Preemptive Strike Removes Threat To Israel

12 June 2006

"It is best that the Palestinians remain extremists because then no one will ask the government of Israel to negotiate with them. How do we ensure that the Palestinians remain radical? We simply strike at them, over and over, via assassinations and incessant bombings, until they drive any thought of supporting a peace policy out of their minds."

-- We came, we shelled, we killed; Danny Rubinstein, Ha'aretz.

Palestinian mourners lift the body of one-year-old Palestinian boy Haitham Ghalia during the funeral of six members of the family in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya Saturday June 10, 2006. They were killed by an Israeli army artillery shell while on a beach picnic on Friday. Palestinian officials said seven people were killed and more than 30 wounded in the attack with the Ghalia family losing six members, among them the father, one of his two wives, an infant boy and an 18-month-old girl. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

30 July 2006

"The Israel Defense Forces has killed 97 people in the Gaza Strip since the fighting began in Lebanon. Most of them were armed, and the rest were civilians - children, women, men, the elderly. The large number of fatalities suggests the IDF is engaged in indiscriminate killing under the cover of the war in the north."

- Avi Issacharoff, Ha'aretz.

An Israeli air strike against a car carrying militants along a main road in Gaza City on 13 June 2006 killed nine Palestinians, including two schoolchildren and three medical workers who rushed to the scene of an initial blast. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

8 August 2006

"In July, the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 78 of whom (48 percent) were not taking part in the hostilities when they were killed. Thirty-six of the fatalities were minors, and 20 were women. In the West Bank , 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in July. The number of Palestinian fatalities in July was the highest in any month since April 2002."

- B'Tselem.

The body of seven-month-old baby girl Shahd Samer Okal, is wrapped in a shroud along with her sister Mary, 3, and mother Asmaa (both unseen), all killed in Jabaliya, Gaza's largest refugee camp. Twenty-one Palestinians, including a baby and two toddlers, were killed as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery on the deadliest day in the territory for two weeks. (AFP/Mahmud Hams)

8 August 2006

"Palestinians, inflamed by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, increasingly support the commitment of the governing Hamas movement to destroy the Jewish state, a survey released yesterday said.

The Ramallah-based Near East Consulting opinion poll showed 55% of Palestinians believed Hamas should keep its vow to eliminate Israel, up from 44% in late June and 25% in January when the Islamist group won parliamentary elections.

It also showed only a bare majority of Palestinians backed a peace settlement with Israel, well down from previous surveys...

Only 51% of Palestinians backed a peace pact with Israel, down from 76% in late June, when the Gaza offensive erupted, added the poll, conducted early this month."

- Gulf Times.

Mohammed al-Zaret, 14, is seen with a blood stained face at the Shifa hospital after he was wounded in the lasted Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Israel battered the Gaza Strip with more air strikes as the government gave the green light to intensify the offensive that has killed more than 50 Palestinians in a week. (AFP/Samuel Aranda)