IDF kills alleged Yeshiva terror-contractor + Three

[Update: Eben schlagen die ersten vier Qassam-Raketen in der Sderot-Gegend ein. Das wars wohl erstmal mit "truce"]

Muhammad Shahade, an Islamic Jihad operative who Palestinian sources say was behind the terror attack in Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem last week, has been killed by IDF forces in Bethlehem Wednesday afternoon, local witnesses reported. According to reports, another three militants have been killed in the raid, one of them an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member. [Damit wird auch der link zur Hezbollah DEUTLICH unterstrichen.] Veteran activists in the armed Palestinian resistance movement, Shahada and his comrades had evaded the forces of the Israeli occupation for years. On Wednesday the four activists were in Bethlehem meeting with other Fatah activists in preparation for Fatah's sixth movement conference. Ich denke damit wäre der Fall abgeschlossen. Ob die Israelis noch Aktionen gegen die Hezbollah planen wird man sehen. Auswirkungen auf die Situation im Gazastreifen sind zu befürchten, da der Islamic Jihad diesen Fall rächen werden wird. Daneben gilt es natürlich langsam ernsthaft die Rolle der al-Aqsa-Brigaden zu hinterfragen. Da sie scheinbar eine Rolle im Attentat in Jerusalem spielten ist eine gefährliche Entwicklung zu befürchten: Eine Abspaltung mit islamo-nationalistischem Hintergrund, die über Waffen verfügt. Damit galt der Anschlag in Jerusalem auch der Präsidentschaft Abbas.

Als ersten Schritt kündigten "nationale und islamische" Gruppen einen Generalstreik für Freitag in der Westbank an. Die Täterzelle gab bekannt: Ma'an Exclusive – The group said to be responsible for last week's shooting attack in Jerusalem has threatened to conduct "a sudden, huge operation" against an Israeli target soon. Ahrar Al-Jalil, or the "Galilee Freedom Battalion" sent the announcement to Ma'an News Agency on Tuesday evening, along with a photo of Ala' Abu Dheim, who carried out the shooting in a Jewish school in Jerusalem to Ma'an news agency. The group, also known as the "Imad Mughniyya group" after the recently assassinated Hizbullah leader, said the new operation will be dedicated to "martyrs in Gaza and the West Bank," referring to Palestinians killed by the Israeli military. Die offizielle Stellungnahme der PA: A spokesman on behalf of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' office condemned the IDF operation Wednesday that left four senior terrorists dead in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Verteidigungsminister Barak mäßigt am Abend extrem seinen Ton. [Hat mein Beruhigungstee den ich ihm schickte doch geholfen.] Tschippi LLiffni ist unter die Pippi Langstrumpf-Fans geraten: "Sometimes there is a very big difference between Israel's international image and it's realities," said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Wednesday, appearing before Massachusetts state lawmakers. Livni addressed recent criticism regarding Israel's recent operations in Gaza, saying Israel is doing all it can to avoid harming the innocent. [... mach ich mir die Welt ... wie sie mir gefällt.] Wie sie allerdings Angriffe auf atomare Anlagen mit avoiding harming the innocent bewerkstelligen will? [Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the international community on Wednesday to tighten pressure, including economic sanctions, on Iran to halt its nuclear program and said: "The clock is ticking."] Und sogar lyrisch wird sie als sie von sich selbst spricht:
"There are many who would like to see the flames of fire
in the Middle East grow higher"

Editorial: "Time to manage -water- demand": A paucity of rainfall and a continued rise in consumption have put Israel on the verge of a water crisis, the most severe in a decade. The water level of the Kinneret and of the groundwater reserves has dropped sharply. As a result, water supply for vital needs may run into difficulties, and there is a genuine threat to the quality of the water due to the acceleration of salination processes tied to the lowered water level.

A US State Department report on the state of human rights in Lebanon received mixed reactions from Lebanese politicians on Wednesday. The US State Department issued late on Tuesday its yearly report on the situation of human rights across the world, including in Lebanon. "The Lebanese opposition, backed by foreign powers, is still obstructing the election of a new president in Lebanon," the report said. "These people should be the last ones to talk about human rights," opposition Free Patriotic Movement MP Nabil Nicholas told The Daily Star on Wednesday. "Let them pay attention to the thousands of homeless in New York first."