De Israelische Terreur 208

'Israel attacks Gaza

On 16 May 2007, Israel renewed air strikes on the beleaguered Gaza Strip, firing on a Hamas Executive Support Forces base in southern Gaza, killing three. In the following days, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Israel "intensified air attacks targeting civilian facilities and paramilitary sites ... IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] claim that these attacks come in response to [the] launching [of] home-made rockets at Israeli towns."As of 29 May 2007, "50 Palestinians have been killed and 206 injured. The attacks have also resulted in the destruction of 71 houses, five of which completely; 47 security installations; and 47 commercial and industrial premises, 39 of which were completely destroyed," as the Palestinian human rights organization Al Mezan reports. During the same time period, two Israeli civilians were killed and several more have been injured by Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.The latest assault on Gaza comes six months after a cease-fire marked the end of last year's deadly "Operation Autumn Clouds," which followed Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip in late June. UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, John Dugard writes that these operations "took the form of repeated military incursions into Gaza, accompanied by heavy shelling, render[ing] the question whether Gaza remains an occupied territory of academic interest only ... Between 25 June 2006 and the truce that came into force at the end of November 2006, over 400 Palestinians were killed and some 1,500 injured. More than half of those killed and wounded were civilians. Of those killed some 90 were children; and over 300 children were injured. During the same period three israeli soldiers were killed and 18 wounded, and two Israeli civilians were killed and some 30 injured in Sderot and its precincts by Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians from Gaza."Israeli officials have stated their intentions to resume the extrajudicial execution of Hamas leaders and activists. The Israeli public security minister Avi Dichter stated on army radio on 21 May that exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal "is a more than legitimate target and I am convinced that at the first opportunity we will rid ourselves of him, despite the difficulty of the task." Dichter was echoed by national infrastructure minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer who stated on Israel Radio the same day, "I don't distinguish between those who carry out the [rocket] attacks and those who give the orders. I say we have to put them all in the crosshairs," adding that "if [Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail] Haniyeh is part of those who give the orders to carry out attacks, that will make him a legitimate target."'

Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/672.shtml