posted August 23, 2006 11:33 PM              

Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv
Monday August 21, 2006

Guardian

Israel has arrested almost one quarter of the members of the Palestinian parliament as part of its campaign to free an Israeli soldier captured on the Gaza border in June.
Mahmoud Ramahi became the 33rd member of the legislative council (PLC) to be taken in by the Israelis during an operation yesterday.

Amani Rahami, 36, said her husband had been avoiding home for fear the Israelis would arrest him, but did not realise he was important enough to warrant surveillance.

"They came to arrest him many times but he was not here. This time they arrived minutes after he did. He is a father, an educated man and they take him away like a criminal. It is the Israelis who are criminals in this," she said.

Mr Ramahi is an anaesthetist at a Jerusalem hospital and is considered a Hamas moderate who opposes violence. When he arrived at his home in Ramallah yesterday, a squad of Israeli soldiers in jeeps were waiting nearby. They surrounded the house and summoned him by loudspeaker before tying him up and taking him away.

Mr Ramahi is the second Hamas representative to be taken into custody in Ramallah in as many days. On Saturday, Israeli soldiers detained Nasser Shaer, the deputy prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Earlier this month, they arrested the PLC speaker, Aziz Dweik, a prominent political leader of Hamas in the West Bank.

After the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 12, Israel launched a series of military operations which left almost 200 Gaza residents dead and the territory besieged. Despite the damage, the militants holding Corporal Shalit continue to insist they would only release him in return for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners.

Since June, Israel has arrested 49 senior Hamas officials, including the 33 parliamentarians, as an extra bargaining chip in the prisoner exchange negotiations, which are being conducted by Egyptian mediators.

The officials are all from the West Bank and most have been a strong moderating force within Hamas, urging leaders in Gaza to recognise Israel and ensure the party is acceptable to the international community.

The Israeli government has arrested the men because it claims that technically they are members of "a terrorist organisation" although they may not be involved in terrorist acts themselves.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry said: "The men who have been arrested are self-confessed senior members of Hamas which, in Europe, in Britain, in Japan, in Australia and in Israel is regarded as a terrorist organisation. They have been picked up and will be placed before a judge who will decide if there is sufficient evidence to try them."

Mr Regev would not confirm that their arrest was directly related to the detention of Corporal Shalit but added: "You cannot act like a terrorist and expect to be treated like a statesman. If Palestinian leaders act like statesmen and in accordance with conventional practices, they will earn the respect their position gives them."

Hamas has accused Israel of trying to destroy the Palestinian Authority, but members of the parliament said it is still managing to operate. PLC member Qais Abu Leila said that the arrest of PLC members was a show of force designed to demonstrate that Palestinians only have rights that Israel is prepared to give them.

"They have arrested as many as they can but still the PLC is working. It has more that 67 members out 132 which is a quorum and the deputy-speaker is presiding over the sessions. The PLC is not working at the same tempo as previously but it is moving on although there is an agreement that controversial subjects will not be voted on," he said.

posted August 24, 2006 12:03 AM              

Do you have anything intellectual..or spiritual to add????

posted August 24, 2006 12:36 AM              

God's telling me not to get involved with you because you are only here to fight.

Didn't you get that one?

posted August 24, 2006 12:58 AM              

I only believe in One Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.

posted August 24, 2006 01:16 AM              

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25% of Palestinian MPs detained by Israel

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posted August 24, 2006 02:17 AM              

The more recent events that began in June...

A 7 member Palestinian family, which included women and three children and who were spending their holiday on a Gaza strip beach were all killed by Israeli forces.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300293.html

And because of this Hamas called off its truce with Israel.

On the day that Hezbollah took the two soldiers Israeli air strikes destroyed the Palestinian Foreign Ministry building, and an Israeli brigade entered Gaza Strip. Israeli air strikes targetted apartment buildings in order to kill Hamas leaders and militants.

I couldn't find the sources that said 200 were fired when the soldiers were kidnapped.

quote:

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Soldiers' search

Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon to search for the two soldiers, for the first time since Israel ended its occupation of south Lebanon six years ago.

Several thousand reservists will be deployed along the border, officials say.

The news of the clashes comes as a major Israeli offensive is under way in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Palestinian militants in Israel over two weeks ago.

Overnight, Israel carried out an air strike on a Gaza City house, killing at least six people and injuring 15.

On Wednesday morning, Hezbollah launched dozens of Katyusha rockets and mortar bombs at the Israeli town of Shlomi and at Israeli outposts in the Shebaa Farms area.

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posted August 24, 2006 10:24 PM              

quote:

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Hizballah fighters raided north Israel in a botched attempt to capture Israeli troops November 21, 2005, triggering the worst round of fighting since Israel pulled out from south Lebanon five years ago. Hizbollah also fired salvoes of Katyusha rockets into Israeli posts in the Shebaa Farms. On 28 May 2006 Hezbollah launched a Katyusha barrage at an IDF base on Mt. Meron. Israel responded immediately by hitting a number of Hezbollah positions along the border.

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quote:

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Hezbollah attack and Israeli response - Operation Just Reward - On the morning of July 12, Hezbollah terrorists crossed the blue line border from Lebanon to Israel and attacked an Israeli army patrol, killing 3 and capturing 2 soldiers. An additional soldier died the following day and several were killed when a tank hit a mine, while pursuing the captors. At the same time, Hezbollah began a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel. This incident was apparently timed to coincide with the meeting of the G-8, which was to examine the issue of the Iranian nuclear development program. It also occurred against the background of the earlier fighting in Gaza.

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quote:

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July 12, 2006
Hezbollah launches Katyusha rockets across the Lebanese border with Israel as a diversionary tactic, targeting the town of Shlomi and outposts in the Shebaa Farms area in Lebanon. Hezbollah claims its objective is to free 10,000 Arabs captured by Israel.[1]
Hezbollah's military wing staged a cross-border attack in northern Israel on two Israeli Humvees. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were kidnapped, with several civilians deliberately injured. "Fulfilling its pledge to liberate the Arab prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance... captured two Israeli soldiers (Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev) at the border with occupied Palestine," Hezbollah said in a statement.[2]

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None of these sources give an actual number of rockets fired - I read that number at some point in the last month, but I don't recall where, so take it with a grain of salt. Suffice it to say, Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel at the same time they kidnapped those soldiers.

As far as I can see, Israel didn't going flying off the handle unprovoked here. Hezbollah committed more than one clear act of war FIRST. But, when anyone takes offensive action against Israel, it's "justified", so don't even bother going there. We already know that song.

Israel, on the other hand - is chasticed for offensive actions, defensive actions, pre-emptive actions, post-conflicts actions, you name it. Whatever they do, It's wrong. Just the like the U.S.