|
ISRAEL TODAY - June 7, 2005
|
John Henry
|
Jun 10, 2005 02:14 PDT
|
ISRAEL TODAY
Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 29 Iyar, 5765
AMERICAN SOLIDARITY VISIT TO GAZA SETTLERS
American Jewish and Christian leaders have joined forces and come to
Israel, to show solidarity with the 8,000 Gaza settlers slated to be
removed from their homes this summer. "When you talk about throwing
individuals or evicting individuals from their home, when they spent 20 or
30 years cultivating or building that foundation, that is not right," said
John Sampson, a state senator from New York. The delegation says the
planned destruction of 21 Gaza settlements is a tragedy and a reward for
terror.
ISRAEL KILLS TOP TERRORIST
Israeli forces raided the town of Kabatiya in Samaria and exchanged fire
with wanted Palestinian terrorists. The leader of the Islamic Jihad group
in the city of Jenin, Maraweh Ikmil, was killed, along with a Palestinian
policeman. The army says four terrorists surrendered. Hundreds of
Palestinians attended Ikmil's funeral in Jenin, calling for revenge. The
incident threatens the fragile four-month-old cease-fire, but Israel says
it has the right to target terrorists planning attacks. The army says a
double suicide bombing planned by Islamic Jihad was thwarted last week.
ROCKETS HIT SDEROT
Palestinians from the Islamic terrorist group Hamas in Gaza fired several
rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot in the Negev. One rocket hit an
apartment building, but miraculously, no one was hurt. Sderot residents
demonstrated, demanding that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon invest more in
improving security for the town, instead of spending all Israel's resources
on the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip. Hamas said the attack was
revenge for a visit by Jews to the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day yesterday,
as Israel was celebrating the reunification of the city during the Six Day
War in 1967.
BRITISH FOREIGN SEC'Y JACK STRAW IN ISRAEL
The violence erupted hours before British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
arrived in Israel for a two day visit that will include separate talks with
senior Israeli and Palestinian officials. The visit has been overshadowed
by contacts between Britain and Israel's arch terrorist enemy Hamas. Before
arriving, Straw said British diplomats had twice met officials associated
with the Hamas "non-military" wing. "But on each of those occasions our
staff have spelled out...our position overall in respect of no dealings
with Hamas as an organization as long as it continues to support violence,"
Straw told BBC radio. Both Britain and the US have been softening their
positions on Hamas after the group won several municipal elections. Hamas
responded that it will never abandon its arms.
|
|
 |
|
