jordan

Mr Meshaal gained international fame following an attempt by Israeli agents to poison him when he lived in Jordan back in 1997.

The Israelis accused him then of masterminding suicide attacks on Israeli civilians.

Two years later, Jordan bowed to American pressure and expelled him.

After a brief stay in the Gulf, he moved to Damascus.

When the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, was killed by the Israelis in 2004, Mr Meshaal was chosen as the head of Hamas's political bureau.

National unity

The organisation's secretive structure means the extent of his authority over the Gaza hierarchy and the organisation's militant wing is not entirely clear.

But there seems to be an emerging consensus among Palestinian factions that attacks on Israelis are justifiable as long as that they do not target Israeli civilians inside Israel.

The recent document of national unity adopted by the two main factions, Fatah and Hamas, endorses attacks on Israelis as long as they take place within the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.

That is the land the Palestinians want to have as a future state.

Hamas has, of course, still not renounced its aim of creating a state on all the territories of historic Palestine prior to the creation of Israel, which in effect means destroying the Jewish state.

Militants 'kill' Israeli settler
Popular Resistance Committee members with "Eliyahu Asheri's ID"
Militants show what they say is proof of Eliyahu Asheri's identity
A Palestinian militant group has reportedly killed a young Jewish settler who it says was seized on the West Bank.

The body of Eliyahu Asheri, 18, who lived in Itamar settlement, was found near Ramallah.

The Popular Resistance Committees had earlier showed a photocopy of his ID.

Israel had not confirmed that he had been kidnapped, saying only that he was missing and the authorities were concerned for his safety.

The reports come as Israel continues its operations in Gaza, sparked by seizure of an Israeli soldier by militants on Sunday.

Mother's plea

At the Gaza City conference on Wednesday, the ID photocopy was held up by Popular Resistance Committees spokesman Abu Abir.

Miriam Asheri
Miriam Asheri had appealed for her son's release

"We will kill the settler unless the aggression against the Gaza Strip stops," he warned.

Eliyahu Asheri's parents reported him missing when he failed to return home on Monday.

His mother, Miriam, said: "We turn to those who are holding Eliyahu and really, really request that they take care of him.

"We really hope that they will return him alive."

Israel has vowed to take "extreme action" if the soldier captured in Gaza, Cpl Gilad Shalit, is not released.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces arrested the Palestinian deputy prime minister and dozens of other Hamas officials early Thursday and pressed their incursion into Gaza, responding to the abduction of one of its soldiers.


Adding to the tension, a Palestinian militant group said it killed an 18-year-old Jewish settler kidnapped in the
West Bank. Israeli security officials said Eliahu Asheri's body was found buried near Ramallah. They said he was shot in the head, apparently soon after he was abducted on Sunday.

Israeli warplanes also buzzed the summer home of
Syria's president, who
Israel blames for harboring hard-line Hamas leaders.

Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered northern Gaza before daybreak Thursday, adding a second front to the Israeli action in Gaza that began early Wednesday when thousands of Israeli troops crossed into southern Gaza.

The Israeli military denied it moved into northern Gaza.

Army Radio said the arrested Hamas leaders might be used to trade for the captured soldier. Israel had refused earlier to trade prisoners for the soldier's release.

More than 30 lawmakers were detained, according to Palestinian security officials. Among them were Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer, Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti and two other ministers in the West Bank.

No deaths or injuries were reported in the Israeli actions. But the warplanes knocked out Gaza's electric power plant, raising the specter of a humanitarian crisis. The Hamas-led government warned of "epidemics and health disasters" because of damaged water pipes to central Gaza and the lack of power to pump water.

Although the Israeli action was sparked by the abduction of the soldier, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government also is alarmed by the firing of homemade rockets on Israeli communities around Gaza and support for Hamas in the Arab world, especially from Syria.

In a clear warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli airplanes flew over his seaside home near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria, military officials confirmed, citing the "direct link" between his government and Hamas. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved in the low-altitude flight, and that Assad was there at the time.

Syria confirmed Israeli warplanes entered its airspace, but said its air defenses forced the Israeli aircraft to flee.

In Gaza late Wednesday, Israeli missiles also hit two empty Hamas training camps, a rocket-building factory and several roads. Warplanes flew low over the coastal strip, rocking it with sonic booms and shattering windows. Troops in Israel backed up the assault with artillery fire.

The area's normally bustling streets were eerily deserted, with people taking refuge inside their homes.

Witnesses reported heavy shelling around Gaza's long-closed airport, which Israeli troops took over. Dozens of people living near the airport fled to nearby Rafah.

In Rafah, Nivine Abu Shbeke, a 23-year-old mother of three, hoarded bags of flour, boxes of vegetables and other supplies. "We're worried about how long the food will last," she said. "The children devour everything."

Prior to the latest incursion into northern Gaza, the Israeli army dropped leaflets warning residents of impending military activity.

Dozens of Palestinian militants — armed with automatic weapons and grenades — took up positions, bracing for the attack.

Anxious Palestinians pondered whether the incursion, the first large-scale ground offensive since Israel withdrew from Gaza last year, was essentially a "shock and awe" display designed to intimidate militants, or the prelude to a full-scale invasion.

Olmert threatened harsher action, though he said there was no plan to reoccupy Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deplored the incursion as a "crime against humanity."

The Israeli assault came as diplomatic efforts to free the 19-year-old Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, bogged down with Hamas demanding a prisoner swap and Israel refusing, demanding Shalit's unconditional release. Shalit was abducted by Hamas-linked militants on Sunday and is believed to be in southern Gaza.

"We won't hesitate to carry out extreme action to bring Gilad back to his family," Olmert declared.

Abbas and Egyptian dignitaries urged Assad to use his influence with Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas leader exiled in Syria, to free Shalit. Assad agreed, but without results, said a senior Abbas aide.

As for Mashaal, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said the hard-line Hamas leader, who appears to be increasingly at odds with more moderate Hamas politicians in Gaza, is in Israel's sights for assassination.

"Khaled Mashaal, as someone who is overseeing, actually commanding the terror acts, is definitely a target," Ramon told Army Radio.

Israel tried to kill Mashaal in a botched assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997. Two Mossad agents injected Mashaal with poison, but were caught. As Mashaal lay in a Jordanian hospital, King Hussein of Jordan forced Israel to provide the antidote in return for the release of the Mossad agents.

The
United Nations and
European Union on Wednesday urged both Israel and the Palestinians to step back from the brink and, echoing a statement from Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, to give diplomacy a chance.

The White House kept up its pressure on Hamas, saying the Palestinian government must "stop all acts of violence and terror." But the U.S. also urged Israel to show restraint.

"In any actions the government of Israel may undertake, the United States urges that it ensures that innocent civilians are not harmed, and also that it avoid the unnecessary destruction of property and infrastructure," said White House press secretary Tony Snow.

U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan urged restraint in a phone call to Olmert, saying he had spoken with Assad and Abbas and asked them to do everything possible to release the soldier. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called on the U.S. to assume its role as "honest broker" and to make the Palestinian-Israeli conflict its top priority in the Middle East.

Hamas' negotiators' tentative acceptance Tuesday of a document that Abbas allies claimed implicitly recognizes Israel appeared beside the point a day later, with Israel saying no political agreement can substitute for Shalit's freedom.

On Wednesday, Palestinian militants braced for a major strike, fanning out across neighborhoods, taking up positions behind sand embankments and firing several rockets into Israeli communities bordering Gaza. Civilians stockpiled food, water, batteries and candles after warplanes destroyed the coastal strip's only power plant, and main roads linking north to south.

Gaza's economy was already in the doldrums before the Israeli assault, a result of five years of Israeli-Palestinian violence and an international aid boycott that followed Hamas' parliamentary election victory in January. The Israeli assault threatened to turn a bad situation into a disaster — underscoring the extent to which hopes have been dashed following the optimism that accompanied Israel's pullout.

Palestinian plans for high-rise apartments, sports complexes and industrial parks in lands evacuated by Israel have given way to despair, with rising poverty, increasingly violent relations with Israel and a looming threat of civil war.

GAZA (Reuters) - A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket.

"The al-Aqsa Brigades have fired one rocket with a chemical warhead" at southern Israel, Abu Qusai, a spokesman for the group, said in Gaza.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had not detected that any such rocket was fired, nor was there any report of such a weapon hitting Israel.

IDF confirms PRC report of Eliyahu Asheri's death

The IDF confirmed early Thursday a report the Popular Resistance Committees issued from Gaza that it had executed Eliyahu Asheri, 18, of Itamar, who was kidnapped earlier this week in the West Bank. Asheri's family has been notified.

On Wednesday, security forces, including police and IDF arrested Popular Resistance Committees operative Osam Abu Rajil, who was claimed to have been involved in the kidnapping. Abu Rajil led the forces to a mountainside north of Ramallah, where Asheri's body was found buried, Army Radio reported.

OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh revealed that the youth had been shot in the head immediately after the kidnapping.

Naveh told Army Radio that the cell that abducted Asheri was instructed and paid by sources in Gaza for the kidnapping.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Hamas-affiliated PRC told Al-Jazeera that Asheri would be "butchered in front of TV cameras" if the IDF operation in Gaza did not stop. "Our patience is running out," he said.

"I am announcing for the first time that the kidnapped Zionist Israel is searching for is the same settler who is being held by us. He is aged 18-1⁄2... and is a soldier in a pre-military academy," said the spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Abir.

Asheri's absence was not immediately reported. His disappearance was only noted after he failed to appear for a hike planned by the pre-military academy of Neveh Tsuf, where he had been studying.

Rabbi Haim Druckman, Asheri's grandfather, said he first heard of his disappearance Tuesday.

"They saw in the morning that he hadn't arrived, so they started worrying," Druckman said. "The situation was not immediately clear, so security forces requested that no one be notified."

Druckman described Asheri as "a great kid, very responsible, very serious and sensitive... He was at his greatest, blossoming and very happy."

Rabbi Avi Ronsky, head of Itamar's yeshiva, said Asheri was a very introverted teenager, who had a tendency to go off on his own. For that reason, the family was not immediately suspicious of his disappearance, he said.

Moshe Goldsmith, the community's secretary, said the family had been briefed by OC Samaria Col. Yuval Bazak, who told them that there were clear signs that Asheri had been kidnapped but that authorities were still unsure of the exact details.

The events of the last few weeks in and around Gaza - the rocket fire on Sderot, the roadside explosions, the Israeli air raids, the "collateral damage," the capture of an IDF soldier, the captors' psychological warfare - all lead to one sinking, unmistakable feeling: Lebanon is here.

The similarities between what is happening now in Gaza, less than a year after disengagement, and what happened for some 18 years in Lebanon are frightening. Yet it should come as no surprise - Hamas learned well from Hizbullah.

If the Palestinians from Gaza shoot rockets on Israel as though they were in Lebanon, if they plant roadside bombs as though they were in Lebanon, if they attack IDF outposts and kidnap soldiers as though they were in Lebanon, then they should not be too surprised when Israel treats the Palestinian Authority like Lebanon and acts accordingly.

Which is what the IDF did Wednesday by driving into Gaza, knocking out electricity and knocking down three bridges.

Hizbullah has thousands of rockets along the border with Israel, its military outposts are directly on the border facing IDF outposts, yet since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon six years ago a tense quiet has reigned in the north.

It's not as if Hizbullah is uninterested in making our lives miserable, but rather that Israel has simply - through military action and clear diplomatic messages over the last six years - made it clear that, if Israel gets hit by Hizbullah, Lebanon and the Lebanese will pay the price.

Now that Hizbullah is part of the Lebanese political process, this is not a price the organization/political party wants to pay, because it is concerned that if the Lebanese suffer Hizbullah will be blamed. The result, if not exactly Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) - the doctrine that governed Russian-US relations during the Cold War - is what could be called a Balance of Mutual Threats.

Hizbullah doesn't attack Israel, or at least not much, because they know Israel can wreak devastation on southern Lebanon and that the Lebanese will then hold Hizbullah accountable. Israel's activities in Gaza Wednesday seem designed to create a similar situation in Gaza.
But there may be one big difference. Whereas Hizbullah is concerned that a devastating IDF blow in Lebanon could hurt its political standing, and the terror organization has as a result restrained itself, this may not be the case in Gaza.

It is not at all clear whether Israeli military action in Gaza hurts Hamas politically. In what to Israeli eyes seems like the logic-defying reality that is Gaza, it is not at all clear whether blowing up bridges and knocking out electricity in Gaza weakens public support for Hamas, or - paradoxically - whether it might in fact strengthen it.

Furthermore, it is not even clear that Hamas doesn't want some IDF action to further its victimization narrative in the world. Already some in the world are asking whether the capture of one Israeli soldier merits the type of military action we saw Wednesday. Besides, some are whispering, what about the 10,000 Palestinians prisoners held by Israel?

Before disengagement from Gaza, there were some dreamers who said that if everybody just played their cards right, Gaza could someday turn into the Hong Kong of the Middle East. Wrong. Try Lebanon, only more so.

IDF forces arrest Hamas' deputy PM, other Palestinian cabinet ministers, lawmakers

Hamas calls IDF arrests of 87 senior political, military officials 'open war'

By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies


Israel has expanded its military operation against the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority by embarking on mass arrests of senior Hamas officials before dawn Thursday.

Israel Defense Forces troops launched early Thursday a major arrest operation against Hamas officials, detaining 64 of the ruling militant group's ministers and parliamentarians in the West Bank and 23 military operatives.

The arrests took place in Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Hebron, Jenin and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian reports. Soldiers carried arrest warrants signed by judges that were issued following cooperative preparatory work by the state prosecution and police.

A Hamas official called the arrests an "open war against the Palestinian government and people," and said that Israel must be prepared to pay their consequences.

Included among those arrested were Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek, Minister Samir Abu Aysha, Khaled Abu Arfeh and Jerusalem Affairs Ministers Naef Rajoub, brother of senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub.

In Ramallah, troops arrested at least two cabinet ministers and four lawmakers, all from Hamas, in a raid on a complex of buildings, Palestinian security officials said.

Earlier reports that deputy prime minister Nasser a-Shaer was arrested were later proven incorrect.

Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti was stopped on his way to his village, Kabur, just north of Ramallah. Military jeeps stopped his car, ordered him out of the vehicle and took him away, the officials said.

In East Jerusalem, lawmakers Mohammed Abu Tir, Wael al-Husseini and Ahmed a-Tun were arrested.

Also, the Hamas mayor of the West Bank town of Qalqilyah and his deputy were detained, security officials said.

An IDF spokeswoman said troops had carried out an operation in Ramallah but declined to give details, saying the military operation was still underway.

She said the arrests were part of an operation against suspected terrorists, and were not "bargaining chips" for the release of abducted IDF soldier Corporal Gilad Shalit.

"They are not bargaining chips for the return of the soldier. It was simply an operation against a terrorist organization," she said. "They will be investigated, brought before a judge to extend their detention and charge sheets will be prepared."

The arrests are part of several moves designed to increase pressure on the militant group to free a captive soldier. Israel blames Hamas for the abduction of Shalit, kidnapped Sunday by militants who attacked an IDF post near the border with Gaza.

Army Radio said the Hamas leaders might be used to trade for the captured soldier, but the IDF refused to comment on the matter.

After the arrests, Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said "No one is immune... This is not a government. It is a murderous organization."

The operation Thursday night came amidst IDF operations in the southern Gaza Strip aimed at securing Shalit's release.

Israel's operations in Gaza and the West Bank appear to have as their aim not just an increase in pressure to get the release of its captured soldier but the weakening of the Hamas government.


There are signs of disagreement within Israel about tactics
The Israeli Defence Minister, the Labour leader Amir Peretz, far from being a hawk himself, said: "The masquerade ball is over."

In a reference to the detention of eight Hamas cabinet ministers and about 20 other members of the Palestinian parliament, Mr Peretz said: "The suits and ties will not serve as cover to the involvement and support of kidnappings and terror."

To reinforce the message, Israeli planes have bombed the Gaza office of the Hamas minister for security.

And adding to the sense that there is a wider agenda here, Israel Radio reported that a senior official in Shin Bet, the internal Israel security service, warned the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the day of the Corporal Shalit's capture: "If the soldier is not returned in 24 hours, Israel will not allow the Palestinian government to survive."

'Punitive measures'

The crisis brought together a professional humiliation for the Israeli army with a desire by the Israeli government to deal with the constant bombardment of the Israeli town of Sderot, Mr Peretz's home town.

In quieter times, the Israelis might have held their forces back, made loud noises and negotiated in secret - but these are not quieter times

The firing of missiles from Gaza is seen by Israelis as symptomatic of Hamas' inability or unwillingness to rein in militants both among its own ranks and in Islamic Jihad.

The two have brought about a powerful incentive for Israel to take punitive measures against Hamas.

Some of those measures, such as the bombing of a power station in Gaza, have brought international criticism and questions as to whether this attack violated Article 48 of the addition to the Geneva Conventions in 1949:

"In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives."

Operation delayed

Israel argues that the power station in the circumstance of Gaza was a military target in that it directly aided the captors of their soldier.

All this talk about not speaking to the terrorists is nonsense - in the end, they released Palestinian prisoners with blood on their hands for three dead soldiers and they released Sheikh Ahmed Yassin for two Mossad agents

Esther Wachsman
Mother of Israeli soldier who died in operation to release him
In addition, Israel can argue the case that the original attack on their base outside Gaza on Sunday was a violation of their sovereign territory.

In any event, the issue now is how far the Israelis will go if its soldier is not freed.

And here there are signs of disagreement within the Israeli government about tactics. The operation into northern Gaza, from where the rockets are usually fired, was due to take place on Thursday night and leaflets warning local people were dropped.

But, either after a plea from Egypt to give more time for background talks or because new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, for whom this is a big test, was not satisfied with the extent of the operation, it was delayed.

For whatever reason, delay in such circumstances can undermine the resolution which the overall operation is designed to display.

Negotiating release

It still remains possible that the Egyptian-led effort to negotiate a release might bear fruit. In which case, the Israelis will withdraw and no doubt will release the Hams officials.

But for that to happen, Israel will have to give up its declared refusal to talk.

There is precedent. It has negotiated for the release of its soldiers, even the bodies of its soldiers, before with the argument that it values them above all else.

Esther Wachsman, the mother of an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas in 1994 and who died in an attempt to rescue him, has urged such negotiations.

She told the Jerusalem Post: "All this talk about not speaking to the terrorists is nonsense. In the end, they released Palestinian prisoners with blood on their hands for three dead soldiers and they released Sheikh Ahmed Yassin for two Mossad agents."

Sheikh Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, later killed by the Israelis, was freed by Israel in 1997 in exchange for two Israeli agents caught in Jordan.

They had made a failed attempt to kill the Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, who now lives in Damascus and who is again being again threatened by Israel.

In quieter times, the Israelis might have held their forces back, made loud noises and negotiated in secret.

But these are not quieter times. Israel feels that it has to reduce the power and effectiveness of Hamas and that this is a good opportunity.

For most Israelis serving in the military is a rite of passage.

Comprising the army, air force and navy, the Israeli Defence Force, to give it its official name, has a fundamental place in the national psyche.

Many Israelis will proudly tell you that their army "is the most moral in the world" and Israel is a nation that prides itself on bringing home its soldiers whether dead or alive.

The case of Cpl Gilad Shalit, captured on Sunday by Palestinian militants, is no different.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has sent the Israeli army into Gaza to try to secure the 19-year-old soldier's release.

"We will not hesitate to take extreme steps in order to return Gilad to his family's embrace," said Mr Olmert.

For many Israelis, the army ticks at the heart of their security conscious nation.

Success and criticism

Since Israel's inception in 1948, the country has fought successive wars against the Arabs.

The Israeli army has also faced two Palestinian uprisings in the last 20 years.

The army gives young Israelis most is maturity, a sense of responsibility, a sense of affiliation, a sense of becoming part of the nation

Reuven Gal
Former army chief psychiatrist
Along with the military successes, the Israeli army has been accused of numerous human rights violations.

And for many, in Israel and abroad, the army's role in maintaining the occupation of territories captured in 1967 compromises the institution. A small number of Israelis, refuse to serve in the army in the occupied territories.

As a conscript army, the majority of Israel's teenagers serve in the military for three years.

Reuven Gal, a former chief psychiatrist for the Israel Defence Force, has summed up the importance of the army experience to Israelis in these terms: "What it gives young Israelis most is maturity, a sense of responsibility, a sense of affiliation, a sense of becoming part of the nation."

When many in the nation having been under arms at one time or other, Cpl Shalit's ordeal is keenly felt among ordinary Israelis.

Prisoner exchanges

The major question now facing Mr Olmert is how does he free the soldier? For now, Mr Olmert is applying massive pressure on the Hamas-led Palestinian government in the hope that they will cave into his demands. Mr Olmert has emphatically ruled out the suggestion that the soldier be released in exchange for the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

In my mind, not only the top priority, the only priority is saving Cpl Shalit's life. It's getting him back home

Esther Wachsman
Mother of Israeli soldier who died in operation to release him

But exchanging captured Israelis for Palestinian prisoners is not unprecedented.

In 2004, Israel released 429 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners and returned the bodies of 59 in return for the release of one Israeli and the bodies of three of its dead held in Lebanon.

But some Israeli security experts say that a prisoner exchange now, to gain the release of Cpl Shalit, would only encourage more kidnapping and that Israel is no longer willing to meet the militant's demands.

"We paid a very, very high price for bodies, plus an Israeli criminal," says Shmuel Bar, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya, referring to the prisoner exchange in 2004.


The majority of young Israelis, men and women, serve for three years

The freed Israeli was not a soldier but a civilian captured in Dubai and taken to Beirut by Hezbollah.

"We do not want to do that again," says Mr Bar, "because strategically that was a very expensive mistake."

The last time Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier was in 1994.

Nachshon Wachsman, 19, died during a rescue operation by Israeli special forces.

His mother, Esther Wachsman, knows more than most about what the Shalit's family are going through.

When asked by the BBC what advice she would give to Israeli government, she said: "I'm not a military person, I'm not a politician, I'm not a diplomat. And all I can say is, that in my mind, not only the top priority, the only priority is saving his life. It's getting him back home."

The most famous case in Israel has been the missing airman Ron Arad, who was shot down in Lebanon 1986.

Despite a large reward and repeated contacts through third parties, Israel has never learned what became of him and a vigorous campaign for information continues to this day.

Israel has rejected a deadline by Palestinian militants believed to be holding an Israeli soldier in Gaza to begin freeing Palestinian prisoners.
Militants gave Israel until 0300 GMT on Tuesday to release some 1,500 prisoners or face unspecified "consequences".

But Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said he would not give in to "extortion".

Palestinians said missiles hit Gaza twice early on Tuesday, killing one militant in northern Gaza and striking the Islamic University in Gaza City.

The first strike, shortly after midnight (2200 GMT), killed one militant and injured another in the town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian sources said.

The Israeli army said the men had been planting explosives in an area close to its forces.

SOLDIER CAPTURE TIMELINE

Sun 25 June: Cpl Gilad Shalit captured in cross-border attack
Mon 26 June: Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees demand prisoner releases in exchange for Shalit
Weds 28 June: Israeli military enters southern strip after launching air strikes on Gaza
Thurs 29 June: Israel detains dozens of Hamas officials
Sat 1 July: Groups believed to be holding Cpl Shalit demand 1,000 prisoners be released
Mon 3 July: Groups holding soldier issue ultimatum for 0300 4 July

"We give the Zionist enemy until 0600 [0300 GMT] tomorrow, Tuesday 4 July."

Two hours later a missile strike on Gaza City hit a building of the university, a stronghold of the Hamas group, Palestinians said.

The night-time strikes came after Israeli artillery pounded northern Gaza on Monday and a small force entered the area for the first time since Israel began its assault last Tuesday night.

Israeli aircraft also hit more targets across Gaza, and two militants were reported killed. Eight militants have now died since the start of the offensive.

In a statement, the three groups believed to be holding Cpl Gilad Shalit set a deadline for Israel to start releasing prisoners.


If Israel does not meet their demands the groups "will consider the soldier's case to be closed", the statement said.

"The enemy must bear all the consequences of the future results," it concluded.

The militant groups have demanded that all Palestinian women and young prisoners be released along with 1,000 male prisoners in exchange for information about Cpl Shalit's welfare.

The BBC's Katya Adler in Gaza City says the groups did not specify what action they would take, but, she says, Israelis will worry it may mean their soldier will be killed.

'No negotiations'

However Israel swiftly dismissed the ultimatum.

Why is Hamas doing this to its own people? When they kill the soldier, they will be killing themselves too

Mark, United States

"The government of Israel will not yield to the extortion of the Palestinian Authority [PA] and the Hamas government, which are led by murderous terrorist organisations," Prime Minister Olmert's office said.

"We will not conduct any negotiations on a prisoner release."

The Hamas-led PA has denied knowledge of the whereabouts of Cpl Shalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid eight days ago.

Two other soldiers and two attackers died in the ambush.

Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees and the little-known Islamic Army say they are holding the 19-year-old tank gunner.

Mr Olmert says Israel's army has been authorised to do whatever it takes to get Cpl Shalit back.

A small force of tanks went into northern Gaza early on Monday in what the military called a "limited" operation to find explosives and tunnels.

In northern Gaza Israeli air strikes killed one militant, while troops shot dead another, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Israeli aircraft also hit several targets across Gaza, including a building used by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.

Israeli troops have crossed the border into central Gaza in an expansion of their offensive in the Palestinian territory, Palestinian witnesses say.

Residents said the soldiers were conducting searches in a village east of the town of Deir al-Balah, Reuters news agency reported.

Israeli forces had already entered parts of northern and southern Gaza.

The massive operation is aimed at releasing a captured soldier and halting Palestinian rocket attacks.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Heavy clashes erupted in southern Lebanon on Wednesday as Hezbollah announced that guerrillas have captured two Israeli soldiers along the border with Israel.

"This morning, the Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers near the border with occupied Palestine, and the captives have been moved to a safe area," the Hezbollah said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press. It said the captures were made to implement its promise to obtain the freedom of prisoners jailed in Israel.

Israel's Defense Ministry confirmed Israeli soldiers were captured.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV also said the militia had killed at least two other Israeli soldiers and wounded several in the cross-border fighting. The Israeli army confirmed casualties among the soldiers, but did not comment the reports of possible deaths.

The military, meanwhile, ordered residents of Israeli towns along the northern border to seek cover in underground bombshelters.

Jubilant residents of south Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, fired their guns in the air and set off firecrackers for more than an hour after the reports of the capture of the Israeli soldiers was announced.

In the main Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in Sidon, southern Lebanon, Palestinians set fireworks.

Israeli aircrafts struck roads, bridges and Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security officials said.

The air raids apparently were to block any escape route for the guerrillas who may be taking the captured Israeli soldiers to areas further removed from the border in order to prevent an Israeli rescue mission.

Israeli jets flew over Sidon and nearby areas and Lebanese army anti-aircraft opened up at them, the Lebanese officials said on conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Three bridges were damaged, the officials said.

The planes also attacked positions near the village of Sultanieh further east on the border, and al-Manar TV said power was cut off in the village.

The guerrillas who attacked Israel's northern border will pay a "heavy price" for their actions, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

"These are difficult days for the state of Israel and its citizens," Olmert said.

"There are people ... who are trying to test our resolve," he said. "They will fail and they will pay a heavy price for their actions," he said.

Hezbollah's TV station reported that Israeli artillery was pounding the fringes of the villages of Aita el-Shaab, Ramieh and Yaroun in the hills east of the coastal border port of Naqoura.

Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas occasionally clash along the border in southern Lebanon.

The latest flare-up came as Israel's continued its two-week-old offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to try to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.

The clashes came after Israel's air force dropped a quarter-ton bomb on a residential building in Gaza, killing at least six people, including two children. The target of the air strike had been top Hamas militants meeting in the building, but Hamas said its top fugitive got away.

Israel attacks Beirut's airport
Israeli aircraft have fired rockets at the runways of Beirut's international airport in Lebanon, forcing its closure and the diversion of flights.

It follows the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants.

Meanwhile, 10 civilians were killed in fresh Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon, security sources said.

Israeli jets have pounded targets in southern Lebanon in retaliation for the soldiers' capture. Israel has said it holds Lebanon responsible.

The Beirut airport is Lebanon's only international airport.

It is located in the Lebanese capital's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs.

Shortly after Israeli shells began falling on the runways, a senior airport official announced the facility was closed and asked scheduled flights to divert to Cyprus.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said the soldiers' capture was an "act of war", but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah insisted the two would only be returned via talks.

Mr Olmert said he held Beirut responsible, but Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denied any knowledge of the Hezbollah operation and refused to take responsibility for the soldiers' capture.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -
President Bush rejected Lebanon's calls for a cease-fire in escalating Mideast violence on Friday, saying only that Israel should try to limit civilian casualties as it steps up attacks on its neighbor.

"The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

Lebanon's prime minister asked Bush, during a phone call Friday, to pressure Israel for a cease-fire. But Bush told Prime Minister Fuad Saniora that Israelis have a right to protect themselves.

"We think it's important that, in doing that, they try to limit as much as possible the so-called collateral damage, not only on civilians but also on human lives," Snow said.

Israeli war planes have been bombing sites around Lebanon, including the main airport, bridges and power stations, to punish Hezbollah for the capture of two Israeli soldiers. At least 61 people in Lebanon have been killed.

On the other side, Hezbollah militants have fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel. At least 10 Israelis have been killed.

Saniora's office issued a statement saying Bush "affirmed his readiness to put pressure on Israel to limit the damage to Lebanon as a result of the current military action, and to spare civilians and innocent people from harm."

Snow said that wasn't so. Bush merely "reiterated his position" that Israel should limit the impact on civilians, he said.

"It is unlikely that either or both parties are going to agree to" a cease-fire at this point, Snow said.

Bush's conversation with Saniora as he flew from Germany to Russia was part of a round of telephone diplomacy aimed at quelling the flare-up in violence. The president also spoke with allies Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II and thanked them for helping to try to ease the violence in their neighborhood, Snow said.

Bush was pleased that a number of major Muslim nations such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia "do not look on Hezbollah as being a legitimate government entity," Snow said.

Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed militant Shiite faction which has a free hand in southern Lebanon and holds seats in parliament. The Lebanese government has no control over Hezbollah but has long resisted international pressure to forcibly disarm the group for fears of igniting sectarian conflict.

Bush has not spoken with Israeli leaders, but Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Snow said. Snow did not provide details of the conversation.

The president flew to Russia for discussions with President
Vladimir Putin and a weekend summit of industrial powers being held here. Israel's attacks on Lebanon and the counterattacks on Israel were sure to be heavy discussion topics — on an issue where Bush is at odds with some of his allies.

Russia, the host of the Group of Eight summit, and France, another summit nation, have criticized the Israeli attacks. But Bush's strong defense for Israel's right to defend itself has been tempered only by concern that the offensive could weaken or topple the fragile democratic government in Beirut.

The crisis threatened to dash Bush's hopes to see the G-8 summit produce a united stand against
Iran's nuclear ambitions and
North Korea's long-range missile test.

Snow said it seemed inevitable that the G-8 members would issue some kind of a statement on the Mideast situation, but it was unclear what it would say. Rice said a three-person team sent by the
United Nations to the region should get a chance to try to defuse the crisis.

Several drafts concerning violence in the Middle East were already on the table. "With the pace of events, they're going to have to redraft them," Snow said.

"It is important that everybody talk with one voice," Snow said.

In St. Petersburg, Bush's first stop was a monument honoring those who defended Leningrad — the Soviet name for the city — during the 900-day World War II siege. More than half a million people died, most of hunger. Bush and his wife paused there for a long moment of silence.

In what amounted to a gentle statement about democratic backsliding under Putin's leadership, Bush went from there to sit down with 17 representatives from civil society groups whom he called "young, vibrant Russian activists who loved their country" but who also are concerned about human conditions there. The president said he planned to convey some of their worries directly to Putin.

"I assured them the United States of America cares about the form of government in Russia," Bush told reporters afterward. "I hope I was encouraging for them. It was instructive to me."

The highlight of the president's first day here was a social dinner with Putin at the opulent 18th century Konstantin Palace, the luxurious venue Putin chose for the Group of Eight meetings.

Beforehand, the president spent part of the afternoon on a bike ride in a wooded area near the site of the summit.

Bush and Putin meet as U.S. and Russian negotiators try to conclude a deal to let Russia join the
World Trade Organization. Russia hoped to have the presidents announce it as early as Saturday.

But while officials reached a breakthrough in banking, officials said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Russian Economics Minister German Gref continued working Friday on a number of other sticking points.

"There is no resolution at this point," said Sean Spicer, Schwab's spokesman

BEIRUT, Lebanon -
Israel tightened its seal on Lebanon, blasting its air and road links to the outside world and bringing its offensive to the capital for the first time Friday to punish Hezbollah — and with it, the country — for the capture of two Israeli soldiers.


Warplanes again smashed runways at Beirut's airport with hours of airstrikes, trying to render it unusable, and destroyed mountain bridges on the main highway to
Syria. Warships blockaded Lebanon's ports for a second day.

Smoke drifted over the capital after strikes exploded fuel tanks at one of Beirut's two main power stations, gradually escalating the damage to Lebanon's key infrastructure. Apartment buildings were shattered by strikes in south Beirut.

Hezbollah said the home and office of its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, were destroyed by an Israeli airstrike but that he and his family were safe.

Lebanese guerrillas responded to earlier Israeli attacks by firing a barrage of at least 50 Katyusha rockets throughout the day, hitting more than a dozen communities across northern Israel.

The death toll in three days of fighting rose to 73 killed in Lebanon — almost all civilians, including five killed in strikes Friday — and 12 in Israel, including a mother and daughter killed in a rocket attack. The violence sent shock waves through a region already traumatized by the ongoing battles in the
Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.

Israel's strikes on the airport and roads and naval blockade all but cut off Lebanon from the world, while hits on infrastructure aimed to exact a price from its government for allowing Hezbollah to operate freely in the south.

At the same time, strikes on Hezbollah — including ones targeting its leadership in south Beirut — aimed to pressure the Shiite Muslim guerrillas to release the Israeli soldiers captured Wednesday and push the militants away from Israel's northern border.

President Bush, in Russia for the G-8 summit, spoke by phone with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, and "reiterated his position" that the Israeli attacks should limit any impact on civilians, White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

At an emergency
U.N. Security Council meeting requested by Lebanon, special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud warned that Israeli attacks "will not resolve the problem, but will further complicate it." Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman said Israel had no choice but to react to the "absolutely unprovoked attack" by Hezbollah.

Oil prices rose to above $78 a barrel, and
OPEC tried to reassure the market by stressing its commitment to "order and stability."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would not halt its offensive until Hezbollah was disarmed in a telephone call with U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan. Olmert agreed to let a U.N. team try to mediate a cease-fire, an official close to Olmert said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Israel against extending its assault into Syria and said the Jewish state couldn't harm
Iran, which also backs Hezbollah.

French
President Jacques Chirac said Israel's actions were "totally disproportionate" but also condemned Hezbollah's attacks. He implicitly suggested that Syria and Iran might be playing a role in the crisis.

The U.N.'s top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, said Israel's attacks against transportation infrastructure violated international law and held grave consequences for civilians.

Israeli officials said the campaign by the air force was the biggest since the Israeli invasion in 1982. The only comparable military action since then was the "Grapes of Wrath" offensive in 1996, also sparked by Hezbollah attacks.

But the casualties were mounting faster than in 1996, when at least 165 people were killed in 17 days of fighting. By contrast, 73 people in Lebanon have been killed in only three days of Israel's bombardment.

On the Israeli side, eight soldiers have died and two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets on northern towns. At least 11 were wounded in Friday's rocket attacks.

Israel says it holds the government responsible for Hezbollah's actions, but Saniora's Cabinet has insisted it had no prior knowledge of the raid that seized the soldiers and that it did not condone it.

Hezbollah operates with near autonomy in south Lebanon, and the government has resisted international pressure to disarm it — a step that could break the country apart. Saniora's government is dominated by anti-Syrian politicians, some sharply critical of Hezbollah, but the guerrilla group also has two ministers in the Cabinet.

The fighting in Lebanon is Israel's second front. It launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip two weeks ago in response to the June 25 capture by Hamas militants of an Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

Throughout the morning, Israeli fighter-bombers pounded runways at Beirut's airport for a second day, apparently trying to ensure its closure after the Lebanese national carrier, Middle East Airlines, managed to evacuate its last five planes to Amman.

Another barrage hit fuel tanks at one of Beirut's two main power stations at Jiye.

For the first time in the assault, strikes targeted the crowded Shiite residential neighborhoods in south Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah's leadership.

An initial wave before dawn hit near Hezbollah's security headquarters and targeted roads, damaging two overpasses. The facades of nearby apartment buildings were shorn away, balconies toppled onto cars and the street was littered by glass from shattered windows. Firefighters struggled to put out several blazes.

A young man with blood pouring down his face was shown on Lebanese TV walking out of a damaged apartment building.

An afternoon strike hit an apartment building near Hezbollah's Al-Nour radio station. The radio continued broadcasting, and Hezbollah TV showed smoke billowing from an apartment in the area and firefighters running toward the building.

"I have huge debts and now my store is damaged," said Fadi Haidar, 36, cleaning away broken glass at his appliances shop, which had an estimated $15,000 in damage.

Still, he supported Hezbollah in its decision to seize the soldiers.

"Israel is our enemy and every Muslim must make a sacrifice," he said. "As time goes by, they will all realize that Sayyed Nasrallah is right and is working in the interest of Muslims."

Israeli planes also hit transmission antennas for local TV stations in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Warplanes also bombed the highway between Beirut and Damascus — Lebanon's main land link to the outside world — forcing motorists onto mountainside roads.

In northern Israel, 220,000 people hunkered down in bomb shelters amid Hezbollah's rocket barrage.

At least 50 rockets hit seven towns and communities in Israel, including Safad and Nahariya — where two people were killed a day earlier. Since Wednesday, 61 Israelis have been hurt in the rocket fire.

The Israeli offensive was causing political waves in Lebanon, with some anti-Syrian politicians accusing Hezbollah of dragging the country into a costly confrontation with Israel.

"Hezbollah is playing a dangerous game that exceeds the border of Lebanon," Druse leader Walid Jumblatt said in comments published Friday. Jumblatt, a leading anti-Syrian figure, also denounced the Israeli attacks.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria will support its allies Hizbollah and Lebanon against Israel's attacks on the country, the ruling Baath Party said on Friday.

"The Syrian people are ready to extend full support to the Lebanese people and their heroic resistance to remain steadfast and confront the barbaric Israeli aggression and its crimes," said a communique from the party's national command issued after a meeting.

The national command is the highest echelon of the Baath Party, which has ruled Syria since 1963.

"The meeting discussed the dangerous developments that resulted from escalation of the Israeli aggression in the occupied Palestinian land and Lebanon, and the barbaric war and state terrorism practiced by Israel," the communique said.

Syria is a main backer of Hizbollah, whose war of attrition was instrumental in forcing Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

Mayabird wrote:The Australian has an article about Israel threatening to kill the PA Prime Minister if the captured soldier is not returned within 24 hours, but I can't access the site at all.

Israel warns: free soldier or PM dies
Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov
July 01, 2006
ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.

The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.

It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza.

Hamas's Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding.

But last night's direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.

The bid to free Corporal Shalit was brokered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who last night warned Hamas it faced severe consequences if it did not curb its "extreme stance" and described the growing conflict as a lightning rod for Palestinian vengeance.

Jerusalem has made no official comment, but Egyptian state media said Israel had found the offer unacceptable. Israel has not spelt out the terms demanded by Hamas, but earlier this week it refused to buy into talk of a prisoner swap.

Thousands of Hamas supporters protested in Gaza City late on Thursday over the arrest by Israeli forces of up to 32 Hamas MPs on the West Bank that day.

A Hamas spokesman said the group would never recognise Israel, in spite of a deal its leaders signed this week offering implicit recognition of the Jewish state in return for easing an economic blockade.

Israeli fighter jets bombed 20 targets in Gaza, including the Interior Ministry, which it said had been used by militants to stage meetings, while artillery hit the northern strip with 500 shells in the 24 hours until yesterday morning.

Jewish settler Eliyahu Asheri, who was murdered by militants this week, was buried on Thursday as leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees pledged to seize more hostages in the West Bank. No further word has emerged about another suspected Jewish hostage, Noach Moskowitz, who Israeli police said was found dead hours after Mr Asheri's remains were found.

Much of Gaza, including two main hospitals, was without power and running water as a UN aid chief warned that the 1.4 million residents of the strip were three days away from a humanitarian crisis.

"They are heading for the abyss unless they get electricity and fuel restored," said emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland, who urged militants to free Corporal Shalit and stop firing rockets into Israel.

Residents complain that sonic booms caused by Israeli jets traumatise children and that shelling confines families to their homes.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed the military will do all it can to avoid civilian deaths if a full-scale assault is launched.

Mr Olmert said the decision to invade northern Gaza had already been delayed to allow Mr Mubarak's negotiations to continue.

The arrested Hamas legislators have been sent to security prisons and many will stand trial on terrorism offences. The detentions have hurt Hamas's already limited ability to govern and are likely to force a regime change.

Israel claims it has intelligence about the area where Corporal Shalit is held, but has been unable to pinpoint the exact location. Mr Olmert said the military would leave the strip if he was unconditionally and safely returned.

Egypt and the neighbouring Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon fear a war between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to uprisings within their own borders, which house many Palestinian refugees.

16 July 2006
ISRAEL JET BLITZ ON 150 TARGETS
15 children massacred in missile strikes
By Stewart Whittingham

ISRAEL stepped up its onslaught on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon yesterday as its jets pounded 150 targets.

Israeli warplanes killed at least 32 civilians including 15 children in the deadliest single attack in the four-day-old conflict.

All the children were said to have died when a missile destroyed a van carrying two families.

Five adults also died in the incinerated vehicle as they fled the village of Marwaheen after Israeli loudspeaker warnings to leave their homes

Three others died in an air assault on the village of Hermal.

Bridges, petrol stations, roads and houses all came under attack, as did the Beirut office of senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal who reportedly escaped unharmed. Israeli gun-ships also flew in from over the sea to destroy a lighthouse.

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Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called for a cease-fire backed by the UN and said: "Lebanon is a disaster zone and pleads to its friends to rush to its aid."

But Hezbollah kept up its attacks on northern Israel, firing missiles on the city of Tiberias 22 miles inside the border.

British drug counsellor Clair Vainola, 31, hid in her Beirut home yesterday as Israeli bombs fell on the city. Clair, 31, from Newcastle, said: "There are planes flying overhead and I can hear bombs falling. It's terrifying." She said she felt "abandoned" by the British Foreign Office.

Last night the FO warned 10,000 Britons in Lebanon to get ready for evacuation.

In a dangerous escalation, Israel fired four missiles at the Lebanon-Syria border, although Syrian officials said none fell within its territory. And in a chilling indication of how the conflict may spread, Israel accused Iran of being behind the violence, claiming it has 100 soldiers in Lebanon. It said an Iranian-made radar-guided missile hit one of its navbal ships. Two sailors died and two are missing

But US President George W Bush refused to condemn Israel and called on Syria to exert influence over Hezbollah.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he considered "Israel's concerns to be justified" but called for restraint.

The EU has condemned Israel for its "disproportionate" reaction to the conflict sparked by the capture of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah.

Eight Israelis have since died, including a woman and her five-year-old grandson after more than 80 rockets hit Israeli towns on Friday.

In Lebanon, yesterday's casualties put the death toll there up to 100. It is the worst violence in Lebanon since 1982 when Israel invaded to drive out Palestinian guerrillas.

peoplenews@mgn.co.uk

ISRAELI troops captured a number of Hezbollah fighters at the weekend and completed the takeover of a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon on which seven Israeli commandos died in bitter fighting last week.

The capture of Hezbollah prisoners, the first since the current operation began, will enable Israeli intelligence to update its information on Hezbollah's deployment and intentions. The army also detained a number of Lebanese civilians in the area for questioning.

The bodies of 13 Hezbollah fighters were retrieved from the battlefield and brought into Israel, where they would be buried until negotiations were held for an exchange of prisoners, officials said.

In the past, Hezbollah has succeeded in winning the release from Israel of hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies of dead Israelis.

Israel is seeking the release of two soldiers captured in a Hezbollah raid two weeks ago, reported to be alive.

The head of Israel's Ground Forces Command, Benny Ganz, said Hezbollah had suffered dozens of casualties in the fighting. Many were killed in the battle for the Maroun Ras ridge, on which Hezbollah had built a complex of deep bunkers in heavy undergrowth.

The ridge dominates the Israeli border 1km to the south. General Ganz noted that from its rear slope, the ridge also dominates the key town of Bint Jabel, a major Hezbollah stronghold in south Lebanon. This could become Israel's next major target.

According to military sources, the next stages in the operation will be determined by the outcome of talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is due to arrive in Jerusalem today.

Reports from Washington say the US will give Israel only one more week to continue the fighting.

Israeli commanders, who prefer to erode Hezbollah before engaging in a major confrontation in difficult hill country, have said they want several weeks, even months.

If Dr Rice cannot be persuaded to extend the fighting period, Israel will have to move in its forces in greater strength and greater speed than it had planned to, and at greater cost.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said yesterday that the armed forces were conducting only raids and not attempting to hold territory.

"We have no intention of getting bogged down in the mud of Lebanon," she said.

Thousands of troops have crossed the border into Lebanon over the past few days, including elite infantry units.

Their principal objective is to clear Hezbollah from all vantage points from which its fighters can see into Israel, which means probes up to 1.5km from the border.

The troops are destroying the militia's extensive infrastructure in the area, particularly its bunkers.

The army has called on all Lebanese civilians to leave the area but not all have done so. In one village, troops found only an 80-year-old man, who said he had remained behind to look after his donkey.

Israel says that many of the villages have been turned into Hezbollah armories, harbouring missiles and other weapons.

In an apparent effort to show that the Israeli ground action has not curbed its operational capacity, Hezbollah fired 160 missiles into Israel on Saturday, in one of its largest barrages since the war began.

There were no fatalities but 35 people were wounded, two of them seriously.

The coastal resort town of Nahariya, just south of the Lebanese border, was hit by 54 Katyusha rockets but most of its residents had left for the south of the country.

But at least a dozen explosions shook the northern Israeli city of Haifa last night, killing at least two people and seriously injuring three in what appeared to be a new wave of Hezbollah rocket attacks on the area.

The rockets reportedly hit at least two apartments in the port town, 35km south of the Lebanese border.

The rockets, the latest salvos in a deluge of about 1000 rocket attacks to hit Israel since cross-border violence flared on July 12, hit several districts of Haifa.

So far, 17 Israeli civilians have been killed in the rocket attacks by Hezbollah guerillas, including eight who were killed in the first rocket attack in Haifa last Sunday.

Twenty Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

Israeli officials estimate that between a third to a half of all residents in the country's north have fled to escape the rocket attacks.

Fox News crew shot at by Israeli troops
by Collateral Damage Imbedded Monday July 17, 2006 at 02:40 PM


FOX News reporter David Lee Miller was shot at by Israeli troops while reporting from Gaza. The exchange, shown in this clip, between the anchors and the correspondents on the ground is very telling of the ostrich mentality at FOX News. Two of the three anchors, thousands of miles away from the incident, attempt to excuse Israel: "If you're somebody and you're a long ways away and you just see something and you don't know who it is, sometimes you just start shooting". One is utterly incredulous: "Really?" After exiting the scene with his crew, the journalist, David Lee Miller, had time to put together that the shots originated from the Israeli position several hundred yards away.

Multimedia

"But it's Israel!" Fox News crew shot at by Israeli troops
Video, FOX News, 14 July 2006



FOX News reporter David Lee Miller was shot at by Israeli troops while reporting from Gaza. The exchange, shown in this clip, between the anchors and the correspondents on the ground is very telling of the ostrich mentality at FOX News. Two of the three anchors, thousands of miles away from the incident, attempt to excuse Israel: "If you're somebody and you're a long ways away and you just see something and you don't know who it is, sometimes you just start shooting". One is utterly incredulous: "Really?" After exiting the scene with his crew, the journalist, David Lee Miller, had time to put together that the shots originated from the Israeli position several hundred yards away.


Partial transcript of the incident

FOX HOST: Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, says, "Israeli's incursion into Lebanon could start a regional war." We got David Lee Miller there, live, in central Gaza. David Lee, I see you have your flak jacket on. What's happening?

DAVID LEE MILLER: Right now, Brian, fortunately, not a great deal. We're on the outskirts of Abala[sic] but yesterday at this very location -- in the city here -- some 12 Palestinians were killed. At least half of them, according to local sources, were militants. One of them was also a policeman and this is normally a very busy roadway. This is Sala Adini[sic] street. This is the main artery that cuts through the Gaza strip. It goes from the very bottom to the very top of the script. As you can see for yourself, it is a ghost town at this hour. Not a single car is on this road. The reason for that, the Israelis have effectively now, they have cut Gaza in half. There is a strong Israeli presence here. This is the first time that there Israeli troops in Gaza since the withdrawal last summer. And just over my shoulder, off in the distance -- you can't see it in camera range -- there are Israeli tanks. There are Israeli tanks and there has been some military activity from shelling and for that reason, as you point out, we are wearing the flak jackets.

[..]

MILLER: ...and despite this action in Gaza City, targeting the Foreign Ministry building that is all but gutted at this hour, militants in Gaza today did continue to launch rockets from the northern part of the strip, over the border into nearby Israeli towns and... whoa! We just go fired at. That's the end of this [broadcast], I think. I don't know if you guys can still hear us.

HOST: Go... Do what you need to do.

MILLER: I guess we're still on the satellite here.

HOST: David, do what you need to do to be...

MILLER: someone... fire at us.

HOST: Where... Where...

MILLER: Yes?

HOST: [unintelligible]

MILLER: You see the camera shot don't you guys?

HOST: Right. Get into a safe place.

MILLER: I think... It sounded... Yeah, we're actually hunkered down behind our vehicle... it's difficult to ascertain who fired that shot. A single shot but...

HOST: It's ok.

MILLER: Oh, someone's firing. I think we are going to boogie out of here. I... but as we do that -- before we just rush into the car, we don't want to make any sudden movements here. We're going to get into the vehicle guys.

HOST: Ok. Hold on... David, David, get in the car. Get in the car. Go. We'll come back to you later.

MILLER: We're going to get into the vehicle guys. Get in the vehicle... We're in the... You know... Ok, it's difficult to tell who's firing at us. Again, I don't know if we're still up on the satellite.

HOST: David, is that an armored car?

MILLER: Overhead we can, over... We're in an armored car. That affords us a great degree of protection. Another concern that we do have in this location, is that overhead, we can hear off in the distance -- again, it's difficult to ascertain how far in the distance -- an Israeli drone aircraft. And it is from those aircraft that the Israelis have launched a number of airstrikes. So, that is an additional concern that we have broadcasting from this location. So, again, I don't know how far away that gun fire was. If it was Israeli gunfire it's difficult for us to say. It could just be someone with a weapon. For the most part, the area we're talking to you from is deserted. We still have that camera picture up and there is no one in sight here in front of us. The road is complete empty the buildings are abandoned. On the left side of your screen, just out of camera range, is one of the abandoned Israeli settlements. There is absolutely no one, no one that we can detect. So, at this time what I'd like to do is communicate with my photographer and see if we can get him to safety.... Pierre, are we going to get in the vehicle here and very slowly but deliberately leave the area. Ok, that said... We still hear shots... We're going to take our camera down, guys, and we're going to talk to you from a safer position. We're going to go.

Israel starts 30km push in Lebanon
Peter Wilson and Martin Chulov
August 02, 2006
AS many as 20,000 Israeli troops were pouring into Lebanon last night after Israel ordered an advance of up to 30km in the most significant escalation yet of its offensive against Hezbollah.



The push to the Litani River, 80km south of Beirut, began last night with troops backed by helicopters, fighter-bombers and artillery clashing fiercely with Hezbollah militants at four points along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Israeli defence chiefs said they would need up to two weeks to complete the campaign, and were racing to achieve their goals before the UN and international pressure demanded a ceasefire in southern Lebanon.

US President George W. Bush reiterated his staunch opposition to an immediate ceasefire yesterday, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said a ceasefire was unlikely within "the coming days".

"This is a unique opportunity to change the rules in Lebanon," Mr Olmert said.

"We will no longer consent to Hezbollah returning to these positions and continuing to threaten to abduct soldiers and fire on northern communities."

The new Israeli attacks came before the end of a promised 48-hour halt to its airstrikes, which had prompted an exodus of tens of thousands of civilians who had been too afraid to leave southern villages.

The Australian Government sent a convoy of vehicles to the port of Tyre to try to evacuate Australians trapped in the path of the Israeli advance. More than 20 had been picked up last night.

The Israeli cabinet said it had decided to double the number of ground forces devoted to the operation in Lebanon, but it was not clear how many troops would eventually be deployed.

Defence officials also suggested that when a ceasefire was eventually declared they would agree to swap two Lebanese prisoners for sergeants Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose capture by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid on July 12 triggered the Israeli offensive.

TRIPOLI - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Sunday that Damascus was ready for regional war and will respond "immediately" to any Israeli attack.
"We will respond to any Israeli aggression immediately," he said on his arrival in Lebanon for an Arab foreign ministers' meeting on Israel's devastating 26-day-old offensive against its northern neighbour.

Asked by reporters in the main northern city of Tripoli about the possibility of a regional war, Muallem said: "Welcome to the regional war."

It was the first visit by a Syrian official of his rank to Lebanon since Damascus pulled out its troops from its smaller neighbor in April 2005.

Olmert: Israel dealt Hezbollah harsh blow; Netanyahu: Government's goals not achieved

By Haaretz Service and Agencies


Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday afternoon that Israel's month-long military offensive in Lebanon had dealt Hezbollah a "harsh blow," and vowed to continue to pursue the leaders of militant organization.

But speaking after Olmert, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud criticized the government for what he said was its failure to meet its self-declared aims.

The fighting, which began with July 12 abduction of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the killing of eight others by Hezbollah, seemed to have halted Monday morning as a United Nations-brokered truce told hold.

A tense calm took the place of bitter fighting at 8 A.M. Monday, as the guns were stilled after a month of hostilities.

In his first address to the Knesset plenum since the cease-fire went into effect, Olmert said that Hezbollah was no longer a state within state, saying that there was no longer a situation in which "a terrorist organization is allowed to act inside a state as an arm of the axis of evil."

Olmert also admitted, however, that there had been "shortcomings" in the way in which the conflict had been managed, and said that there should be a period of reflection.

"We will have to review ourselves in all the battles. We won't sweep things under the carpet," he pledged, but warned that the country "does not have the luxury of falling into endless internal disputes."

"The overall responsibility for this operation lies with me, the prime minister. I am not asking to share this with anyone," he said.

Olmert called the war and the UN resolution important victories for Israel that changed the strategic balance in the region, and badly weakened Hezbollah.

"[IDF] soldiers have, to an extent not yet publicly disclosed, battered this murderous organization, its military and organizational infrastructure, its long-term capabilities, its huge arsenal, which it built over many years, and also the self-confidence of its members and leaders," the prime minister said.

"In all battles, in all encounters with Hezbollah, the [army] had the upper hand, and of this there is no doubt."

Olmert vowed that Israel would continue to hunt down Hezbollah's leaders, calling it a "moral right," and said that Israel reserved the right to respond to any violation of the truce.

"We will continue to pursue them everywhere and at all times," he said. "We have no intention of asking anyone's permission."

Olmert pledged to work for the release of the two soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, "without wearying, and using every means at our disposal, overt and covert."

Anticipating that another war with the militant group may come in the future, he said Israel would learn the lessons of this war and "do better."

And, addressing the international community, he said that Israel would not apologize for the offensive.

He said that Israel's response to the cross-border attack against Hezbollah had proved that it would not tolerate any threat to its sovereignty.

The speech was interrupted by Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, whose repeated heckling resulted in his removal from the plenum. Two other legislators were also ejected from the house.

Olmert paid tribute to the all soldiers involved in the fighting, including IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and the soldiers who fought on the ground.

"You are the heroes of the people of Israel," he said.

He also sent wishes for a speedy recovery to all the wounded, both soldiers and civilians.

During his speech, Netanyahu slammed the policy of unilaterally conceding territory, saying that the "doctrine of unilateral withdrawals had proven to be a failure."

Such moves give Israel's enemies "a tactical advantage," he argued.

"We left Lebanon to the last centimeter and they are firing. We left Gaza to the last centimeter and they are firing," said Netanyahu, who quit the government of Olmert's predecessor, Ariel Sharon, in protest at the 2005 unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel, under former prime minister Ehud Barak, pulled its troops out of Lebanon in May 2000, after an 18-year presence in the south of the country.

Olmert and his Kadima party were elected in March on a platform which included a plan for a possible unilateral withdrawal from large swathes of the West Bank.

"We live in a coma and we received a wakeup call," said the Likud leader, adding that he could not "fathom why a state of emergency was not declared" during the conflict.

"It must be said honestly, there were many failures, failures in identifying the threat, failures in preparing to meet the threat, failures in the management of the war, failures in the management of the home front," Netanyahu said.

"Without doubt we shall need later on to learn the lessons and fix the mistakes," he said.

Aug. 14, 2006 20:45 | Updated Aug. 14, 2006 20:59
Nasrallah: We attained historic victory
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon



Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Monday his guerrillas had achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.

"We came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were defeated (before)," the black-turbaned cleric said.

He further declared that now was not the time to debate the disarmament of his guerrilla fighters, saying the issue should be done in secret sessions of the government to avoid serving Israeli interests.

"This is immoral, incorrect and inappropriate," he said. "It is wrong timing on the psychological and moral level particularly before the cease-fire," he said in reference to calls from critics for the guerrillas to disarm.

Nasrallah, speaking on the day a cease-fire took effect - ending 34 days of brutal fighting between Hizbullah and Israel - called Monday "a great day."

"We are today before a strategic, historic victory, without exaggeration," he said in a taped speech on Hizbullah's al-Manar TV.

He declared that the massive destruction inflicted upon Israel was an expression of what he called its "failure and impotency."

He promised the Shi'ite organization would help the Lebanese people rebuild, and estimated some 15,000 housing units had been completely destroyed.

"The enemy destroyed thousands of houses in the south, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs," Nasrallah said.

The Region: Syria and Iran get off scot-free



What is the impact of the Lebanon war on the Arab world? A good way to analyze this incredibly important question is to focus on Israeli deterrence - Jerusalem's ability to prevent a war by persuading the enemy that an attack is too costly.

In direct terms, it has actually been enhanced. When the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and others look at the crisis, they focus on the high cost to Lebanon. It is clear to them that getting into a war with Israel would be disastrous, and they are aware that Israel restrained itself in this case.

The chance of their attacking has declined, though it was low anyway. What they fear is getting dragged into a war by radical Islamists.

But in indirect terms, Israel's deterrence power has fallen, though perhaps by less than it seems. There are two such "indirect ways," both of which were central to the fighting in Lebanon: covert sponsorship of terrorism and attacking Israel from someone else's territory.

THE IDEA of a regime assaulting Israel via another country is not a new one. Egypt and Syria used Jordan and Lebanon for this purpose from the late 1960s onward. The whole history of the PLO (and more than a dozen Palestinian terrorist groups) is based on the principle of state sponsorship.

Events in Lebanon have taken this concept to a new level: the sponsorship of what might be called a well-armed semi-army against Israel. This kind of technique can also be applied to the Palestinians, and that is the most important potential development of all.

Consequently, the number one danger to Israeli security emerging from this crisis has nothing to do with Lebanon, but would be the large-scale arming of Hamas by Iran and Syria with rockets, advanced anti-tank weapons and high-quality explosives.

There is a real chance that the northern front could be quiet for some years, but no chance at all for a similar development on the Palestinian southern or eastern fronts.

IT IS important to note that the Syrians and Iranians were able to engage in one of the biggest terrorism-sponsorship events in history, at no cost whatsoever - a point that will surely not escape the attention of those countries' leaders. Not only did they avoid any direct material damage to their countries, there was no serious international criticism or call for sanctions.



Those with a macabre sense of humor might note that paragraph 15 of the UN cease-fire resolution calls on member countries - including Syria and Iran - to ensure that arms are not smuggled into Lebanon.

Does anybody believe anything will be done when Syria and Iran inevitably break that provision? Will such a violation even be reported, much less punished?

On the public relations front, Israel came in for far more condemnation than Teheran and Damascus. This in itself is a victory for the latter. Imagine being able to arm, train and incite a terrorist group to violate an international border and deliberately target another country's civilians, suffer no cost, and make your victim come out looking worse!

In the terrorism sponsorship business it doesn't get any better than that.



MOST IMPORTANT of all, the stock of Iran and Syria has risen across the Arab world. They are now the heroes of the resistance. For the first time, the Persian/Arab, Shi'ite/Sunni wall has been breached. Within Syria, though not Iran, the adventure also increased the regime's domestic popularity. This is a definite win/win situation.

Within Lebanon, the cease-fire arrangements solve none of that country's real internal problems. Those who criticize Syria and Iran and Hizbullah know that their lives are in danger and the West won't help them.

But if you say anything against America or the West you are pretty safe. What kind of message does that send?

The problem is that the international community, perhaps inevitably, works with the Lebanese coalition government (weak, frightened, riddled with corruption) in which Hizbullah is a member. Equally, the military partner is the Lebanese armed forces (weak, highly bribable, and riddled with Hizbullah sympathizers).

Thus while the war made Hizbullah less popular in Lebanon, it has not reduced its power in the country. Ironically, about the only real hope is nothing the West does, but rather Saudi financial backing for those Sunni, Druse, and Christian forces opposing Hizbullah.

Finally, throughout the Arab world the masses are responding to Hizbullah and its strategy as the new heroes. Osama bin Laden is out; Hizbullah is in. This resurgence of what might be called evil hope has set back for a generation any chance of Arab-Israeli peace or democracy.

This irreversible fact is the great silent victim of the Lebanon war. Why compromise if you believe you can achieve total victory and wipe Israel off the map with armed struggle and the manipulation of Western opinion?

WHAT IS both sad and shocking is that few people outside the Middle East understand the devastating defeat progress has suffered due to the international position of, at best, neutrality in the war, and the consequent failure to help Israel, moderate Arab states and freedom-loving Lebanese.

As always in the Middle East, these mistakes will come back to haunt the globe for a long time to come.