Israel vs. Hamas, Round 891303
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP...agewanted=printNovember 3, 2006Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian WomanBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFiled at 9:28 a.m. ETBEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Palestinian gunmen holed up in a mosque escaped Friday as Israeli forces fired at a group of women who streamed to the scene to serve as human shields, killing one and wounding 10, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.The dead woman was one of several hundred who had heeded a call by Hamas militants to ring the mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Their presence allowed the gunmen inside to escape, some reportedly wearing robes supplied by the women, ending their 19-hour standoff with soldiers parked outside in tanks and armored personnel carriers.Troops seized Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in their fiercest bid in months to halt Palestinian rocket fire on nearby Israeli communities. More than 20 Palestinians, most gunmen, have been killed since the offensive began, including a 22-year-old man killed Friday.The mosque became the focus of the fighting in the town after dozens of gunmen sought refuge from troops there Thursday. Most were thought to belong to the military wing of the ruling Hamas party.Armored vehicles quickly surrounded the building, and the two sides began exchanging fire that lasted throughout the night, the military and Palestinian security officials said.Israeli soldiers trying to pressure the gunmen to surrender also threw stun and smoke grenades, and knocked down an outer wall of the mosque with a bulldozer, causing the ceiling to collapse.With sporadic shooting persisting Friday morning, Hamas radio broadcast a call to women to go to Beit Hanoun to shield the militants. Dozens of women left their homes to a hurry to the mosque, and en route, came under Israeli fire, witnesses and officials said.One woman, about 40, was shot and killed, and 10 others were wounded, they said.The army said troops spotted two militants hiding in the crowd of women and opened fire, hitting the two.By midmorning Friday, veiled women protesters had gathered outside the mosque, where troops were positioned in tanks and armored personnel carriers. The army said the gunmen in the mosque took advantage of the demonstration to escape because there were not enough soldiers to block the protesters from approaching the building, and troops did not want to shoot into the crowd.But live ammunition was fired in the course of the demonstration, wounding a Palestinian cameraman and an unidentified woman.Loudspeakers across Gaza called on people to come to demonstrations after Friday prayers to express solidarity with Beit Hanoun. By late morning, two rallies were already in progress in Beit Hanoun, and militants in the crowds were firing at soldiers, the army said.Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas ''saluted the women of Palestine ... who led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanoun.'' Haniyeh urged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to witness firsthand ''the massacres of the Palestinian people,'' and appealed to the Arab world to ''stop the ongoing bloodshed.''A spokesman for Hamas militants said 32 gunmen who had taken cover in the mosque escaped with the help of the women. The spokesman, Abu Obeida, denied reports that the men disguised themselves as women to escape, but one woman said she handed women's clothing to some of the gunmen.Dozens of protesters took sanctuary in a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, fearing retribution by troops, said Imad Okal, an official with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.Elsewhere in Beit Hanoun, Israeli troops lowered their visibility, after two days of fierce fighting.No airstrikes were reported, and residents said infantrymen had stopped patrolling the streets. Tanks and armored personnel vehicles were in sight, however, and snipers were positioned on about two dozen rooftops.The army said it targeted Beit Hanoun because it was a major staging ground for rocket attacks. But Israeli officials have said the takeover of the town did not signal the start of a wider-scale military offensive in Gaza.Militants have been undeterred, however, and have continued firing rockets, including two that landed in southern Israel on Friday, slightly wounding two people.Separately, tens of thousands of mourners accompanying the coffins of four militants killed in Israeli airstrikes Thursday filed through a main Gaza City street, some hoisting the flags of Hamas' military wing and the Islamic Jihad militant group.The violence coincides with efforts by the moderate President Mahmoud Abbas to form a new government with Hamas. A top Abbas aide said Thursday the Palestinian president would seek new elections if talks do not produce results in about two weeks.Abbas has been trying to end a punishing aid cutoff by setting up a government acceptable to the West, either in a power-sharing arrangement between Hamas and his Fatah movement, or by appointing independent professionals agreeable to the ruling party. Hamas has balked at demands that it recognize Israel, however, and no solution to the deadlock has emerged.Mustafa Barghouti, an independent legislator who has been shuttling between the two sides, said Thursday an agreement on a new government was close, but he would not disclose details. ''We have made good progress. We are almost there,'' Barghouti said after meeting with Haniyeh.
Comments
Tepid baiting.
in all fairness wasn't this thread about baiting another "Zionist vs. anti-zionist" 5 pager?
There shouldnt be anything incendary about that post. If youre riding for hamas you deserve snuffage. Its that simple.
What about the Zionist vs. Anti-Zionist vs. Zion-I triple-threat grudge match?
the strut is not ready
Yes.
http://www.snappedshot.com/archives/424-Distorting-Context-through-Photography.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=6400847
Large clans and extended families have long had enormous influence in Palestinian society, but their weight grew in Gaza in the chaos following the second intifada, or uprising, which began six years ago. Today, amid inter-Palestinian violence, ongoing conflict with Israel, and Western sanctions, the family is back in charge in Gaza.
Police Major Ayad Kalab(ph) leads criminal investigations in Gaza City. He says family pressure and power now seriously obstruct crime fighting.
Major AYAD KALAB (Police Department, Gaza City): (Through translator) Family rule has come back stronger than ever. A year ago, we could control the influence of the family. But now it's impossible. We now have two authorities in the country: the Palestinian Authority and family authority. If you have a strong family, they will protect you.
WESTERVELT: Here's one example among many. There's a prolific car theft ring in Gaza and security officer Asharaf(ph), which is not his real name, says everyone knows who's involved. The police won't or can't touch them, he says; they're from a big well-armed family with ties to a powerful militant faction.
ASHARAF (Security Officer): (Through translator) If you sent in two Jeeps from the security forces to arrest one person, hundreds of militants will come over and shoot at you. It's now a totally stupid rule of the jungle. [/b]
WESTERVELT: Asharaf works in a main branch of one of the many Palestinian security forces. His own story about clan rule is illustrative. His older brother, Khalil, is a police officer. Neither of these lawmen wants their real names used because they're currently in an ongoing dispute with the Issa family. What's the dispute? Asharaf and Khalil tried to do their jobs.
It all started last year, when members of the Issa family attacked a local prison to get at murder suspects who'd allegedly killed a family member. Even though the perpetrators were behind bars, the Issa clan wanted their own blood justice. They stormed the detention center. Asharaf says his brother, Khalil, a guard, did not bend.
ASHARAF: (Through translator) The family wanted to take their revenge and they attacked the prison. They killed one prisoner, but my brother did his best to stop them. And later, he arrested seven from this family.
WESTERVELT: The Issa family, to put it mildly, was not happy. Family members quickly kidnapped two foreigners to pressure for the release of their kin. It worked.[/b] The prison attackers were soon released, but it did not stop there. Khalil was a marked man. A few weeks later, Asharaf and Khalil were sitting in an outdoor caf?? in downtown Gaza City, sipping Turkish coffee, when 25 armed, masked men drove up and surrounded the place. An ugly hand-to-hand fight ensued.
ASHARAF: (Through translator) They couldn't shoot my brother because the caf?? was so crowded with civilians. One bullet might kill three or four people. So they hit me and my brother with chairs and butts of rifles. They wanted to kidnap him. We fought back hard and they had to run away.
WESTERVELT: But not before several of them slammed rifle butts into Asharaf's upper back. He still feels occasional stings of pain from the injury. His brother suffered worse: a broken hand and a broken leg, among several other wounds. Now, Asharaf says, he and his brother have given up on trying to vigorously enforce the law that so many others defy. [/b]
ASHARAF: (Through translator) There is no real rule of law anymore. It's almost completely gone. What is controlling the land now is the family rule, and I cannot ignore that now.
WESTERVELT: Asharaf says he and his brother went to the leaders of several security forces: police, the preventive security, and the investigations division.
ASHARAF: (Through Translator) I told them, this man did it with his gang. Here are the names. We have proof. But no one from the security forces could even look at them. They did nothing. Why? Those guys are from a strong family and all are afraid of them. And now they're freely walking the streets. I can't stand that. That's why my brother and I will take revenge through our family. [/b]
WESTERVELT: But you understand you're creating a cycle here of family revenge and violence?
ASHARAF: (Through translator) I'm not saying that I like that, okay. But I have to do that.
WESTERVELT: After a pause, Asharaf adds that he thinks his family's future counterattack will end the whole sorry mess. After I hit them, he says, that family will never attack me again. They'll know I'm strong.
Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Gaza.
That is one way of seeing it. But what strikes me is that George Allen's tone is very degrading towards Arabs.
Was this dude put on blast in the US media? His open racism is as appalling as that of Hamas.
moral equivalence alert!
degrading tone as appalling as genocidal aspirations? really?
I just want to say this once to ALL OF YOU
TAKE A MIDDLE EAST POLITICS CLASS or read a Primer
Understanding the basic dynamics and socio/political interactions that evolve in this region and its country is a step in a better understanding of all of these situations....iraq,palestine,afghanistan etc
from algeria to syria to lebannon...dynamics and self-perpetuating events related to: ethnic/sectarian conflicts, balance maintaining, islamic politics, military authoritarinanism and proxy networks, guerrilla protest and organization... are all linked and help understand each other.
so you dont see hamas or hezbollah on a first level and understand the complexity of whats at play. Iraq isnt about some oil shit or pressure on the people its a civil breakdown exacerbated by a blame absorbing foreign presence and a weapons proliferation.
Its just helpful to put things into perspective than to morally scan actors most of you dont know much about (from a internal political perspective at least)
plus it helps to brush up on the history of the region.
I am sure some of you know things about kurds for example. but about turkeys influence on iraqi politics because of the same issue or on political seat ethnical power sharing agreements (in lebannon for example)
i am not trying to name drop knowldege or condescend but seriously (although few will read)
step your game up on foreing politics before commenting and reading thes media bytes/threads
both sides
Can you read? Do you know what words mean? That dude in the picture is Avigdor Lieberman, now Minister of Strategic Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, also known for his open racism against Arabs in Israel and comments not at all far away from fascism.