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TechnoratiGaza Residents Fear Israeli Tank Assault is Near
Reporting from Gaza City and Jerusalem -- Residents of the Gaza Strip today braced for a long-feared Israeli tank incursion as warplanes pounded the bottled-up coastal enclave for a third straight day.
![[Israeli tanks are seen near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008. Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, targeting a house next to the Hamas premier's home early Monday after pounding smuggling tunnels and government buildings, sending more tanks toward the Gaza border and approving the call-up of thousands of reserve soldiers for a possible ground invasion. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/israeli_tanks1229.jpg "israeli_tanks1229.jpg")
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority announced the suspension of
its peace talks with Israel in protest of the Israeli campaign against
the rival Hamas movement, which controls Gaza. But Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak promised an "all-out war against Hamas and its
kind."
As a third day of multiple airstrikes pushed the Gazan death toll to 345, according to local medical sources, Barak addressed a stormy session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
"This operation will be widened and deepened as we see fit," said Barak, who promised "war to the bitter end" designed to neutralize the rocket fire from Gazan militants that had plagued southern Israeli towns.
Several Arab parliamentarians were ejected for heckling and interrupting Barak's speech.
"There are those who are profiting from Palestinian blood in order to get elected," said Mohammed Barakeh shortly before being thrown out of the parliament session.
Among today's targets in Gaza were Hamas' Interior Ministry and the homes of two senior military commanders in the movement. The ministry had been evacuated days ago, and there were no casualties. But the strike on the home of Maher Zaqout, a commander with Hamas' Izzidin al-Qassam Brigades, killed seven civilians, Palestinian officials said. Zaqout was not home at the time.
Hamas and other militant factions launched an estimated 50 rockets into southern Israel, killing one man and wounding 14 others in a single strike on the Mediterranean coastal town of Ashkelon. The victim was an Israeli Arab, 27-year-old construction worker Hani al Mahdi.
Israel also declared the area around Gaza a closed military zone, ordering out journalists who were observing the buildup of troops and tanks outside of the enclave. The expulsion of the journalists only deepened fears among Gazans that a bloody tank assault was imminent.
Abu Alouf is a special correspondent.
11 Comments so far
Show AllHamas could not be the Government of a State if "Why is backed by Syria and Iran they want to sabotage only
Hamas could not be the Government of a State if "Why is backed by Syria and Iran they want to sabotage only
coxnews
must be held accountable government Syrian and Iranian and paid the price of the blood of innocent people of the Palestinian people . Consensual Governments outside the framework of international legitimacy must be removed for the sake of peace and security of the region
Hamas - You reap what you sow. Sorrow to the innocents that get in your way. Hamas, you have used civilians as shields hopefully for the last time. A pincer movement by Israel; tanks from the east and a landing from the sea can't come to soon. Bye bye cowards.
I look at it this way: if "Israel" had behaved over the past 60 years, shared the country with Palestine and made sure there was no discrimination, I would say "o.k., it's not perfect, but they have a right to exist". But they haven't behaved, and they don't have the right to exist. I say: return Palestine to Palestinians, end this madness, and stop Israeli-U.S. terrorism.
They have reason to fear assault with use of tanks. There's already assault using the Israeli Navy.
"Israeli Navy pull in towards Gaza Port - Heavy Israeli shelling of Gaza reported
International Solidarity Movement
December 28, 2008
International volunteers eyewitness Israeli bombings in Gaza"
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m50039
EXCERPT:
2:30am 29th December 2008 - Canadian Human Rights Activist Eva Bartlett has reported that the Israeli attacks into the Gaza Strip have escalated again, with the Israeli Navy shelling Gaza.
"The Israeli Navy have pulled in towards Gaza Port and are shelling the coastal area. The shelling is incredibly heavy." Eva Bartlett - International Solidarity Movement
END EXCERPT.
So, when we have the extreme aerial bombings by the Israeli air force since Saturday, the intense shellings by the Israeli Navy, and the Israeli government calling up thousands of IDF reservists, for preparation for ground invasion and therefore assault, of course the Palestinians have an awful lot of reason to fear invasion with Israeli tanks!
On Sunday, the UNSC came up with a new resolution, or something of the sort, and the US, once again, for a record of criminal consistency, vetoed! And the UNSC has evidently allowed this yet additional criminal veto to have the weight of a legitimate or legal veto; it's criminal, and the only way it can be allowed is criminally!
A link for the article wherein I learned of that UNSC action and then criminal folding on Sunday is provided in my post on the above article at Uruknet.
Yeah, the Palestinians have plenty of cause to FEAR.
If i could blow up those tanks by pressing a single button i would .. in a heartbeat. But i can only fantasize. And their aircraft too. I really wish Hamas had Stinger missiles as well. Its really easy to morph into the same monster thats creating this madness.
Yes, it is, isn't it?
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Can we all call our represenatives and senators and make sure they get the message that we want them to STOP SUPPORTING ISRAELI TERRORISM!! What more can we do? I want ideas!
Yet more Terrorism and open murder committed by the Zionist State, the second-most violent on the planet being openly abetted by the most violent.
If 100,000 Gazans mass infront of the Zionist tanks, will the Zionists smash them like Corrie? Will the Zionists be satisfied by killing 100,000+? Will the Zionists pontificate as a result and call all 100,000 "terrorists" and try to legitimate their act of mass murder?
Once upon a time, there were many stories circulating Eurpoe about the evil ways of the Judean, how they went about killing and eating Gentiles. The Zionists seem intent on proving those stories true. It seems very clear that Zionists should be lumped together with BushCoites (like the Clintonites, Reaganites, Thatcherites, and others before them) as Enemies of Humanity and uncivilized Barbarians incapable of being reformed.
I never thought there could be something worse than Nazism until Zionism emerged. It should be noted that Nazism was supported very openly by the main supporters of Zionism today--the USA and UK--to the benefit of the same elite then as now. The great Global Anti Fascist War is not yet finished; indeed, it is just now restarting with Gazans in the vanguard in defense of Global Liberty.