mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
If they really have left then I am going to Jersulem tomorrow and I better see a Palestinian flag their.
Israel Takes Gaza Fight to Next Level
- Thread starter Malang
- Start date
If they really have left then I am going to Jersulem tomorrow and I better see a Palestinian flag their.
MIG_ACE
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2006
- Messages
- 370
- Reaction score
- 0
I think they were talking about the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
I have just got the news that Israel will be builting new settlements in the West Bank.
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
Israel approves settlement growth
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved a plan to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The project was first signed off in 1999, but stopped two years later after Palestinian labourers refused to go on.
Israel's housing minister said the construction at Givat Zeev would address "the demographic needs of Jerusalem".
But the decision provoked an angry reaction from Palestinian leaders.
For the Palestinians there are few issues as contentious as the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, says the BBC's Crispin Thorold in Jerusalem.
Under the terms of the peace process settlement expansion is supposed to be frozen.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the latest decision raised doubts about Israel's commitment to peace talks.
"It seems to me the Israelis are determined to put a stick in the wheel of negotiations," he said.
"It will undermine the US effort to revive the negotiations."
Mr Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev said it was not a new decision.
"This decision predates this government," he said.
"We have approved it. It is consistent with our policy of building within the large settlement blocs, which will remain in Israel in any final-status agreement," he added.
Israel Radio said the decision to restart the development was pushed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which had threatened to quit the government coalition unless the construction was approved.
The decision comes three days after a Palestinian gunman opened fire in the library of a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, killing eight young people.
The college was closely linked to the settler movement.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel approves settlement growth
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved a plan to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The project was first signed off in 1999, but stopped two years later after Palestinian labourers refused to go on.
Israel's housing minister said the construction at Givat Zeev would address "the demographic needs of Jerusalem".
But the decision provoked an angry reaction from Palestinian leaders.
For the Palestinians there are few issues as contentious as the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, says the BBC's Crispin Thorold in Jerusalem.
Under the terms of the peace process settlement expansion is supposed to be frozen.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the latest decision raised doubts about Israel's commitment to peace talks.
"It seems to me the Israelis are determined to put a stick in the wheel of negotiations," he said.
"It will undermine the US effort to revive the negotiations."
Mr Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev said it was not a new decision.
"This decision predates this government," he said.
"We have approved it. It is consistent with our policy of building within the large settlement blocs, which will remain in Israel in any final-status agreement," he added.
Israel Radio said the decision to restart the development was pushed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which had threatened to quit the government coalition unless the construction was approved.
The decision comes three days after a Palestinian gunman opened fire in the library of a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, killing eight young people.
The college was closely linked to the settler movement.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel approves settlement growth
su-47
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2007
- Messages
- 2,426
- Reaction score
- 0
they mean the lands occupied during 1967
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
In other words the occupations will continue until further notice and the violence and the revenge attacks will continue.
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
UK express concern over new Israeli settlement in West Bank
LONDON, March 10 (APP)- The British Government has expressed its concern on Israelis plan to build up to 750 new homes in a settlement in the West Bank and described it as an unhelpful move.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said Monday as the Foreign Secretary David Miliband recently stated UK believes that all Israeli settlements anywhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law.
We believe they are a serious impediment to a negotiated two-state solution.
The spokesperson said UK has raised its concerns about these latest reports with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and stressed that British see this an unhelpful particularly when Israelis and Palestinians should be focusing on full implementation of their obligations under phase one of the Roadmap, which include freezing all settlement activity, including natural growth.
app - UK express concern over new Israeli settlement in West Bank
LONDON, March 10 (APP)- The British Government has expressed its concern on Israelis plan to build up to 750 new homes in a settlement in the West Bank and described it as an unhelpful move.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said Monday as the Foreign Secretary David Miliband recently stated UK believes that all Israeli settlements anywhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law.
We believe they are a serious impediment to a negotiated two-state solution.
The spokesperson said UK has raised its concerns about these latest reports with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and stressed that British see this an unhelpful particularly when Israelis and Palestinians should be focusing on full implementation of their obligations under phase one of the Roadmap, which include freezing all settlement activity, including natural growth.
app - UK express concern over new Israeli settlement in West Bank
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
Islamic body wants Israelis tried for war crimes
By Lamine Ghanmi and Diadie Ba
DAKAR (Reuters) - The head of the world's biggest Muslim body, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called on Thursday for Israelis to be tried by an international war crimes court for "heinous" attacks against Palestinians.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-nation body told an OIC summit in Senegal that Israel was repeatedly seeking to undermine foreign-brokered peace plans.
"The situation in Palestine remains deplorable due to the successive crises fabricated by Israel to stall the peace process and to thwart the many peace plans and initiatives proposed by the international community," he said.
"It has become indispensable that these aggressions and heinous crimes be officially documented and their perpetrators be brought before international justice designed for these kind of acts ... such as the International Criminal Court."
Israel's five-day offensive in Gaza last week killed more than 125 Palestinians.
An Israeli spokesman dismissed Ihsanoglu's remarks, saying the source of the problem was rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israeli towns.
"These comments are baseless and we reject them outright," foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the summit that Israel's "disproportionate and excessive use of force" had killed and injured many civilians including children and called for the violence to stop.
"I condemn these actions and call on Israel to cease such acts. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise utmost restraint," Ban told the summit.
"At the same time I also condemn the rocket attacks directed against Israel and call for the immediate cessation of such acts. They serve no purpose, endanger Israeli civilians and bring misery to the Palestinian people."
Renewed violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, following a week of relative calm, have threatened prospects for an Egyptian-brokered truce.
Islamic Jihad fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.
No one was injured by the salvo against the border town of Sderot, the first such attack by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction, since March 5.
Israel, which had not struck in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in a week, attacked from the air a rocket launcher in the town of Beit Hanoun after Sderot was hit. No one was hurt.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Jerusalem by banning the building of Palestinian homes and cutting the city off from the rest of the occupied West Bank.
"Our people in the city are facing an ethnic cleansing campaign through a set of Israeli decisions such as imposing heavy taxes, banning construction and closing Palestinian institutions in addition to separating the city from the West Bank by the racist separation wall," Abbas told the OIC summit.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mark Regev, condemned Abbas's "inflammatory" comments.
By Lamine Ghanmi and Diadie Ba
DAKAR (Reuters) - The head of the world's biggest Muslim body, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called on Thursday for Israelis to be tried by an international war crimes court for "heinous" attacks against Palestinians.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-nation body told an OIC summit in Senegal that Israel was repeatedly seeking to undermine foreign-brokered peace plans.
"The situation in Palestine remains deplorable due to the successive crises fabricated by Israel to stall the peace process and to thwart the many peace plans and initiatives proposed by the international community," he said.
"It has become indispensable that these aggressions and heinous crimes be officially documented and their perpetrators be brought before international justice designed for these kind of acts ... such as the International Criminal Court."
Israel's five-day offensive in Gaza last week killed more than 125 Palestinians.
An Israeli spokesman dismissed Ihsanoglu's remarks, saying the source of the problem was rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israeli towns.
"These comments are baseless and we reject them outright," foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the summit that Israel's "disproportionate and excessive use of force" had killed and injured many civilians including children and called for the violence to stop.
"I condemn these actions and call on Israel to cease such acts. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise utmost restraint," Ban told the summit.
"At the same time I also condemn the rocket attacks directed against Israel and call for the immediate cessation of such acts. They serve no purpose, endanger Israeli civilians and bring misery to the Palestinian people."
Renewed violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, following a week of relative calm, have threatened prospects for an Egyptian-brokered truce.
Islamic Jihad fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.
No one was injured by the salvo against the border town of Sderot, the first such attack by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction, since March 5.
Israel, which had not struck in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in a week, attacked from the air a rocket launcher in the town of Beit Hanoun after Sderot was hit. No one was hurt.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Jerusalem by banning the building of Palestinian homes and cutting the city off from the rest of the occupied West Bank.
"Our people in the city are facing an ethnic cleansing campaign through a set of Israeli decisions such as imposing heavy taxes, banning construction and closing Palestinian institutions in addition to separating the city from the West Bank by the racist separation wall," Abbas told the OIC summit.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mark Regev, condemned Abbas's "inflammatory" comments.
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
Abbas says Israel "ethnic cleansing" in Jerusalem
By Alistair Thomson
DAKAR (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Arab East Jerusalem by banning the building of Palestinian homes and cutting the city off from the occupied West Bank.
Abbas told a summit of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), being held in Senegal's capital Dakar, the success of U.S.-brokered peace talks depended on Israel showing willingness to live up to the spirit of the process.
"Our people in the city (Jerusalem) are facing an ethnic cleansing campaign through a set of Israeli decisions such as imposing heavy taxes, banning construction and closing Palestinian institutions in addition to separating the city from the West Bank by the racist separation wall," Abbas said.
"What is taking place on the ground today is in total violation of (the peace process)," he said.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert condemned Abbas's comments as inflammatory.
The future of Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its "complete and united capital" in a claim that has not been recognised internationally, is one of the most divisive issues facing Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
Peace talks between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faltered late last year after Israel announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in and around East Jerusalem on land it occupied in a 1967 war.
Israel says the construction is within areas it intends to keep in any future peace deal with the Palestinians. It defends its construction of the West Bank barrier by saying it protects Israel from attackers, but the International Court of Justice has termed the project illegal.
OBSTACLES
Commenting on Abbas's remarks, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said: "The peace process faces many obstacles and leadership should not be contributing to those obstacles through inflammatory statements."
Israel, Regev said, "is committed to a historic reconciliation with the Palestinian people. The government of the Palestinian Authority is our partner in that process and we have to work to build confidence and trust".
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Abbas's use of the words "ethnic cleansing" was "probably an example of overheated political rhetoric".
"Certainly we would not use that term to describe the situation," he told reporters.
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and fear Israel's building of settlements is an attempt to dilute their presence in the city and cut them off from the West Bank.
Palestinians in East Jerusalem complain of elaborate bureaucratic processes to get a building permit and believe the rules are meant to force them to leave the city.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-nation OIC -- the world's largest Muslim body -- told the Islamic summit in Senegal that Israelis responsible for attacks on Palestinians should be tried before an international war crimes court.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Israel must stop using "disproportionate and excessive" force against Palestinians.
(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem)
By Alistair Thomson
DAKAR (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Arab East Jerusalem by banning the building of Palestinian homes and cutting the city off from the occupied West Bank.
Abbas told a summit of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), being held in Senegal's capital Dakar, the success of U.S.-brokered peace talks depended on Israel showing willingness to live up to the spirit of the process.
"Our people in the city (Jerusalem) are facing an ethnic cleansing campaign through a set of Israeli decisions such as imposing heavy taxes, banning construction and closing Palestinian institutions in addition to separating the city from the West Bank by the racist separation wall," Abbas said.
"What is taking place on the ground today is in total violation of (the peace process)," he said.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert condemned Abbas's comments as inflammatory.
The future of Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its "complete and united capital" in a claim that has not been recognised internationally, is one of the most divisive issues facing Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
Peace talks between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faltered late last year after Israel announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in and around East Jerusalem on land it occupied in a 1967 war.
Israel says the construction is within areas it intends to keep in any future peace deal with the Palestinians. It defends its construction of the West Bank barrier by saying it protects Israel from attackers, but the International Court of Justice has termed the project illegal.
OBSTACLES
Commenting on Abbas's remarks, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said: "The peace process faces many obstacles and leadership should not be contributing to those obstacles through inflammatory statements."
Israel, Regev said, "is committed to a historic reconciliation with the Palestinian people. The government of the Palestinian Authority is our partner in that process and we have to work to build confidence and trust".
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Abbas's use of the words "ethnic cleansing" was "probably an example of overheated political rhetoric".
"Certainly we would not use that term to describe the situation," he told reporters.
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and fear Israel's building of settlements is an attempt to dilute their presence in the city and cut them off from the West Bank.
Palestinians in East Jerusalem complain of elaborate bureaucratic processes to get a building permit and believe the rules are meant to force them to leave the city.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-nation OIC -- the world's largest Muslim body -- told the Islamic summit in Senegal that Israelis responsible for attacks on Palestinians should be tried before an international war crimes court.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Israel must stop using "disproportionate and excessive" force against Palestinians.
(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem)
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
UN chief condemns Israeli attacks against Palestinians
DAKAR: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians in a speech to the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference here.
Ban said Israel had employed an "inappropriate and disproportionate use of force" in its renewed attacks on the Palestinian territories and called for an immediate ceasefire by both sides.
Highlighting the deaths of women and children in the Israeli attacks he said, "I condemn these acts and call on Israel to cease them" in his speech to Muslim leaders.
Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas said Palestinians were being subjected to racial discrimination by charging more taxes and there was a ban on construction activity, which was in violation to the peace process.
UN chief condemns Israeli attacks against Palestinians
DAKAR: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians in a speech to the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference here.
Ban said Israel had employed an "inappropriate and disproportionate use of force" in its renewed attacks on the Palestinian territories and called for an immediate ceasefire by both sides.
Highlighting the deaths of women and children in the Israeli attacks he said, "I condemn these acts and call on Israel to cease them" in his speech to Muslim leaders.
Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas said Palestinians were being subjected to racial discrimination by charging more taxes and there was a ban on construction activity, which was in violation to the peace process.
UN chief condemns Israeli attacks against Palestinians
mujahideen
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
- Messages
- 2,407
- Reaction score
- 0
Life in the 'open prison' of Gaza
By Aleem Maqbool
BBC News, Gaza
This is a tiny strip of land and its life is being drained out of it.
For years, the spirit of those living here has taken a pounding, not only from the frequent Israeli military attacks but also by fighting between the various Palestinian factions here.
But now the territory's near-complete isolation - brought about by the blockade - may be delivering the final blows to hope.
"It's like being on death row," I am frequently told and almost every Gazan you speak to talks of his land being an "open prison".
That open prison analogy was once made to me by Nael al Kurdi, a softly spoken young man from Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City.
Nael was a student by day and he helped at his brother's falafel stall by night, that is before he was diagnosed with cancer.
The treatment Nael needed was not available in Gaza, so he was sent to doctors in Egypt.
He responded well and his tumour went down in size.
Sealed
But when the Hamas faction seized control of Gaza, Israel's response was to all but seal off the territory.
Nael was trapped inside Gaza and his tumour rapidly started to increase in size again.
Weak and bedridden, he told us he had applied several times to the Israeli authorities to be allowed to leave but had been denied each time.
He and his mother had gone to the border crossing anyway, but they had been turned back.
Less than a week after we spoke to him, Nael died. He was 21.
After the funeral, his mother called on God to punish Israel for closing the borders and for Israeli mothers to feel the hurt she felt.
But the defiance soon subsided and she broke down in tears, saying over and over again: "Nael thought he was going to get better."
I went to talk about his case with a spokesman for the Israeli government who pointed out that the border closures were for security reasons.
And when we got on to the subject of seriously ill patients being allowed out of Gaza for treatment, he told me that, while some patients had been let out, it was his view that terminally ill ones posed a potential danger to Israel.
They had nothing to live for, he suggested, so they might blow themselves up and become suicide bombers.
Blockade
The border closures have also hit the import of simple everyday goods. Humanitarian supplies are all Israel allows in.
It had been decided that this blockade, alongside military intervention, was the most effective way of putting pressure on Hamas and the militants who fire rockets across the border on to Israeli towns.
But the Israeli action has devastated business in Gaza.
The Abudan clothing factory was once a thriving family company. But today the factory is still and dusty.
Half-made pairs of jeans lie next to silent sewing machines. Hundreds of school uniforms, packed and ready to be shipped out, sit in boxes in the store room.
The blockade means no material is allowed into Gaza, while the finished clothes are not allowed out.
All of the 250 people who worked there have lost their jobs.
Desperate times
As we were about to leave the building, a slight, solemn-looking man in his 40s poked his head around the door.
Samir had been an employee at Abudan. He said he came by every day just to check if, by some chance, the factory was working again and he could have his job back.
He took us to his home: a small, dark construction of breeze-block and corrugated iron.
His wife held the youngest of their five children as she sat on a thin mattress on the floor. Two other toddlers ran around barefoot as we spoke.
He explained how he managed to make a little money by selling bread from a cart he wheeled through the town. It was not enough, he said, to feed his family.
His eyes welled up as he told us he had not been able to pay his rent for four months but that his landlord had taken pity on him.
The only work left
There was an alternative, he said, one which he had refused but which nearly half of his former colleagues had taken up.
It was to join a work-force that was still well paid in spite of the troubles everywhere else: that is, the security forces of Hamas.
The pressure being put on Gaza - not just by Israel but the international community and even the Palestinian government in the West Bank, which is run by the Fatah faction - is seen as a means of weakening Hamas, strengthening the moderates and stopping the rocket fire.
But, in fact, the rockets continue to be launched and mothers like Nael's are calling for revenge while working-age men like Samir are accepting Hamas' offer to pick up arms.
By Aleem Maqbool
BBC News, Gaza
This is a tiny strip of land and its life is being drained out of it.
For years, the spirit of those living here has taken a pounding, not only from the frequent Israeli military attacks but also by fighting between the various Palestinian factions here.
But now the territory's near-complete isolation - brought about by the blockade - may be delivering the final blows to hope.
"It's like being on death row," I am frequently told and almost every Gazan you speak to talks of his land being an "open prison".
That open prison analogy was once made to me by Nael al Kurdi, a softly spoken young man from Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City.
Nael was a student by day and he helped at his brother's falafel stall by night, that is before he was diagnosed with cancer.
The treatment Nael needed was not available in Gaza, so he was sent to doctors in Egypt.
He responded well and his tumour went down in size.
Sealed
But when the Hamas faction seized control of Gaza, Israel's response was to all but seal off the territory.
Nael was trapped inside Gaza and his tumour rapidly started to increase in size again.
Weak and bedridden, he told us he had applied several times to the Israeli authorities to be allowed to leave but had been denied each time.
He and his mother had gone to the border crossing anyway, but they had been turned back.
Less than a week after we spoke to him, Nael died. He was 21.
After the funeral, his mother called on God to punish Israel for closing the borders and for Israeli mothers to feel the hurt she felt.
But the defiance soon subsided and she broke down in tears, saying over and over again: "Nael thought he was going to get better."
I went to talk about his case with a spokesman for the Israeli government who pointed out that the border closures were for security reasons.
And when we got on to the subject of seriously ill patients being allowed out of Gaza for treatment, he told me that, while some patients had been let out, it was his view that terminally ill ones posed a potential danger to Israel.
They had nothing to live for, he suggested, so they might blow themselves up and become suicide bombers.
Blockade
The border closures have also hit the import of simple everyday goods. Humanitarian supplies are all Israel allows in.
It had been decided that this blockade, alongside military intervention, was the most effective way of putting pressure on Hamas and the militants who fire rockets across the border on to Israeli towns.
But the Israeli action has devastated business in Gaza.
The Abudan clothing factory was once a thriving family company. But today the factory is still and dusty.
Half-made pairs of jeans lie next to silent sewing machines. Hundreds of school uniforms, packed and ready to be shipped out, sit in boxes in the store room.
The blockade means no material is allowed into Gaza, while the finished clothes are not allowed out.
All of the 250 people who worked there have lost their jobs.
Desperate times
As we were about to leave the building, a slight, solemn-looking man in his 40s poked his head around the door.
Samir had been an employee at Abudan. He said he came by every day just to check if, by some chance, the factory was working again and he could have his job back.
He took us to his home: a small, dark construction of breeze-block and corrugated iron.
His wife held the youngest of their five children as she sat on a thin mattress on the floor. Two other toddlers ran around barefoot as we spoke.
He explained how he managed to make a little money by selling bread from a cart he wheeled through the town. It was not enough, he said, to feed his family.
His eyes welled up as he told us he had not been able to pay his rent for four months but that his landlord had taken pity on him.
The only work left
There was an alternative, he said, one which he had refused but which nearly half of his former colleagues had taken up.
It was to join a work-force that was still well paid in spite of the troubles everywhere else: that is, the security forces of Hamas.
The pressure being put on Gaza - not just by Israel but the international community and even the Palestinian government in the West Bank, which is run by the Fatah faction - is seen as a means of weakening Hamas, strengthening the moderates and stopping the rocket fire.
But, in fact, the rockets continue to be launched and mothers like Nael's are calling for revenge while working-age men like Samir are accepting Hamas' offer to pick up arms.
Similar threads
