Israeli-Arab War

[Ryan Ruck]

Syria Tells Troops To Be Ready For Battle

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has placed his military on full alert, citing "regional challenges", and vowed to continue supporting the "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance more than ever".

In a speech to mark the Syrian Army national day, Mr Assad said the volatile situation across the Middle East required "vigilance, preparation and readiness" and ordered all units of the armed forces to be on alert.

The comments were interpreted by Israel as a morale booster to the Syrian armed forces and not a call to battle. Israeli intelligence chiefs have assessed that Syria is not in the mood for an open war and is instead content to resupply Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon.

Israel has said it does not intend to attack Syria and has accused Hezbollah of trying to inflame a conflict by firing rockets from southern Lebanon towards and beyond the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syrian forces in 1967 - the last time the two countries fought.

Israeli warplanes have repeatedly bombed roads on the Lebanese side of the Syrian border and on Sunday attacked the neutral zone between both sides, making the crossing unusable.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also accused Mr Assad of financing and backing Hezbollah and sending weapons across the border in Syrian-marked trucks.

Mr Assad said the 21-day war had led Syria to boost its support for resistance operations in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. "We must be aware that every effort and every drop of sweat exerted in training now will spare a drop of blood when the time comes," he said.

The Damascus-based exiled leadership of key Palestinian militant group Hamas has denied it is backing an insurgency in Lebanon, claiming it confines its interest to the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. In an interview with The Australian, Musa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of Hamas's politburo, accused Israel of sparking the escalating conflict by boycotting the elected Hamas Government in the territories in January.

"We have had dozens of politicians coming from Europe and other places who say to us they are surprised about how Israel can make these crazy policies," Mr Marzook said.

"The Israelis think with their muscles and not their minds. After Hamas was elected, they had a good chance to make calm because Hamas was interested in an agreement.

"When the Palestinians elected us we had no choice but to govern. We did not expect it. The Palestinian people want us to reject the occupation and that is what we must do, but we did not spark this deterioration. It was not in our interests to do so.

"But still, we do not blame the Israelis totally for this. We know them, they are our enemy and we know historically how they behave. For what is going on at the moment, we blame the Bush administration who continue to charge along without any open minds to the other side."

Mr Marzook said the two Syrian-based Palestinians killed fighting in Lebanon a week ago had not been sent by Hamas, but said he could not discourage Palestinians who wanted to make the journey without the backing of militant groups.

Syria's key ally in the region, Iran, yesterday dispatched its Foreign Minister to Lebanon for talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and visiting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. Manouchehr Mottaki was expected to meet Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who has been in hiding since the Israeli air assault of Beirut began.

Egypt has been attempting to broker a deal with Syria to walk away from its relationship with Iran and Hezbollah in return for renewed international legitimacy and talks with the US, which has placed Mr Assad under boycott since accusing Syrian regime elements of assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri 18 months ago.

[American Patriot]

I mean, I visit one particular site every now and then, and my jaw just drops at the reading of those posts. Dropping of the jaw not in a good way, either. More like: can you believe people believe this stuff?

Wallis what site is that? Meant to ask that the other day but forgot.


This just in, rockets have hit the West Bank this day.


I have to believe that if Syria get froggy, then Israel will slaughter them.

[American Patriot]

MEDIA CAUGHT OVER QANA PHOTOS [Liberal MSM Caught With Pants Down Alert]
Boortz ^ | Aug. 2, 2006 | Neal Boortz



Remember those photos that have been running in the media showing a rescue worker holding a dead child following the Israeli air strike in Qana? The message of those pictures has been powerful: look at what those evil Israelis did to that poor, innocent child. Well, now we learn that all may not be what it seems.




Many of those pictures were taken by the photographers for wire services like the Associated Press, Reuters and the always pro-terrorist Agence France-Presse, also known as AFP. But an enterprising British blogger decided to dig a bit deeper. He looked at the time stamp on some of the photos and noticed a discrepancy. A big one.




Without getting too technical, it was noticed that one of the photos taken at 7:21 by the AP shows a dead girl in an ambulance. Then, in a picture taken at 10:25am ... 3 hours later .... it shows the same girl being loaded into an ambulance. Yet another picture shows the same girl 20 minutes later, being carried by a rescue worker ... with no ambulance around.


In the ambulance ... out of the ambulance ... no ambulance at all. What does this tell us? The photos were staged. They're propaganda. Who would do such a thing? Hezbollah, of course. And why would the media be a willing accomplice in such a bold attempt to invent negative media coverage against Israel? Because they hate the United States and/or Israel, or because they're just plain on the side of the Islamofascists.


Now that the wire services and their photographers have been called out on it, they're all dancing on the head of a pin trying to explain away the discrepancy. They've been nailed as willing participants in the Islamic terror propaganda efforts.

[American Patriot]

UK : Airport curb on US 'bomb flights'
BBC News ^ | 08/01/2006



US military flights carrying bombs to Israel will no longer use any civilian airports in the UK, the BBC has learnt.


The decision follows criticism of the use of Prestwick Airport, near Glasgow, to refuel flights suspected of carrying bombs to Israel.


It has emerged that in future only military airfields will be used.
The decision was reached after protests at the airport and discussions between various government departments, led by the Foreign Office.
US flights to Israel used RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk rather than Prestwick airport last weekend, prompting protests from about 30 peace campaigners at the military base.


BBC2's Newsnight has revealed that a total six aircraft carrying military supplies for Israel passed through UK airports over the weekend, one of them using RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.


The programme said Defence Secretary Des Browne offered the use of the bases after Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander protested to Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett about Prestwick being used.
BBC News understands that Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett last week pressed for all US flights through the UK to be suspended while hostilities in Lebanon continued.


But her concerns were rejected by Downing Street.


'Not happy'
The latest move means the planes will at least not pass through civilian airports any longer.


Mrs Beckett last week opened up a rare public rift with the Americans when she said she was "not happy" because it appeared the US planes at Prestwick had not followed correct procedures for transporting hazardous materials.


She raised the issue with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and threatened to make a formal protest if the reports proved to be true.
Her worries were seized on by government critics as evidence that the US was taking British support for granted.


But the White House dismissed Mrs Beckett's protest, saying the Department of Defense believed the "paperwork" had been in order.
Labour MP Mohammed Sarwar said the UK had showed itself to be "partisan" in allowing its airports to be used by the US planes.


"In my view, we are partisan in this conflict when we are allowing British airports to be used for logistics for Israel and we are not honest brokers any more and our policy towards Lebanon is biased and I think we have severely damaged our reputation in the international community," he said.

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah claims of combat successes become less and less believable
Haaretz ^ | Wednesday 02/08/2006 | Yoav Stern



If Hezbollah-run media are to be believed, then 35 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed or wounded in Ayta a-Shab , militants downed an Israeli helicopter and destroyed a house in which IDF soldiers were hiding, and IDF troops are always hit in the back because they are running away.
All these statements are baseless because - despite the impression Hezbollah has made for straight talk - credibility is not its strong suit.
Hezbollah's reports have become less and less believable in recent days. On Monday, Al-Manar television - the central component of Hezbollah's well-oiled media empire - reported that the organization had destroyed an Israeli ship off the coast of Tyre, which had some 50 sailors aboard - a charge the IDF dismissed completely. It's not clear what incident, if any, the report was referring to, and the Arab world has been asking questions. Al-Arabiya television asked Mahmoud Kamati, a member of the Hezbollah political bureau, about the Hezbollah claim and he repeated that an Israeli ship had been hit, but said no pictures were broadcast because visibility was poor.


Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is a superb tool for the propaganda machine. Nasrallah, 46, is one of the most impressive speakers in the entire Middle East. He is a virtuoso of the Arabic language, although he doesn't forget to spice his comments with a few words in the Lebanese dialect. It nearly always seems as though he is speaking about the most important matters in an offhand way, but he is really getting his listeners to follow his thought process.


"I sometimes take the tape of his comments and watch it, for pleasure," said a Haifa resident who has been forced to go down to the nearest bomb shelter every few hours over the last few weeks.

(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...

[SAdams]

Another article about the Qana attack.

Stage-Managed Massacre

By Robert Spencer
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 2, 2006

“The Israeli air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana early Sunday morning did more than kill 57 civilians,” says Jefferson Morley in the Washington Post. “According to a wide range of commentary in the international media, it inflamed already boiling public opinion in the Arab world against Israel, undermined what little support the United States has among the Lebanese people, and illuminated the continuing inability of Israel and the United States to achieve their goal of decisively weakening Hezbollah.” The Hindustan Times editorialized that “with Qana, one senses that the Israelis’ definition of ‘collateral damage’ has started to bear a striking resemblance to that of the very terrorist organisation that they are keen to destroy.” At a rally outside the State Department building protesting the Qana “massacre” on Monday, Leftist protestors chanted, “Hey, Rice! What do you say? How many kids have you killed today?”; “Israel Out of Lebanon! Ceasefire, Now”; and “Shame! Shame! Shame, on you!” An Australian Muslim in Qana told Australia’s Herald Sun: “I would say a few hundred have died. This isn’t war, it’s genocide.”

Except for one little detail: it is increasingly clear that the Qana “massacre” was a stage-managed Hizballah production, designed precisely to enflame international sentiment against Israel and compel the Israelis to accept a ceasefire that would enable the jihad terrorist group to gain some time to recover from the Israeli attacks. Some of the principal evidence for this:

The Israeli bombardment took place about midnight, but the house where the civilians were gathered reportedly did not collapse until 8AM. Said Brigadier General Amir Eshel of the Israeli Air Force, “It is difficult for me to believe that they waited eight hours to evacuate it.” Indeed, it strains credulity that not only did these Lebanese civilians remain in a house that had been bombed for eight hours, but peacefully went to sleep in it after the bombing – since the victims were all apparently sleeping, despite continuing Israeli air bombardment in the area, when the building collapsed. Eshel suggested that “it could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there” – in other words, Hizballah bombs and/or weapons.

Photos of the rescue operation, which were transmitted all over the world and appeared on the front page of the New York Times and other major newspapers, are extremely suspicious. The blog EU Referendum has done important work scrutinizing the photos, finding numerous anomalies. Most notably, the dating of the various photos suggests that the same bodies were paraded before reporters on different occasions, each time as if they had just been pulled from the rubble. In a rebuttal to this charge, AP’s David Bauder rather lamely asserts: “web sites can use such stamps to show when pictures are posted, not taken.” Responds Richard North of EU Referendum: “Note, however, the use of the word ‘can’. He does not say that the ‘date stamps’ are wrong.” EU Referendum has also uncovered strange anomalies in the photos themselves: some workers are wearing different gear in different photos, yet clearly carrying the same corpse. Richard North comments about one of these workers: “It stretches belief to breaking point to argue that, on his way to the ambulance, he took off his helmet, his fluorescent waistcoat and his flack jacket just in order to pose for the cameras putting the body in the wagon – especially as we have the body being placed on the ‘guerney’ – which means the scenes are totally inconsistent.”

The very existence of these pictures raises more questions. As Israel Insider puts it: “While Hezbollah and its apologists have been claiming that civilians could not freely flee the scene due to Israeli destruction of bridges and roads, the journalists and rescue teams from nearby Tyre had no problem getting there.”

The Christian Lebanese website LIBANOSCOPIE has charged that Hizballah staged the entire incident in order to stimulate calls for a ceasefire, thereby staving off its destruction by Israel and Lebanese plans to rid themselves of this terrorist plague: “We have it from a credible source that Hizbullah, alarmed by Siniora’s plan, has concocted an incident that would help thwart the negotiations. Knowing full well that Israel will not hesitate to bombard civilian targets, Hizbullah gunmen placed a rocket launcher on the roof in Qana and brought disabled children inside, in a bid to provoke a response by the Israeli Air Force. In this way, they were planning to take advantage of the death of innocents and curtail the negotiation initiative.”

According to the German scholar Matthias Küntzel, “the Berlin daily the Tagesspiegel published a letter-to-the-editor from Dr. Mounir Herzallah, a Shiite from the South of Lebanon. Dr. Herzallah reports on how Hezbollah-terrorists came to his town, dug a munitions depot and then built a school and a residence directly over it. He writes: ‘Laughing, a local sheikh explained to me that the Jews lose either way: either because the rockets are fired at them or because, if they attack munitions depot, they are condemned by world public opinion on account of the dead civilians.’ Hezbollah, he says, uses the civilian population ‘as a human shield and then when they are dead as propaganda.’”

Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, declared that “War is deceit.” Specifically, he taught that lying was permissible in battle.[1] While the doctrines of religious deception (taqiyya and kitman) are most often identified with Shi’ite Islam, and ostensibly rejected by Sunnis, because they were sanctioned by the Prophet, they can still be found in traditions that Sunni Muslims consider reliable, and are practiced among Salafis. Jihadists today have spoken of the usefulness of deceptive practices.

Americans and Westerners are not used to dealing with carefully orchestrated and large-scale deception of this kind. It is time that it be recognized as a weapon of warfare, and an extremely potent one at that. Qana has already largely accomplished what it was supposed to. It will now take its place beside the Danish cartoons, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and all the rest as a useful focal point for Muslim outrage and a magnet for jihad recruitment. The dhimmi Leftist Western press is happy, for it can again show America and Israel as guilty in the world’s site. The mujahedin are happy, for jihad and Sharia will advance still more. The only people who couldn’t possibly be happy with this are the Israelis and others on the front lines of the jihad worldwide.

But who cares about them?

[Aplomb]

This doesn't look like dancing to me, and franklly this pisses me off:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/world...cy_theory.html

The Qana Conspiracy Theory

As Hezbollah wins support throughout the Middle East in the aftermath of the Israeli airstrike that killed at least 57 Lebanese civilians over the weekend, an alternative view of the attack is emerging in blogs -- that the incident was actually staged by Hezbollah.

This "story" is a useful companion to last week's post about watching the war as it unfolds on the Web. The Qana conspiracy theory not only underscores how the Internet can misinform (an old story), it also reveals a popular demand for online content that attempts to explain away news reports that Israel (and by proxy, its closest ally and arms supplier, the United States) was responsible for the deaths of dozens of women and children in a Hezbollah stronghold.

At a time when American and Israeli public opinion of the war diverge radically from the world opinion elsewhere, the emergence of a right-wing equivalent of the Sept. 11 conspiracy theories is worth noting.

The Qana "conspiracy theory" poses this question: If Israeli shells landed near the building that collapsed between midnight and 1 a.m., why didn't reports of the collapse emerge until about 8 a.m.? One site pushing this question on Tuesday was the Israeli Insider, published by a Tel Aviv company that bills the site as a "an independent, nonpartisan online publication that aims to provide an 'inside perspective' on the latest news, analysis and commentary from and about Israel."

Israeli Insider's Ruben Korvet contends that the Qana story has the hallmark of a Hollywood ending and called for the "revelation of the improbable and inconvenient truth." Citing news images of the event, Korvet said the bodies of 57 civilians "looked like they had been dead for days" and suggested that Hezbollah operatives planted them there.

On another site, British bloggers asserted that a "Hezbollah official" took control of the scene to orchestrate false photo opportunities with the dead bodies. Confederate Yankee, a onetime guest blogger for washingtonpost.com, sees "evidence of a most revolting Hezbollah fraud."

Confronted with photographs of dead children, Israeli Insider's Korvet insisted they must be something else: "The victims were non-residents who chose to shelter in the building that night," he writes. "They were 'too poor' to leave the down, one resident told CNN's [Jon] Wedeman. Who were these people?"

That question has been definitively answered in the mainstream press.

Almost all of the victims belonged to two extended families, the Hashems and the Shalhoubs, who lived in the area, according to the independent accounts of The Washington Post's Anthony Shadid and the Daily Star's Nicholas Blanford.

Nevertheless, the Qana conspiracy theory is apparently being taken seriously in the blogosphere and in Israel. The American Thinker, a popular conservative site, says unnamed major media photographers were "willing" tools of Hezbollah. The EU Referendum blog claims its stories on the subject attracted 115,000 page views in a day, more than 50 times the average. YNet News, Web site of the country's largest newspaper, reported the story under the headline: "Blogs: Hizbullah 'Milked' the attacks."

The follow-up questions for the bloggers touting the alternative theory are obvious:

Who killed the Hashems and Shalhoubs, if it wasn't an Israel bomb? Korvet and the other bloggers don't offer any theories.

How did Hezbollah truck in bodies to the Qana site without the pervasive Israeli aerial surveillance catching it on film? Israel has released footage of what it says are Hezbollah fighters firing rockets from the area.

Presumably, the Israeli Foreign Ministry is not covering up the story.

As for EU Referendum's claim that a Lebanese rescue worker seen in many photos from Qana was a "Hezbollah official," I e-mailed co-author of the site, Richard North, to ask for his evidence.

"All I have to go on is gut instinct," North replied.

I appreciate his candor. It confirms that he has no evidence to support the central claim of his blog posts.

North says he is just trying to "raise questions," which is certainly a legitimate goal. My question is: What is it about the photos from Qana that made Israel's supporters prefer fantasy to fact?

By Jefferson Morley | August 2, 2006; 10:30 AM ET | Category: Mideast
Previous: The Qana Tipping Point |

Aren't you a paid reporter, Mr. Jefferson Morley? Maybe those in the news sensationalization and distortions business can start asking such questions of Hezzbolah. I also see that you have tried to raise doubts about what EU Referendum has shown, which I would bet is to take what North stated out of context. Where is it that you have proved that Hezzbollah hasn't staged this in your effort to call those w/ keen eyes conspiracy theorists, or at the very least to state that there are some puzzling aspects to this whole ordeal? Did you contact anybody from the Red Cross to tell them that they must have counted the bodies wrong? I would think that the press should have questions about a clean pacifier dangling from that paraded baby, and everything else that doesn't add up. You've raised some questions and ask for evidence, with total disregard of numerous anomalies being discussed. Pieces of evidence are right before us. It is only a matter of time before the pieces are placed correctly into the puzzle. Will you print that when the truth has come out? I seriously doubt it.

[Sean Osborne]

This needs to be said again - very loudly - as this article is another powerful example of proof positive that Islam has no sanctity for human life - man, woman or child - it does not matter - there exists no sanctity for human life period. A deceased child is nothing more than a propaganda tool to these islamists.

This is the same as what happened to the Palestinain boy who was shot and killed while a male (ostensibly said to be his father) crouched next to him. We now know for a fact that it was Palestian weapons fire which killed the boy for the sole purpose of propaganda film-making by Palestinians.

One can very rightly assume that the same fate befell this Lebanese child at the hands of Hezbollah propagandizing murderers.

(Interesting note: Qana is actually Cana of ancient Galilee in the Bible. It is the place where Jesus performed his first miracle turning water into wine. John. 2: 1-11)

MEDIA CAUGHT OVER QANA PHOTOS [Liberal MSM Caught With Pants Down Alert]
Boortz ^ | Aug. 2, 2006 | Neal Boortz



Remember those photos that have been running in the media showing a rescue worker holding a dead child following the Israeli air strike in Qana? The message of those pictures has been powerful: look at what those evil Israelis did to that poor, innocent child. Well, now we learn that all may not be what it seems.




Many of those pictures were taken by the photographers for wire services like the Associated Press, Reuters and the always pro-terrorist Agence France-Presse, also known as AFP. But an enterprising British blogger decided to dig a bit deeper. He looked at the time stamp on some of the photos and noticed a discrepancy. A big one.




Without getting too technical, it was noticed that one of the photos taken at 7:21 by the AP shows a dead girl in an ambulance. Then, in a picture taken at 10:25am ... 3 hours later .... it shows the same girl being loaded into an ambulance. Yet another picture shows the same girl 20 minutes later, being carried by a rescue worker ... with no ambulance around.


In the ambulance ... out of the ambulance ... no ambulance at all. What does this tell us? The photos were staged. They're propaganda. Who would do such a thing? Hezbollah, of course. And why would the media be a willing accomplice in such a bold attempt to invent negative media coverage against Israel? Because they hate the United States and/or Israel, or because they're just plain on the side of the Islamofascists.


Now that the wire services and their photographers have been called out on it, they're all dancing on the head of a pin trying to explain away the discrepancy. They've been nailed as willing participants in the Islamic terror propaganda efforts.

[Neue Regel]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5239568.stm

Israel hit by Hezbollah barrage

Hezbollah's attacks on northern Israel came after a lull of two days

Hezbollah fighters have more than 220 rockets into Israel from Lebanon, the biggest single-day barrage since the conflict began three weeks ago. One person was killed and dozens injured as some rockets landed up to 70km inside Israel, the deepest so far.
The upsurge came as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel had destroyed Hezbollah's infrastructure.
Mr Olmert insisted there would be no ceasefire until an international force is deployed in southern Lebanon.
"I said I'd be ready to enter a ceasefire when the international forces, not will be ready, but will be deployed," Mr Olmert said of the timetable for a halt to the violence.
The hail of Hezbollah rockets came after Israeli troops raided Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in north-east Lebanon, seizing five people they said were Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah said they were civilians.
In southern Lebanon, clashes have been continuing between Hezbollah and Israeli troops, now said to number around 12,000.


The Israeli campaign began three weeks ago after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers.
About 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health minister. This figure includes unrecovered bodies.
A total of 55 Israelis, including at least 19 civilians, are known to have been killed by Hezbollah.
In other developments:

• Britain's UN ambassador says agreement on an initial Security Council resolution to end the violence is close
• World Food Programme officials say Israel has assured them emergency fuel supplies will be given safe passage into Lebanon
• Iran's supreme leader urges the Muslim world to stand up to Israel and the US over their role in the conflict in Lebanon

'Unbroken'
One of the Hezbollah rockets landed near the town of Nahariya on the west coast, killing one person.
Another struck close to the town of Beit Shean on the edge of the West Bank, 70km from the Lebanese border, while another landed in the West Bank - the deepest hit so far.

Israeli planes also struck a village near Baalbek, killing several people

The BBC's Richard Miron in the northern Israeli town of Tiberius said some residents had begun returning home, believing that the Israeli army had dealt with the rocket threat.
Hezbollah militants have claimed they used a new type of rocket for the attack - a Khaibar-1, thought by the Israelis to be a modified Iranian Fajr-5, which has a longer range than the Katyusha rockets they usually fire into Israel.
A Hezbollah spokesman, Ghalib Abu Zeinab, said in an interview with the BBC Arabic Service that the latest attacks showed that Hezbollah was unbroken.
"The rockets that have been raining down since this morning... and the firing of a missile over a distance of 70km, all this proves that the Lebanese resistance still has a high capability, including a missile capability."




- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NR~ Does it seem odd that for 220 missles launched, only one casualty? Not complaining, nice waste of their assets, but what a piss poor hit ratio. What kind of guideance do these things have? I think the kids in my neighboorhood on the 4th of July could do more damage.

[American Patriot]

AP Rewards Qana Photographers (MSM Supports the Enemy Alert)
Little Green Footballs ^ | 08/01/06 | Charles Johnson



An LGF reader has forwarded the following email (I suppose you could say our reader “leaked” it), sent to all Associated Press employees, congratulating themselves on the propaganda photos from Qana and awarding the photographers cash prizes:


"Dear Staffers:
Last Sunday proved to be one of the most dramatic days in the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. AP’s extensive photo team produced a stunning series of images that day that beat the competition and scored huge play worldwide.


Rumors surfaced early Sunday morning that an Israeli airstrike had flattened a house in the southern Lebanese village of Qana. The number of deaths wasn’t immediately known, but the seriousness of the incident was clear. Beirut-based photographer Hussein Malla immediately called AP photographers Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis and stringer Mohammed Zaatari and advised them to rush to the scene. Nasser arrived as the bodies of many civilians — including numerous children — were being pulled from the rubble. Lefteris later took over, enabling Nasser to get his pictures swiftly onto the wire. Kevin Frayer was dispatched from Beirut to boost AP’s presence. Throughout the morning, AP’s team filed a steady stream of powerful images.


Meanwhile, in Beirut, a small Hezbollah demonstration exploded into violence at word of the Qana attack. Hezbollah supporters stormed the nearby United Nations building, scaling walls and smashing their way past bulletproof glass barriers to enter the building itself. Photographers Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Ben Curtis were all there to capture the rioting. Beirut-based photo editor Dalia Khamissy coordinated with photographers in the field and handled a steady stream of stringer photos. All day long, AP photographers relayed what they were seeing to AP reporters for print stories.


Nasser’s most haunting image showed a man emerging from the rubble carrying the lifeless and dust-covered body of a child. Calm, morning light shone down on man and child, highlighting them against an almost monochrome background of pure rubble. ... Nasser’s image ran on the front pages of at least 33 newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Post. It also won a double-page center spread in The Guardian of London. Lefteris’s image of a resident weeping next to a row of bodies made the front of The Washington Post, among many others. Hussein, Kevork and Ben’s images of the storming of the UN building easily beat those of the competition.


For a day of outstanding a memorable photos, taken in conditions of substantial danger, the Lebanon photo team of Nasser Nasser, Lefteris Pitarakis, Kevin Frayer, Mohammed Zaatari, Ben Curtis, Hussein Malla, Kevork Djansezian and Dalia Khamissy shares this week’s $500 Beat of the Week award."

[American Patriot]

Hizballah Supporters Attack Counterprotesters in Montreal
Little Green Footballs ^ | 8/2/2006

Hizballah Supporters Attack Counterprotesters in Montreal


Judeoscope.ca has video of Hizballah supporters in Montreal violently attacking pro-Israel demonstrators.

After having heard countless cries of “death to Israel”, “vive le Hezbollah” and once in Arabic “death to the Jews”, I addressed some of the protesters by shouting back “am Yisrael chai” (the people of Israel live) and “shalom aleichem” (peace to all). The incident then turned violent when a fanatic ran up to me suddenly, punching and strangling me quickly as I fell onto a parked car on Ste. Catherine St. As the attacker was restrained and ushered away I then yelled “Are you crazy? This is Canada, so act civilized like everyone else watching you.”


The unknown assailant was then reintroduced by protest-organizers into the crowd to avoid detection by the numerous members of the media and policemen who had witnessed the assault. Other disgruntled anti-Israel protesters then attempted to enter my place of work where I sought refuge yelling “Jewish pig” and “down, down Israel” as police and bystanders sealed the entrance briefly, preventing the mob from breaking the storefront.

[American Patriot]

Israeli Commandos Raid Hezbollah Hideout in Baalbek Hospital
FoxNews.com ^ | 8/2/2006 | AP



OURJ AL-MULOUK, Lebanon — Israel poured up to 10,000 armored troops into south Lebanon Tuesday, and commandos raided a Hezbollah-run hospital and captured guerrillas during pitched battles deep in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a major escalation of the three-week-old war. In the attack on the ancient city of Baalbek, about 80 miles north of Israel, commandos ferried in by helicopters fought Hezbollah guerrillas inside and around the hospital under cover of heavy airstrikes, witnesses said. At least seven people were killed in the city, they said. Israel said an unspecified number of guerrillas were captured and no soldiers were hurt.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

[American Patriot]

Iran frees bin Laden son
ABC News ^ | Aug 2, 2006 | Unattributed



Iran has freed a son of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from house arrest, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday.


Die Welt said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard released Saad bin Laden on July 28 with the aim of sending him to the Syria-Lebanon border. It linked the reported move to the outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanese-based Hizbollah.


"From the Lebanese border, he has the task of building Islamist terror cells and preparing them to fight together with Hizbollah," Die Welt said, quoting intelligence information.


"Apparently Tehran is counting on recruiting Lebanese refugees in Syria for the fight against Israel, using bin Laden's help," it added in a preview of a report to appear in its Thursday edition.


Western intelligence sources have long suspected that Iran is holding a number of al Qaeda figures, possibly including Saad bin Laden and Saif al-Adel, the network's security chief.


Kamal Kharrazi, then Iran's foreign minister, said in January 2004 that Tehran had jailed about a dozen al Qaeda suspects and would put them on trial.


"Our general view is Iran certainly does have a few al Qaeda-related figures … The general perception is Iran keeps these people as a bargaining chip," said a European counter-terrorism official when asked about the Die Welt report.


He said Shia Muslim Iran was not sympathetic to members of Sunni-dominated al Qaeda but "they protect them as long as they think they can make use of them."


(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah Caught Planning Fake Atrocity
Strategy Page ^ | August 2, 2006 | James F. Dunnigan



Hizbollah Caught Planning an Atrocity
August 2, 2006: Israeli troops operating in south Lebanon captured a Hezbollah safe house, and found the usual weapons and other equipment, as well as a supply of Israeli Defense Force uniforms. This indicated plans to stage a major "atrocity." Committed, as the evidence would clearly show, by Israeli troops. But perhaps this will never happen, for Israeli raids into southern Lebanon have captured many Hizbollah documents, as well as some live Hizbollah members. These, combined with Israeli electronic eavesdropping, reports from agents inside Lebanon, give the Israelis a pretty good idea of what Hizbollah is up to. Without much fanfare, Israeli commandos and aircraft will respond to Hizbollah plans.

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah fires record number of rockets
AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/2/06 | Aron Heller - ap



BEIT HILLEL, Israel - Hezbollah launched its deepest strikes yet into Israel on Wednesday, firing a record number of more than 190 rockets. An Israeli-American was killed as he fled for home by bicycle, and a stray rocket hit the West Bank for the first time.


The intense rocket fire defied claims by Israeli leaders and generals that they have considerably weakened Hezbollah's military capabilities. It followed a two-day lull in Hezbollah rocket attacks, and came hours after Israeli commandos in Lebanon captured what Israel said were five Hezbollah guerrillas.


Police said at least 21 people were wounded in Wednesday's attacks, which brought the Israeli death toll in three weeks of fighting to 55, including 19 civilians. Israel's onslaught on Lebanon has killed at least 540, mostly civilians.


The army said an American who immigrated to Israel was among three Israeli soldiers killed in fighting in Lebanon earlier this week.
Michael Levine, 21, of Philadelphia, moved to Israel three years ago and enlisted in the paratroopers, said Mike Ehrlich, who hosted Levine at a kibbutz after he first arrived in Israel.


The 52-year-old Israeli-American killed in the attacks was struck down outside his home in Kibbutz Sa'ar near the town of Naharia. He had been riding his bike home after a warning siren went off when the rocket fell, said Yehuda Shavit, a local government official.


The man was not immediately identified, but neighbors said he was originally from the Boston area and had been living in Israel for the last 20 years. The man's wife and two daughters had moved to southern Israel when the rocket attacks started, Shavit said, adding that more than half of the kibbutz residents also had fled.


At the scene, police removed the remains of the rocket from the crater it blasted, as an orange bulldozer was clearing away the rubble.
Rockets also hit near the Israeli town of Beit Shean, about 40 miles from the border, and near the village of Beit Hillel just before Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, briefed reporters there. As he spoke, a ridge enflamed by a rocket hit blazed in the background.


Hezbollah has fired an average of more than 100 rockets every day since the war started July 12, sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. The previous high for rockets was 157, earlier this week.


Yet Halutz said Israel has dealt the guerrilla group a damaging blow, including killing hundreds of guerrillas and hitting their supplies of medium and long-range rockets. Having significantly increased Israel's ground operation in south Lebanon on Tuesday, the army is also considering more airstrikes, he said.


"We will need to evaluate the airstrikes in the depth of Lebanon, especially in Beirut," Halutz said. "I assume, the matter will come up for authorization in the next day or two."


In the West Bank, the misfired rockets landed near the town of Jenin, between the villages of Fakua and Jalboun, leaving 6-foot crater but causing no casualties.


Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have staged daily support marches for Hezbollah, cheering the group's apparent success in fighting the Israelis.
"We know that they did not intend to strike Palestinian territory. They intended to strike Israel," said Fahmi Zarer, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. "It was only a technical problem that made this rocket land here in the Palestinian territories."


Lebanese security officials said Hezbollah guerrillas fired more than 300 rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday. An Associated Press reporter in southeastern Lebanon reported seeing about two dozen of the rockets launched from that area alone.


Hezbollah's satellite TV network, Al-Manar, reported the guerrilla group used its longer-range Khaybar 2 missiles to hit Beit Shean. Hezbollah used the same rocket last week when it targeted the Israeli town of Afula.

[American Patriot]

Can you BELIEVE that Kana was a SET UP????? Look at the videos.

Green Helmet Guy: Abdel Qader ( photo ops in Qana, Lebanon )

Little Gren Footballs ^ | August 02, 2006



Green Helmet Guy, the “rescue worker” who posed for photo ops with children’s bodies in Qana, is interviewed by Al Jazeera in Arabic, in a video clip at YouTube:
UPDATE at 8/2/06 8:48:14 am:
Watch in the background at around the 1:20 mark, as rescue workers carrying a stretcher pause and set it on the ground, to allow photographers to get in position and take pictures.


(Excerpt) Read more at littlegreenfootballs.com ...

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah's helping hands in Syria
BBC ^ | 8/2/06 | John Leyne



We were told it was a secret office, though we did not have much trouble finding it for ourselves.


The man behind the desk never gave us his name, but he seemed to be a key figure in Hezbollah's support network in Syria.


He would not let us film the office, or give its location. He said he was afraid the Israelis might attack.


But this is where, apparently, they co-ordinate fund-raising in Syria for the Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.


Hezbollah banner


Our contact told us there had been a big increase in the money raised since the beginning of the current fighting, and particularly after many civilians were killed in the attack on Qana at the weekend.


He told us they were getting support, not just from the Shia Muslim community, from which Hezbollah comes, but also from Sunni Muslims and Christians. "Liberal people around the world are supporting the resistance," he said.


The Hezbollah official also insisted the Syrian government was happy with their presence - a claim supported by the Hezbollah banner displayed openly outside the building.


"Many people are coming to us to volunteer to come and fight in Lebanon," he said. But they were being turned away, he explained, because Hezbollah already had enough fighters in Lebanon.


I asked whether they could still get supplies through to Lebanon. "No answer," he said.


What about President Bush's aim to weaken Hezbollah? "He doesn't understand the people," argued our contact. "We will never be weakened.
"For Hezbollah, fighting is not about weapons or guns, it is with the heart and soul."


Nasrallah T-shirts


He was equally withering about Arab governments, who he said had betrayed Hezbollah. And he insisted the current ceasefire plan being negotiated by the Americans would not be successful.


Close to the office, street vendors sell rows of T-shirts, displaying pictures of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.


Outside one of Damascus' smartest restaurants, the yellow flag of Hezbollah is plastered, incongruously, across the back window of a shining, new, black Range Rover.


There are even collecting boxes for Hezbollah in some mosques.
If the aim of the current fighting is to isolate and undermine Hezbollah, here in Syria it seems to be having precisely the opposite effect.

[American Patriot]

Israel: Video proves hospital was Hezbollah HQ
CNN ^



JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's military on Wednesday released video that it said proved a hospital it raided overnight deep inside Lebanon was actually a Hezbollah headquarters.


Israeli special forces raided the hospital near Baalbeck, Lebanon, snatching five militants and killing 10 others, Israel's army said.


(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...

[Ryan Ruck]

Iran and Syria Beat the Drums of War

In the last few days senior Iranian and Syrian officials, including Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, have stepped up their statements on the war, with the Syrian regime's mouthpieces in the media following suit.

The following are excerpts:

Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander: We Must Keep the Hatred of America Burning in Our Hearts Until the Moment of Revenge Arrives

The Iranian conservative news agency Fars reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Yahya Raheem Safavi gave a speech before forces from the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij [1] on July 30, 2006, in which he demanded that they be prepared to act against Israel and the United States:

"I hope that our courageous and great nation will succeed one day in taking revenge against Israel and America, avenging the blood of the oppressed Muslims and the martyrs.

"We see America as also being the cause of the death of the 200,000 martyrs in the war that was forced upon us [i.e. the Iran-Iraq war], since it urged Saddam [Hussein] to attack Iran. We must keep the holy hatred burning in our hearts until the moment of revenge arrives.

"In light of the Zionists' crimes and oppression, I ask God to hasten the years when this regime will no longer exist... The Zionists are hastening their own death through their foul deeds, since Hizbullah and the Lebanese people are undefeated. There is a need to topple the phony Zionist regime, this cancerous growth [called] Israel, which was founded in order to plunder the Muslims' resources and wealth." [2]

The London Arabic-language daily Al-Quds Al-'Arabi, relying on the Fars news agency, quoted Safavi as saying that "the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij... need to be ready to respond against Israel and the United States. The Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Khamenei] will tell you when the time for this has come." [3]

Guardian Council Head Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati: All Muslims Must Provide Military Aid to Hizbullah

Iranian Guardian Council head Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told the Iranian students news agency ISNA that the war of the Zionist regime in Lebanon paralleled the Ashura. [4] He emphasized the Shi'ite aspect of the war, and Hizbullah's role as defender of Shi'ites today. Ayatollah Jannati further called for all Muslims to provide military aid to Hizbullah. The following are excerpts from the ISNA report:

"Hizbullah is, in effect, [an organization of] supporters of God, Ali, and the house of Ali. All people in the world have a duty to maintain this supporter. The best support for God is supporting Islam's war against the infidels. I hope that I will live to see the celebrations of the victory of Islam over the infidels.

"The war against the Zionist regime in Lebanon is parallel to the Ashura, as Yazid thought that he would triumph after he led to the death of Imam Hussein - when [actually] at Karbala the sons of Umayya took their greatest defeat [- and thus it will be with the Zionist regime]. [5]

"Even though the entire Western and Eastern world [both] supported Iraq in the [Iran-Iraq] war, and no one supported Iran, we managed to win, with God's help.

"Today too it can be expected that the Muslim countries will not refuse [to provide] all kinds of aid, particularly military, medical, and food aid, to Hizbullah and the Lebanese people, and even to bring the wounded for treatment in the neighboring countries."

He added that "[Hizbullah leader] Hassan Nasrallah is the man of the century, because he alone stands facing the wild attacks of the Zionist regime." [6]

Kayhan Headline: "Tel Aviv is Expecting a Rain of Missiles"

The conservative Iranian daily Kayhan, which is close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published as its lead story for August 1, 2006: "A special announcement by Kayhan regarding the recent development in the fighting in Lebanon: Tel Aviv is expecting a rain of missiles."

In its report on reactions to the events in Kafr Qana, Kayhan wrote: "A wave of popular support, primarily in the Middle East, is flowing towards Hizbullah in Lebanon... Hassan Nasrallah, the best-known Arab Islamic figure in the Middle East, said in response to the crimes at Qana that he would respond with determination and surprise against the Zionist regime. According to him, they [the people of the Middle East] are waiting for Hizbullah missiles to strike the central city of Tel Aviv and destroy it. The Israelis too await this event; they themselves announced that the Hizbullah missiles had a range of 200 km, when the distance from the Lebanese border to Tel Aviv [sic] is only 120 km." [7]

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "Now is a Time for Popular and National Resistance"; "The Battle Will Continue So Long as Our Land is Occupied and So Long as Our Rights are Stolen"

On the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the establishment of the Syrian army, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad issued a letter to the army. The following are excerpts, as reported by the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra:

"[Al-Assad wrote:] 'The anniversary of the establishment of the [Syrian] army falls this year amidst international circumstances [presenting] regional challenges that oblige us to be wary and alert and that make readiness and preparedness a necessity.

"'Indeed, the barbaric war of destruction that the Zionist enemy is conducting against our proud Arab people in Lebanon and in Palestine is growing crueler and crueler. Sister Lebanon is subject to open attack by the Israeli machine of aggression, by air, by sea, and by land, and the enemy is employing the most horrendous forms of murder, damage, and destruction, and is not skipping any person, stone, installation, or infrastructure...

"'Part of their battle and aggression is based on falsification of the facts and the truth. [Even] if there exists someone who makes their plans easier for them and promotes their claims, the peoples' pulse is stronger, and continues to exist. The time now is a time for popular and national resistance. This resistance succeeded in humiliating the occupiers, shattering their prestige in Iraq and Palestine, and so today in Lebanon, and it has proven to the world that the power of truth is stronger than all the hubris of the occupying power.

"'It is Israel that perpetrated and is perpetrating the aggression; it is [Israel] that takes [entire] nations hostage... It is [Israel] that holds thousands of prisoners in its jails and its prisons. It is Israel, more than any other, that is occupying our Arab lands in Palestine, the Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon.

"'These resistance fighters, and this people, are fighting in order to redeem their homelands and countries. They are fighting in order to defend their land and their honor. They have no banner other than that of victory, and they have proven that victory begins with a firm stance of honor, continues with exposing agents who have abandoned [their fellow Arabs], and ends with liberation.

"'Syria, which has always stood by its brothers, and has sacrificed ranks of martyrs in order to defend Lebanon's liberty just [as it did] to defend Syria's liberty, is today, as in the past, the strongest force and the force most determined to stand by our steadfast Arab people who are fighting in Lebanon and in Palestine, and to stand by the heroic Lebanese resistance that struck the enemy in its own base. All the shouting of threats that the forces of hegemony, who support the aggression, are sounding will not deter us from continuing in the path of liberation, from supporting our brothers, and from providing aid to the resistance.'

"Assad called on the armed forces, on all of the brigades and units, to heighten their efforts in the training fields, and to work and strive to be more prepared and to raise their level of preparedness, and said: 'Despite our belief that martyrdom is the path to liberty and victory, we must believe that every effort and each drop of sweat now in training will save a drop of blood when the time comes. The battle will continue so long as our land is occupied and so long as our rights are stolen. Victory will come, with Allah's help." [8]

Editor of Syrian Government Daily: Everyone in the Nation Needs to Decide in Whose Trench He Will Fight - That of Israel, or That of the Resistance

An editorial by Dr. Khalaf Al-Jarrad, editor of the Syrian government daily Teshreen, read: "The strategic planners, decision-makers, and war [commanders] in the Zionist entity and among its supporters need to learn the nature of this region, and the meaning of martyrdom and honor among the peoples of the region... [Then] they will understand that their cruel wars, [and] the damage, destruction, and mass murder of our people in Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon will do them no good and will not force our nation to suffer defeat and surrender. On the contrary: It will push millions of Arabs in the various nations to join the resistance, take up arms, and fight against Zionism...

"History has no mercy. Everyone in this nation - and especially its rulers - needs to choose the trench in which he will stand and in which he will fight. It must be either the trench of Israel, Zionism, and the U.S. (led by the neoconservatives), together with the right-wing and racist movements that have allied themselves with them, as well as the forces and organizations that support them - militarily, politically, economically, intellectually, diplomatically, and ideologically, and have joined forces with them; or else the trench of the resistance, that defends the land, rights, honor, history, and identity, and on its side [are] all of the resistance forces - Arab, Islamic, and international.

"There are no other options in this existential and decisive equation and at this decisive point in history." [9]

Syrian Minister: "Now That the Legendary Myth of Israeli Superiority has Been Shattered…"

Syrian Minister of Expatriates Buthayna Sha'ban wrote in the Syrian government daily Teshreen, and likewise in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: "It is clear that the disarmament of the resistance [i.e. Hizbullah], the destruction of Iraq, the tearing of the people of Iraq to pieces, and the threat to Syria - all these are goals in the establishment of the New Middle East, in its Zionist-Western identity... The Arabs need to understand today that 'everything that brings them together is right, and everything that sows dissension among them is wrong.' Thus, the battle is long - a battle of to be or not to be.

"[Condoleezza] Rice was right when she said that there will be no return [to the situation that prevailed] before the outbreak of the war. Even if she and Israel were to want [the situation] to return to what it was, the shattering of the legendary myth of Israeli superiority, and the fact that [the Arabs] have broken out of the spirit of frustration that Israel had sowed among them - this will not allow the Arabs to agree any more to the humiliation, inferiority, and desperation that prevailed [before the war].

"There can be no doubt that the Middle East is indeed today in the throes of birth pangs. But the birth will be the birth of an Arab world, which will be ruled by its noble sons, who understand their own interests, are proud of their past, their present, and their future, and who sacrifice so that their children will have an honorable future in which the Arabs will achieve this unification and cooperation, so that the Arab voice will prevail in the international arena..." [10]

Editor of Syrian Government Daily Takes Arab Rulers to Task: You Can Drink Your Coffee with the Aroma of the Children of Qana

The editor of the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-'Awadh, wrote: "Oh Arab rulers, you rationalists and pragmatists and doves of peace, you can drink your morning coffee with the aroma of the children of [Kafr] Qana. You can now continue to clink your glasses and toast peace with Rice, and make from the skins of those who were killed robes for some of you, and ties for others, as souvenirs from Lebanon.

"Who will take Israel to task? Who will dare? Israel's history, which is full of massacres, demonstrates the aggressive and barbaric nature upon which it subsides, and which it is impossible to change in the way of the wise [Arab] rulers. It can only be changed through the mentality of the 'adventurer' resistance fighters...

"[Our] answer to you is: All of those who were killed are our children. Can the father forgive the murderer of his son?" [11]

Sources:

[1] The Basij is Iran's revolutionary people's militia. See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 262, February 1, 2006, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Pa...=ia&ID=IA26206.

[2] Fars, July 30, 2006. http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8505080619

[3] Al-Quds Al-'Arabi (London), July 31, 2006.

[4] During the holiday of Ashura, the Shi'ites mark the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the hands of the Sunni Yazid bin Mu'wayya, in the Battle of Karbala in 680, who they claim usurped the rule from the house of Ali. The Ashura was turned by the founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomenei, into a symbol of the uprising of minorities against powerful oppressors.

[5] Yazid was the Sunni ruler from the house of Umayya who killed Hussein (see previous note). According to Shi'ite belief, Hussein was supposed to be the Muslim ruler, not Yazid. The Battle of Karbala marked the divide in the Islamic world between Sunnis and Shi'ites.

[6] ISNA, August 1, 2006. http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.asp...-762856&Lang=P

[7] Kayhan (Iran), August 1, 2006. http://www.kayhannews.ir/850510/2.htm#other201

[8] Al-Thawra (Syria), August 1, 2006.

[9] Teshreen (Syria), July 31, 2006.

[10] Teshreen (Syria), July 31, 2006; Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), July 31, 2006.

[11] Al-Thawra (Syria), August 1, 2006.

[Aplomb]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...284582,00.html

Proposal to transfer Shalit to Egypt

Senior Palestinian source tells Ynet that in the framework of negotiations over Kidnapped soldier's release, possibility he be handed over to Egyptians is being considered. Cairo official: Still no breakthrough in talks
Ali Waked

In the framework of negotiations over the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, "we are looking into the possibility of handing him over to Egypt until Israel fulfills the Palestinians and the abductors' demand to free Palestinian prisoners," a senior Palestinian official told Ynet Tuesday.

The negotiations over Shalit's release continue, mainly via Egyptian mediation. One of the central clauses of the talks stipulates that there will be no direct contacts between the Israeli government and Hamas.


According to the agreement that is being formulated by both sides, whose basic principles were agreed upon by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin, Shalit is to be transferred either to Egypt or to Abbas' hands. In exchange, Israel will cease military operations, primarily in the Strip, suspend all targeted killings and work to release Palestinian prisoners. Once the prisoners are freed, Shalit will be returned to Israel.


The new clause in this deal refers to the possibility that Shalit be handed over to the Egyptians.


Cairo confirms 'outline' for deal


On Monday, PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that the Palestinian government continues its efforts to resolve the crisis that would include Shalit's release, ending the Israeli military offensive and "taking into consideration the suffering of the tens of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails."

Egyptian sources confirmed the report, but said it has not been decided yet whether Shalit will be transferred to Egypt or to Abbas. Officials in Cairo said that no breakthrough has been registered in the negotiations until now, but stated that "this is the outline aimed at resolving the Shalit affair."