fired up

Author: 1GangRelated
Keywords: Breaking News Breakers Hamas will talk peace if Israel leaves Gaza Syrian president Bashar al-Assad
Added: January 6, 2009

In an exclusive interview, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad discusses Hamas and the Palestinian position. Syrian president's perspective. Hamas is ready to agree to peace if the Israeli army will stop military operations and withdraw from Gaza, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told CNN Tuesday. "They are ready (to make a deal)," Al-Assad told CNN's Cal Perry in an exclusive interview. "They were ready, they are ready. Today, the factors have changed so the requirement will change at the same time. "We cannot talk about the same condition, like what happened a few years ago. Otherwise, we'll keep moving from a cease-fire to another conflict to another breaking of this cease-fire and so on. The more blood you have, the more difficult to talk about peace will be." Al-Assad met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier Tuesday. Sarkozy appealed to Al-Assad for help in bringing about a halt to the conflict in the Middle East -- an Israeli incursion into Gaza following eight days of Israeli airstrikes. Palestinians point to the action as evidence of Israeli aggression; Israel maintains it was defending itself from repeated rockets fired into the southern part of the country by Hamas militants in Gaza. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, but receives backing from Syria, which considers it a resistance movement. Exiled Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal lives in Damascus. "The support is political, the support of their cause," Al-Assad told CNN. "They are under aggression ... actually what they do is respond, they don't start. So we support their cause. We support the Palestinian state, independent Palestinian state, and we support their position to defend themselves." * Earlier Tuesday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that any cease-fire in the Gaza conflict will require "clear and definitive action" to halt the smuggling of weapons and money into the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory. "If there is strong action on that front, so that Israel feels it has achieved something -- namely the end of the smuggling of weapons and finance to Hamas -- then I think it is possible to resolve this reasonably quickly," Blair told CNN. " If that doesn't happen, if we're not in that position, then obviously it's going to go on." Blair is now the envoy of the Mideast Quartet, whose members -- the United Nations, United States, Russia and the European Union -- are attempting to find a resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is one of several European officials now in the region in an effort to bring an end to the Israeli campaign against Gaza. Sarkozy met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to press for a 48-hour humanitarian cease-fire -- a plan Olmert's government considered and rejected last week. And a European Union delegation will also meet with Palestinian and other regional leaders during its visit. But Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said any cease-fire must guarantee "real quiet" -- and prevent Hamas from replenishing and expanding its arsenal. "Before the last cease-fire with Hamas began, Hamas had missiles with a range of 20 km (13 miles)," Regev said. "By the end of the cease-fire, the range of the missiles grew to 40 km. Israel does not want the next cease-fire to allow them to get missiles with a range of 60 km." Hamas won control of the Palestinian Authority parliament in elections in 2006 and wrested control of Gaza from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party in 2007. But it refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and Israel, the United States and the EU consider it a terrorist organization. advertisement Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers met at the United Nations to work up a U.N. draft resolution calling for Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza and for Hamas, which rules the territory, to cease firing rockets at the Jewish state. Abbas plans to present the Arab League's draft resolution to the Security Council Tuesday. The resolution will also demand that Israel open the border crossings to a steady supply of humanitarian aid, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said.

Author: ArchivesAlgeriennes
Keywords: Gaza Dead offensive ALGERIA israel army jihad CNN AFP BBC war FOX CBS ITN New York Times Clash air strike obama us ali germany america f-16 bush terrorism israeli england IDF Palestine iran sky news usa Hamas 2009 islam jews muslims iraq algerie australia algeria tv France arabs sarkozy china russia allah egypt damascus syria peace bashar al assad سوريا دمشق الجزائر Crisisفلسطين غزة إسرائيل حماس إسلام جهاد العراق مصر حرب
Added: January 6, 2009

The story Three artillery shells believed to have been fired by Israeli forces struck near the perimeter of a U.N. school in northern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, a U.N. official said. The Israeli military said Hamas militants had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, prompting return fire, according to its initial investigation. U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said most of the casualties were outside the school in the Jabalya refugee camp. "It's a very built-up area, so of course it was entirely inevitable that if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said at a U.N. briefing from Gaza City. Palestinian sources said 44 were killed in the attack.

Author: ashrilpotencial
Keywords: Gaza Dead school offensive invasion ALGERIA israel army jihad CNN AFP BBC war FOX CBS ITN New York Times Clash air strike missile
Added: January 6, 2009

Three Israeli artillery shells struck near the perimeter of a U.N. school in northern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, a United Nations official said. U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said most of the casualties were outside the school in the Jabalya refugee camp. "It's a very built-up area, so of course it was entirely inevitable that if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said at a U.N. briefing from Gaza City. Palestinian sources said 44 were killed in the attack. The Israeli military told CNN it is checking the report. It was the second Israeli strike affecting a U.N. school in Gaza. Three Palestinian men, all members of the same family, were killed Monday night in Gaza City by a direct hit on an elementary school, UNRWA said. Both schools were being used as shelters for civilians fleeing the ongoing military operation. The buildings were "clearly marked" with U.N. flags and UNRWA had given the global-positioning coordinates of all its schools to Israeli authorities the agency said. UNRWA said 400 Palestinians were staying in the Asma Elementary school at the time of the Monday night airstrike. The latest incidents came as Israeli ground forces surrounded densely populated Gaza City after at least 50 airstrikes pounded the region overnight. Other airstrikes hit the homes of people linked to Hamas, including the Wadi family in Jabalya, Hamas security sources said. Eight people were killed in that strike. An overnight airstrike hit the Jabalya home of Imad Siam, one of the leaders of Hamas' military wing. Israel claimed Tuesday to have killed 130 Hamas fighters since beginning a ground offensive at dusk Saturday. An Israeli soldier was killed Tuesday morning in northern Gaza City, the Israeli military said, bringing the total to six since the incursion began. As Israeli forces encircled Gaza City -- which has a population of about 400,000 -- diplomats turned up the heat for a cease-fire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will confer Tuesday at the United Nations with a variety of officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the State Department said. U.N. Security Council. The resolution will call for Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza and for Hamas, which rules the territory, to cease firing rockets at the Jewish state. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday that Israel wanted a "full solution" to the conflict, not just a cease-fire that allowed Hamas to fortify itself, Mark Regev, Olmert's spokesman, said. "Before the last cease-fire with Hamas began, Hamas had missiles with a range of 20 kilometers," Regev said Tuesday. "By the end of the cease-fire, the range of the missiles grew to 40 kilometers. Israel does not want the next cease-fire to allow them to get missiles with a range of 60 kilometers." A Hamas rocket penetrated farther than ever before into Israel on Tuesday, landing in the town of Gadera, about 36 kilometers (23 miles) north of the Gaza border, the Israeli military said. On Monday, a rocket hit a kindergarten in Ashdod, about 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of Gaza. Hamas had fired 30 rockets at Israel by Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military said. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida warned Israel that the militants would continue rocket attacks "for many months" and vowed to strike deeper into Israeli territory. The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated. Hundreds of wounded people swarmed into Gaza's largest hospital. The Israeli military said 80 trucks with humanitarian aid would be allowed to pass into Gaza on Tuesday at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Before the second school attack, Palestinian medical sources said 23 people were killed in Gaza on Tuesday, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 555 since Israel commenced airstrikes on December 27.

Author: Gaza20082009
Keywords: palestine gaza massacres
Added: January 6, 2009

Israel continues to push deeper into Palestinian population centers as attacks continue from both sides. Richard Roth reports. Israeli shells slammed into Gaza and ground forces edged closer to major population centers Tuesday, taking more civilian lives after Israel ignored mounting international calls for an immediate cease-fire. In fighting that raged early Tuesday morning, at least 18 people were killed in shelling up and down the Gaza Strip from tanks and naval craft, local hospital officials said. Only two of the dead were confirmed as militants. According to a top U.N. official, at least 500 Palestinians have been killed in the 11-day Israeli military campaign. casualties also increased on the Israeli side Tuesday. Israel said three of its soldiers were apparently killed by a shell from one of their own tanks; another Israeli was killed in a separate incident of so-called friendly fire early Tuesday morning. In all, Israel says it's lost five soldiers since the fighting began. Tanks rumbled closer to the towns of Khan Younis and Dir el Balah in south and central Gaza but were still several miles outside, witnesses said, adding that the sounds of fighting could be heard from around the new Israeli positions. Israel already has encircled Gaza City, the area's biggest city. Israel launched its offensive on Dec. 27 in a bid to halt repeated Palestinian rocket attacks on its southern towns. After a weeklong air campaign, Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza over the weekend. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 100 civilians, according to United Nations figures. The rising civilian death toll has drawn international condemnations and raised concerns of a looming humanitarian disaster. Many Gazans are without electricity or running water, thousands have been displaced from their homes and residents say that without distribution disrupted, food supplies are running thin. In one incident overnight, three people were killed when Israel attacked a U.N. school where hundreds had taken shelter. "There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, blaming the international community for allowing the violence to continue. "I am appealing to political leaders here and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," he said, speaking at Gaza's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths." Israel says it won't stop the assault until its southern towns are freed of the threat of Palestinian rocket fire and it receives international guarantees that Hamas, a militant group backed by Iran and Syria, will not restock its weapons stockpile. It blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, saying the group intentionally seeks cover in crowded residential areas. The army says it has dealt a harsh blow to Hamas, killing 130 militants in the past two days and greatly reducing the rocket fire. At least 15 rockets were fired Tuesday and one landed in the town of Gadera, about 25 miles from the Gaza border, lightly wounding a 3-month-old infant, police said. Israeli forces have cut the main Gaza highway in several places, compartmentalizing the strip into the north, south and Gaza City itself and preventing movement between them. Israel also has taken over high-rise buildings in Gaza City and destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels - Hamas' main lifeline - along the Egyptian border. In Geneva, the international Red Cross said Gaza was in a "full-blown" humanitarian crisis. Its head of operations, Pierre Kraehenbuehl, said the few remaining power supplies could collapse at any moment, leaving 500,000 people without clean water and at risk of disease. A flurry of diplomatic efforts to forge a cease-fire continued Tuesday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy left Israel after meetings with leaders and headed to neighboring Syria. Sarkozy immediately set to work trying to convince President Bashar al-Assad to push harder for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. "President Assad should help in convincing Hamas to stop firing the rockets. Syria should help us to convince Hamas to choose the voice of reason and the path of peace and the path of reconciliation," Sarkozy told reporters after his meeting with al-Assad. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stressed to Sarkozy on Monday that any agreement "must contain at its foundation the total cessation of all arms transfers to Hamas," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. Regev noted that Hamas used a previous six-month truce to double the range of its rockets. About one-eighth of Israel's 7 million citizens now live in rocket range.

Author: Gaza20082009
Keywords: palestine gaza massacres
Added: January 6, 2009