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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (171568)	6/29/2006 12:37:58 AM
From: D. Long	Respond to of 793843

In other bad news - Pals execute the Israeli civilian. Body of kidnapped Israeli settler found: Palestinians Jun 28 8:58 PM US/Eastern Email this story The body of an Israeli settler kidnapped at the weekend by Palestinian militants was recovered overnight by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said, without providing further details. On Wednesday, the armed Popular Resistance Committees had displayed a photocopy of the identity papers of the 18-year-old Eliahu Asheri, a settler who was reported missing Sunday from the West Bank, and threatened to kill him unless Israel halted its offensive in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian security officials also said that the Israeli army has detained more than 10 ministers and lawmakers of the Hamas-led Palestinian government in an overnight raid in the West Bank. Deputy prime minister Nasser al-Shaher and the minister of religious affairs, Nasser Nayef Rajoub, were among those arrested early Thursday in the Israeli raids, which targeted a building in Ramallah where ministers had gathered for the night, as well as sites in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, the sources said. Israel have launched a ground and air assault on the Gaza Strip, vowing to used "extreme measures" to rescue a teenage soldier captured by Palestinian militants. Palestinians warned the offensive would only trigger more bloodshed, with the Hamas-led government slamming it as "military madness" and Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas branding it collective punishment. It was the first major ground incursion into Gaza since Israel pulled out of the impoverished coastal strip last year in a highly controversial operation that ended a 38-year occupation. "We decided to use extreme means to bring Gilad (Shalit) home and we have no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying in by public radio referring to the 19-year-old conscript. "Last night's operation will continue. No one who is involved in terror will be immune. We have one central goal: to bring Gilad home." Much of Gaza was plunged into darkness after war planes waged night-time strikes to blow up a power plant and three bridges as militants prepared for an invasion by building barricades and blocking roads. Before dawn, tanks, armoured cars and bulldozers rolled several kilometres (miles) into southern Gaza, where the missing soldier was believed to be held, pushing into the disused international airport near Rafah. The move followed intensive efforts to free Shalit after his seizure in an attack Sunday that killed two soldiers and was claimed by three groups including fighters loyal to Hamas. Israeli planes later raided a Hamas training camp in Rafah. White House spokesman Tony Snow backed Israel's "right to defend itself" and blamed Hamas for the incursion, but urged Israel to ensure "innocent civilians are not harmed." EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner urged both sides to end hostilities. They "need to step back from the brink before this becomes a crisis that neither can control," she said in a statement. Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya condemned Washington for "giving the green light to (Israeli) aggression," which he demanded Israel stop before the situation worsened. "The Israeli occupation must put an end to its aggression before the situation gets complicated and the crisis gets worse," he said, adding that he hoped a "positive result" could be found. Four Israeli warplanes overflew the presidential palace of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, breaking the sound barrier in a move a military spokeswoman said was "due to the support and protection Syria gives Hamas." Public Security Minister Avi Dichter even issued a direct threat to kill Hamas chiefs in Syria, the base of the movement's political supremo, Khaled Meshaal, who escaped a Mossad attempt on his life in Amman in 1997. He said Israel had warned Syria about the presence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in Damascus but was ignored. "This therefore gives Israel full permission to attack these assassins." Armed groups have vowed not to release the soldier until all Palestinian women and children are freed from Israeli jails, a demand rejected by Olmert who ordered tanks and a force of about 5,000 troops to mass on the Gaza border. But a Palestinian foreign ministry spokesman later said his government was seeking a deal for the soldier's release in exchange for freeing Palestinian prisoners. "We have sent letters to the foreign ministries of Arab governments asking them to support a negotiated solution that includes the exchange of Palestinian detainees imprisoned by the Israeli occupation for the kidnapped Israeli soldier," Taher Nunu said. Amnesty International called for all hostages to be released and for "an end to the wanton destruction and collective punishment being carried out by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip." It said "destruction of three bridges and electricity networks ... have left half the population of the Gaza Strip without electricity and have reportedly also adversely affected the supply of water." The soldier's capture has triggered the worst Middle East crisis since Hamas took office in March after an election that sent shockwaves throughout Israel and the West. It also presented the first major challenge for Olmert since he took office in May pledging to unilaterally redraw the map of Israel even without negotiations with the Palestinians. Egypt, France and the Vatican, as well as the United States, had sought to exert pressure on the Palestinians to hand over the soldier. Hamas held an urgent Palestinian cabinet meeting in a bid to find an end to the standoff, with deputy prime minister Nasserdine al-Shaer calling on the kidnappers to "preserve his life." Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said the offensive was unjustified "military madness" and accused Israel of seeking to cause "chaos and provoke a new bloody conflict." Sunday's attack, which saw gunmen tunnel their way into Israel, has raised questions over possible military and intelligence failings. Tensions have long been mounting, with Israel and the West financially and politically boycotting Hamas as a terror group, plunging the territories into a deep crisis. Past history of soldiers abducted at the hands of Palestinians bodes ill for Shalit, with all nine such previous cases ending in death.