« Police Give Permission for Rally at Times Square Recruiting Station Island | Main | 8 House Dems Get Letters, Photo of New York Recruiting Station Before Bombing »
March 07, 2008
Palestinian Gunman Attacks Jewish School In Gaza But Rice Says Halt IDF in Gaza
Israel tightens security after Jerusalem attack
JERUSALEM (Reuters)
Israel imposed a security clampdown on Jerusalem and the West Bank on Friday to prevent violence after a Palestinian gunman killed eight students at one of the holy city's most prominent Jewish religious schools.
Thousands of mourners poured into Jerusalem to take part in open-air funerals for the victims, aged 15 to 26. Police set up road blocks and the army tightened restrictions on Palestinian travel in and from the occupied West Bank for 36 hours.
The gunman, whose family in Arab East Jerusalem said he had once worked as a driver for the college, was shot dead after opening fire with an automatic rifle at students in the library. The Merkaz Harav seminary has long been an ideological base for the Jewish settler movement in the Palestinian territories.
Police named the attacker as Ala Abu Dhaim, a driver. It was the bloodiest attack on Israelis in two years and the first such bloodshed in four years in Jerusalem, whose Arab residents have open access to Jewish parts of the city and the rest of Israel.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, hailed the "heroic operation" but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
The attack was greeted with celebrations in Gaza, where an Israeli offensive that ended on Monday killed more than 120 Palestinians, about half of them civilians.
The gunman's home was decorated on Friday with the flags of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Islamist groups. None had claimed responsibility for the attack, however.
Israel called Thursday's shooting a "massacre" but said peace talks would continue with West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the attack.
CITY ON ALERT
Israel deployed thousands of police in Jerusalem, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, and limited Palestinian access to Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site.
Police feared violence would break out in the Old City, where Jews and Muslims gathered for prayers. The al-Aqsa mosque overlooks the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.
The shooting could complicate U.S. efforts to broker a statehood deal by the end of 2008. It followed a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who persuaded Abbas to return to talks after suspending them over Israel's Gaza offensive.
Washington has pressed Israel to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank. Though the attacker did not come from there, the killing makes that less likely to happen soon.
Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, called on Abbas to do more to rein in militants.
"They have clear obligations to act against terrorist cells, to act against the infrastructure of terrorism," he said.
"While we understand they have limitations on their capabilities today, we believe that they could be doing much more, and it is incumbent upon them to do so."
Israel has yet to meet its own commitments under a long-stalled peace "road map" to halt all settlement activity and to remove Jewish outposts in the occupied West Bank.
President George W. Bush, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Germany, France, Russia and Britain condemned the killings. The United States accused Libya, backed by several other countries, of preventing the U.N. Security Council from condemning the assault as a "terrorist attack."
A member of the Libyan delegation said the council should not speak about the Jerusalem attack while ignoring Gaza.
In addition to those killed at the seminary, 11 people were wounded. It was the highest Israeli death toll since April 17, 2006, when 11 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in a suicide bombing during the Passover holiday in Tel Aviv.
Libya blocks condemnation of Jerusalem attack -US
UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (Reuters) - The United States accused Libya on Thursday of preventing the Security Council from condemning as a "terrorist attack" a deadly assault on a Jewish school in Jerusalem, but Tripoli called for "balanced action."
The United States had drafted a statement that was discussed at an emergency U.N. Security Council session called to debate an attack by a Palestinian gunman who killed at least eight people and wounded at least 10 more at an Israeli religious school.
"The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack that took place in Jerusalem March 6, 2008 which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of Israeli civilians," said the draft statement.
The U.S. delegation had hoped the 15-nation council would unanimously support the text but Libya, backed by several other council members, prevented its adoption.
Wildl Thing's comment........
Now one would think we would be upset as well with Lybia but I have to say that I am just as angry at Condi Rice at this............check it out, nice huh! Not!
Report: Rice Ordered Olmert to Halt IDF in Gaza
American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice personally told the Olmert government that it must stop its counterterrorist operations in Gaza, according to the London Jewish Chronicle. "Rice came and told us that we had to stop the operation in Gaza,” an Israeli government minister told the newspaper. He added that the Security Cabinet decision to instruct the IDF to continue actions to eliminate rocket attacks "is meaningless and was made only for public consumption."
Since the decision, the IDF has limited counterterrorist attacks to aerial strikes on rocket launching cells. The army withdrew ground troops less than two days before Secretary Rice arrived in Israel to pressure Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations with Israel. He suspended them in protest of the counterterrorist operations.
Posted by Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 04:48 AM
Comments
I've HAD IT with Rice and her passive views of the state of Israel. Uncle Ben could do a lot better!
Posted by: drstrangeloveb52isok at March 7, 2008 06:31 AM
What the heck is she doing? Is she going senile already?
This was a school--a place of learning that was attacked.
What if it were on our soil and hundreds of children died? How would she feel then?
These people have got to learn to live together, yes and stop fighting. They are brothers.
Posted by: Lynn at March 7, 2008 08:10 AM
Do we really have a policy now towards Israel?? It seems that in the last two or three years we have turned against supporting the Israelis and are becoming pro-Palistinian. We are giving the terrorist led "governments" of the Palestinian territories millions of dollars for "infrastructure". It appears our Israeli-Palestine policy now is about the same as Jimmy Carter's was. Rice is becoming Warren Christopher.
Posted by: TomR at March 7, 2008 08:41 AM
Geez. Why don't these people in our administration understand that it is a "no quarter" fight when it comes to terrorism? The path to victory is in an escalation against terrorists until you win...then you have peace. If this kind of attack happened on US soil, we'd leave no stone unturned to find the killers.
Posted by: PeteSuj at March 7, 2008 08:42 AM
To think, at one time many of us would have loved to see Rice make a run for the White House. Now, I fear if she did, she would throw Israel under the bus.
Posted by: BobF at March 7, 2008 09:31 AM
Let's put the tragedy at the Yeshiva in Israel in perspective. Eight students were slaughtered and that number is bad enough on it's own. However, taking population differences into account, those eight lives lost are the equivalent of 320 lives lost in the United States. No other country in the world would tolerate such an attack on it's civilian population on top of over 2500 (100,000 equivalent in the U.S.) rockets and missiles fired at civilians as well as continued assaults and killings of it's people.
Aside from the savage and barbaric terrorists who planned and executed this attack the largest blame goes to the Ehud Olmert government and those that preceded him for playing this tit-for-tat proportional response with terrorists. The only response must be so disproportionate as to make the enemy think very carefully before doing it again. The total destruction of Gaza City with it's 400,000 residents would send that message.
Israel should also cease and desist with any discussions of a Palestinian State. It is not economically or politically viable and will never happen. A look at the non-contiguous Gaza and West Bank bears this out. The Palestinians want a contiguous land connection as another step to taking over all of Israel for their terrorist Palestinian State.
The only realistic solution is for Gaza to become part of Egypt and portions of the West Bank part of Jordan. To do less guarantees more terrorist killings of the Israeli civilian and military population.
What is going on in Israel is a lesson of what is planned for the United States infidels. Learn it well.
Posted by: Les at March 7, 2008 01:22 PM
For those who think the US should resolve international problems using the UN. That is exacly like letting Lybia design our foriegn policy. The UN is not in our best interests, it is each country for it's self. And the US and our true friends are out numbered in the General Assembley and probably in the security council too.
Posted by: Odin at March 7, 2008 02:06 PM
drstrangeloveb52isok, me too, there are so many ways she could have responded and didn't. She should be ashamed of herself big time for one thing. sheesh
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 07:53 PM
Lynn, I know I just don't get why the IDF is always being told to stop fighting back. It is like red light greenn light.....go and stop,go and stop. A military force cannot be treated like that in any country good or bad.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 07:54 PM
Tom you hit the nail on the head, she is becoming Christopher.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 07:56 PM
PeteSuj, your right, and how dare any of our leaders to say play nice and keep talking peace when the enemy there does not want it.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 07:59 PM
Bob yes, and thank Godo she has said she is not interested in being a VP. I would never vote for any ticket she was on, never in a billion years.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 08:00 PM
Les I mean this, I wish and pray they would do just as you said. I agree completely.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 08:04 PM
Odin your right, the UN is the worst and not in our best interests or Israel's either.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 7, 2008 08:05 PM
Rice and Bush are a real disappointment with this issue, we demand Israel "play nice" with terrorists.
It's stupid as is gets.
Posted by: Mark Krauss at March 7, 2008 10:04 PM
Perhaps the US should lead by example here, send Dr. Rice to waziristan immediately in order to find Osama Bin Ladin and surrender to him immediately. that way she would not look like such a fool when she asks Israel to surrender to their terrorist problem.
well, wait a few months and president Obama will do it for us.
Posted by: Mark Krauss at March 7, 2008 10:18 PM
... x Hiroshima x ...!
... x Nagasaki x ...!
Oh those were the good ole days!! After all, we are the infidels, right?
Posted by: drstrangeloveb52isok at March 8, 2008 12:01 AM
Mark, I like your thinking. It sure is as stupid as it gets.
And the thing about Condi Rice that you said yes she can help in the hunt for Bin Ladin.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 8, 2008 12:47 AM
drstrangeloveb52isok, we sure are infidels deep sigh of relief too. I wouldn't want to be one of the Muzzie, I would flunk all the tests. Heh heh I would take their bombing lessons and set them off while they were sleeping in their caves. haahha
K-Boom bye buy terrorists
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 8, 2008 12:48 AM
