HAMAS MILITANTS HAVE ONE FORMIDABLE WEAPON: IMAN

Hamas' Overmatched Weaponry Could Prove Deadly to Israelis Nonetheless

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

By Matt Sanchez

Israeli soldiers are equipped with some of the most advanced personal weaponry available to a modern military, but they nonetheless face great danger on the ground in Gaza.

The Islamist militant group Hamas, masters of asymmetrical warfare, has several key weapons that can inflict heavy casualties on an invading force, despite being overmatched. These weapons were not of great concern to Israel when it was attacking from sea and air. But the danger has increased exponentially since Israel launched its ground assault over the weekend.

One significant danger every Israeli soldier faces in Gaza is a foe who is yearning to give up his life. Hamas has built a force of willing suicide bombers whose explosive vests are typically packed with an assortment of shrapnel to raise the casualty rate among their targets.

While Israeli soldiers are prepared to die in the defense of their country, they are also trained to survive. The suicide bomber is, therefore, a weapon available only to one side of this conflict.

Hamas has been talking tough in the face of superior military power; its leaders have vowed to inflict massive casualties.

"Gaza will be your cemetery," and "we will fight until the last breath," Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a written statement.

As Israel pushes into Gaza on the ground, it does not know exactly what weapons -- and how many of them -- Hamas possesses.

"We don't know what has been smuggled into Gaza," said David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and a former Pentagon official specializing in Middle East issues.

"Syrians and Iranians have supplied Hamas with training and weaponry," Shenker said, pointing to a variety of weapons used during Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon as examples of what Israeli ground troops may face in Gaza.

"In Southern Lebanon, we saw the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that disabled several Merkava tanks and killed the soldiers inside," Shenker said in a phone interview with FOXNews.com.

"In Lebanon, we confirmed the use of the Kornet anti-tank system," Shenker said, referring to a series of Russian manufactured wire-guided missile systems. When U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003, the relatively small and easy to use Kornet anti-tank system reportedly disabled several American tanks, though Russia denied having sold the armor-piercing weapons to Iraq.

In Lebanon, between 46 and 50 Merkava main battle tanks (of the 400 deployed) were hit by anti-tank weapons, according to Western sources. In this case, too, Russia denied selling arms to either Syria or Hezbollah.

The weapons systems flowed into Lebanon more easily than they can in Gaza, where the borders are under stricter surveillance. But a network of underground tunnels used for smuggling has military analysts questioning exactly what weapons the militants in Gaza may possess.

Hamas lacks air, sea and armor assets, so it has little hope of successfully challenging Israeli forces on an open battlefield. But a modern military's overwhelming advantage dwindles quickly in an urban environment.

Hamas, Schenker said, has claimed possession of American-manufactured weapons the State Department gave to its political rival, Fatah. The weapons, intended to help bolster the precarious security situation of the Fatah government, now could be used to fight the Israeli military.

Al Aqsa Television has broadcast footage of Hamas gunmen brandishing American assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and ammunition the U.S. reportedly provided to Fatah. The captured weaponry is said to include 7,400 American M-16 assault rifles and 800,000 rounds of bullets.

Both the rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and M-16s would enable Hamas fighters to aim and hit a target from a broader distance, but the danger for the Israelis increases as its fighters draw closer.

Israeli soldiers have the advantage of specific urban operations training, a modern communications system, personal weapons like night vision goggles (NVGs) and the Israeli designed Tavor, a highly accurate automatic assault rifle conceived specifically with close-quarter combat in mind.

SEE HERE

The Israelis also possess a variety of hand-grenades and explosives to breech obstacles and eliminate the enemy, but they must be mindful of civilian casualties. For this reason, Israeli soldiers may need to use flash/stun grenades that produce an intense burst of light and a piercing noise, instead of simply relying on heavy firepower to destroy any dwelling.

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RUJUK PADA AL QURAN TENTANG KAUM BANI ISRAEL

Dedikasi buat Tun Dr Mahathir yang sudah mula lupa! Bukankah suatu ketika dahulu ketika Tun menjawat kerusi Menteri Perdana Tun berkeras mahu menggunakan logik akal dan membelakangkan wahyu bahawa harus berdakwah dan berbaik-baik dengan Yahudi laknatullah. Tun mula mengorak langkah silap dengan menghantar Tunku Imran anak Yamtuan Negeri Sembilan pada ketika itu untuk menjalin persahabatan dengan regime Israel melalui perlawanan kriket dengan pasukan Yahudi.

Natijahnya beratus ahli PAS "berperang" dengan FRU di padang kriket Universiti Malaya dan seterusnya dikenakan hukuman denda kerana berdemonstrasi. Masih ingatkah Tun anggota FRU masuk masjid Ar Rahman Universiti Malaya dengan kasut-kasut mereka untuk menangkap ahli PAS yang bertempiaran lari dari pancutan air asid FRU.

Banyak lagi insiden yang membuktikan Tun adalah Pro Israel ketika itu.

Kini pelbagai barangan masuk ke pelabuhan kita dari Israel menggunakan syarikat proksi dan jika kita teliti logo di kontena yang dipunggah dari kapal-kapal berkenaan adalah dari Israel. Sila lihat posting MULAKAN BOIKOT BARANGAN YAHUDI DI DEPAN MATA.


Mulakan boikot sekarang. Bukan cakap politik sahaja. Gerakkan semua kementerian dan jabatan Kerajaan yang berkenaan. Siasat mana-mana agensi yang berurusan dengan Israel atau proksinya. OIC dan NAM jangan jadi tunggul dan tidur. Desak kedutaan Arab di Malaysia untuk berbuat sesuatu yang positif sebelum terlambat. Adakah kita ingin melihat Israel meluaskan lagi jajahannnya sperti selepas perang tahun 1967. Jangan jadi seperti regim Arab yang terang-terang bersekongkol dengan USA dan Israel. Tunggulah saat kehancuran buat mereka. "Sesungguhnya ALlah tidak mungkir janji".

Hentikan hubungan dagangan dengan Israel: Dr Mahathir

Sinar Harian
PUTRAJAYA - Bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed semalam menggesa negara yang mempunyai hubungan dagangan dengan Amerika Syarikat (AS) supaya menghentikannya kerana ia akan meningkatkan lagi serangan Israel ke atas penduduk tidak berdosa Palestin.

Beliau berkata, selain tindakan menghentikan hubungan dagangan, negara berkenaan juga perlu sepakat untuk menyelar sikap AS yang secara terang menyokong perbuatan Israel menceroboh Gaza.

“Kita perlu hentikan segera (hubungan dagangan). Jika tidak mereka (Amerika dan Israel) semakin kuat menyerang Palestin.

“Inilah cara terbaik kita lakukan ke atas Amerika kerana mereka jelas memberi sokongan dengan tindakan Israel membunuh rakyat Palestin yang tidak berdosa,” katanya pada sidang media di Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana di sini, semalam.

Dr Mahathir turut menyifatkan serangan ke atas Palestin menerusi laut, udara dan darat sejak seminggu lalu itu sebagai peperangan moden kerana melibatkan pembunuhan orang awam yang tidak berdosa.

Mengenai sama ada Malaysia mampu bertahan hubungan dengan Amerika, beliau berkata, setiap perbuatan baik ada harganya.

“Saya yakin negara mampu berdaya saing maju tanpa bergantung pada Amerika. Lagipun, ketika ini ekonomi Malaysia adalah lebih pelbagai,” katanya.

Ditanya wartawan, mengapa kebanyakan badan hanya mendiamkan diri ketika Israel menyerang Gaza, beliau berkata, organisasi itu diterajui oleh Amerika dan Britain.

Menurutnya, apa yang berlaku itu membuktikan wujud ketidakadilan dunia terhadap Israel.

“Pada saya, Amerika dan Britain adalah dalang yang mencetuskan peperangan di bandar Gaza sehingga kehilangan banyak nyawa dan negara Palestin semakin musnah. Ini satu perkara yang tidak baik.

“Kita patut boikot barangan mereka. Kita jangan beli peralatan perang daripada Amerika. Kita ada pilihan lain, kita boleh beli senjata daripada Rusia,” katanya.

Dr Mahathir berkata, peperangan zaman moden yang berlaku itu bukan alternatif untuk memusnahkan sesebuah negara, sebaliknya hendak menghapuskan umat Islam.

Ditanya kenapa beliau mengadakan sidang akhbar, katanya, beliau perlu membuat sesuatu dan bercakap sesuatu seperti mengharapkan Amerika perlu berhenti menyokong Israel.

“Jangan salahkan Israel, salahkan Amerika Syarikat dan Britain sebab mereka yang mencipta keadaan di sana (Gaza),” katanya.

Read More “RUJUK PADA AL QURAN TENTANG KAUM BANI ISRAEL”  »»

MULAKAN BOIKOT BARANGAN YAHUDI DI DEPAN MATA

Tun Dr M hanya nampak kuman di seberang laut, tetapi pura-pura tak nampak gajah (syarikat multinasional yang kerajaan Malaysia sendiri mempunyai kepentingan di dalamnya) di depan mata, di belakang rumah dan di dapur. Syarikat gergasi seperti Tesco, Nestle, Unilever dan lain-lain yang kononnya membantu Malaysia mempromosikan produk halal terang-terang direstui oleh JAKIM dan Unit Perancang Ekonomi (UPE) Jabatan Perdana Menteri adalah fokus utama jika Malaysia dan rakyatnya ingin benar-benar memboikot produk USA dan Yahudi. Sebelum kita bercakap tentang "greenback" dan USD, boikot dulu barangan dapur yang kita setiap hari gunakan dan merupakan perbelanjaan utama setiap keluarga di Malaysia. Sila lihat entri dan pautan di bawah.


Dr M calls for boycott of all that is US

Maria J.Dass/ sun2surf

PUTRAJAYA (Jan 5, 2009) : Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed has again asked countries who oppose the invasion of Gaza to boycott the greenback as a protest against US' support for Israel’s invasion.


Tun Mahathir gestures as he speaks at the Perdana Leadership foundation. He also lauded Malaysia's move to initiate the convening of the UN General Assembly to find a solution to the matter as the assembly can override the decision of the security council.

Blaming the US and Britain for backing the invasion he said: "The dollar is only being used because people accept the greenback as legal tender and if they stop, then the US cannot trade, cannot make money, they will become poor and this will stop them from producing more and more weapons."

"People who keep all their money in the US are actually responsible for the manufacturing of weapons which are used to kill people. That's what their money is being used for," said Mahathir, adding America was a bankrupt country with no money or no reserves, so anyone can go against it if they wanted to.

Mahathir also said while it may be difficult for governments to move, individuals can do their part by boycotting US products. "Governments cannot force people to drink Coca Cola, and you won’t die because you did not drink any Coca Cola," he cited as an example.

Asked if this would affect Malaysia since the US is its largest trading partner, Mahathir said: "There will be a price to pay to do something good, but if you slowly whittle down involvement with the US, then slowly we will get used to it."

Mahathir also said: "This is not a religious war. There are many places where the Jews have been living with Muslims for years. "There is no animosity towards the local Jews in these places, so this war is not religious but territorial ."

Mahathir said: "The US who is the 'policeman of the world' has given its full backing to the invasion. No candidate in America can afford to say they don’t support the Jews.

"US president-elect Barack Obama’s deputy (Joe Biden) gave an interview saying I’m not a Jew but I’m a Zionist so you can expect the new administration's stand on this. I don’t think that anyone can be as bad as (George) Bush, so I think that it’s the best of a bad choice," he said when asked if Obama can make a change.


FIRMA MULTINASIONAL BERKAITAN DENGAN YAHUDI PROMOSIKAN HALAL MALAYSIA

PERIHAL JAKIM,HDC, UNILEVER, TESCO, NESTLE DAN LOGO HALAL

TESCO & YAHUDI SUMBER DARI INTERNET

NESTLE ANOTHER VEHICLE OF HALAL INDUSTRY CORPORATION


DUTCH, UNILEVER,JEWS, FITNA AND HDC ALL MIXED UP



FITNA SATU PERKATAAN YANG SERING DIFITNAH

LOGO HALAL SIAPA YANG HALALKAN

THE ZIONIST STATE WHO'S TO BLAME

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SATANIC VERSES , FILMS AND JIHAD CONFERENCE IN JURUSALEM

An international conference on jihad that took place in Jerusalem on 14th December 2008 highlighted what hawkish scholars on Islam described as "real disputes" about the nature of the problem. The event also inspired the controversial Dutch legislator Geert Wilders to plan a European follow-up in the coming months.

"It's time for such an event in the Netherlands," the far-right Wilders said on the terrace of Jerusalem's Begin Center, where the event was held. "But the cost of security would be much higher in Holland than in Israel."

Wilders - the only one of the six speakers to receive a standing ovation from the 600 people in the audience - told his listeners that "as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai proved, there's no moderate Islam," and it is time for the West to realize it is "in a conflict with the Muslim faith at large." He sided with scholars like Haifa University's David Bukay, who averred that "moderate Islam" does not exist and that the Koran could not be reformed or modernized.

But American scholar and activist Daniel Pipes disagreed. Quoting Egyptian philosopher Hassan Hanafi, Pipes said the Koran "is like a supermarket where one takes what one wants and leaves the rest." This freedom of selection, he argued, provides a means for reshaping Islam.




Speech Geert Wilders
Jerusalem
December 14, 2008

Thank you very much.

It's a privilege for me to be here in this beautiful city Jerusalem, the capitol of the only democracy in the entire Middle East. When I was a teenager I lived some years here in this city and after that I visited Israel more times than I can count. Israel: the only country in the region with a functioning parliament, a rule of law and free elections. The only country in the region that shares the values of our Western societies, in fact is one of the foundations of our Judeo-Christian identity.

We are here to voice our concern over the growing Islamisation of the West. We do this in this city, the city of David. The city that, together with Rome and Athens, symbolizes our ancient heritage.

Perhaps a few of you may be new to Jerusalem, yet, Jerusalem is not new to any of you. We all carry Jerusalem in our blood, in our genes. We all live and breathe Jerusalem. We talk Jerusalem, we dream Jerusalem. Simply because, the values of ancient Israel have become the values of the West. We are all Israel, and Israel is in all of us.

This city is the capital of a democracy under threat. Israel is under siege, like the Jewish community in the Land of Israel is under siege for over a century now. Israel with all its glory and splendour is unique, and its history unparalleled. Yet, Israel’s security situation is not unique, and neither is its enemy.

Samuel Huntington writes it so aptly: “Islam has bloody borders”. Israel is located precisely on that border. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, just like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way of the Islamic advance. Just like West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other places to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Therefore, the war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Thanks to Israeli parents who see their children go off to join the army and lie awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and have pleasant dreams, unaware of the dangers looming.

At present the front-line of jihad runs not just through the streets of Tel Aviv and Haifa, but through the streets of London, Madrid, and Amsterdam as well. Jihad is our common enemy, and we better start Facing Jihad before it is too late.

Therefore, if we voice our concern over the Islamisation of the West, we have to do it here, where our civilization borders on Islam. Where jihadists fire Qassams into civilian homes in Sderot and Ashkelon, and where a doctor like Aryeh Eldad is characteristic of our civilization by treating terrorists the same way as he treats the Israeli victims. I salute Professor Eldad for his work for humanity, and for his patriotism. And I thank him for hosting this conference in this great city. Aryeh I am proud to be your friend. I will say a few things about the Islamisation of Europe and my film Fitna. I will use some examples from the Netherlands, because they are indicative for the situation on the continent.

The mass migration to the Netherlands continues full-speed ahead. Currently, a staggering number of new immigrants arrive every year, many of them Muslim, often uneducated, if not illiterate. Bringing along with them the local customs of the mountains and deserts of backward Islamic countries. Thousands and thousands of Muslims arrive in the Netherlands every year, while already one million Muslims are living in our tiny country.

There are many problems concerning this massive influx: immigrants are overly represented in social benefits and crime statistics and the overall costs are staggering. The financial costs of mass immigration in the Netherlands exceeds 100 billion euro’s.

But what we have to fear most is the creeping Islamisation, the stealth jihad. Because every Islamic neighbourhood, every Islamic shop, every mosque, every Islamic school, every burqa, every veil is regarded by many Muslims as building blocks towards a larger goal, towards domination.

This is in fact the essence of the problem. Not crime, not even the financial burden. The biggest problem is the demographic development, and the way it influences our society at large. Immigration from Muslim countries and the demographics will result in the Eurabia that the brave Bat Ye'or is warning about. It will become reality if we don't act now. A decade and a half ago, a then unknown American politician used the following slogan in his political campaign: “it’s the economy, stupid.” From now on the motto of my party will be: “it’s demographics, dumbo”.

More than forty years ago a British politician gave a famous speech. He stated that, looking into the future, he saw ‘rivers of blood’ as a result of the uncontrolled influx of immigrants. Enoch Powell’s speech was the starting point of a debate on mass immigration in Europe. As usual, the leftist establishment labeled him an extremist and his career went down. But the British people loved him, and supported Powell. London’s dock workers took him to their hearts, marching by the thousands in support of Mr. Powell.

Looking back, I share Enoch Powell’s alarmist views on mass immigration, but ‘rivers of blood’ is not something I see happening. We will not face civil war. Our political elite is trying to make us believe that the influx of Muslim immigrants is similar to the waves of immigration that took place centuries ago. Or they say that “Christianity developed towards modernity, and therefore Islam will do the same”. How are we to remain a democracy if a large part of the growing Muslim population is in favour of introducing sharia law? How is Amsterdam to remain the gay capitol of Europe if gays are regularly beaten up by non western immigrants, often Muslims? How are the Jewish communities of Europe to survive with a growing presence of an ideology that is so blatantly anti-Semitic? How are we to remain a centre of cultural and scientific excellence if Islam opposes art, and academic exploration? How are we to remain an open and tolerant society if we are faced with part of the Muslim community favouring self-segregation and showing no desire for assimilation? How can we look to the future with confidence, when a large part of the population turns to a seventh century desert for answers?

These are the questions the multiculturalists don’t want to answer.

Instead of providing leadership our political elite fooled us by using our own principles against us. I will give you five examples.

First. Our tolerance is used as an argument to bring in more Islam, to bring in more Muslims, and a way to tell us that we should not criticize their Islamic culture, if you do you are labeled intolerant and racist.

Second. Democracy. A growing Muslim electorate is too hard for politicians to resist, so they give in to their grievances and demands to win their vote. Before long sharia law will be introduced, legally and democratically, by means of majority vote. The former Dutch Minister of Justice once said that sharia law could be part of the Dutch legal system if a two third majority of the population would be in favour of it.

Third. Our religious freedom is utilized by an ideology that has no plans whatsoever to play by our rules, yet demands the same rights our traditional religions have had for centuries;

Fourth. Our welfare state that once was the envy of the world, now functions as a magnet for a lot of non-Western immigrants, dreaming of a cushy life in wealthy Europe.

Fifth. Our open borders came to symbolize our open mindset, an example of our cosmopolitan hospitality. But now we have lost control of our borders and we can’t even keep track of who is entering our countries, let alone prevent them from entering.

Our Western principles are hollow if they are not accompanied by a desire to sustain our culture and our civilization, based upon knowing who we are and where we come from. We are not from Saudi-Arabia. We are not from Iran. We come from Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. That makes our civilization special, and certainly worth preserving.

In spite of all that, the political elite are still madly in love with their pet project, the multicultural society, as they call it romantically. Apparently they don’t live in the neighbourhoods that are turning Islamic. They will tell you “they are nice people. I don’t see the problem?” The Muslim immigrant’s demands sound reasonably to them, like: “let us have an extra-large mosque”.

It is very difficult to remain optimistic in the face of the growing Islamisation of Europe. The tide is turning against us. We are losing on every front. Regarding the demographics, Islam is gaining momentum. The ruling elite is even proud of the Muslim immigration. After all, this way they can show everyone that they are not racists. Academia, the arts, the media, trade unions, the churches, the business world, the entire political establishment have all converted to the suicidal theory of multiculturalism and cultural relativism.

Cultural relativism is the biggest disease modern day Europe suffers from. Not all cultures are equal. Our Western culture is better than the Islamic culture. In the words of the brave Dr. Wafa Sultan: “It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality”. Indeed also here in Israel you are not fighting a territorial war, it's not about territory it's about ideology. The Islamic ideology does not seek cooperation or assimilation but aims for submission and dominance over non-Muslims. There is no moderate Islam, there will never be a moderate Islam. There might be moderate people who call themselves Muslim, but there is no moderate Islam.

Leftist journalists and leftist politicians hasten themselves to label anyone critical of the Islamisation a ‘right-wing extremist’. The entire establishment has sided with Islam. Leftists, liberals, and Christian-Democrats are now enslaved to Islam. They are Dhimmi’s. Lenin once labelled ignorant people that unknowingly aided his cause ‘useful idiots’. Well, the West is now full of these ‘useful idiots’, and they are even proud of it.

Now some words about my film Fitna.

I felt I had the moral duty to educate people about Islam and the Islamisation of Europe. The duty to make clear to everyone that the Koran stands at the heart of what some people call terrorism but is in reality jihad. I wanted to show that the problems of Islam are at the core of Islam, and do not belong to its fringes.

I have warned against the dangers of the Koran and Islam in numerous interviews, opinion articles, speeches and of course parliamentary debates, but pictures often say more than words. That is why I made Fitna.

Fitna is a documentary that shows what is being done in the name of Islam. Without placing all Muslims into the same category, I think I have succeeded in showing that the Koran is not some dusty old book, but that it is still used today as a source of inspiration for, and justification of hatred, violence and terrorism across the world.

A few weeks ago the world has once again seen what Islam is capable of. In Mumbai, jihadists separated Muslims from non-Muslims, according to a witness in a Belgian newspaper. The non-Muslims, the Kaffirs, were subsequently shot. The terrorists also went straight for the tiny Jewish centre in Mumbai, where, according to reports made to an Indian news website, they horribly tortured Jewish people before brutally murdering them.

Most of the Western media stick to naming the culprits as being members of ‘separatist movements’. In doing so, they are missing the main point and are unjustly ignoring the Islamic nature of the terror attacks. After all, if it is a conflict about borders, why are they killing Jews in Mumbai? Why, in a city of tens of millions, find the jihadists the shortest way to the only rabbi in town – in order to kill him and his wife? Why are Israel’s enemies always shouting “Allah hoe-Akbar” and “kill the Jews” if all they want is peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding? Maybe, I’m just guessing, is it because they have an ideology that tells them to kill Jews, to kill unbelievers, and to advance Islam until there is world domination. Islam, after all divides the world in a dar-al-Harb, and dar-al-Islam. Islam is a totalitarian ideology full of hate, violence and submission.

From the day the plan for my short film was made public it caused quite a stir, in the Netherlands, in Europe and across the world. First there was a political uproar, with government leaders across the continent in sheer panic. The Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs called on me to abandon my film project. The Minister of Justice let it be known that post hoc criminal proceedings could be initiated if the movie was shown. The Dutch government investigated the possibility of having Fitna banned in advance. The Dutch branch of the Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir declared that the Netherlands was due for an attack. Internationally there was a series of incidents. The Taliban threatened to organize additional attacks against Dutch troops in Afghanistan and a website linked to Al Qaeda published the message that I ought to be killed, while the Grand Mufti of Syria stated that I would be responsible for all the bloodshed after the screening of the film.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan the Dutch flag was burned on several occasions. Dolls representing me were burned as well. The Indonesian President announced that I will never be admitted into Indonesia again, while the UN Secretary General and the European Union issued statements in the same cowardly vein as those by the Dutch government. I could go on and on. It was an absolute disgrace, a sell out. It was treason to our Western principles, it was treason to freedom of speech, it was treason to liberty itself. My own government was not defending me, but became my worst enemy in the process.

Because of Fitna the State of Jordan is currently litigating against me. Jordan wants to prosecute me for blasphemy, demeaning Islam and slandering the Prophet Muhammad; violations of the Jordanian Penal Code, even though the alleged violations did not even occur in Jordan. As you all know, Jordan is a non-democratic country, without an independent or impartial judicial system and without a strongly developed civil society. According to a recent study by Human Rights Watch, torture is a routine and widespread practice in Jordan.

Jordan’s attempt to prosecute me is an infringement on the sovereignty of my country, the Netherlands. It is an infringement on freedom of speech. Jordan’s attempt is in fact a hostile act towards freedom itself.

If Jordan succeeds in prosecuting a democratically elected member of a Western parliament, what kind of precedent would that set? But its not about me. The principle is not Geert Wilders. If you look at the press and the rest of the political elite in the Netherlands, nobody cared. Nobody gived a damn. This was the worst thing. A nondemocratic country like Jordan cannot use the international or domestic legal system to silence anyone. If this starts, if we allow this, we can get rid of all parliaments, and we should close down every newspaper, and we should shut up and all pray to Mecca five times a day.

But there is some hope. For instance there is some hope with the middle class workers. Underneath the empty bravado of the elite, the middle class worker, the average Joe, is starting to realise that there is something terribly wrong with Islam. In the Netherlands, sixty percent of the population considers mass immigration to be the worst mistake since the second world war. And an equal sixty percent sees Islam as the number one threat to our national identity. But the Freedom Party is the only political party in the Dutch parliament that shares their view.

And there is hope that political parties critical about the Islamisation of the West are gaining momentum all over Europe, are getting stronger. And we will work together with common legislation, with common initiatives, perhaps even with a common group in the European parliament as defenders of the West, defenders of our culture, defenders of our identity, defenders of our freedom.

We need a new way of thinking, a new paradigm, to defend our liberties. Just reiterating our devotion to tolerance and democracy is not good enough, as we are Facing Jihad. We need a new set of goals and ideas. We need new leaders. And we should always remember where we come from. We all come from Jerusalem.

Let me wind up. The essence of my short speech today is that Europe is in the process of Islamisation, and that we need to fight it. Because if we don’t fight the Islamization we will lose everything; our cultural identity, our democracy, our rule of law, our liberties, our freedom. We have the duty to defend the ideas of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. The ancient heritage of our forefathers is under attack; we have to stand up and defend it.

A century and a half ago, on the other side of the world, a young President said exactly what I mean. This is what Abraham Lincoln said in 1862, and I leave you with that: The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. (Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862)

It is five to twelve. Freedom must win, we have to win and we will win.

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PERMAINAN SYAITAN ON- LINE

Jika dilihat daripada alamat pertubuhan yang membangunkan serta menyediakan permainan terbabit, mereka beroperasi di negara ini, malah dipercayai berdaftar dengan MSC. Di mana pihak berwajib? Di mana anda sebagai Muslim serta Pengundi berdaftar yang mampu merubah keadaan yang ada sekarang?



Cemuh agama
Oleh Ahmad Tajol Ansar Ibrahim dan Mohd Azam Shah Yaacob
am@hmetro.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Cukup hina bagi umat Islam apabila pemain permainan komputer boleh menghidupkan karekter berasaskan manusia, tetapi menamakannya sebagai Allah, malah lebih meluapkan perasaan marah apabila watak terbabit hanya berseluar dalam.

Mungkin kerana cetek pengetahuan agama menyebabkan segelintir remaja yang gemar melayari permainan komputer secara terus di Internet menjadikannya medan untuk mencaci serta menghina agama.

Mereka sepatutnya menguji kecekapan atau minda, bukannya memburuk-burukkan agama melalui permainan dalam talian berkenaan.

Berdasarkan pendedahan seorang ‘kaki’ permainan komputer, siasatan Harian Metro mendapati wujudnya pemain yang sengaja mempersendakan agama berikutan tiada tapisan mengenai sensitiviti agama atau kaum.


Pemain terbabit yang dikenali sebagai Hazdi berkata, hampir semua permainan di Internet yang pernah dicubanya tidak mempunyai tapisan membabitkan agama atau kaum.

Ini menyebabkan kebanyakan pemain yang didakwanya berusia belasan tahun itu sewenang-wenangnya mencerca dan menghina agama.

“Saya tidak faham dengan pembangun perisian ini. Jika dilihat daripada alamat pertubuhan yang menyediakan permainan terbabit, mereka beroperasi di negara ini, malah dipercayai berdaftar dengan MSC.

Bagaimanapun, mereka langsung tidak peka terhadap sensitiviti agama.

Dia yang sering berkunjung di kafe siber untuk bermain permainan komputer berkata, pembuat perisian sepatutnya membuat tapisan terhadap nama watak sama ada dalam bahasa Melayu atau bahasa Inggeris bagi menjaga sensitiviti agama di negara berbilang kaum ini.

“Janganlah benarkan pemain sesuka hati menamakan watak yang dihidupkan bagi mengelak tindak balas daripada pihak tertentu,” katanya.

Kata Hazdi, ada permainan membabitkan beberapa pemain yang melayari permainan berkenaan di tempat lain.

Ketika berbual, pemain sengaja memaki-hamun kaum tertentu dan bercakap perkara lucah.

Dia seterusnya mengesan sesetengah pemain senior secara terus di Internet itu suka menjerat pemain baru untuk mendapatkan wang atau kad tambah nilai.

Situasi itu boleh dilihat apabila pemain senior itu menawarkan barangan yang boleh ditukar dengan kad tambah nilai atau wang.

“Kebanyakan pemain senior itu pelajar sekolah. Jadi mereka sememangnya tidak mempunyai sumber kewangan tetap untuk berkunjung di kafe siber. Disebabkan itu, mereka berani menipu pemain baru dengan menawarkan barangan yang boleh ditukar dengan kad tambah nilai atau wang yang dibayar menerusi akaun bank.

“Penipuan itu pernah terjadi kepada beberapa rakan saya ketika mula-mula mencuba permainan. Apabila mereka menyerahkan nombor pin kad tambah nilai yang diminta untuk ditukarkan dengan barangan dipersetujui, pemain senior itu tiba-tiba memutuskan talian.

“Ini menyebabkan rakan saya itu kerugian ratusan ringgit. Mengikut dakwaan mengatakan ada mangsa kerugian ribuan ringgit,” katanya.

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AHLI AKADEMIK UNIVERSITI HARVARD MENULIS DALAM JURUSALEM POST TENTANG HAMAS

Strategi jangka panjang Regime Israel ialah untuk menghapuskan penguasaan HAMAS ke atas Gaza sekaligus mencapai satu bentuk rundingan ke arah status- akhir perjanjian dengan pihak berkuasa Palestin yang diketuai oleh Mahmoud Abbas.

(klik pada imej untuk dibesarkan)


Kemenangan HAMAS melalui pilihanraya menjadikan Mahmoud Abbas seolah-olah hanya salah seorang ketua daerah dalam Palestin. Israel menganggap pemerintahan HAMAS di Gaza sebagai "tulang yang tersekat di tekak".

Setelah Hamas menang di Gaza, Israel telah mengenakan sekatan ekonomi ke atas Gaza dan mengawal pintu keluar-masuk Gaza. HAMAS pula telah menembak roket ke arah Israel dengan harapan Israel akan mengangkat sekatan ke atas Gaza. Jadi apabila sedikit perjanjian tercapai antara Hamas dan Israel pada June lepas, Israel tetap juga tidak menarik balik sekatannya ke atas Gaza. Bekalan bahanapi hanya pulih di tahap lima puluh peratus sahaja. Manakala kawasan Tebing Barat mendapat segala kemudahan dan keistimewaan dari Israel.

Jan 4, 2009 23:31 | Updated Jan 5, 2009
Analysis: Battling toward the collapse of the Hamas regime
By MARTIN KRAMER / Jurusalem Post

Israel's long-term strategic goal is the elimination of Hamas control of Gaza. This is especially the goal of the Kadima and Labor parties, which are distinguished by their commitment to a negotiated final-status agreement with the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.

The Hamas takeover in Gaza reduced Abbas to a provincial governor who no longer represents effective authority in all the areas destined for a future Palestinian state. Hamas rule in Gaza is a bone in the throat of the "peace process" - one Israel is determined to remove.

But how? After the Hamas takeover in June 2007, Israel imposed a regime of economic sanctions on Gaza, constricting the flow of goods and materials into Gaza via its border crossings. The idea was gradually to undermine the popularity of Hamas in Gaza, while at the same time bolstering Abbas.

Israel enjoyed considerable success in this approach. While the diplomatic "peace process" with Abbas didn't move very far, the West Bank enjoyed an economic boomlet, as Israel removed checkpoints and facilitated the movement of capital, goods, workers and foreign tourists. So while Gaza languished under sanctions, with zero growth, the West Bank visibly prospered - reinforcing the message that "Islamic resistance" is a dead end.

Hamas, from the outset, sought to break out of what it has called the Israeli "siege" by firing rockets into Israel. Its quid pro quo was an end to Hamas rocket fire in exchange for a lifting of the Israeli "siege." When Israel and Hamas reached an agreement for "calm" last June, Hamas hoped the sanctions would be lifted as well, and Israel did increase the flow through the crossing points, by about 50 percent. Fuel supplies were restored to previous levels.

But Hamas was fully aware that sanctions were slowly eroding its base and contradicting its narrative that "resistance" pays. This is why it refused to renew the "calm" agreement after its six-month expiration, and renewed rocket fire.

Were Israel to lift the economic sanctions, it would transform Hamas control of Gaza into a permanent fact, solidify the division of the West Bank and Gaza, and undermine both Israel and Abbas by showing that violent "resistance" to Israel produces better results than peaceful compromise and cooperation. Rewarding "resistance" just produces more of it. So Israel's war aim is very straightforward, and it is not simply a total cease-fire. At the very least, it is a total cease-fire that also leaves the sanctions against Hamas in place. This would place Israel in an advantageous position to bring about the collapse of Hamas rule sometime in the future - its long-term objective.

THE ISRAELI operation is meant to impress on Hamas that there is something far worse than the sanctions - that Israel is capable of hunting Hamas on air, sea and land at tremendous cost to Hamas and minimal cost to Israel, while much of the world stands by and parts of it (including some Arabs) quietly applaud.

Many Western and Arab governments see the logic of this. They would like to see Abbas and the Palestinian Authority back in authority over Gaza, thus restoring credibility to the "peace process." Because they wish to see Hamas contained if not diminished, they have moved slowly or not at all to respond to calls for action to stop the fighting. The question now is how Israel turns its military moves into political moves that achieve the shared objectives of this coalition of convenience.

A hint of the solution Israel envisions comes from a senior Israeli diplomatic source: "Israel cannot agree that the only party responsible for implementing and regulating the cease-fire be Hamas."

Israel's objective is to put another player on the ground in Gaza, which over time would be positioned to undermine Hamas. And since the objective is gradually restoring Gaza to control by Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, it seems logical to assume that this mechanism will be designed to enforce Hamas submission to that authority. Hamas would swallow the pill in the name of "national unity," but it would become beholden to the PA.

It is the PA, for example, that could be reinserted at the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah (as already demanded by Cairo). It is the PA that could be given exclusive control of reconstruction budgets to repair damaged and destroyed ministries, mosques and homes. (In the eventual reconstruction boom, Israel will hold all the cards: Gaza has no construction materials, and gravel, aggregate and cement must be trucked in from Israel.) The premise is that if economic sanctions are to be lifted - and post-war Gaza will be desperately in need of all material things - it must only be through the agency of the PA.

Finally, PA security forces could be reintroduced in a police capacity, as part of the "national" reconciliation. An envelope for this restoration of the PA could be provided by the international community.

It isn't impossible that Israel would go beyond its declared aims and bring Hamas down if the Islamist movement appeared sufficiently damaged by initial ground operations. If Israeli forces were positioned to do this, and Hamas began to unravel, the impetus to finish the job would be strong. This could make for a much quicker handoff to the PA, via some internationalized body. Israeli disavowals of interest in this outcome, at this time, should be taken with a grain of salt. Israel won't miss an opportunity if it presents itself.

WHAT COULD go wrong with this scenario? A lot. Hamas assumes (probably correctly) that its Palestinian opponents fed Israel with much of the intelligence it needed to wage precision warfare against Hamas. There is likely to be a vicious settling of scores as soon as a cease-fire is in place, if not before, and which could approximate a civil war. This could open space for small groups like Islamic Jihad and other gangs, which could shoot off rockets at their own initiative (or that of Iran).

If something can go wrong in Gaza, there is a good chance it will. Much of the aftermath will have to be improvised, and much will depend on how thoroughly Israel has degraded the capabilities of Hamas.

If Hamas remains a player, the biggest risk to Israel is that the mechanism created through diplomacy to "implement and regulate" ends up legitimating Hamas. The temptation to "engage" Hamas has grown in Europe, and even among some Americans, ever since the Hamas victory in the 2006 legislative council elections.

As diplomats work to put together a cease-fire mechanism, Hamas will work hard to tempt governments to talk to it, persuading them to skirt the Quartet's insistence that Hamas not be "engaged" until it accepts past PA-Israel agreements, recognizes Israel and renounces armed struggle.

Legitimation of Hamas could seal the fate of the "peace process" and give "resistance" the reputation of a truly winning strategy. The United States will have to assure that all contact with Hamas runs exclusively through the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Turks, and above all, the PA. Europe and the United States must stay well out of the diplomatic reach of Hamas until it meets the Quartet conditions - a highly improbable prospect.

As with any multi-stage plan, Israel's appears clearer at the outset and fuzzier in the later stages, where consensus dissipates. In particular, the opposition Likud has less confidence in Abbas and the "peace process" as presently configured. While it is adamant about ending Hamas rule in Gaza, it would be much less concerned with restoring the unity of the Palestinians. As Israel achieves its military aims, underlying political differences, now suppressed, are bound to surface, especially as elections are only a month away.

But for now, Israel is united in pursuing its war of demolition against Hamas. Its aim is not only to stop the rockets from falling in southern Israel, but to move a long stride forward toward a change of regime in Gaza.

The writer is senior fellow at the Shalem Center's Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies in Jerusalem. He is also the Wexler-Fromer fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a senior fellow at the Olin Institute, Harvard University.

Lawatan Obama Ke Jurusalem dan Palestin di SINI

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BERITA BERGAMBAR TERKINI DI MEDAN PERTEMPURAN HAMAS-ISRAEL

Pictures and captions are courtesy of Reuters, AP, CNN and Fox news with thanks.

Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed after an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip January 4, 2009.

Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of their comrade Dvir Emanuelof at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem January 4, 2009. . Israeli troops and tanks split the Gaza Strip and ringed its main city on Sunday in an offensive against Hamas that has killed more than 500 Palestinians, many of them civilians. One Israeli soldier was killed and 32 were wounded in the ground offensive, Israel said. Four Israelis have been killed by the Hamas rocket strikes since Dec. 27.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (RIGHT) heads the weekly cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv January 4, 2009, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO).

Israeli mobile artillery units fire shells towards Gaza from their position outside the northern Gaza Strip January 4, 2009.

9sraeli soldiers look out from atop a tank near the border with the northern Gaza Strip January 4, 2009.

Israeli soldiers advance near the border with northern Gaza during a ground operation by the Israeli army late January 3, 2009. Israeli troops clashed with Hamas fighters as they advanced into Gaza on Saturday in the first ground action of an eight-day offensive on the Palestinian enclave, a witness and the Israeli army said.
Members of the Islamic group carry pictures during a rally against Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, in Jakarta January 4, 2009

Demonstrators wave flags and placards to protest Israel's military actions in Gaza, at a rally in Melbourne January 4, 2009.

child stands behind a poster that reads "fight Israel" during a rally against Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, in Jakarta January 4, 2009.

4Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shout slogans against Israel during a protest in response to the Israeli attacks on Gaza, in central Sydney January 4, 2009.

Iranians in Tehran having a demonstration against Israel's incursion into Gaza

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MAKLUMAT TENTANG REGIM ISRAEL DARI SUMBER CIA, AP, REUTERS DAN WIKIPEDIA

REGIME ISRAEL/ ZIONISTS

Background:

Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.

In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982.

In April 2003, US President BUSH, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. An Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005, along with an internally-brokered Palestinian ceasefire, significantly reduced the violence.

In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military while retaining control over most points of entry into the Gaza Strip. The election of HAMAS in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006; following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006 and a 34-day conflict with Hizballah in Lebanon in June-August 2006, he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank. OLMERT in June 2007 resumed talks with the PA after HAMAS seized control of the Gaza Strip and PA President Mahmoud ABBAS formed a new government without HAMAS.

Geography Israel
Location:
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
Geographic coordinates:
31 30 N, 34 45 E
Map references:
Middle East

Area:
total: 20,770 sq km
land: 20,330 sq km
water: 440 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than New Jersey
Land boundaries:
total: 1,017 km
border countries: Egypt 266 km, Gaza Strip 51 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307 km
Coastline:
273 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: to depth of exploitation

Climate:
temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas

Terrain:
Negev desert in the south; low coastal plain; central mountains; Jordan Rift Valley
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
highest point: Har Meron 1,208 m

Natural resources:
timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand

Land use:
arable land: 15.45%
permanent crops: 3.88%
other: 80.67% (2005)
Irrigated land:
1,940 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
1.7 cu km (2001)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 2.05 cu km/yr (31%/7%/62%)
per capita: 305 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards:
sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; droughts; periodic earthquakes
Environment - current issues:
limited arable land and natural fresh water resources pose serious constraints; desertification; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation

Geography - note:
there are about 340 Israeli civilian sites - including 100 small outpost communities in the West Bank - as well as 42 sites in the Golan Heights, 0 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (July 2008 est.); Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) is an important freshwater source

People Israel
Population:
7,112,359
note: includes about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, about 20,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 28% (male 1,018,229/female 971,083)
15-64 years: 62.2% (male 2,242,928/female 2,183,688)
65 years and over: 9.8% (male 303,289/female 393,142) (2008 est.)
Median age:
total: 28.9 years
male: 28.2 years
female: 29.7 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.713% (2008 est.)


Birth rate:
20.02 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:
5.41 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate:
2.52 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 4.28 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 4.43 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.12 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 80.61 years
male: 78.54 years
female: 82.79 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate:
2.77 children born/woman (2008 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
3,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
100 (2001 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Israeli(s)
adjective: Israeli

Ethnic groups:
Jewish 76.4% (of which Israel-born 67.1%, Europe/America-born 22.6%, Africa-born 5.9%, Asia-born 4.2%), non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) (2004)

Religions:
Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004)

Languages:
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.1%
male: 98.5%
female: 95.9% (2004 est.)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 15 years
male: 15 years
female: 16 years (2006)
Education expenditures:
6.9% of GDP (2004)


Government Israel
Country name:
conventional long form: State of Israel
conventional short form: Israel
local long form: Medinat Yisra'el
local short form: Yisra'el

Government type:
parliamentary democracy

Capital:
name: Jerusalem
geographic coordinates: 31 46 N, 35 14 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Friday in March; ends the Sunday between the holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv

Administrative divisions:
6 districts (mehozot, singular - mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv

Independence:
14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 14 May (1948); note - Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May

Constitution:
no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the Basic Laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law; note - since May 2003 the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset has been working on a draft constitution

Legal system:
mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; in December 1985, Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Shimon PERES (since 15 July 2007)
head of government: Prime Minister Ehud OLMERT (since May 2006); Deputy Prime Minister Tzipora "Tzipi" LIVNI;

note - Prime Minister OLMERT resigned on 17 September 2008, but will serve as acting prime minister until a new government is formed
cabinet: Cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the Knesset
elections: president is largely a ceremonial role and is elected by the Knesset for a seven-year term (one-term limit); election last held 13 June 2007 (next to be held in 2014 but can be called earlier); following legislative elections, the president assigns a Knesset member - traditionally the leader of the largest party - the task of forming a governing coalition
note: government coalition - Kadima, Labor Party, GIL (Pensioners), and SHAS
election results: Shimon PERES elected president; number of votes in first round - Shimon PERES 58, Reuven RIVLIN 37, Colette AVITAL 21; PERES elected president in second round with 86 votes (unopposed)
Legislative branch:
unicameral Knesset (120 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 28 March 2006 (next scheduled to be held in February 2009)
election results: percent of vote by party - Kadima 22%, Labor 15.1%, SHAS 9.5%, Likud 9%, Yisrael Beiteinu 9%, NU/NRP 7.1%, GIL 5.9%, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 4.7%, Meretz-YAHAD 3.8%, United Arab List 3%, Balad 2.3%, HADASH 2.7%, other 5.9%; seats by party - Kadima 29, Labor 19, Likud 12, SHAS 12, Yisrael Beiteinu 11, NU/NRP 9, GIL 7, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 6, Meretz-YAHAD 5, United Arab List 4, Balad 3, HADASH 3
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (justices appointed by Judicial Selection Committee - made up of all three branches of the government; mandatory retirement age is 70)
Political parties and leaders:
Balad [Azmi BISHARA]; Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (HADASH) [Muhammad BARAKEH]; GIL (Pensioners) [Rafael "Rafi" EITAN]; Kadima [Tzipora "Tzipi" LIVNI]; Labor Party [Ehud BARAK]; Likud [Binyamin NETANYAHU]; Meretz-Yachad [Haim ORON]; National Democratic Assembly (Balad) [Jamal ZAHALKA]; National Union (NU)/National Religious Party (NRP) [Binyamin ELON]; SHAS [Eliyahu YISHAI]; Torah and Shabbat Judaism or UTJ [Yaakov LITZMAN]; United Arab List [Ibrahim SARSUR]; Yisrael Beiteinu [Avigdor LIEBERMAN]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
B'Tselem [Jessica MONTELL, Executive Director] monitors human rights abuses; Peace Now [Yariv OPPENHEIMER, Secretary General] supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; YESHA Council of Settlements [Danny DAYAN, Chairman] promotes settler interests and opposes territorial compromise
International organization participation:
BIS, BSEC (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, OAS (observer), OPCW (signatory), OSCE (partner), PCA, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Salai MERIDOR
chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500
FAX: [1] (202) 364-5607
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador James B. CUNNINGHAM
embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv 63903
mailing address: PSC 98, Box 29, APO AE 09830
telephone: [972] (3) 519-7575
FAX: [972] (3) 516-4390
consulate(s) general: Jerusalem; note - an independent US mission, established in 1928, whose members are not accredited to a foreign government
Flag description:
white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag
Economy Israel
Economy - overview:
Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, its major source of economic and military aid. Israel's GDP, after contracting slightly in 2001 and 2002 due to the Palestinian conflict and troubles in the high-technology sector, has grown by about 5% per year since 2003. The economy grew an estimated 5.4% in 2007, the fastest pace since 2000. The government's prudent fiscal policy and structural reforms over the past few years have helped to induce strong foreign investment, tax revenues, and private consumption, setting the economy on a solid growth path.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$185.8 billion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$161.9 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
5.3% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$26,600 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.7%
industry: 30.2%
services: 67.1% (2007 est.)
Labor force:
2.894 million (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 18.5%, industry 23.7%, services 50%, other 7.8% (2002)
Unemployment rate:
7.3% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line:
21.6%

: Israel's poverty line is $7.30 per person per day (2005)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 28.3% (2005)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
38.6 (2005)

Investment (gross fixed):
18.5% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $53.6 billion
expenditures: $53.63 billion (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Public debt:
80.6% of GDP (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
0.5% (2007 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
4% (31 December 2007)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
6.27% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:
$15.36 billion (31 December 2006)
Stock of quasi money:
$154.3 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit:
$113.4 billion (31 December 2006)
Agriculture - products:
citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products

Industries:
high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, construction, metals products, chemical products, plastics, diamond cutting, textiles, footwear
Industrial production growth rate:
4.1% (2007 est.)
Electricity - production:
48.7 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - consumption:
44.74 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - exports:
1.844 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 99.9%
hydro: 0.1%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
Oil - production:
5,966 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - consumption:
232,300 bbl/day (2006 est.)
Oil - exports:
82,910 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - imports:
334,300 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - proved reserves:
1.94 million bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
Natural gas - production:
970 million cu m (2006 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
970 million cu m (2006 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
30.44 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Current account balance:
$5.197 billion (2007 est.)
Exports:
$50.37 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
Exports - partners:
US 35%, Belgium 7.5%, Hong Kong 5.8% (2007)
Imports:
$55.79 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports - commodities:
raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods
Imports - partners:
US 13.9%, Belgium 7.9%, Germany 6.2%, China 6.1%, Switzerland 5.1%, UK 4.7%, Italy 4.1% (2007)


Economic aid - recipient:
$240 million from US (FY06)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$28.52 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external:
$89.95 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$57.97 billion (2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$41.96 billion (2007 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$173.3 billion (2006)
Currency (code):
new Israeli shekel (ILS); note - NIS is the currency abbreviation; ILS is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the NIS
Currency code:
ILS
Exchange rates:
new Israeli shekels (ILS) per US dollar - 4.14 (2007), 4.4565 (2006), 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004), 4.5541 (2003)


Communications Israel
Telephones - main lines in use:
3.005 million (2006)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
8.902 million (2007)
Telephone system:
general assessment: most highly developed system in the Middle East although not the largest
domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay; all systems are digital; four privately-owned mobile-cellular service providers with countrywide coverage; mobile-cellular teledensity is 140 per 100 persons
international: country code - 972; submarine cables provide links to Europe, Cyprus, and parts of the Middle East; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) (2007)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 23, FM 15, shortwave 2 (1998)
Radios:
3.07 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
17 (plus 36 repeaters) (1995)
Televisions:
1.69 million (1997)
Internet country code:
.il
Internet hosts:
1.415 million (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
21 (2000)

Internet users:
2 million (2007)
Transportation Israel
Airports:
53 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 30
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 10
under 914 m: 6 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 23
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 20 (2007)
Heliports:
3 (2007)
Pipelines:
gas 160 km; oil 442 km; refined products 261 km (2007)
Railways:
total: 853 km
standard gauge: 853 km 1.435-m gauge (2006)
Roadways:
total: 17,870 km
paved: 17,870 km (includes 146 km of expressways) (2007)
Merchant marine:
total: 11
by type: cargo 2, container 9
registered in other countries: 60 (Bermuda 3, Cyprus 4, Georgia 2, Honduras 1, Liberia 23, Malta 18, Panama 3, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2, Slovakia 4) (2008)
Ports and terminals:
Ashdod, Elat (Eilat), Hadera, Haifa

Military Israel
Military branches:
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Naval Forces (INF), Israel Air Force (IAF) (2007)
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory (Jews, Druzes) and voluntary (Christians, Muslims, Circassians) military service; both sexes are obligated to military service; conscript service obligation - 36 months for enlisted men, 21 months for enlisted women, 48 months for officers; reserve obligation to age 41-51 (men), 24 (women) (2008)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 1,717,362
females age 16-49: 1,636,574 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 1,452,926
females age 16-49: 1,383,796 (2008 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 60,602
female: 57,532 (2008 est.)
Military expenditures:
7.3% of GDP (2006)
Transnational Issues Israel
Disputes - international:
West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel withdrew its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank in August 2005; Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights); since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 150,000-420,000 (Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel) (2007)
Illicit drugs:
increasingly concerned about ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin abuse; drugs arrive in country from Lebanon and, increasingly, from Jordan; money-laundering center

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008 (source cia year book)

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Israel is the only country in the world with an operational anti-ballistic missile defense system ("Hetz", Arrow, developed with funding and technology from the United States), though an operational system is in place protecting the Moscow area. Israel has also worked with the U.S. on development of a tactical high energy laser system against medium range rockets (called Nautilus or THEL).

Israel's military technology is most famous for its guns, armored fighting vehicles (tanks, tank-converted APCs, armoured bulldozers, etc.), unmanned aerial vehicles, and rocketry (missiles and rockets). Israel also has manufactured aircraft including the Kfir (reserve), IAI Lavi (canceled), and the IAI Phalcon Airborne early warning System, and naval systems (patrol and missile ships). Much of the IDF's electronic systems (intelligence, communication, command and control, navigation etc.) are Israeli-developed, including many systems installed on foreign platforms (esp. aircraft, tanks and submarines). So are many of its precision-guided munitions.


Israel has the independent capability of launching reconnaissance satellites into orbit (a capability which only Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the People's Republic of China, India, Japan and Ukraine hold). Both the satellites (Ofeq) and the launchers (Shavit) were developed by the Israeli security industries.

Israel is also said to have developed an indigenous nuclear capability, although no official details or acknowledgments have ever been publicized. On the issue of this nuclear weapons program, Israel chooses to follow a policy of deliberate ambiguity.

Israel has also recently purchased the brand new APC, The Wolf Armoured Vehicle, to be used in urban warfare and to protect VIPs.



In 1983, the United States and Israel established a Joint Political Military Group, which convenes twice a year. Both the U.S. and Israel participate in joint military planning and combined exercises, and have collaborated on military research and weapons development. Additionally the U.S. military maintains two classified, pre-positioned War Reserve Stocks in Israel valued at $493 million.[21] Israel has the official distinction of being an American Major non-NATO ally. As a result of this, The US and Israel share the vast majority of their security and military technology.

Since 1976, Israel had been the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. In 2004, Israel was receiving $2.16 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants from the Department of Defense. This amount has increased in recent years due to non-military economic aid being shifted to military aid. A large proportion of this military aid is for the purchase of American military equipment only.

Israeli military technology

The IDF possesses top-of-the-line weapons and computer systems used and recognized worldwide. Some are American-made (with some equipment being modified for IDF use) such as the M4A1 assault rifle, the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. Israel also has developed its own independent weapons industry, which has developed weapons and vehicles such as the Merkava battle tank series, the Kfir fighter aircraft, and various small arms such as the Galil and Tavor assault rifles, and the Uzi submachine gun.

The IDF also has several large internal research and development departments, and it purchases many technologies produced by the Israeli security industries including IAI, IMI, Elbit, El-Op, Rafael, Soltam, and dozens of smaller firms. Many of these developments have been battle-tested in Israel's numerous military engagements, making the relationship mutually beneficial, the IDF getting tailor-made solutions and the industries a very high repute.




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US blok Tindakan Majlis Keselamatan PBB untuk gencatan senjata di Gaza

Israel invades: Tanks and troops roll in
AP Reports
GAZA CITY: Thousands of Israeli troops backed by columns of tanks and helicopter gunships launched a ground offensive in Gaza Saturday night, with officials saying they expected a lengthy fight in the densely populated territory after eight days of punishing airstrikes failed to halt militant rocket attacks on Israel.

The incursion set off fierce clashes with Palestinian militants and Gaza’s Hamas rulers vowed the coastal strip would be a “graveyard” for Israelis forces.

“This will not be easy and it will not be short,” Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on national television about two hours after ground troops moved in.

The night sky over Gaza was lit by the flash of bullets and balls of fire from tank shells. Sounds of explosions were heard across Gaza City, the territory’s biggest city, and high-rise buildings shook from the bigger booms.

As the ground troops moved in, Israel kept pounding Gaza with airstrikes. F-16 warplanes hit three targets within a few minutes, including a main Hamas security compound.

Witnesses in Gaza said that in the first phase, Israeli ground forces had moved several hundred yards inside Gaza. Israeli security officials said initial clashes with militants took place in open fields and soldiers did not immediately move into Gaza’s crowded cities, where warfare would likely get much deadlier.

“We have many, many targets,” Israeli army spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told CNN. “To my estimation, it will be a lengthy operation.”

Israeli leaders said the operation, known as Cast Lead, was meant to quell militant rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel. They said it would not end quickly but that the objective was not to reoccupy Gaza or topple Hamas. The depth and intensity will depend in part on parallel diplomatic efforts that so far haven’t yielded a truce proposal acceptable to Israel, the officials said.

In the airborne phase of Israel’s onslaught, militants were not deterred from bombarding southern Israel with more than 400 rockets -- including dozens that extended deeper into Israel than ever before. They fired six rockets into Israel in the first few hours after the ground push began, the military said.

One rocket scored a direct hit on a house in the southern city of Ashkelon earlier Saturday and another struck a bomb shelter there, leaving its above-ground entrance scarred by shrapnel and blasting a parked bus.

“I don’t want to disillusion anybody and residents of the south will go through difficult days,” Barak said. “We do not seek war but we will not abandon our citizens to the ongoing Hamas attacks.”

Israel called up tens of thousands of reservists in the event Palestinian militants in the West Bank or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon decide to exploit the broad offensive in Gaza to launch attacks against Israel on other fronts.

The military said the country’s north was on high alert in case Hezbollah guerillas decided to use its vast stockpiles of missiles against Israel. Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in the summer of 2006.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said US officials have been in regular contact with the Israelis as well as officials from countries in the region and Europe.

“We continue to make clear to them our concerns for civilians, as well as the humanitarian situation,” Johndroe said.

The UN Security Council scheduled emergency consultations Saturday night on the escalation in Gaza.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged key world leaders to intensify efforts to achieve an immediate truce including international monitors to enforce a truce and possibly to protect Palestinian civilians.

Israel’s bruising air campaign against Gaza over the past eight days began days after a six-month truce expired.

Gaza health officials say the air war has killed more than 480 Palestinians in an attempt to halt Hamas rocket attacks that were reaching farther into Israel than ever before. Four Israelis have been killed by rockets.

Israel is taking a risk by wading into intense urban warfare in densely populated Gaza that could exact a much higher toll on both sides and among civilians.

This sort of urban warfare has not gone well in past campaigns where Israel sent ground forces into Arab population centres in the Palestinian territories or in Lebanon wars in 1982 and 2006. Israeli forces have either gotten bogged down or sustained heavy casualties, without quelling violent groups or halting attacks for good.

The decision to expand the operation, while continuing to batter Gaza from the air and sea, was taken after Hamas refused to stop attacking Israel, government officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions leading up to wartime decisions are confidential.

Before the ground incursion began, heavy Israeli artillery fire hit east of Gaza City, in locations where the military said Hamas fighters were deployed. The artillery shells were apparently intended to detonate Hamas explosive devices and mines planted along the border area before troops marched in.

Hamas remained defiant as the ground war began.

“You entered like rats,” Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan told Israeli soldiers in a statement on Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV, broadcast shortly after the start of the invasion.

“Your entry to Gaza won’t be easy. Gaza will be a graveyard for you, God willing,” he said.

“Gaza will not be paved with flowers for you. It will be paved with fire and hell,” Hamas warned Israeli forces.

A text message sent by Hamas’ military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, said “the Zionists started approaching the trap which our fighters prepared for them.” Hamas said it also broadcast a Hebrew message on Israeli military radio frequencies promising to kill and kidnap the Israeli soldiers.

“Be prepared for a unique surprise, you will be either killed or kidnapped and will suffer mental illness from the horrors we will show you,” the message said.

Hamas has also threatened to resume suicide attacks inside Israel.

Hamas has long prepared for Israel’s invasion, digging tunnels and rigging some areas with explosives. At the start of the offensive, Israeli artillery hit some of the border areas, apparently to detonate hidden explosives.

Before the ground invasion, defense officials said about 10,000 Israeli soldiers had massed along the border in recent days.

Israel initially held off on a ground offensive, apparently in part because of concern about casualties among Israeli troops and because of fears of getting bogged down in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his government decided to mount a land operation despite the risk it posed to thousands of soldiers.

An inner Cabinet of top ministers met with leading security officials for four hours Saturday before deciding to authorize the ground invasion.

Olmert told the meeting that Israel’s objective was to bring quiet to southern Israel but “we don’t want to topple Hamas,” a government official quoted the prime minister as saying. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to share the information.

The immediate aim of the ground operations was to take control of sites militants use as rocket-launching pads, the military said. It said large numbers of troops were taking part but did not give specifics.

Israeli airstrikes intensified just as the ground operation was getting under way, and 28 Palestinians were killed. Palestinian health officials said civilians were among the dead, including a woman, her son and her father who died after a shell hit their house.

One raid hit a mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, killing 13 people and wounding 33, according to a Palestinian health official. One of the wounded worshippers, Salah Mustafa, told Al-Jazeera TV from a hospital that the mosque was packed.

“It was unbelievably awful,” he said, struggling to catch his breath.

It was not immediately clear why the mosque was hit, but Israel has hit other mosques in its air campaign and said they were used for storing weapons.

Israeli artillery joined the battle for the first time earlier on Saturday. Artillery fire is less accurate than attacks from the air using precision-guided munitions, raising the possibility of a higher number of civilian casualties.

An artillery shell hit a house in Beit Lahiya, killing two people and wounding five, said members of the family living there. Ambulances could not immediately reach them because of the resulting fire, they said.

Resident Abed al-Ghoul said the Israeli army called by phone to tell them to leave the house within 15 minutes.

The ground operation sidelined intense international diplomacy to try to reach a truce. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to visit the region next week, and US President George W. Bush favours an internationally monitored truce.

Israel has already said it wants international monitors. It is unclear whether Hamas would agree to such supervision, which could limit its control of Gaza.

In Hamas’ first reaction to the proposal for international monitors, government spokesman Taher Nunu said early Saturday that the group would not allow Israel or the international community to impose any arrangement, though he left the door open to a negotiated solution.

“Anyone who thinks that the change in the Palestinian arena can be achieved through jet fighters’ bombs and tanks and without dialogue is mistaken,” he said.

Hamas began to emerge as Gaza’s main power broker when it won Palestinian parliamentary elections three years ago. It has ruled the impoverished territory of 1.4 million people since seizing control from the rival Fatah forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007.

Israel occupied Gaza for 38 years before pulling out thousands of soldiers in settlers in late 2005.
However, Israel still control the gaza border crossings.

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