Olmert: Open to any sign of peace from neighbors:
12.28.06, 16:00 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the Israeli Air Force's pilot training graduation that "the Israeli government is open to any sign of peace coming from our neighbors over the border."
"If our enemies truly want peace, they will find in us a fair partner with whom a relationship of mutual peace may be created, in which both sides don’t have to pay a high price for peace," he continued.
Palestinian Rocket Severely Injures Two Israeli Teens in Sderot:
Palestinians in Gaza fired a rocket at Israel Tuesday evening that wounded two teenagers in Sderot. Adir Basad, 14, sustained critical wounds and was rushed into surgery. Matan Cohen, 14, was also severely injured. A security officer who saw the two youths said, "The rocket landed really close to them, and there was a puddle of blood beneath them." Several houses and cars in the area were damaged. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. Matan's uncle, Nir Ohanan, said that "this is the third time Matan escapes death by a Kassam rocket. The first time the rocket landed in their home and almost completely destroyed the house, the second time the rocket landed right next to him, and this time the rocket hit him." Palestinians have fired eight rockets at Israel since Tuesday morning.
Too little, too late...
IDF to Resume Targeting Rocket Cells:
The Israel Defense Forces was instructed on Wednesday by the prime minister and defense minister to resume pinpoint operations targeting Palestinian rocket launching cells. At the same time, the IDF has been instructed to uphold the cease-fire in general.
IDF unsatisfied with cease-fire stance:
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST - Dec. 28, 2006 - IDF officers have said that Wednesday's decision by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz - namely, to continue the cease-fire with the Palestinians but to keep targeting Kassam-launching cells - is a partial and insufficient solution, Israel Radio reported Thursday morning.According to the officers, the IDF had asked to enter the Gaza Strip near the security fence and create a buffer zone that would prevent Kassam cells from getting to the area, but the request had not been approved on the political level.
A senior IDF officer told Israel Radio that the chances of locating those responsible for launching rockets in real time were not very high, and that striking the cells after identifying them was no simple matter.
Hizbullah paying for Kassam attacks:
Herb Keinon and Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST - Dec. 28, 2006 - Hizbullah is paying Palestinian splinter groups "thousands of dollars" for each Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev, The Jerusalem Post has learned.According to Israeli intelligence information, Hizbullah is smuggling cash into the Gaza Strip and paying "a number of unknown local splinter groups" for each attack.
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) sources said the Islamist organization paid several thousand dollars for each attack, with the amount dependent on the number of Israelis killed or wounded.
"We know that Hizbullah is involved in funding terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," a security official said.
"Palestinian terrorists get thousands of dollars per attack. Sometimes they are paid before the attack and sometimes they submit a bill to Lebanon afterward and the money gets transferred a short while later."
Celebrating the obvious...
Transfer of arms to Fatah is dangerous:
12.28.06, 14:08 - Israel Our Home MK Esterina Tratman said Thursday that the transfer of arms to Fatah is likely to endanger Israel's security.
"He who wants to declare the honesty of his intentions has to demand that the other side's intentions are honest," she said.
And confirmation, as if any was needed...
Palestinian group: Egyptian arms will be used against Israel:
12.28.06, 15:02 - The Popular Resistance Committees on Thursday warned that arms transferred by Egypt to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement will reach its operatives who will use them against Israel ."We vow to show the Israelis very soon the weapons they lately channeled to the Presidential Guards and to the security services will be directed against the occupation," Muhammad Abdel Al, a spokesperson for the group said.
With Israeli consent, Egypt transferred 2,000 rifles and 20,000 magazines to Fatah through the Gaza-Egypt border in a bid to counter Hamas' armament drive.
"In all the security services, including in the Presidential Guard, there are activists affiliated with all the Palestinian groups, including ours, and Hamas," he said.
He added that the members of the security services are known to have sold weapons to Palestinian armed factions.
"We vow that there will be no use (of these arms) in a civil war, as we promise that should these arms reach us we will use them against the occupation and the Zionist enemy," he said.
Meanwhile, Hamas has made some new friends...
Hamas Befriends Pakistani Terror Groups:
Hamas has sought alliance with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, two Pakistan-based groups involved in terrorist activities in India, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported, saying ties were forged during the visit of a Hamas Palestinian minister to Pakistan this summer. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's Sayyid Salah al-Din and LeT's Hafez Said, possibly with the help of Pakistani Intelligence, offered the Hamas representative a briefcase containing $2 million.The Palestinian minister also explored the possibility of strengthening "military relations" between the Hamas army and the Pakistan-based militants. Agreement was reached to allow the two Pakistani groups to go to West Asia (Syria and Lebanon) to learn new terror techniques. In addition, Palestinian "elements" will be allowed refuge in the Waziristan areas managed by the Pakistani groups, and there could be an exchange of information relating to the use of explosives and methods to smuggle them.
The Hamas Government: Between Tactical Pragmatism and Al-Qaeda Jihadism:
Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi (JCPA) - In March 2006, high-level Hamas officials attended events in Pakistan and Yemen where members of the al-Qaeda network were present and in one case offered monetary support for the new Hamas government. On March 26, 2006, a senior Hamas figure, Muhammad Sayyam, met in Peshawar, Pakistan, with Sayyid Salah al-Din, leader of the Kashmiri terror organization Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.