Work accident kills Three - IDF One

Die Freitagsstatistik [al-Bureij-Camp] muß um ein getötetes Kind nach oben korregiert werden.

Bei einer Explosion im Jabalia-Flüchtlingslager werden im Haus eines Hamas-Mitglieds drei Hamasniks durch eine Explosion getötet. Am Sonntag Abend versucht die IAF durch zwei Luftangriffe einen der Rädelsführer des Angriffs auf die Benzinverladestation in Nazal Oz extralegal z töten. Das al-Aqsa-Brigaden-Mitglied kann enkommen, verletzt werden sieben Personen. Kleinere israelische gepanzerte Einheiten führen Aktionen vor Ost-Gaza City und Jabalia durch. Schießereien werden auch aus Beit Hanoun gemeldet. Die PFLP schießt zwei Qassam-Raketen auf Sderot ab. Mörsergranatenangriffe werden auf Kerem Shalmom, einen grenznahem Kibbutz und auf eine Inspektions-Gruppe unter aluf Yovav Galant, seines Zeichens Major-General und Southern Command chief. Am Samstag war es nur zu einer Qassam-Attacke mit zwei Raketen durch die PFLP auf die israelische Wüste gekommen.
In der Westbank verbleibt das Inkursions-Level weiterhin auf hohem Niveau. Etwa ein Dutzend verschiedener Aktionen marodierender israelischer Milizen wird berichtet, wobei es nur zu zwei Verhaftungen kommt. Palästinensische Quellen erwarten bald eine größere israelische Aktion im Raum Nablus, da die Stadt nicht zur Ruhe kommt. So wird das Auto des Abbas-nahen "Gouverneurs" von Nablus, Jamal al-Moushen im Balata-Camp zuerst beschossen und dabei ein Bodyguard leicht verletzt und später abgefackelt. [...] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Sunday evening for the second time in one week, following a previous agreement between the two leaders to meet before Abbas leaves for Washington. Zuvor war Olmert zweimalig als "Palästinenserfreund" in Erscehinung getreten: The cabinet will be asked Sunday to approve the employment of an additional 5,000 Palestinian construction workers, against the recommendation of the Bank of Israel and some government officials. [ein Beschluß wurde gemeldet.] + Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called on IDF commanders in the West Bank to understand that the roadblocks are causing suffering to the Palestinians, whose needs should be appreciated to avoid a worsening of relations between the two peoples. [Na, die müssen ja ganz schön blöd sein, wenn man ihnen das erst noch sagen muß.] Interessanter aber: Olmert also told the officers that "sooner or later" Israel would have to operate in the Gaza Strip. "But this will not be done without connection with the international scene. We need our friends throughout the world, and our reliance on them is of existential significance to the State of Israel," he said. [Also erst den Iran angreifen, dann ein paar "Grad-Types" abwarten und dann im Trubel um den Iran-Angriff zuschlagen. Da reiche ich glatt Netanyahu meine Hand und rufe gemeinsam mit ihm aus: "The government is detached from reality, security is faulty, the economy is receding and education is collapsing due to the absence of leadership and the absence of a path," Netanyahu told delegates at a conference in Tel Aviv's Likud center.]

Following his meeting with former US president Jimmy Carter, kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's father, Noam Shalit, told Ynet "the fact that Carter is not considered pro-Israeli, as American tradition dictates, could make it easier for him to meet with certain officials and raise ideas that would be subject to distrust had they come from others' mouths." [...] Die go-Entscheidung Carters ist nach der massiven Kritik aus Regierungskreisen der "international scene" gefallen: On Saturday Carter told ABC News' "This Week" that he felt "quite at ease" about meeting Hamas leaders over the objections of Washington because the Palestinian group is essential to a future peace with Israel. "It's very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel and to cooperate with the Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians," Carter said during the interview, which was aired Sunday. Derweil heiratet Fatima, Meshals Tochter einen gewissen Tariq Irshaid, der wohl aus der Bethlehem-Region stammt. Die Hochzeit wird uA vom syrischen Aussenminister besucht und als politische Demonstration zelebriert.

Israel lashes out against Germany: Israel is concerned that Iran might start moving weapons to Hezbollah by means of ships that anchor in the Beirut port, government sources in Jerusalem said. The sources said oversight of marine vessels by UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) was not efficient enough to enforce an embargo on weapons shipments into Lebanon and to pinpoint such shipments. [...] Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni arrived on Sunday for a first visit in Qatar, where she is scheduled to deliver a keynote address on international dialogue and peace before the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade. Foreign Ministry sources said that senior officials from Iran and Lebanon have decided to boycott participation in the forum due to Livni's participation. Those officials include Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabi Berri, former Lebanese foreign minister Fauzi Saluh and former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami. [...] Seventy-one percent of Israelis oppose a peace deal that would entail handing over Jerusalem's Old City and Temple Mount to the Palestinians, a new poll released by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies on Sunday says. [...] The Shin Bet security services on Sunday admitted to arresting relatives of individuals under interrogation to extract confessions from the prisoners. The head of the Shin Bet's interrogration department told the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee: "Certainly we used this method, but only on one occasion. [Erzähl mir mal was Neues, Shinny] The study by the Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCTI) was released earlier in the morning. The organization charged that "there is widespread use of an interrogation technique whereby family members are used and detainees are subjected to psychological terrorism by exploiting the families." [...] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to commit to an Egyptian initiative for an unofficial cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said following unexpected talks between the prime minister and Palestian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in Jerusalem. [...] The Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) says it plans to build 30,000 affordable apartments in the West Bank and Gaza to ease a growing housing crunch. An official in the fund said that the project will cost more than $2 billion and that private investors will be involved.

Zvi Bar'el: Slowly but surely, the government and the Israel Defense Forces have begun treating Hamas as a government rather than an organization. For instance, the prime minister announced that he sees Hamas as responsible for all the terror attacks in the Gaza Strip regardless of which organization actually carried them out. That is precisely how previous prime ministers used to talk about Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Daniel Levy, "A more private occupation": Imagine Philippe Starck and Daniel Libeskind are commissioned to design an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank - imposing exterior, breezy interior, daring splashes of light and color. Sometimes it seems this is the image being promoted by the newly privatized and civilianized checkpoints and crossings popping up in the territories. When it comes to dress codes, the drab olive of military fatigues is decidedly passe, having been replaced by the crisp uniforms of private security contractors.