Updates

Der nächste hoax: The exiled leader of Hamas said Friday they have rejected a European offer for an indirect meeting with Israelis to discuss a possible truce, adding that the Palestinian people have no choice other than "resistance." Speaking at a rally in Damascus marking Hamas's 20th anniversary, Khaled Mashaal also called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to hold unconditional talks with Hamas. Mashaal also said that "some Europeans have offered us to meet indirectly with Israelis to discuss a truce and we told them no and one thousands nos." He did not say what European country made the offer. [Das Dokument war im Laufe des Jahres 2006 dem damaligen palästinensischen Ministerpräsidenten und Hamas-Führer Ismail Hanija unterbreitet worden.] Ähnlich gelagert sind die Kontakte aus dieser Zeit zu den Norwegern. Eine aktuelle europäische Initiative ist seit den eher allgemein gehaltenen statements aus der italienischen Regierung nicht unterwegs gewesen. On Monday, Abbas took a conciliatory tone toward his Hamas rivals in a major policy speech, calling for a new page in relations between the bitter enemies. Fatah and Hamas have been at odds since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006. Those differences boiled over into open warfare that peaked with Hamas' driving Fatah out of Gaza in June. Das Kunstück das die Hamas hier versucht, über die ABLEHNUNG zu Gesprächen GEBETEN zu werden ist sehr offensichtlich. Die vormals getroffen Aussagen zu Waffenstillstandsverhandlungen sind bei der derzeitigen Sicherheitslage um den Gazastreifen nicht aufrecht zu erhalten.

Frontberichte: Palestinian rocket fire into Israel hit the yard of a house Friday in Sderot while the army continues its campaign against Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians operating from Gaza launched six Qassam rockets at the western Negev on Friday, one of which struck the yard of a home in the town of Sderot, causing damage. Israel Radio reported that a 14-year-old boy was lightly injured and subsequently evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. ++++ Palestinians fired eight mortar shells into the Gaza periphery town of Netiv Hashayara on Friday afternoon. ++++ In einer Entfernung von 300 Metern zur Grenze wird ein Beduine vor seinem Haus von agyptischen Grenzern erschossen [Sinai - Grenze zu Israel] ++++ Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad criticized Israel on Friday for mounting a major military sweep in the West Bank, saying such intervention was ruining a Western-backed internal Palestinian security plan. Thirty-eight Palestinian citizens have been injured by Israeli gunfire as the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Nablus reaches the end of its second day, Dr Ghassan Hamdan, director of Palestinian Medical Relief, said on Friday afternoon. ++++ Four Palestinian citizens were shot by Israeli soldiers in the village of Bil'in west of the city of Ramallah on Friday, during the weekly demonstration against the separation wall.

Die genauen Daten sind noch nicht veröffentlicht und werden nachgereicht: Despite international political and financial support, the popularity of the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has declined over the past month, partially because of mistrust in the group's leaders, according to a poll published Friday. Fatah still commands a strong lead over Hamas that controls Gaza, with 39 percent of Palestinians trusting it, as opposed to 16 percent backing for Hamas. But in November, 46 percent of those surveyed for a similar poll favored Fatah, and 13 percent backed Hamas. Forty-one percent of those polled said they didn't trust either faction, up from 32 percent in November.

Daniel Levy, "When Ehud meets George": The finishing touches are being applied to preparations for next week's presidential visit. After more than 2,500 days in the White House, George W. Bush will grace the Holy Land with his presence, and Ehud Olmert can notch up an achievement denied to his predecessor, Ariel Sharon - of hosting an American president. The script for such an occasion almost writes itself. The president will visit all the usual Israeli and Jewish sites of history, heartbreak and heroism, identifying with our suffering and marveling at our achievements. In pledging allegiance to the peace process, Olmert and Bush will leave no vow of sincerity unspoken. Each country's media will speculate on motivations - Olmert may be hoping for a protective, pre-Winograd-report presidential blanket; Bush may want to leave behind a peace legacy. Everybody goes home happy, but that's it. Except, presidents don't visit every day, and today the dilemmas facing both nations as they look around the region seem more basic, weighty and troubling.