IDF kills Two - Olmerts Iron Dome Waterloo

In den heutigen Morgenstunden wird eine Patrouille der al-Quds-Brigaden vor al-Maghazi durch eine israelische Rakete getroffen: Zwei Tote. In der Nacht werden von israelischen Schnellbooten auf den Küstenstreifen 15 Granaten abgefeuert. Die palästnensische Seite feuert zwei Qassam-Rakten auf die Grenzstadt Sderot, ein weiterer Angriff auf den Kissufim-Crossing wird notiert. Derweil wird die Aussage von Ulrike Putz von israelischen Quellen bestätigt das die Qassam-Raketenproduktion auf Potassiumnitrat aus israelischen Beständen zurück greift. [...] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while both are in Japan next week. The meeting was requested by Rice. It is particularly surprising because Rice is due to come to Jerusalem for a working visit the following week. Government officials predicted that the meeting would focus on the situation in the Gaza Strip, and said that Rice probably wanted to express her concern over the humanitarian situation there. [...] A top US State Department official cautioned Israel Thursday on the use of force in Gaza as the IDF mulls an invasion to stop the rocket fire from the coastal strip. "We urge caution and proportionality," David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told regional media at a press briefing here. [...] European Union lawmakers urged Israel on Thursday not to inflict "collective punishment" on Gaza's population, saying its isolation of the territory had failed and its actions were endangering civilians. They urged Israel to lift a blockade which has cut supplies to the 1.5 million people living in Gaza, run by the Islamist group Hamas, and let in aid and essential goods and services. [...] Hamas on Friday welcomed a European Parliament initiative to end Israel's crippling blockade on the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip, most of whom are dependent on aid. Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri said he welcomed the resolution, adding that Hamas is ready to study any initiative that will contribute to stopping Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. Abu Zuhri told Ma'an that the main problem lies in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, along with the siege imposed on the people of the Gaza Strip and the ongoing Israeli attacks on the sector. [...] A new civil court founded in Belgium by human rights organizations will convene for the first time Friday evening and discuss war crimes Israel had allegedly committee during the Second Lebanon War and war crimes the groups claim it is currently committing in the Gaza Strip.

Reven Pedatzur, "Iron dome found to be helpless against Qassams": Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was surprised to learn last Sunday that the Iron Dome defense system, which was approved last year and was supposed to protect Israel's citizens against Qassam rockets, is not capable of alleviating the distress of Sderot inhabitants. "Recent tests found the system to be effective against rockets fired from more than four kilometers away, but not against those fired from closer range," Haaretz noted that same day in its lead story. Because Sderot is less than two kilometers from Beit Hanun, from which the rockets are being fired, Iron Dome will be helpless against them. [...] An und für sich kein großes Problem. Es wurde hier schon die Absicherung über bereits existierende Gatling-Gun-Systeme diskutiert. Die übermittelte Aussage Olmerts: "The plan is that these means will give us the capability of stopping short-range rocket attacks including Kassams. This is applicable to both the northern and the southern fronts," ist nicht unbedingt grundfalsch. Es gäbe die Möglichkeit über modernste Sensortechnik Qassam-Einheiten zu spotten, die sich im fraglichen Bereich bewegen wobei solche Systeme seeehr teuer sind. Im letzten post über das Thema hinterfragte ich die angegebene Zeitschiene einer früheren Installierung des Iron dome Systems in Sderot, die wohl jetzt von Tisch ist. Für später ließe sich das System jedoch ergänzen. Zwar ist der Bericht von Pedatzur wirklich außerordentlicher Güte: The decision to focus on the development of Iron Dome raises so many questions that an examination of the process that led to it is in order. The questions include, for example, whether the decision was influenced by considerations relating to commercial bodies, the likely implications of a deal to export this defense system to a foreign country which is not located in the NATO continents (America and Europe), and the motives of some of those involved in the process. It may well be that nothing concrete lurks behind these questions, but we must not ignore the need to find satisfactory answers for them. The fact that Iron Dome is not effective against short-range rockets and therefore cannot protect Sderot was long known to the system's developers and to the Defense Ministry officials who chose to focus on it. For some reason, they decided not to go public with their information. When the Defense Ministry officials, led by the defense minister, promised that the residents of Sderot would be protected after the installation of the Iron Dome system, they knew they would not be able to deliver on this promise., aber ab und an etwas aufgeblasen und das Militär wird lapidar bemerken das im Falle eines ausgereiften Systems der Qassam-Terror bereits beendet sein wird. Denn das dieser bis 2011 so weiter geht daran glaubt keiner. Die etwas überraschende Veruntreuung des Themas durch Schwafelhans Olmert gehört zu seiner Persönlichkeitsstruktur und läßt die Schwüre einer Besserung nach dem Libanon-Feldzug absurd erscheinen. Großartig im Artikel jedoch Bereiche wie: "An examination of the economic aspect also casts grave doubts on the decision to choose Iron Dome..." Richtig ist das das Iron Dome System eher zur Absicherung kommender Fronten Hezbollah - Iran paßt und das der Qassam-Frage jeher zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde, da es sich letztlich nur um mit einem Treibsatz ausgestattete Rohre vollgestopft mit TNT handelt. "Mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schiessen" will einem nicht in den Kopf. Der grundsätzliche Fehler liegt jedoch in der Annahme man könne weiterhin den Zusammenbruch der Hamas erwarten. Nachdem die Variante "Dahlan" scheiterte ist den Strategen außer einer Verschärfung der Blockade bislang wenig eingefallen. Verschiedene Personalien in letzter Zeit lassen jedoch vermuten das man zuerst den Zellen selbst die Qassam-Raketen abfeuert auf den Leib rücken will, was bislang nur allzu wenig funktionierte, da speziell ausgebildete Truppenteile nicht existierten. Da zerfällt das Iron Dome System tatsächlich in der Bedeutung zu einem die defense industry stärkenden Nationalstolzprojekt mit eher symbolischer Wirkung. Das man unter Politikern wie Olmert keine strategische Meisterleistung erwarten kann, sondern nur Pomp und Protz ist leider so wie es ist. Die Bewohner von Sderot, die aktuell damit beschäftigt sind nach dem man sie sehr lange Zeit vertröstete eine breite Öffentlichkeit in ihre Belange einzubeziehen haben längst verstanden das sie im großen Spiel der Konflikte nur ein marginales Empathiekärtchen darstellen das man zu jeder Gelegeneheit benutzen kann. Militärisch bedeutungslos, aber was würde die Aussenministerin Livni ohne Sderot zu sagen haben? Nichts. Mit Raketen auf Sderot lebt sich viel besser als ohne.

Räuberpistole: A group of Palestinian militants who walked out of a Palestinian Authority prison in the West Bank town of Nablus on Thursday returned to jail voluntarily, a Palestinian security official said Friday. The prisoners, members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, had been involved in fighting against the IDF in recent months and were hiding in Nablus' old city, the Kasba. Some six weeks ago, the group turned itself in to the PA, following a comprehensive IDF operation in the Kasba.

Israel has extended its ban on Palestinian institutions operating in disputed Jerusalem, Palestinian officials charged, despite a requirement in a peace blueprint to allow them to reopen, just the latest snag in recently renewed negotiations. This month, the officials said Thursday, Israel renewed its order against a Palestinian center known as Orient House, the city's Arab Chamber of Commerce and other symbolic buildings that are rallying points for the Palestinian claims to Jerusalem's eastern sector.

Ari Shavit, "Time for generosity for Syria": According to foreign sources, it was Israel that attacked a strategic facility in eastern Syria on September 6, 2007. According to foreign sources, it can be assumed that it was Israel that assassinated an arch-terrorist in Damascus on February 12, 2008. These two operations, both carried out on Syrian soil, have a great deal in common. They demonstrate excellent intelligence expertise, superb operational capability and policy sophistication. Since both of them focused on targets that embarrass Bashar Assad, they badly batter the Syrian president without him being able to react.