Olmert says "war" on militants in Gaza to continue
Sun Dec 23, 2007

Joseph Nasr

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday ruled out dialogue with Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip and vowed to press on with the army's "war" against militants firing cross-border rockets into Israel.

(Israel's own defense staff warned that Israel's imposition of measures of Collective Punishment on Gaza would provoke a violent response. This is a war planned long before Annapolis, and is a continuation of the US/Israeli plot to undermine Hamas. Israel has created the 'crisis' which it is now trying to use to justify its premeditated Aggression. Censoring the U.S. Role in Gaza’s 'Civil War'  http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8998S )

Olmert's closest confidant said Israel's strategic goal was to topple the Hamas government in the coastal territory through continued military and economic pressure.

(This is illegal.)

"This war will continue," Olmert told government ministers, referring to stepped up Israeli attacks that have killed over 20 Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip in the past week.

(And how many civilians?)

Olmert appeared to play down prospects of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

(After a failed coup attempt directed by the US and Israel. They always seem to 'forget' to include that part!)

"The state of Israel has no interest in holding negotiations with those that refuse to accept the basic principles of the Quartet," Olmert said referring to the demands set out by the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

(Israel itself has rejected those basic principles.)

"This applies to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and anyone else. He who accepts the Quartet principles is a partner in talks, but he who is not ready to accept them, he is no partner and our policy will not change," Olmert said.

(This is Israel's way of scuttling any chance of peace.)

Hamas has brushed aside demands by the Quartet, composed of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace agreements.

(Because when it signalled its readiness to do this, the US and Israel tried to overthrow it.)

Hamas did not rule out a future ceasefire if Israel first stopped attacks on the Gaza Strip.

"If the occupation commits itself to stopping all forms of aggression against our people, only then the factions may discuss this issue. But until then, there is no discussion among the factions over a calm," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Asked on Israel Radio whether Israel was seeking to "topple" Hamas, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said: "Yes."

"We are fighting Hamas and are seeking to weaken its control of Gaza, and bring about the end of its rein there. Hamas should hand over control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority," he said, referring to Abbas's West Bank-based government.

Hamas leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

(But Israel would rather reject peace, and continue its war to wipe Palestine off the map.)

The Islamist group continues to say it will not formally recognize Israel and its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

(It won't recognize Israel as a JEWISH state, because that is a racist concept. It could never destroy Israel, and amending this would be a point of negotiations.)

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; writing by Adam Entous; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

 http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAL2334822220071223

As Predicted: Gaza Attacked

ALERT: Annapolis a Charade: Olmert Plotting Massive Aggression

In Germany, according to historian Richard Evans, in 1931-1932, if enough Germans of conscience had begun to say No -- history would have had an entirely diferent outcome.

If we go any further down this road the tears will be those of conservatives as well as progressives. They will be (Israeli) tears.

The time for weeping has to stop; the time for confronting must begin.

Adapted from "American Tears"
www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/american-tears_b_68141.html

The timing is interesting, given the upcoming "Annapolis Conference", which serves to be about PR alone, as Olmert has already ruled out any Negotiations or Compromise in the name of peace.

If you follow the events surrounding Israel's "Disengagement" from Gaza, you will quickly understand that this was the plan all along. While Israel was making a public spectacle of "forcing Jews to leave their homes", it was quietly surrounding the Strip with artillery emplacements, in an operation ominously named "First Rain".

Under this operation, Gaza basically became a "Free-Fire Zone", and several artillery and gunship strikes killed a high number of civilians. Finally, when one of these batteries fired upon and murdered a Palestinian family - picnicking on a beach that had been Segregated "Jews Only" only weeks before, Hamas finally decided to call an end to its unilateral, two-year cease-fire.

(In essence, they took Israel's bait. After all, you can't excuse your Aggression and label it "defense" if you're not being intermittently attacked. Never mind the hypocrisy underlying the entire media's framing of that whole debate ...)

When the Palestinians responded by electing Hamas to power (yes, elected), Israeli Extremists and their Ideological, bought foreign co-conspirators imposed unilateral sanctions on Gaza, a bit of Collective Punishment which increased the hardship of those stuck in the world's largest Concentration Camp.

When they felt Gaza had been substantially weakened, the US and Israel undertook a Coup attempt, using corrupt elements within the Fatah Party, provoking a violent response by Hamas, which expelled the group. Most of the world's media ignored the events leading to this "crisis", and instead only repeated the Propaganda emanating from the US and Israel, which used this to further increase sanctions against Gaza.

Most recently, Israel stepped up its Collective Punishment, except that human rights groups and legal advisors to the Government halted some of its approved measures, because they run contrary to International Humanitarian Law.

This was sold as another "response to rocket attacks" (again highlighting the hypocrisy of the debate's Framing - are the Palestinians allowed to defend themselves from strikes which actually KILL people ... ?), even though high-ranking officials said that this was NOT, in fact, a response to these attacks, but a way to "distance Israel from Gaza's infrastructure".

The real reason for this whole episode, of course, has been to "soften up" the Gaza Strip for a long-planned military attack, a way to undermine the resolve, and hopefully rid this territory of Palestinians altogether.


 http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?9259S