Olmert: “Targeted killings will resume despite civilian casualties”
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Thursday, 22 June 2006, 20:23 | 23.06.2006 08:39 | Anti-militarism | Repression | World
sraeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at an economic conference in Jerusalem that he instructed the Israeli army to resume the targeted killing policy against resistance fighters in the Palestinian territories despite the large number of civilian casualties, including children, who died in recent Israeli military assaults.
Olmert said that the associations will not stop and “apologize” for civilian death and threatened to continue shelling Gaza and targeting resistance fighters there.
Olmert said that the associations will not stop and “apologize” for civilian death and threatened to continue shelling Gaza and targeting resistance fighters there.
During his meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a conference in Jordan Thursday, Olmert said he felt "regret" over the civilian deaths, a source in the Olmert's office said. Yet, he vowed to continue the targeted killing policy.
The latest civilian causualties was a pregnant Palestinian women and her brother who were killed and fourteen civilians, including children were injured when the Israeli army targeted a vehicle carrying resistance fighters in the southern part of the Gaza Strip Wednesday night.
The missile fired by an Israeli air craft “missed its target” and hit a Palestinian house. The dead and wounded were all members of the same family.
The civilians killed was identified as 37-year-old Fatima Al Barbarwi, who was seven months pregnant, and her brother, a 45-year-old doctor named Zakariya Ahmad who was visiting his sister from Saudi Arabia.
The family had settled down for the evening meal when they were hit by the missile. A pool of blood marked the floor in their kitchen.
Israeli military officials release a statement saying the civilian casualties were caused by “human or technical error."
On Tuesday, three Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement in Gaza city. The fighters were unharmed.
The children killed in Tuesday's strike, 5-year-old Mohammed Roka, his 6 year old sister Nadia al-Sharif, and 16-year-old Bilal al-Hassa - were buried in Gaza on Wednesday morning. Seven other children were among the injured, one seriously.
On June 9 Israeli air force and Navy gunships fired missiles at the Gaza Beach in Al Soudaniyya area, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, killing ten residents, including women and children, after shelling the beach from ground, sea and air. At least forty residents were injured in the attack. Most of the injured are children playing on the beach.
Eight brothers and sisters, along with their father, were among the casualties when the Israeli Naval force fired two shells towards families vacationing at the beach.
Israeli Commander Major General Elyezer Shkedy said on Thursday that the army carries out daily attacks in Gaza, and that the air operations “are nearly the only way to operate in there. the other option is a land operation, and we must do everything possible to avoid that”.
The latest civilian causualties was a pregnant Palestinian women and her brother who were killed and fourteen civilians, including children were injured when the Israeli army targeted a vehicle carrying resistance fighters in the southern part of the Gaza Strip Wednesday night.
The missile fired by an Israeli air craft “missed its target” and hit a Palestinian house. The dead and wounded were all members of the same family.
The civilians killed was identified as 37-year-old Fatima Al Barbarwi, who was seven months pregnant, and her brother, a 45-year-old doctor named Zakariya Ahmad who was visiting his sister from Saudi Arabia.
The family had settled down for the evening meal when they were hit by the missile. A pool of blood marked the floor in their kitchen.
Israeli military officials release a statement saying the civilian casualties were caused by “human or technical error."
On Tuesday, three Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement in Gaza city. The fighters were unharmed.
The children killed in Tuesday's strike, 5-year-old Mohammed Roka, his 6 year old sister Nadia al-Sharif, and 16-year-old Bilal al-Hassa - were buried in Gaza on Wednesday morning. Seven other children were among the injured, one seriously.
On June 9 Israeli air force and Navy gunships fired missiles at the Gaza Beach in Al Soudaniyya area, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, killing ten residents, including women and children, after shelling the beach from ground, sea and air. At least forty residents were injured in the attack. Most of the injured are children playing on the beach.
Eight brothers and sisters, along with their father, were among the casualties when the Israeli Naval force fired two shells towards families vacationing at the beach.
Israeli Commander Major General Elyezer Shkedy said on Thursday that the army carries out daily attacks in Gaza, and that the air operations “are nearly the only way to operate in there. the other option is a land operation, and we must do everything possible to avoid that”.
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Thursday, 22 June 2006, 20:23
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THIS we know couldn't be what happened
23.06.2006 21:48
The large explosions on the beach COULDN'T have been shells from an Israeli naval vessel. The Israelis don't have any ships larger than destroyers, none capable of firing something comparable to a 155mm howitzer shell first reported as being the cause. Don't take my word for this; crack open a copy of "Jane's". The Israelis have small missile boats capable of firing powerful ship to ship radar homign missiles but those can't be used against shore targets (if a ship to ship missile loses "target lock" they are designed to immediately self destruct -- necessary to prevent a missile not locked on locking ont the ship that fired it as an alternative target)
So the explanation MAY be an errant Israeli howitzer round but NOT one from an Israeli naval vessel .
Mike Novack
e-mail:
stepbystpefarm mtdata.com
Racism, Plain And Simple
23.06.2006 23:08
Olmert doesn't care, because he views Palestinians/Arabs as animals.
Olmert: Israeli lives worth more than Palestinian ones
By Donald Macintyre in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip
Published: 23 June 2006
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, expressed "deep regret" for army operations that have killed 14 Palestinian civilians in Gaza in just nine days but said the lives of Israeli citizens threatened by Qassam attacks were "even more important".
The deaths in three separate missile attacks overshadowed Mr Olmert's first meeting with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, since taking office, as grieving relatives gathered here to mourn the two latest civilian victims, Fatima Ahmed, a 37-year-old pregnant mother of two small children, and her brother Zakaria, 45.
The siblings were killed by an Israeli missile which had been launched in the second bungled attempt to assassinate militants in less than 24 hours. The attack wounded 13 other members of the family, including six children, and partly wrecked the house in which they had all been concluding a celebratory meal in honour of Mr Ahmed, who had been on a week-long visit from Saudi Arabia to see his 83-year-old mother.
A pile of fallen masonry and a gaping hole in the house's straw roof were still visible yesterday at the house, about 20 metres from the main Salahadin north-south Gaza road at the entry to Khan Yunis.
The Israeli Defence Forces say that the attack early on Wednesday evening was aimed at a pick-up truck carrying members of militant Palestinian Resistance Committees. Witnesses said a six-inch crater on the other side of the road from the house was from a second missile.
The dead victim's sister-in-law, Amtiaz Ahmed, 47, described how she had been in the kitchen preparing coffee and tea at the end of the meal when the missile struck. Displaying a dozen shallow cuts on the back and arms of her 15-month-old nephew, Ahmed Sufian Ahmed, which she said were from shrapnel, Mrs Ahmed exclaimed: "Is he a terrorist? Does he have a rocket-propelled grenade? It is the Zionists who are the terrorists."
Three children were killed in an assassination attempt designed to curb Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel on Tuesday.
Mr Olmert said last night in Caesarea: "I am deeply sorry for the residents of Gaza, but the lives, security and well-being of the residents of Sderot [the Israeli border town which has borne the brunt of Qassam attacks] is even more important. I reject the attacks on the IDF and its commanders. No one is more dedicated or more cautious, and will continue to be so in the future."
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, this week called on Israel to ensure its responses were "proportionate and do not put civilians at grave risk ". Almost three times as many Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza in the past nine days as Israeli civilians in Sderot killed by Qassam rockets in the past five years.
Maj-Gen Eliezer Shakedi, the Israeli air force commander entrusted with investigating how the civilian deaths occurred, told Army Radio: "We have to make a great effort to try everything possible to avoid hitting civilians." But he added: "We have to fight terrorism and we are doing it... This is... the most accurate and the best possible option without launching a broad and very significant [ground] operation."
The dead woman's husband, Nidal Wahba, 39, said the couple's 18-month-old son Khaled was in hospital after having emergency surgery for injuries to his head. With heavy irony, he added: "He has been shooting rockets at Amir Peretz", the Israeli Defence Minister who lives in Sderot.
But Mr Wahba, who works for an aluminium fabrication firm, said he wanted to see an end to violence on both sides. "We are against all this. We don't want to teach our children violence. I wouldn't like to see this happen to Israeli people."
The attack came amid signs of progress in talks between Fatah and Hamas designed to reach an agreement on a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel. Mr Wahba said: "There are people in Gaza who want to make war against Israel and people who want to make peace. I want the Palestinians to have one goal and that should be peace."
Of the missile strike which killed his wife and brother-in-law, he added: " I hope it will be the last one."
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, expressed "deep regret" for army operations that have killed 14 Palestinian civilians in Gaza in just nine days but said the lives of Israeli citizens threatened by Qassam attacks were "even more important".
The deaths in three separate missile attacks overshadowed Mr Olmert's first meeting with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, since taking office, as grieving relatives gathered here to mourn the two latest civilian victims, Fatima Ahmed, a 37-year-old pregnant mother of two small children, and her brother Zakaria, 45.
The siblings were killed by an Israeli missile which had been launched in the second bungled attempt to assassinate militants in less than 24 hours. The attack wounded 13 other members of the family, including six children, and partly wrecked the house in which they had all been concluding a celebratory meal in honour of Mr Ahmed, who had been on a week-long visit from Saudi Arabia to see his 83-year-old mother.
A pile of fallen masonry and a gaping hole in the house's straw roof were still visible yesterday at the house, about 20 metres from the main Salahadin north-south Gaza road at the entry to Khan Yunis.
The Israeli Defence Forces say that the attack early on Wednesday evening was aimed at a pick-up truck carrying members of militant Palestinian Resistance Committees. Witnesses said a six-inch crater on the other side of the road from the house was from a second missile.
The dead victim's sister-in-law, Amtiaz Ahmed, 47, described how she had been in the kitchen preparing coffee and tea at the end of the meal when the missile struck. Displaying a dozen shallow cuts on the back and arms of her 15-month-old nephew, Ahmed Sufian Ahmed, which she said were from shrapnel, Mrs Ahmed exclaimed: "Is he a terrorist? Does he have a rocket-propelled grenade? It is the Zionists who are the terrorists."
Three children were killed in an assassination attempt designed to curb Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel on Tuesday.
Mr Olmert said last night in Caesarea: "I am deeply sorry for the residents of Gaza, but the lives, security and well-being of the residents of Sderot [the Israeli border town which has borne the brunt of Qassam attacks] is even more important. I reject the attacks on the IDF and its commanders. No one is more dedicated or more cautious, and will continue to be so in the future."
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, this week called on Israel to ensure its responses were "proportionate and do not put civilians at grave risk ". Almost three times as many Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza in the past nine days as Israeli civilians in Sderot killed by Qassam rockets in the past five years.
Maj-Gen Eliezer Shakedi, the Israeli air force commander entrusted with investigating how the civilian deaths occurred, told Army Radio: "We have to make a great effort to try everything possible to avoid hitting civilians." But he added: "We have to fight terrorism and we are doing it... This is... the most accurate and the best possible option without launching a broad and very significant [ground] operation."
The dead woman's husband, Nidal Wahba, 39, said the couple's 18-month-old son Khaled was in hospital after having emergency surgery for injuries to his head. With heavy irony, he added: "He has been shooting rockets at Amir Peretz", the Israeli Defence Minister who lives in Sderot.
But Mr Wahba, who works for an aluminium fabrication firm, said he wanted to see an end to violence on both sides. "We are against all this. We don't want to teach our children violence. I wouldn't like to see this happen to Israeli people."
The attack came amid signs of progress in talks between Fatah and Hamas designed to reach an agreement on a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel. Mr Wahba said: "There are people in Gaza who want to make war against Israel and people who want to make peace. I want the Palestinians to have one goal and that should be peace."
Of the missile strike which killed his wife and brother-in-law, he added: " I hope it will be the last one."
Zionism, Irrelevant Within A Generation