Updates

*** Auch am heutigen Mittwoch wird von den beteiligten Konfliktparteien im/am Gazastreifen an der Stellschraube der Eskalation gedreht. Nachdem am Morgen eine Qassam-Raktete in richtung Ashkelon abgefeuert wird attackieren israelische Kampflugzeuge die verantwortliche Hamas-Einheit und verletzen vier Hamas-Mitglieder. Im anschluß wird eine Mörsergranate auf den Sufa-Crossing abgeschossen, was zu dessen Schließung führt. Vor zwei Stunden werden insgesamt fünf Qassam-Raketen in die israelische Wüste geschossen, eine militärische Antwort steht noch aus. Nach palästinensischen Angaben hatten israelische Kampfflugzeuge "einige" Luftangriffe in der Nacht durchgeführt. Die IAF bestätigt nur einen. Daneben wird die Karte Blockadepolitik wieder verstärkt gespielt: Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Israel Radio on Wednesday that Israel will continue "to use the economic weapon against the Gaza Strip, and reduce supplies of fuel, electricity and some food to the territory in an attempt to persuade Hamas to stop the rockets." Ramon maintained that there is a "war in the south" against Hamas, and it must be "fought on all fronts." [...] Israel will begin to reduce the amount of electricity that it supplies to the Gaza Strip on Thursday as part of the punitive measures that it is conducting against the Hamas government in the Strip. Gerade ging eine zweite Qassam-Welle mit insgesamt sechs Raketen auf israelischem Territorium nieder... tbc

*** Dimona-Afthermath: Mittlerweile wurde in Hebron der Vater eines der mutmaßlichen Attentäter vom Montag verhaftet. Das in einem früheren post erwähnte Barak-Zitat hingegen ist nicht eindeutig: Separately on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would defeat its enemies and that the IDF would succeed in stopping terrorism from the southern Hebron Hills, where security officials estimate the two Dimona bombers originated. "Just like your parents provided the solutions when they fought in the Jordan Valley, we... will now [find] solutions for the terrorism in Hebron and the Gaza Strip," Barak told cadets in the Officers' Course during an exercise at the Shizafon Base near Eilat. Der Livni-Variante der Grenzsicherung sorgt für mittlere Diskussionen: A dispute is brewing between the security establishment and the Foreign Ministry over whether to allow Egypt to introduce additional troops along the Gaza-Egyptian border, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to present her ministry's recommendation to allow the Egyptians to increase the number of soldiers and security guards along the border, at a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office. At the same time, government officials told the Post that Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, the powerful head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, remained opposed to allowing Egypt to expand its deployment along the Gaza-Egyptian border beyond the 750 troops already there. Anderen Orts werden die Kosten verschiedener Grenz-Mauerwall - Sicherheitsschutzzäune diskutiert: The building of a new fence on the Israeli-Egyptian border may cost up to $1.37 billion, depending on its security features. Government sources told Yedioth Ahronoth Wednesday that according to the calculations, mounting the simplest barbwire fence along the 186-mile border will cost the State about $411 million. A barbwire fence has a near-100% success rate in stopping border traffic and infiltrations.

*** Unterdessen sind die faktischen Auswirkungen des veränderten Hilfszahlungsrahmens der EU noch nicht absehbar. Man darf jedoch vermuten das der Gazastreifen nur noch Lebensmittellieferungen finanziert bekommt: The European Union (EU) experiment to give aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is coming to an end, to be replaced by another first-time mechanism. On 5 February PEGASE (Mecanisme "Palestino-Européen de Gestion et d'Aide Socio-Economique"), a new instrument to channel EU and international development assistance to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory, issued its first payments to Palestinian civil servants - 22 million euros - which they will receive on 6 February. This is the first step to replace the EU's Temporary International Mechanism (TIM). "We will be moving away from budget support and towards development, presuming the economy can grow," Roy Dickenson, the EU head of operations in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), told IRIN, noting the long-term nature of PEGASE, designed for development and not only emergency aid. [Schwafelhans Blair: "Economic development in the Palestinian Authority will strengthen the population and its leadership, thus giving a strong push to diplomatic negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Wednesday during a meeting with President Shimon Peres."; Amira Hass: A Palestinian public sector strike, such as the one that began yesterday and is expected to continue today, is the type of news that here is considered a purely "internal Palestinian matter," lacking any media importance. But beyond the basic fact that the modest wage demands are a direct result of the policy of closure and economic attrition on the part of the true sovereign - Israel - the strike presents a genuine challenge to the stability and strength of Salam Fayyad's government, and demonstrates the erosion of its public credibility.] Als Vermittler im Streik wurde Rawhi Fattouh, ehemaliger Interimspräsident eingesetzt. Neben erneuten Verhaftungen in der Westbank [11] wird ein Fall berichtet der zeigt das auch ohne Qassam-Raketen ein latenter ökonomischer Krieg zur israelischen Strategie gehört: The Israeli government has turned down dozens of applications by the local council of the West Bank village of Salem, east of Nablus, to increase electricity supply to the village, councilmember Ja'far Shtaya told Ma'an on Tuesday. [Tony Blair schweben da wohl tausende Arbeitsplätze in der Holzsammelindustrie und im Dienstleistungssektor Schafherdentreiben vor.]