Updates Israel - IDF kills Two

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Israel would not be able to avoid a wide military operation in the Gaza Strip, unless Palestinian militants cease firing rockets and carrying out terror attack on Israelis. Barak passed this message on to Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who arrived in the region on Monday to present Cairo's proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza. Das wochenede über kam es zu teils schweren Raketenangriffen auf israelische Grenzanlagen und zivile Ziele. At least 21 Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck the western Negev on Saturday, lightly hurting five people. Several rockets damaged buildings in Israeli towns, including a home that was hit while family members were inside. None of them were injured. Another rocket fired from Gaza shattered the windows of a Sderot synagogue. + Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets at the western Negev on Sunday, one of whiche exploded next to a schoolbus carrying children. + Two Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants hit Ashkelon on Monday morning. One of the rockets struck an area that contains many schools and kindergartens at 7 A.M., only a few minutes before the area is usually filled with children. [...] PM Olmert is expected to visit Egypt in the coming weeks, where he will meet with President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, the framework for a cease-fire agreement and the continuing negotiations with the Palestinians on the core issues of a permanent settlement. Olmert's visit to Egypt was agreed to in principle during a conversation with Mubarak on April 30, before the Talansky Affair broke. Mubarak had told Olmert that he is interested to talk in private about the situation in Gaza and the negotiations with the Palestinians, and the two agreed that the PM would visit Egypt in the wake of President George W. Bush's visit to Israel and the summit with the Arab heads of state at Sharm el-Sheikh next week. [...] Negotiations for the release of captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit have been at a standstill for months, officials told Army Radio Monday, adding that the cease-fire agreement with Hamas that is being brokered by the Egyptians is "an opportunity" to further the cause of Schalit's homecoming. [...] More than 800,000 people in the Gaza Strip are spending the second consecutive night without electricity on Sunday. The Gaza Strip's sole power plant shut down due to a lack of fuel on Saturday afternoon, Kan'an 'Ubaid, the deputy chair of the Palestinian power and natural resources service said. Nach jüngsten Angaben soll die Treibstofflieferung heute Morgen wieder aufgenommen worden sein. [...] Am Sonntag Morgen wird ein Hamas-Beobachtungsposten in der Al-Qarara-Zone durch die IDF erschossen. Am Mittwoch in Khaza'a verwundet verstirbt ein junger Mann [Status unklar] am Montag Morgen im Krankenhaus. Ansonsten werden nur kleinere Zwischenfälle berichtet. [...] A top Egyptian mediator said on Monday he had "high expectations" that a ceasefire deal could be reached between Israel and Hamas Islamists controlling the Gaza Strip. Omar Suleiman, Egypt's intelligence chief, held talks with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv on a truce, ahead of a meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Asked by reporters about his expectations, Suleiman held up his thumb in a gesture of optimism and replied in English: "High expectations." Barak said he hoped Suleiman's visit would "produce productive discussions."

Eine Reihe von Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Talanski-Affaire des PM Ehud olmerts, wobei mir persönlich keine nennenswerten neuen Punkte aufgefallen sind. Morris Talansky, the central figure in the new investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "emphatically denies" that he bribed Olmert. [...] The current police investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "will eventually lead to an indictment," former senior police officer Yaakov Borovsky said Monday. Major-General (ret.) Borovsky, who headed the anti-corruption department at the State Comptroller's Office, is familiar with details of the probes against Olmert. [...] Wichtig ein gewisses Umsteuern der israelischen Meinung die zum einen mit 59% einen Rücktritt Olmerts fordert und zum anderen überraschende Wahlergebnisse prognostizieren läßt: If Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni were to replace Prime Minsiter Ehud Olmert as Kadima's leader she would win a future election against Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labor party, according to a poll published by Yediot Aharonot on Monday. Das erstaunliche ist die schallende Ohrfeige für Avoda-Führer Barak, der nicht einmal aus dieser Streßsituation der Kadima Kapital schlagen kann: The poll predicted that with Livni leading Kadima the party would receive 27 seats in the Knesset, as opposed to 23 for Likud and 15 for Labor. Da sich Shas und Yisrael Beteinu als Träger einer israelischen Rechtsregierung andienern, wobei Avgdor Lieberman eher einen PM Netanjahu befürwortet und sich als neuer Kriegsminister andient -was absurd ist da er mit dem Likud nicht regieren kann- dämmert langsam die rechteste Rechtsregierung die es in Israel jemals gab. Selbst schuld: Barak hätte sein wort halten sollen und aus der Koaltion mit Olmert aussteigen sollen. Nun geht er mit diesem unter. [...] Although some of Kadima's top ministers seemed Sunday to show initial signs of positioning to take over the troubled party, Kadima rank-and-file said that none of the top-ranked members of the party had begun to actively build blocs of support. While some Kadima MKs attributed the disorganization to an absence of leadership ability on the part of the party's top officials, others chalked up the lack of active bloc formation to a pragmatic decision made by each one of the would-be leaders. [...] Weitere Berichte und Artikel: One thing police investigators hope to accomplish in their investigation of the Ehud Olmert-Morris Talansky affair is to break the long-standing bonds of loyalty between the prime minister, attorney Uri Messer and Olmert's former office manager, Shula Zaken. +++ The investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's alleged illegal receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars from American businessman and fund-raiser Morris Talansky is currently focused on Olmert's tenure as industry and trade minister in the Sharon government - not on the mayoral election campaigns in which Olmert participated, the funding for which he said he had received from Talansky, sources involved in the probe told Haaretz. [Incl. Interview mit Talansky] +++ People around the prime minister are claiming that political rivals are behind the allegations against him in the latest investigation. According to this version, Ehud Olmert is a victim of persecution by certain elements on the right who seek to remove him from office to foil his diplomatic initiatives toward the Palestinians. +++ Uzi Benziman, "He can not continue" +++ Revealing the identity of the primary witness, Morris Talansky, in the lastest Ehud Olmert affair raises questions that go beyond the prime minister. Serious questions need to be asked about the relationship between American Jewry and Israel. +++ Akiva Eldar, "Bush should stay home"

In der Westbank kommt es zu den gewöhnlichen massiven Auseinandersetzungen in allen relevanten Bezirken: Etwa 27 Pälästinenser werden bei Einsätzen der IDF verletzt, sieben verhaftet, dabei kommt es auch zu einer Mißhandlung an einem Checkpoint. Der palästinensische Journalistenverband fordert von der ramallahnsichen Regierung die Freilassung mehrerer inhaftierter Journalisten, die zum Teil seit Monaten wegen Hamas-Nähe inhaftiert sind. Weitere Verhaftungen werden von der PHCR verurteilt. Etwa 6 Hamas-Mitglieder werden durch die PA zusätzlich verhaftet. Über eine wohl brutal beendete Demonstration in TulKarem bemühe ich mich erstmal Infos zusammen zu tragen. Mittlerweile identifiziert ist eine Tote die man vor einer Moschee in Abu Dis auffand: Gaza-Flüchtling mit zeitweiligem Wohnsitz in Ost-Jerusalem. Die näheren Todesumstände konnten noch nicht ermittelt werden, oder die PA hatte Besseres zu tun. Offensichtlich nach Siedlerprotesten wird ein in Hebron abgebauter roadblock von der IDF wieder aufgebaut. + Hundreds students at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem staged a mock wedding on Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the expulsion of Palestinians from most of historic Palestine. + Unfasslich aber wahr: Jibril Rajoub ist zum neuen Päsident des Palästinensischen Fußballverbands ernannt worden, nachdem zuvor die FIFA eine "Wahl" beobachtet haben will.

Interview von Lally Weymouth mit Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.