Israel to respond harshly to deadly Gaza border blast
By Amos Harel and Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: Israel News, Hamas, Israel

Israel is gearing up to respond harshly against Hamas in response to a remote-control bomb attack at the Gaza Strip security fence Tuesday, which killed an Israel Defense Forces tracker and wounded three other soldiers, one seriously

Olmert, noting that he had termed the cease-fire "fragile," also said: "We don't even call it a cease-fire but a holding of fire in the face of Hamas infractions, so that we can retain the IDF's freedom of action."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to strike Hamas targets in response to the death of the tracker.

"We do not intend to gloss over incidents like these," Barak said. "We will not let Hamas and its outgrowths continue their hostile acts of terror. Anyone who hits us will have to absorb a serious blow in the future, too."

Sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau said Tuesday Israel was not negotiating with Hamas over a cease-fire or second lull. "The Egyptians are speaking to Hamas to attain things that are important for them, but we are not obligated to anything. We have not signed understandings or an agreement with Hamas," a source in Olmert's bureau said

and this guy wants to defund Egypt but all but hyperventiates while typing

lets defund Israel too ;)

Published: January 28, 2009

JERUSALEM: Israel's Foreign Ministry says it has ordered Venezuelan diplomats in the country to leave.

The move comes in retaliation for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision to sever ties earlier this month to protest Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. At the time, Bolivia also severed ties with the Jewish state.

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GAZA: ISRAELI MINISTER OF DEFENCE CANCELS U. S. VISIT

(AGI) - Jerusalem, 28 Jan. - According to sources in the Israeli Defence department, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak cancelled a visit to the United States to meet with representatives of the new administration. The cancellation is reportedly due to rising tension in the Gaza Strip where, despite a ceasefire, violence has flared up again. A spokesperson for the minister said, "Due to the security situation in the south Minister Barak has decided to cancel his visit to the United States, in which he was supposed to meet with American colleague Robert Gates and other officers in the U.S. administration". Barak was supposed to depart today after a meeting with U.S. Envoy to the region George Mitchell who in the meantime arrived in Israel from Egypt. Yesterday an Israeli patrol was ambushed, killing one soldier and injuring another three after a bomb was detonated. In the following shootout a Palestinian civilian was killed. A second person was killed in a missile attack by the Israeli Air Force, which before down resumed bombarding tunnel networks in the southern part of the enclave.

Olmert tells US envoythat release of Gilad Shalitis crucial to peace deal

By Donald Macintyre in Gaza City
Thursday, 29 January 2009

Israel will not allow the full re-opening of Gaza's crossings until it has secured the release of Gilad Shalit, the army corporal seized more than two-and-a-half years ago by Hamas and other militants, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told President Obama's new Middle East envoy yesterday.

Mr Olmert's message came in talks with US envoy George Mitchell, who afterwards said that consolidating the 10-day-old ceasefire was of "critical importance". The tough task facing Mr Mitchell was underlined by Israel's bombing of Rafah tunnels overnight, their latest response to the killing of an Israeli soldier on Tuesday.

In a short statement after his lunch with Mr Olmert, Mr Mitchell said that entrenching the ceasefire would include a "cessation of hostilities", an end to arms smuggling across Gaza's border with Egypt – which had been a central aim of Israel's 22-day offensive – and the re-opening of the Gaza crossings in line with the 2005 agreement brokered by the previous US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Israeli officials confirmed that Mr Olmert had made it clear that the full opening of crossings – which would include Karni, the main cargo terminal with Israel, whose 18-month closure has brought Gaza's productive economy to a total collapse – would require the release of Cpl Shalit.

Israel has been arguing that as the 2005 agreement was made with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, his Ramallah-based authority would need to control the Gazan side of the crossings, rather than Hamas.

The reference to the agreement by Mr Mitchell – who will not be meeting Hamas on his visit – appears tosuggest that the new US administration accepts that interpretation.

Mr Olmert is said to have suggested in his talks with Mr Mitchell that Hamas had been sufficiently weakened by Israel's military campaign that the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza "in one form or another" was now a possibility.

But Mr Olmert also appears to believe that Hamas could be more willing than it was before to consider releasing Cpl Shalit in a prisoner exchange on terms acceptable to Israel.

Also yesterday, the French foreign ministry said Israeli soldiers had fired two rounds of warning shots at its consul-general's convoy on Tuesday after blocking it for more than six hours.

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BBC

Turkey PM storms off in Gaza row - video at link

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos after an argument with Israel's president.

Mr Erdogan clashed with Shimon Peres in a discussion on the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip, telling him: "You are killing people."

Mr Peres said Mr Erdogan would have done the same had rockets hit Istanbul.

Mr Erdogan accused the moderator of not allowing him to speak and said he did not think he would return to Davos.

He was cut off as he attempted to reply to a passionate defence of Israel's actions made by Mr Peres.

Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries to have dealings with Israel, but relations have been under strain since the Islamist-rooted AK Party was elected to power in 2002.

"I do not think I will be coming back to Davos after this because you do not let me speak," Mr Erdogan shouted before marching off the stage in front of Mr Peres, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and an elite audience of ministers and international officials.

He criticised the moderator for cutting him short on the grounds that the debate had gone over time.

Mr Peres had told the audience Israel was forced on to the offensive against Hamas by thousands of rockets and mortars fired into Israel.

"The tragedy of Gaza is not Israel, it is Hamas," the Israeli leader said. "They created a dictatorship. A very dangerous one."

More than 1,300 Palestinians and 14 Israelis were killed during the three-week conflict which began on 27 December.

Al Jazeera, February 7

Israel has launched several air raids against targets in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, causing damage but no injuries, Palestinian security sources say.

The attacks targeted "open areas" near the town of Rafah and tunnels along the border with Egypt, residents said.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that the "Israeli air force intervened in the Gaza Strip" late on Friday.

"Our planes attacked four tunnels that were dug under the border with Egypt and used for weapons smuggling," the spokesman told the AFP news agency.

"An arms depot was also targeted and the explosives that were stocked there exploded," he said.

The raids came hours after Palestinian fighters fired two rockets at southern Israel without causing damage or deaths, according to a military spokesman.