Israeli Strike On Palestine Commences
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James Joyner | Tuesday, June 27, 2006 |
An Israeli airstrike Tuesday targeted a road that the Israeli military said is used by Palestinian militants to launch rockets. The Israel Defense Forces told CNN that tanks, which are massed at the Gaza border, are not on the move. Tanks and troops are poised at the border as tensions escalate over a solider kidnapped by militants. In some Gaza border areas, Palestinians have built sand mounds to try to slow a tank attack.
Details to follow, I’m sure.
UPDATE: Tanks are rolling.
Israeli planes attacked two bridges and a power station, knocking out electricity in most of the Gaza Strip early Wednesday and stepping up the pressure on Palestinian militants holding captive a 19-year-old Israeli soldier. As tanks were seen moving along the Israeli side of the border fence with Gaza, Palestinians dug in behind mounds of dirt, preparing for a possible Israeli offensive.
The buildup of Israeli tanks and thousands of troops along the border with Gaza came amid intensive diplomatic efforts in the Arab world and by the United Nations. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel to “give diplomacy a chance.”
Trying to defuse building tensions, negotiators from the ruling Hamas movement said Tuesday they had accepted a document implicitly recognizing Israel. But two Syrian-based Hamas leaders denied a final deal had been reached. Israel said only freedom for the captive soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, could defuse the crisis, not a political agreement.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the object of the attacks on the bridges late Tuesday and early Wednesday was “to impair the ability of the terrorists to transfer the kidnapped soldier.” Knocking down the bridges would cut Gaza in two, Palestinian security officials said.
Early Wednesday, Israeli planes fired at least nine missiles at Gaza’s only power station, cutting electricity to much of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security officials said. The station’s three functioning turbines and a gasoline reservoir were engulfed in enormous flames that firefighters were unable to control.
The attack raised the specter of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as water pumps in the strip are powered by electricity.
Israeli military officials said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved a “limited operation” for southern Gaza, aimed at “terrorist infrastructure.” The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Every government has its leakers, it seems.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Is anyone else sick of war? You can disguise this conflict in a shroud of religion, but at the end of the day, it is little more than monkeys flinging poop at each other. When is the human race going to grow up?
Its usually condescending attitude towards others that create a hostile environment that ends in name-calling that often ends in violence. From most of what Iâ??ve seen in blogs and media, we will have war for some time.
Is anyone else sick of war?
Just as there is no Yang without Yin, there is no peace without war.
Nice one, Wayne.
"Terrorist infrastructure" sounds indistinguishable from the Palestinian government, such as it is.
Rice want them to "give diplomacy a chance"? That would be good for a laugh were it not so tragic...
Maybe we should put our own house in order before telling others how to conduct their affairs.
Anjin-san,
Speaking of houses, why don't you leave and go back to your house in Jap land. Sounds like u don't like it here, so leave already! Japs like perfect little polite cultures, and other than their murderous ways in that little bitty WWII, they are all just pacifists now, so go on already! Leave! LEAVE!
Anjin-san,
Speaking of houses, why don�t you leave and go back to your house in Jap land.
Christopher, shut the fuck up.
Anjin-san is a fool and a tool, but comments like yours are no better than his tripe.
It doesn' take long for the white hoods to come out of the closet.
Trying to defuse building tensions, negotiators from the ruling Hamas movement said Tuesday they had accepted a document implicitly recognizing Israel.
They ought to 'recognize' the tanks...
The Palestinian leadership has failed miserably in controlling their own population. Any humanitarian crisis is of their own making. All they have to do is give the soldier back, and refrain from kidnapping, and bombing, and...
Anjin- I don't want to get too complicated for you, but the U.S. is a world power with a sizable stake in this. Simplistic MYOB policies wouldn't really do much to help the situation.
Nice to know that the 'opressed' Palestinians have now adopted the tactics of the Iraqi insurgency. Now it's kidnapping. What next, bombing busses full of school children? Oh yeah, already been done.
The question I have is if Hamas regrets having some of its people participate in the attack and kidnapping. I know they don't regret it in the sense that they see it as wrong, only that they regret it in the sense that the costs are bigger than they thought they would be.
Kevin,
Can you kindly point me to your comments along the line of the "monkey pooh flinging" that decried the Hamas killing of two and kidnapping a soldier that started this? Or is your problem with war only when a country acts to defend itself.
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