HAMAS CALLED ON EGYPT TO PERMANENTLY OPEN GAZA BORDER

Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke by phone with the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition party which shares Hamas's Islamist ideology, and congratulated him on the "success of the revolution."

Hamas spokesman, Abu Zuhri called on the new Egyptian leadership to permanently open its border with Gaza to allow free movement.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal  (Reuters)


Palestinians in Gaza let off fireworks and shot into the air to celebrate the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, and the Islamist group Hamas called on Egypt's new rulers to change his policies.

"The resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is the beginning of the victory of the Egyptian revolution," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

"Such a victory was the result of the sacrifices and the steadfastness of the Egyptian people," he told Reuters.

Gaza residents heard gunfire erupt across the city when news of Mubarak's departure spread, and fireworks lit up the sky.

The coastal enclave of Gaza shares a border with Israel and Egypt. Both countries have imposed strict limitations on the movement of people and goods since Hamas took control of the territory, hampering its economy. The limits, they say, are to keep out weapons and materials that could be used in combat.

 Klick on image for video link

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/24092509


Abu Zuhri called on the new Egyptian leadership to permanently open its border with Gaza to allow free movement.

Mubarak's departure was also welcomed in the West Bank, which is controlled by Hamas's rival, Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"What's happening in Egypt represents strength to us and to all Arabs. This is a peaceful revolution that did not vandalize anything," said Nabil Shaat, a senior member of Abbas' Fatah faction.

Though welcoming the change, authorities in both territories have been swift in recent weeks to crack down on fledgling protests in their own territories, anxious to prevent any contagion from Tunisia or Egypt.

Some 300 Palestinians celebrated Mubarak's resignation in Ramallah where Abbas lives, singing nationalistic Arab songs.

In Gaza, thousands of people waving Egyptian flags and chanting "long live Egypt!" rallied in the streets, stopping traffic.

Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas's forces in 2007, had blocked a Fatah rally earlier on Friday to prevent focus from shifting onto the inner-Palestinian divide. Though several thousand Hamas members later gathered in Gaza, calling for Abbas's ouster.

Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke by phone with the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition party which shares Hamas's Islamist ideology, and congratulated him on the "success of the revolution."

Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, also urged Egypt to reconsider its peaceful ties with Israel. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace accord with Israel in 1979.

Read More “HAMAS CALLED ON EGYPT TO PERMANENTLY OPEN GAZA BORDER”  »»

KAPAL ISRAEL BEBAS BERLABUH DI PELABUHAN KLANG

Kapal Israel dibenarkan ke pelabuhan kita dan melakukan perdagangan dengan negara ini secara telus? ... Kita cuma bercakap mengenai soal epal dan buah oren yang dihantar untuk kegunaan kita di sini dari negara ketiga. ... sebaliknya kapal Israel sewenang2nya berlayar dan berdagang di negara ini! Bolehkah pula MISC kita memasuki Pelabuhan Haifa di Israel? .

Zim Israel Navigation Company ialah syarikat perkapalan milik Israel. Statusnya lebih kurang macam MISC, syarikat perkapalan nasional kita. (boleh rujuk http://www.zim.co.il ). ..

Kelmarin (7 Jun kapalnya bernama Zim Genova) berlabuh di Pelabuhan Klang membawa kargo-kargo yang besar. ...Selain Zim Genova, kapal2 yang berulang alik ke Pelabuhan Klang ialah Zim USA (didaftarkan di Israel), Zim Kingston, Zim Monaco (pelabuhan terakhir; Pelabuhan Klang 6 hari yang lalu), Zim Dalian dan Zim Lovorno (yg kesemuanya didaftarkan di bbrp buah negara lain).

Zim USA kali terakhir memasuki Pelabuhan Klang sekitar 20 Mei lalu, kira2 tgh hari. Di serombong asapnya, terpampang bendera Israel - tujuh bintang yang dengan megah berlabuh di pelabuhan kita!!

Manakala Newstar Agencies Sdn Bhd beralamat Suite 03-01 Centro no 8, Jln Bt Tiga lama KlANG merupakan Agen untuk SETH SHIPPING CORP. Israel

Read More “KAPAL ISRAEL BEBAS BERLABUH DI PELABUHAN KLANG”  »»

ISRAEL MEMBUNUH 10 SUKARELAWAN DI ATAS KAPAL MENUJU GAZA

Ten dead after Israel boards Gaza-bound ships: military



By Jeffrey Heller and Alastair Macdonald Jeffrey Heller And Alastair Macdonald –reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli commandos stormed Gaza-bound aid ships on Monday and at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists on board were killed, unleashing a diplomatic crisis and charges of a "massacre" from the Palestinian president.

The violent end to a Turkish-backed attempt to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip by six ships carrying some 600 people and relief supplies raised a storm of protest across the Middle East and far beyond.

As the navy escorted the ships toward the Israeli port of Ashdod, accounts remained sketchy of the pre-dawn interception out in the Mediterranean.

But the use of lethal force angered Israel's long-time Muslim ally Turkey, which had supported the convoy. The United Nations condemned the violence and demanded an explanation from Israel, European Union demanded an inquiry and France said it was "profoundly shocked."

Israeli officials said the marines were met with knives and staves when they boarded the ships, which included a large ferry flying the Turkish flag. In at least one incident, an activist seized a gun from the boarding party, they said. A military spokesman said two pistols were found on the captured vessels.

Independent accounts of the clash were not available since the navy cut ship-to-shore communications and Israel imposed military censorship on reports of the operation.

Israel's attempts to maintain its three-year-old blockade on the Hamas Islamist-ruled enclave while avoiding bloodshed that would spark an international outcry collapsed in spectacular fashion. "It's going to be a big scandal, no doubt about it," Israel's Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Reuters.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "What Israel has committed on board the Freedom Flotilla was a massacre." He declared three days of official mourning for the dead.

Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, blamed the activists for the violence and branded them allies of Israel's Islamist enemies in Hamas and al Qaeda. Had they got through, he said, they would have opened an arms smuggling route to Gaza.

There was no question of easing the blockade, he said.

In a statement, the Israeli military said there "over 10 deaths among the demonstrators and numerous injured." It said at least five soldiers were hurt.

HIGH ALERT, PEACE TALKS DOUBT

Israeli forces were on high alert on the Gaza, Syrian and Lebanese borders as well as around Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and areas of northern Israel where much of the country's Arab population lives. Israeli officials denied reports that a leading Israeli Arab Islamist had been killed on the convoy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Ottawa and officials said he was considering whether to cancel a White House meeting on Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama and fly home early.

Those talks had been expected to focus on U.S. efforts to advance tentative negotiations with Abbas. But peace talks, mediated by Obama's envoy, seem unlikely to continue for now.

Israel's Arab enemy Syria, which hosts the exile leadership of Gaza's ruling Hamas movement, called for an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss the incident.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel's interception of the ships was "inhuman."

The United Nations' coordinator for Middle East peace, Robert Serry, and the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Filippo Grandi, expressed shock at the killings aboard boats carrying humanitarian supplies in international waters.

"Such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza," they said in a joint statement.

More worryingly for Israel, its allies were unlikely to show much sympathy. The Turkish government, long Israel's lone friend in the Muslim Middle East, "strongly protested." It marked a new low in an already crumbling Israeli relationship with Ankara.

"Israel will have to suffer the consequences of this behavior," a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said.

Greece, some of whose citizens were on the convoy, halted a joint naval exercise with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador in Athens. Ireland, another country whose citizens were aboard, said it was "gravely concerned."

DEFIANCE, AID REQUESTS

The convoy, carrying 10,000 tonnes of supplies, set off from international waters near Cyprus on Sunday in defiance of warnings that it would be intercepted. Israel had hoped to end the operation without bloodshed and had prepared air-conditioned tents at Ashdod for detainees.

Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said: "We made repeated offers that they should bring the boats to the port of Ashdod and from there we guaranteed that all humanitarian cargo would be transferred to the people of Gaza."

Greta Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza Movement that organized the convoy, said: "How could the Israeli military attack civilians like this? Do they think that because they can attack Palestinians indiscriminately they can attack anyone?"

Israel's Western allies have been critical of the embargo on the 1.5 million people of Gaza, which the Jewish state says is aimed at preventing arms supplies from reaching Hamas.

In the Gaza Strip, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh described the Israeli action as piracy and praised the activists as heroes.

Turkey and Arab states were highly critical of Israel's attack on Gaza 18 months ago, in which 1,400 Palestinians died.

The United Nations and Western powers have urged Israel to ease its restrictions to prevent a humanitarian crisis and allow for postwar reconstruction. Israel says food, medicine and medical equipment are allowed in regularly.

Television channels aired video of a woman in a Muslim headress holding a stretcher with a large bloodstain on it. Below her lay a man, apparently injured, in a blanket.

Others showed pictures of a commando apparently rappelling down a rope and clashing with a man wielding a stick.

(Writing by Alastair Macdonald, Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Nicosia and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara bureau)


Video Links
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/20074396

Read More “ISRAEL MEMBUNUH 10 SUKARELAWAN DI ATAS KAPAL MENUJU GAZA”  »»

TESTIMONIES OF EX-ISRAEL SOLDIERS ON GAZA WAR

Ex-Israel troops: Army used reckless force in Gaza

By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military used reckless force during the fighting in Gaza earlier this year, resulting in needless deaths and damage, a group of former Israeli soldiers charged in a report Wednesday.

In testimonies collected by Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli army reservists, 26 soldiers who participated in the three weeks of Gaza fighting describe demolishing homes and using firepower beyond what was necessary given the relatively light resistance they encountered.

None of the soldiers was identified and no dates or locations were provided for the events they recount.

The Israeli military accused the group of "defaming and slandering the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and its commanders."

"The IDF is one of the world's most moral armies and operates according to the highest moral code," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a separate statement.

In one of the new testimonies, a soldier said his unit used Palestinian civilians as human shields — a practice outlawed by Israel's Supreme Court — forcing them to enter buildings suspected of housing militants and to break down walls using sledgehammers.

"Sometimes the force would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian's shoulder, advancing into a house and using him as a human shield. Commanders said these were the instructions and we had to do it," the soldier said.

Another said the regulations on when to shoot were vague.

"My impression about rules of engagement was that, at least at our level, they were not clear. There were no clear red lines," he said.

More than 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 900 civilians, were killed in the Gaza fighting, thousands of homes were destroyed and Gaza's infrastructure suffered heavy damage, according to Gaza health officials and human rights groups. Israel puts the death toll closer to 1,100 and says most were armed fighters. Thirteen Israelis also were killed, including three civilians who died from rocket fire.

The report did not represent a cross-section of soldiers, but rather included troops who approached the group or were reached through acquaintances of group members. Two were junior officers and the rest were lower-ranking troops.

Yehuda Saul, a founder of Breaking the Silence, said the Israeli public, which overwhelmingly supported a military operation aimed at halting years of rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli towns, needed to know what soldiers saw during the fighting.

"In terms of what Israeli society knows, the Gaza operation is a black hole," Saul said. "In order to discuss what we want and what values we stand for as a people, we must have the information about what happened on the ground, and as a group of soldiers we see this as our job."

The military attacked the report's veracity, saying it "regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies, without investigating their details or credibility."

The military also said the fact that no identifying details are given makes verifying the accounts impossible and urged soldiers who saw improper behavior to come forward and register official complaints.

Breaking the Silence was founded in 2004 by recently discharged soldiers who served in the West Bank. Since then, they have recorded the testimonies of some 670 soldiers speaking about their service in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel maintains that responsibility for the Gaza carnage lies with Palestinian militant groups, and chiefly Hamas, who hid ammunition in civilian buildings, whose fighters blended in with the civilian population and who provoked Israel with thousands of rockets aimed at Israeli civilians over an eight-year period.

While confirming that Palestinian militants also violated the laws of war, human rights groups like Amnesty International have focused on Israeli violations, charging that Israel's response was disproportionate and that Israel's military used powerful weapons indiscriminately in heavily populated areas.

The U.N. has also launched a probe into Israel's actions during the offensive.


Amnesty International Video




'Everyone is your enemy,' Israeli soldiers in Gaza told

Slideshow:Mideast Conflict

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

Gazans say Israeli troops forced them into battle zones

Israeli troops killed children carrying white flag, witnesses say

Israeli military blames Gaza deaths on 'errors'

Israeli soldiers say rabbis framed Gaza as religious war

Israeli destruction of U.S.-style school shocks Gazans

Israeli soldiers say they have OK to use tough tactics in Gaza

Did the Israelis use white phosphorus in populated areas?

Read More “TESTIMONIES OF EX-ISRAEL SOLDIERS ON GAZA WAR”  »»

PALESTIN O PALESTIN UMMATI UMMATI

LA TAHZAN VIDEO dan LIRIK


لا تحزن معاك الله يا أعظم شعب..يا أعظم شعب لا تحزن بعون الله يهون الصعب..يهون الصعب (2) ما تبكي يا جنين على حالك..آهاها وحقك ترفعي راسك بأبطال..آهاها لا لا تبكي يا فلسطين على حالك..آهاها ووالله وا...
لا تحزن معاك الله يا أعظم شعب..يا أعظم شعب
لا تحزن بعون الله يهون الصعب..يهون الصعب
(2)

ما تبكي يا جنين على حالك..آهاها
وحقك ترفعي راسك بأبطال..آهاها
لا لا تبكي يا فلسطين على حالك..آهاها
ووالله وارفعي راسك بأبطالك
وخلي الجبنى يشوفوا أطفالك..ما سلموا للخوف بعز الرعب بعز الرعب..بعز الرعب

لا تحزن معاك الله يا أعظم شعب..يا أعظم شعب
لا تحزن بعون الله يهون الصعب

يا أطفال حجــــار..علموا الفجار كيف النار بتنهاب
كيف الكرامة بتنصان..وإنو الموت فدى الأوطان ومش إرهاب
(2)

وإنو الإرهاب المحتل وأعوانو..آهاهامش ذاقوا وشافوا الموت وما هانوا..آهاها
(2)

ولا الطفل اللي عم يرضع..خوف وتشريد وما بيخضع
حالف ليكبر ويتبع بنفس الدم بنفس الدم..بنفس الدم

لا تحزن معاك الله يا أعظم شعب..يا أعظم شعب
لا تحزن بعون الله يهون الصعب

لو مهما صــــــــار...ما بنحيد ما بنلين يا فلسطين
جاي نهار بعد الليل وبعد الويــــــــل منتصريـــــــن
(2)

محتملين قتل وأسر وقهر ومر..آهاها
فداكي يهون يافلسطين كل العمر..آهاها
(2)

ولا الطفل اللي عم يرضع..خوف وتشريد وما بيخضع
حالف ليكبر ويتبع بنفس الدم بنفس الدم..بنفس الدم

لا تحزن معاك الله يا أعظم شعب..يا أعظم شعب
لا تحزن بعون الله يهون الصعب..يهون الصعب
(2)
آآه ..ما تبكي يا جنين على حالك..آهاها
وحقك ترفعي راسك بأبطال..آهاهالا لا تبكي يا فلسطين على حالك..آهاها
ووالله وارفعي راسك بأبطالك
وخلي الجبنى يشوفوا أطفالك..ما سلموا للخوف بعز الرعب بعز الرعب..بعز الرعب

لـ "فرقة اليرموك" من شريط " توحدي

Read More “PALESTIN O PALESTIN UMMATI UMMATI”  »»

OBAMA'S SILENCE IS DEAFENING AS AT 31 DEC 2008

CNN VIDEO

Read More “OBAMA'S SILENCE IS DEAFENING AS AT 31 DEC 2008”  »»

ISRAEL GUNA BOM BUNKER BUSTER UNTUK MUSNAH TEROWONG DI GAZA

Cuba kita bayangkan kerosakan pada harta benda dan trauma kepada penduduk Gaza dari segi fizikal dan mental-emosi setiap kali bom bunker buster digugurkan dan meletup. Seorang penulis di Malaysiakini dan akhbar the Star masing-masing mempersoalkan tindakan rakyat Malaysia yang cuba memboikot produk Israel dan US kerana pada pendapat kedua-dua penulis, HAMAS yang patut dipersalahkan kerana melancarkan roket ke arah jajahan selatan Israel.

Saya cadangkan kedua-dua mereka mengkaji sejarah Palestine dan bagaimana regime Israel tertegak. HAMAS mahukan pintu masuk ke Gaza dibuka dan peruntukan kewangan untuk pentadbiran Gaza dari Pihak Berkuasa Palestine (Palestinian Authority) di bawah Mahmoud Abbas diberikan balik seperti sebelum HAMAS memenangi pilihanraya tahun 2006. HAMAS juga meminta sekatan perdagangan terutama bahanapi ditarik balik.

Tahukah saudara, setiap roket yang dilancarkan ke Israel oleh HAMAS yang hanya mampu merosakkan bangunan, Regime Zionist membalasnya dengan menggugurkan bom dari jet pejuang, tembakan peluru dari laut Mediterranean, serangan darat dalam bentuk tembakan dari kereta kebal dan misil. Kini, regime zionist menggunakan bom fosforus serta bunker buster. Ketika tulisan ini disediakan seramai 971 orang Gazan terbunuh manakala hanya 13 orang tentera regime Israel maut pada hari ke-19 peperangan. Bagaimana pula dengan mereka yang cedera parah serta kerosakan harta benda. Apakah ada hari esok untuk penduduk Gaza.

Bunker-busting bombs hit Gaza

Jan 13 - A Reuters cameraman has filmed dramatic footage of some of the many massive explosions caused by Israeli air strikes in Gaza.

Israeli war planes continue to pound the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

The town is one end of a network of thousands of tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border which have been used for smuggling everything from weapons to livestock into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Israeli warplanes have been using 'bunker-busting' bombs in a bid to collapse the tunnels.

REPORTS BY REUTERS

VIDEO BAGAIMANA BOM BUNKER BUSTER BERTINDAK

Read More “ISRAEL GUNA BOM BUNKER BUSTER UNTUK MUSNAH TEROWONG DI GAZA”  »»

HAMAS DAN ISRAEL MASING-MASING TOLAK PERDAMAIAN TAJAAN PBB

Resolusi Majlis Keselamatan PBB telah diluluskan pada malam Khamis lalu, dengan undian 14-0
sementara US mengambil sikap berkecuali. Resolusi itu " menekankan kepentingan dan tindakan segera untuk gencatan senjata yang serta merta berkuatkuasa, mampu bertahan dan dihormati, ke arah penarikan balik sepenuhnya tentera Israel di Gaza".

((Sila klik pada imej untuk dibesarkan))

Regime Israel mahu sebarang gencatan senjata mestilah disertai dengan jaminan bahawa tiada serangan roket oleh HAMAS dan tiada penyeludupan senjata di Gaza. Dilaporkan bahawa semasa gencatan senjata yang berkuatkuasa selama 6 bulan yang lalu, HAMAS telah menggunakan terowong bawah tanah di sempadan Mesir-Gaza untuk menyeludup roket jarak sederhana yang ia sekarang sedang gunakan untuk mencapai sasaran jauh ke dalam Israel.

Manakala pihak HAMAS pula tidak mahu menerima sebarang perjanjian yang tidak memasukkan klausa pembukaan sepenuhnya laluan sempadan yang ditutup. Pihak Israel berkemungkinan tidak akan menerima permintaan puak HAMAS itu justeru ini akan membolehkan HAMAS memperkasakan kawalan ke atas kawasan yang dikuasainya pada Jun 2007.

The U.N. Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."


Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel.

Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007

Israel and Hamas Reject U.N. Truce, Intensify Attacks

Friday, January 09, 2009

FOXnews/ AFP

Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza on Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets, as Israel's government said it will press forward with its offensive despite a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas security officials said. By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed.

In all, Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and constant explosions continued after first light. Friday's deaths in Gaza pushed the Palestinian death toll to more than 760 in the two-week-old conflict, with at least half of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Thirteen Israelis have died.


In Israel's first official response to the U.N. Security Council resolution, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said Israel "has never agreed to let an external body decide its right to protect the security of its citizens."

The military "will continue acting to protect Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions it was given," the statement read. The rockets fell in Israel on Friday "only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations."


Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.

Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas continued to bombard residents of southern Israel. Rockets hit Friday morning across southern Israel, including in and around Beersheba and Ashkelon, which — like other cities within rocket range of Gaza — have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.

The U.N. Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."

Israel and Hamas were not parties to the council vote and it is now up to them to stop the fighting. But a Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested" in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands.

Israel called up thousands of reserve troops earlier in the week, and they are now ready for action.

The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet since.

The United States abstained from the Security Council vote even though it helped hammer out the resolution's text along with Arab nations that have ties to Hamas and the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire.

The resolution expresses "grave concern" at the escalating violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and emphasizes the need to open all border crossings and achieve a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

It also calls on U.N. member states "to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable cease-fire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained reopening" of border crossings.

In addition, the resolution "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians" and calls for "unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza."

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people. "This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."

Following the resolution, Egypt was expected to take the lead in persuading Israel and Hamas to accept it. Israeli representatives returned home from talks in Cairo Thursday, and Hamas was due to send political leaders to the Egyptian capital on Saturday.

Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel.

Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.

With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighborhoods.

The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance, and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall victim to the fighting.

One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her 2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City, he said.

Details are emerging of other incidents in which civilians were killed. A U.N. agency said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza City on Jan. 4, then shelled the building 24 hours later, killing 30 people.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report was based on eyewitness testimony. It added details to an incident previously reported by The Associated Press and an Israeli human rights group.

The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house. The 30 people reported killed is a far higher figure than in other accounts.

The Israeli military had no comment on the report Friday.

The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far Friday, as thousands took to the streets following prayers to express their anger at the Israeli offensive. In Ramallah, scuffles broke out between supporters of Hamas and the rival Fatah faction.

Israel launched its offensive Dec. 27 in response to cross-border rocket attacks by the Islamic group Hamas — which the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization and whose charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.

Read More “HAMAS DAN ISRAEL MASING-MASING TOLAK PERDAMAIAN TAJAAN PBB”  »»

RINGKASAN BERITA TERKINI DI GAZA OLEH BLOOMBERG

Agensi Bantuan dan Pekerjaan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu
membuka beberapa sekolah dan pusat perlindungan untuk orang awam yang kehilangan rumah di kem pelarian kerana dimusnahkan oleh tentera Israel. Pada ketika itu tiada kelas sedang berjalan. Bendera PBB berkibaran dan jelas. Jurucakap agensi berkenaan pasti tiada anggota HAMAS berada di sekitar sekolah tersebut, namun pihak Israel telah membedil dan mengakibatkan kematian orang awam yang kebanyakannya adalah kanak-kanak.
((Sila klik pada imej untuk dibesarkan)))










Israel to Weigh Truce Offer After Gaza School Attack Kills 40

By Calev Ben-David and Saud Abu Ramadan

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Israeli government will weigh the future of its military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as mounting casualties among Palestinian civilians increased pressure for a truce.

At least 40 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces struck a school run by the United Nations in Gaza, a UN official said. Israel, which struck at least 40 more Hamas targets overnight, said it responded after its soldiers were fired at from the building.

The school deaths yesterday added urgency to diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a cease-fire as the conflict entered its 12th day. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proposed a new initiative last night and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been lobbying throughout the region for a truce, said the casualties at the school demonstrate the urgent need to stop the fighting. “Time works against us,” he said.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice backed the proposal and Mubarak’s call for peace talks in Cairo, which may begin as early as today.

“The Security Cabinet will meet this morning to discuss the future of the military effort in Gaza, as well as the diplomatic efforts,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, commenting during an interview with Sky News, said it may take “some days” to study the details of the cease-fire proposal.

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Jerusalem, said in a phone interview he could confirm 40 dead and 45 injured, after three Israeli artillery shells hit the school in northern Gaza.

Rocket-Firing Cell

The Israeli army said in a faxed statement last night its investigations showed that “among the dead in the school were members of the military wing of the Hamas terror organization and a cell firing rockets and mortars at Israeli forces.”

The incident at the school may force the Israeli government to scale back its military offensive aimed at stopping rocket attacks by Palestinian militants on cities and towns in the country’s south.

“If it becomes the dominant story for the next 48 hours, especially in the U.S., then it will give Hamas a significant advantage,” Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, said in a telephone interview.

As during the war in Lebanon in 2006, the current fighting “is as much about images and public relations as it is about military developments,” Steinberg said.

Street Fighting

Israel’s military expanded its hold over the 40-kilometer (25-mile) long coastal territory, fighting in the streets of Gaza City in the north and Khan Yunis in the south. Israel continued its military operations through the night in Gaza, striking at least 40 targets including rocket launching sites, groups of Hamas gunmen, and tunnels used for weapons storage, the army said in an e-mailed statement.

Palestinian militants made their longest strike so far yesterday when a rocket hit the Israeli city of Gedera, 45 kilometers to the north, injuring a 3-month-old infant, police said. A Hamas spokesman said the group’s military wing has dozens of suicide bombers ready to confront Israeli troops in the streets of Gaza.

At least 35 rockets struck Israeli territory yesterday compared with 40 the day before, according to the army. That’s down from a peak of 76 on Dec. 27, the first day of the operation. As many as 3,200 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Israel since the start of 2008. Rocket attacks have killed four Israelis since fighting began. At least five rockets from Gaza struck Israel this morning, police said.

‘Friendly Fire’

Six Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground fighting began, the army said. One died on Jan. 4, three died and 24 were wounded by a tank shell in a “friendly fire incident” in northern Gaza on Jan. 5, and two more were killed in separate incidents yesterday, the military said in an e-mailed statement.

At least 630 Palestinians have died in the conflict and 2,600 have been wounded, said Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of emergency medical services in Gaza.

UN officials said as many as a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians, a figure Israel disputes as too high.

In reacting to the deaths at the school, the Israeli military accused Hamas of making “cynical use” of civilians by firing from schools.

UNRWA opened several schools as shelters for civilians whose houses in refugee camps were destroyed by Israeli forces. No classes were in session.

“Even though the blue UN flag was flying and visible, Israel targeted our school,” Adnan Abu Hasna, a UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, said in a telephone interview. UNRWA said it was “99.9” percent certain there were no militants in the school.

Mosques, Schools

Several mosques and schools have been struck since Israel began its assault on Gaza 12 days ago. Israel alleges Hamas was using the buildings to hide arms and wanted militants.

Gaza’s water and sewage systems are on the verge of collapse because of power shortages, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday. More than 530,000 people among Gaza’s population of 1.4 million are completely cut off from running water and the rest receive water only every few days, the agency said in an e-mailed statement.

Israel will open a “humanitarian corridor” into the Gaza Strip, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an e-mailed statement shortly after midnight. It said that certain “geographic areas” would be made accessible to the local population for limited periods of time during which they could “stock up.”

Humanitarian Corridor

The plan for a humanitarian corridor “in no way compromises our call for an immediate cease-fire,” said UNRWA’s Gunness.

Mubarak called for a cease-fire for a “limited period” that would allow food, fuel and medicine to enter Gaza and give time for talks on a “comprehensive and lasting” agreement to end the fighting, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

Israel’s attack on Gaza is “genocide,” Abbas told the UN Security Council late yesterday.

Abbas left New York late yesterday for the Egyptian capital, in response to Mubarak’s invitation, according to Palestinian Authority envoy Saeb Erekat. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev said her government is “considering” the initiative.

“We invite Israelis and Palestinians to meet and discuss how not to renew the fighting, and this includes securing the borders and lifting the blockade,” Mubarak said at a news conference last night in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, after meeting with Sarkozy.

Sarkozy also met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday after holding talks the day before with Olmert and Abbas.

Syrian Influence

“I am sure that Syria has an influence; Syria should help us convince Hamas to listen to the voice of reason,” Sarkozy said yesterday at a news conference. Al-Assad said he favored a cease-fire, while describing Israel’s offensive in Gaza as a “war crime.”

Venezuela expelled Israel’s ambassador from Caracas yesterday and said the Israeli government should be tried for war crimes over the invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Israel is considering in response whether to expel Venezuela’s charge d’affaires in Tel Aviv, said the Foreign Ministry.

Last week, Israel rejected a French-proposed 48-hour truce with Hamas, saying it was seeking a permanent end to the Gaza rocket attacks.

Israeli stocks climbed yesterday for a seventh day, the longest winning streak since October 2007, following gains in European stocks and U.S. futures. The benchmark TA-25 Index of stocks has gained 12 percent since Dec. 27, when the Gaza offensive began, tracking a global rally.

Economic Blockade

The shekel fell as much as 1.46 percent to 3.8870 per dollar, and traded at 3.8844 as of 5:19 p.m. yesterday.

Israel began the campaign to halt rocket attacks after a six-month cease-fire with Hamas expired Dec. 19. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, refused to renew the truce because it said Israel hadn’t eased its economic blockade of Gaza. Militants fired 70 rockets at Israel the day before the cease-fire ended.

Read More “RINGKASAN BERITA TERKINI DI GAZA OLEH BLOOMBERG”  »»