Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli forces arrest Fatah-linked terror operative in Jenin refugee camp

2023-09-10

[IsraelTimes] IDF says Tanzim member Muhammad Naghnaghiya aided in carrying out series of West Bank shootings in recent months

Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Wednesday morning, for the second time in days, arresting a suspected terror operative partially associated with the Paleostinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party.

Muhammad Naghnaghiya, a veteran member of the mostly dormant Tanzim terror group, was detained for allegedly aiding in executing a series of shooting attacks in the West Bank in recent months, according to the military.

Members of the Border Police’s undercover West Bank unit converged on a building in the Jenin refugee camp and nabbed Naghnaghiya, after receiving intelligence on his whereabouts from the Shin Bet security agency.

The Israel Defense Forces said that during the raid, Paleostinian button men shot at the forces, who returned fire.

Naghnaghiya was handed over to the Shin Bet for further questioning.

Tanzim, an armed militia founded in 1995 and loosely affiliated with the PA’s ruling Fatah party, was a key player in violence at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000.

Paleostinian media on Wednesday published a photo from the early 2000s showing Naghnaghiya with notorious terror commander Zakaria Zubeidi in the Jenin refugee camp.

Zubeidi, a senior commander in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was released from Israeli prison in a 2007 amnesty deal, but was rearrested a decade later. Exactly two years ago, on September 6, 2021, while still awaiting trial, Zubeidi fled Gilboa Prison — along with five other high-risk Paleostinian security prisoners — in an escape that transfixed Israelis and Paleostinians for weeks. They were all later rearrested.

The raid on Wednesday morning came less than two days after Israeli forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest three members of the Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terror group.

Violence has surged across the West Bank over the past year and a half, with a rise in Paleostinian shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and troops, near-nightly arrest raids by the military, and an uptick in Dire Revenge attacks by krazed killer Jewish settlers against Paleostinians.

The IDF said Wednesday morning that troops detained nine wanted Paleostinians during overnight raids elsewhere in the West Bank, with festivities in some areas.

Paleostinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank since the beginning of the year have left 27 civilians and three soldiers dead, and several others seriously maimed.

According to a tally by The Times of Israel, 180 West Bank and East Jerusalem Paleostinians have been killed during the same period — the vast majority of them during festivities with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances, including by armed Israeli settlers.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israeli father of two killed in northern West Bank terror shooting

2023-05-31

[IsraelTimes] Drive-by attack occurs near settlement of Hermesh, west of Jenin; military launches manhunt; victim named as Meir Tamari, 32

An Israeli man was shot and killed in a shooting attack near the settlement of Hermesh in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, the military and medics said.

According to local authorities, the victim, later named as 32-year-old Meir Tamari, came under fire from a passing vehicle on a road near the settlement of Hermesh, west of Jenin. He continued driving until he reached the community, where he was treated by medics.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said Tamari, a civilian, was treated at death's door at the entrance to the settlement, after suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body. A helicopter was dispatched to the scene to take the victim to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera, where he was later declared dead.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops launched a manhunt for the button men, closing off several roads in the area.

In a statement carried by Paleostinian media, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, loosely linked to the Paleostinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party, grabbed credit for the deadly attack.

"We affirm that this operation and others will not be the final response to our deaders," the statement read.

Tamari had moved to Hermesh some four years ago after getting married to Tal, a resident of the West Bank settlement, the Samaria regional council said. He is survived by his wife and two young children, aged one and three.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Daoud Zubeidi, brother of jailed terror chief, dies of wounds from battle with IDF

2022-05-16

“Roooosebuuuuud.”
“He’s dead, Jim.”

[IsraelTimes] Zubeidi was taken to an Israeli hospital after his condition deteriorated; terror groups threatened to ’open the gates of hell’ should he come to harm.

Daoud Zubeidi, the brother of notorious terror chief and Gilboa prison escapee Zakaria Zubeidi, has died of wounds he sustained during a shootout with Israeli soldiers, the Paleostinian Authority Health Ministry said Sunday.

Zubeidi, 40, was among 13 Paleostinian button men reportedly injured Friday in fierce exchanges of fire with Israeli troops in and around the city of Jenin in the West Bank, during an arrest operation carried out by police special forces and the Israeli military.

After he was critically maimed in the shootout on Friday, Zubeidi was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but when his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

Paleostinian terror groups in Jenin — including both the loosely Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
’s al-Quds Brigades — threatened to "open the gates of hell" should Zubeidi come to harm while in Israeli custody.

Yeah, yeah. Whatevs.

"Any harm to the life of Daoud al-Zubeidi will open the fire of hell in the face of the occupation," masked button men apparently affiliated with the al-Quds Brigades read out in a statement on Saturday.

Israeli police commando Noam Raz, 47, was killed during the same shootout on Friday. Mourners carried Raz’s coffin to the police cemetery on Mount Zion for burial on Sunday in a private funeral, away from the press.

Zubeidi’s brother Zakaria is notorious for criminal masterminding terror attacks during the Second Intifada. A child actor who turned to violence, Zakaria Zubeidi became a senior commander in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He frequently gave interviews to Israeli media and became a familiar face to the Israeli public.

In 2007, the Shin Bet security service and the Paleostinian Authority reached an amnesty deal for thousands of Paleostinians who had fought against Israel during the wave of violence. Zakaria Zubeidi was one of them, and founded a so-called "Freedom Theater" in Jenin with a director of both Jewish and Arab Israeli heritage, Juliano Mer-Khamis.

Over a decade later, Israeli forces apprehended Zakaria Zubeidi, accusing him of having resumed his terror activities. The Shin Bet security service later said Zubeidi had confessed to two shooting attacks on buses outside the Beit El settlement in the central West Bank in November 2018 and January 2019 that maimed three people.

While still awaiting trial in September 2021, Zubeidi fled Gilboa jail — along with five other high-risk Paleostinian security prisoners — in an escape that transfixed Israelis and Paleostinians for weeks.

The six prisoners — five of them members of the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad, along with Fatah commander Zubeidi — made their way out through their cell’s drainage system and an empty space underneath the prison.

Four of the prisoners, including Zubeidi, were captured in northern Israel within the first week, while the other two made their way into the northern West Bank city of Jenin and hid out there until their arrest on September 19.

Israel has recently stepped up its operations in the West Bank and especially in the Jenin area, from which several Lions of Islam behind recent deadly attacks carried out in Israel hailed. The violence has left 19 dead in central Israeli cities since March 22, in the bloodiest wave of terrorism in years.

Around 30 Paleostinians were killed by Israeli forces in the same period; some perpetrated the attacks, while others died during ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful festivities. Still others were uninvolved civilians, such as al-Jazeera journalist Shirin Abu Akleh, who died under disputed circumstances in Jenin on Wednesday.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas claims deadly Ariel terror shooting, vows it ‘won’t be the last’

2022-05-03

[IsraelTimes] The terror group has repeatedly praised, but rarely taken responsibility for, attacks against Israelis in recent years.

In a rare move, Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",’s military wing grabbed credit on Monday for a terror shooting that left an Israeli security guard dead at the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Ariel on Friday night.

"This operation comes within a series of responses to the defiling of our al-Aqsa [Mosque] and aggression against it," the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Sixteen Israelis have been killed in a deadly wave of terror attacks since mid-March. Hamas officials have encouraged and praised the bloodshed, but this is the first time that the terror group has taken credit.

The "heroic, quality" attack "will not be the last one, with God’s help," the Qassam Brigades said.

Hamas’s military wing has rarely issued statements taking responsibility for attacks in recent years. Even when avowed Hamas members committed attacks — such as when an East Jerusalem schoolteacher killed an Israeli in the Old City last January — the terror group praised rather than claimed the killings.

A video that circulated after the attack purported to show that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a set of gangs loosely affiliated with Fatah, Hamas’s main Paleostinian rivals, had claimed the killing. The claim could not be fully confirmed, however, as the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have no official channels.

Two Paleostinians — Yusef Assi, 21, and Yahya Marei, 20 — were arrested by Israeli forces in connection with the attack on Saturday from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the northern West Bank. Official Hamas media identified the two as Qassam Brigades members on Monday night.

"[The Qassam Brigades] declare its pride in its fighters, the blessed sons of Qassam in the occupied West Bank, who are still wielding the ’Sword of Jerusalem,'" the terror group said, using Hamas’s name for the May war with Israel.

The victim of Friday’s attack, Israeli security officer Vyacheslav Golev, 23, was laid to rest in Beit Shemesh in central Israel on Sunday. Golev died while shielding his fiancee, Victoria Fligelman, who was on guard duty with him that night.

Tensions between Israel and the Paleostinians have been high for weeks. The deadly wave of terror against Israeli civilians led Israeli security forces to step up their activities in the West Bank to tamp down the violence in early April.

The resulting festivities left several Paleostinians dead. Many were combatants or were claimed by terror groups as members. But some others — such as a visually impaired woman killed in a town near Bethlehem in April — appear to have been unarmed civilians.

Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo watched the circling Commanches and asked himself What would Geronimo do?...
Paleostinian rioters clashed with Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount holy site, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque. Paleostinians hurled stones at officers, who responded with rubber bullets, sound grenades and tear gas, wounding hundreds.

The ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful scenes at the flashpoint site, Judaism’s holiest and Islam’s third-holiest, sparked fears of renewed war between Israel and the Paleostinians. Despite scattered rocket fire from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
in mid-April, however, the situation did not immediately deteriorate further.

On Saturday afternoon, Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar gave a speech laden with threats against Israel that urged Paleostinians in the West Bank to commit terror attacks.

He said that any further Israeli "violations" of the al-Aqsa Mosque would lead to attacks on Jewish synagogues worldwide.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Sacha Baron Cohen threatened by Palestinian terrorists over Bruno film

2009-07-27

The Martyrs Brigades, a group of West Bank Palestinian insurgents, said it was "very upset" that it appeared in the film starring Baron Cohen's flamboyant Austrian homosexual character and would "respond in a suitable way", according to a statement published on the Right-wing website called World Net Daily.

In the film, Bruno, a television journalist interviews Ayman Abu Aita, who is claimed in the movie to be the leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Mr Baron Cohen's character implores Mr Abu Aita to capture him, saying, "I want to be famous. I want the best guys in the business to kidnap me. Al-Qaeda is so 2001."

Mr Abu Aita and his associates were angry by his portrayal according to the statement published by the Jerusalem bureau of the World Net Daily.

"We reserve the right to respond in the way we find suitable against this man. The movie was part of a conspiracy against the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades," the statement read.

"According to what we checked there was was no meeting about the real context of the film," the statement added "This was a dirty use of our brother, Ayman, and we don't accept that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is part of the film."

A lawyer for Mr Abu Aita said that he was tricked into appearing in the film and was no longer involved with the Martyrs Brigades, it was reported. He added that Mr Abu Aitas planned to file a law suit against the 37-year-old British comedian.

Mr Baron Cohen has reportedly tightened his security following the publication of the statement.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Murder Solved: Arab Assaulted Jew with Wrench At Arab Car Garage

2009-06-17

Instant Jihad.
The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), in cooperation with IDF and Border Police units, have arrested four Arabs for the July 27, 2006 murder of Dr. Daniel Yaakobi of Yakir. After Yaakobi brought his car to an Arab car garage for repairs, an Arab on site attacked the Jew with a wrench and a stick until he collapsed.

The ISA and Israel Police carried out intensive intelligence and investigation activities in the three years following the murder which resulted in the arrest of four suspects during April and May 2009. Their identities have now been approved for publication:

Tioun Hadi Khalil Tioun -- resident of Hadja village in the Kalkilya area, 21, a Tanzim militant, student at Abu Dis University.

Ahmed Hadi Khalil Tiyoun - resident of Hadja village in the Kalkilya area, 25, brother of the above, Fatah activist.

Amar Khamed Abdallah Nofel, resident of Hadja village in the Kalkilya area, 19, participated in disturbances in his village.

Nasim Jamal Ahmed Gaviti, resident of Funduk village in the Kalkilya area, 26, Tanzim militant, participated in disturbances in the area.

Tioun Tioun admitted to murdering Yaakobi, allegedly in revenge for the death one day earlier of Khamada Shativi, an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist from Kadoum. Shativi was killed by security forces while attempting to evade capture on July 26, 2006. Yaakobi was last seen driving towards Karnei Shomron on the day he was murdered. His body was found inside his burnt car on the same evening.

Tioun said that he murdered Yaakobi after Yaakobi brought his car to his brother Ahmed Tioun's garage for repairs. He assaulted Yaakobi with a wrench and a stick beating him to death.

When his brother and Amar Nofel eventually arrived, Tioun Tioun told them to place the body in the trunk and burn the car. They loaded Yaakobi's body into the trunk, drove the car outside the village and set it alight. They then drove to Shativi's funeral, following which Ahmed Tioun informed Nasim Gaviti of Yaakobi's murder.

They then drove to the garage, where -- joined by Tioun Tioun and Amar Nofel -- they cleaned the garage and burnt Yaakobi's belongings. All four men will be indicted in the coming days.

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, considered a top Torah sage of the generation in the hareidi-religious community, issued a Jewish legal decision banning the employment of Arab workers by Jews after an Arab hired as a driver by the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem murdered eight students in March, 2008.

"According to Jewish law, it is completely forbidden to hire Arabs, especially in yeshivas," Rabbi Kanievsky said. "There is a concern of endangering lives."

The rabbi explained, "After all, we are at war with them...and are there not Jews that can work and make a living?" Asked later if his words should be publicized, Rabbi Kanievsky said: "Certainly."

Though a web site listing Jewish labor businesses was closed down by the supreme court after a law-suit from an Arab advocacy group funded by the New Israel Fund, a hotline and email account has been set up to provide solutions for those seeking Jewish laborers for work anywhere in Israel, for everything from gardeners, heavy equipment operators, painters, car garages, cement mixers and handymen to catering and restaurants.

Dr. Yaakobi was 59 when he was murdered. He was survived by his wife Chani, four children and 12 grandchildren.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

WND: Israel pardons Palestinian terrorist chief

2008-08-29

PM grants full amnesty to leader of most active group as 'peace gesture'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week granted complete amnesty to 45 terrorists, including the chief of the most active West Bank Palestinian terrorist organization, whose cell is responsible for scores of deadly attacks, WND has learned.

Ala Senakreh, considered the West Bank chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was on the amnesty list obtained by WND. He received his full pardon Tuesday. The Brigades is the military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.

Senakreh, based in the northern West Bank city of Nablus the Brigades' main stronghold directed cells that carried out scores of suicide bombings inside Israel, according to security sources and Senakreh's own admission during in-person interviews. Together with the Islamic Jihad terror organization, Senakreh's group took responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and for scores of deadly shooting attacks.

Last June, Olmert granted temporary amnesty to 178 terrorists on condition they disarm, refrain from attacks and spend three months in PA detention facilities and another three months confined to the West Bank city in which they reside. If the terrorists completed their side of the deal, Olmert's office would grant permanent amnesty, allowing them freedom of movement in the West Bank and taking them off Israel's most wanted list of terrorists to ensure they are not arrested.

In spite of rampant Israeli media reports that many of the 178 pardoned terrorists refused to disarm and continued carrying out attacks, Olmert last October pardoned 48 more Al Aqsa Brigades members and earlier this year pardoned at least 80 more. About 45 percent of the temporarily pardoned terrorists received permanent Israeli amnesty in coordination with Olmert's office and Israel's Shin Bet Security Services. In July, a handful of more terrorists received permanent amnesty, purportedly for abiding by the Israeli conditions for a pardon. On Tuesday, 45 more received their permanent pardons, including Senakreh.

Israel granted the new list amnesty in spite of information dozens of terrorists recently granted full amnesty were later involved in attacks. Just today, Israel arrested Mahmoud Lubada, an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member pardoned last month. Lubada was suspected of planning attacks meant for central Israel. Two weeks ago, Israeli forces arrested Maamun Hamdan, an Al Aqsa member given a complete pardon, on information he was planning an imminent attack meant for central Israel. One week prior, Israel arrested Muhammad Qutawi, another Brigades leader given a full pardon. Qutawi is also accused of planning an attack meant for central Israel.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Rocket hits Israel, second violation of Gaza truce

2008-06-27

Gaza militants fired two rockets into southern Israel on Thursday, further straining a shaky, week-old truce as Israel kept vital Gaza border crossings closed in response. The rocket attack, the second ~~in as many days~~ since the cease-fire took effect, led to a call for retaliation by Israel's Foreign Minister while Palestinians charged that the continued closure of crossings violated terms of the cease-fire.

Despite the breach, Israel dispatched an envoy to Egypt in hopes of negotiating a prisoner swap with Gaza's ruling Islamic Hamas.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets Thursday. One exploded harmlessly in a field, the military said, refusing to disclose where the other landed. A statement from the militant group demanded that Israel halt its military operations in the West Bank.

The truce, hammered out by Egypt over months of separate talks with Israel and Hamas, does not include the West Bank. On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad fired three rockets at Israel, wounding two people, linking the attack to an Israeli raid in the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it should not matter who was behind the rocket attack. "I am not interested in who fired and who didn't fire at Israel," she told reporters. "It is a violation, and Israel needs to respond immediately, militarily, for every violation."

Previous truces have come apart quickly because Gaza militants claimed the right to retaliate for Israeli raids in the West Bank. Since the cease-fire agreement took effect June 19, Israel has responded to rocket attacks by closing crossings rather than retaliating with airstrikes at Palestinian rocket squads, as it did routinely since Hamas overran Gaza a year ago. Closure of the crossings, where vital supplies are shipped into Gaza, restores a blockade that has caused severe shortages.

That hits at the main interest of Hamas ending the blockade and easing the hardships facing the people under its control. Hamas officials charged that by restoring the blockade, Israel is violating the truce. Underlining the high level of distrust, Palestinians formed a committee to track Israeli violations. Israel was expected to keep the crossings closed Friday because of the latest rocket attack.

At a meeting Wednesday, Israeli defense officials discussed how to proceed once the crossings are reopened. According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed, Israel might reset the truce clock each time it closes the crossings in response to a Palestinian violation.

Israel had significantly increased the amount of supplies flowing into Gaza on Sunday, in accordance with the truce agreement, and was ready for another increase next Sunday. But the rocket attack stopped the process. Now Israel is considering counting three days from each reopening of the crossings before it reinstates the original increase.

During a visit to Prague, Czech Republic, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Israel should reopen the crossings to preserve the truce. "(The reopening is) important because the closure ... of Gaza is actually producing a situation where you have 1.5 million of our people who live there with a sense of not much to lose," Fayyad said. "That is a situation that's got to end."

Hamas charged that the reimposed blockade is a violation, but Hamas official Taher Nunu said the group remains committed to the truce. "The (Hamas) government will not allow anyone to violate this agreement," he said.

The rocket attack Thursday came as Israeli envoy Ofer Dekel headed to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials on the final stage of the truce a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier Hamas has held for two years. Israel has balked at Hamas' demands, saying its list of prisoners includes militants involved in deadly attacks on Israelis.

Hamas also has demanded that Israel allow reopening of Gaza's only border crossing with Egypt in the final phase of the six-month truce deal. The Rafah crossing has been sealed since the Hamas takeover, confining Gaza's people to the seaside territory. Israel has said it would not allow reopening of Rafah until the soldier is freed.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

WND : Israel blasted as 'paper tiger' after latest retreat of troops

2008-05-27

'We'll keep firing until every Jew climbs back into the sh---- hole he came from'

By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM Terrorists in the Gaza Strip are rejoicing at an Israeli decision today to evacuate troops stationed at a major Gaza-Israel border crossing following repeated Palestinian attack against Israel's side of the border station.

"This retreat proves the Israeli army is a paper tiger. What we proved to the world in 2005 (when Israel evacuated its Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip) we are proving once again. We are reaching a new step and proving our Resistance and our rockets are working," Muhammad Abdel-Al, spokesman and a leader of the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees terror group, told WND.

"Just as the Zionists are running from the border, they will also run from Ashkelon, Ashdod, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa and Tel Aviv ... . We will keep firing until every Jew climbs back into the sh--ty hole he came from," said Abdel-Al, whose group took responsibility for scores of recent attacks against the Israeli border.

Abu Ahmed, a leader of the Islamic Jihad terror group in Gaza, called Israel's troop evacuation a "victory."

"We feel proud and determined," he said. "Israelis start to withdraw from bases that are well-fortified because the Palestinian Resistance proved that we are able to reach them at any point even if it is very fortified. We are proving once again that the myth of the unbeatable Israeli army is irrelevant," Abu Ahmed told WND.

Under instructions from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, the IDF announced soldiers stationed at the Gaza District Coordination Office, the army's liaison office to Gaza, were set to be transferred from their facility just outside the Erez border crossing to a base further inside Israel due to the security threat in the Gaza border area.

Erez is the main commercial and humanitarian aid crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. It has been the target of several recent Palestinian terror attacks and attempted attacks.

Last Thursday, the Islamic Jihad terror group along with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the so-called military wing of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, attempted to carry out a massive bombing at the Erez Crossing that, if successful, would have been the largest terrorist attack here since the Jewish state retreated from the Gaza Strip three years ago.

In last week's attempted attack, a truck reportedly carrying four tons of explosives detonated prematurely as it was approaching Erez. Even though the truck exploded hundreds of feet from the crossing, the explosion was large enough to rip a hole in a pedestrian passageway leading out of the Erez terminal and into Gaza.

Residents in the Gaza Strip who live more than 20 miles from the crossing told the Palestinian media they heard the blast.

"In terms of the amount of explosives used, Thursday's attack was the biggest since Israel pulled its settlers and troops out of Gaza nearly three years ago," Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said.

IDF sources told WND that if last week's attack would have been successful, they estimate tens of soldiers and civilians would have been killed.

In response to Palestinian attacks, defense officials here have been petitioning the government to carry out a large-scale Gaza incursion to massively dent the territory's terrorist infrastructure.

An average of one dozen rockets and mortars per week are fired from the Gaza Strip into nearby Jewish communities. Earlier this month, during a visit by President Bush to Jerusalem, one terrorist rocket smashed into a large shopping mall in the coastal city of Ashkelon, seriously injuring 11 people.

The new decision to evacuate Israeli troops from the border station comes as Olmert is reportedly seeking to finalize an Egyptian-brokered cease fire with Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups.

Amos Gilad, who heads the Israeli defense ministry's political-security branch, flew to Egypt today for talks with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman regarding the cease fire deal.

Defense officials here have been warning a cease fire in Gaza will likely be used by Hamas to transport weapons into Gaza, rebuild armies and infrastructure in the territory and train in combat against future IDF operations.

Alongside the evacuation of troops and brokering of a cease with Hamas, Olmert last week announced he commenced negotiations with Syria over an Israeli retreat from the Golan Heights strategic, mountainous territory looking down on Israeli population centers.

The Golan negotiations are taking place as Olmert faces what is being described as a very serious criminal investigation in which the prime minister is suspected of bribery and corruption. Olmert has vowed to resign if he is indicted in the rapidly expanding case.

A survey conducted last week by Israel's Channel 2 found 70 percent of Israelis oppose relinquishing the Golan Heights for peace with Syria, compared to 22 percent in favor of such a move.

The poll found 57 percent of Israelis believe the timing of the negotiations with Syria is linked to the corruption case against Olmert.

Fifty-eight percent of those polled reportedly said Olmert did not have the legitimacy to negotiate with Syria.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

13-year-old boy wounded in terror attack near Hebron

2008-03-22

A 13-year-old boy was wounded Thursday night in a terror attack targeting the car in which he was travelling near Hebron. The boy suffered light to moderate wounds and was evacuated to Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem for medical care.

Light to moderate is someone's wounds. Your wounds are serious.

Hospital officials reported that the boy sustained wounds in the leg, apparently from shrapnel, and was being treated in the trauma unit.

Israel Defense Forces troops arrived at the scene and began combing the area in search of the assailants. The IDF believes that the explosion was caused by an explosive device at the side of the road. At first, the incident was thought to be a shooting attack aimed at the vehicle in which the boy was traveling, but the driver reported that she had heard a very loud explosion.

The militant Fatah offshoot Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, Army Radio reported.

Earlier Thursday, militants opened fire at an Israeli bus south Nablus. The bus sustained light damage but no casualties were reported.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian assailant stabbed a Haredi rabbi in the neck in Arab East Jerusalem, but medical workers said his wounds were light and not life-threatening.

The attack Tuesday came less than two weeks after a Palestinian from east Jerusalem shot and killed eight Israeli students at a Jewish religious school in west Jerusalem. Since then, tensions in the city have been high, and on Sunday, dozens of Jewish extremists tried to attack the Palestinian gunman's home.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Woman killed, one critically hurt in Dimona suicide attack

2008-02-04

One woman was killed and 38 people people were wounded, one critically, in a suicide attack in a Dimona commercial center Monday morning. Police said the attack was carried out by two attackers, but only one succeeded in detonating his explosives. The other terrorist was killed - seconds before he could detonate his explosives belt - by Kobi Mor, a police officer from an elite unit who happened to be on the scene. Magen David Adom ambulances evacuated the wounded to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

Rosa Elberg, a resident of the town, said that the bomber detonated his explosives inside a café. "It is like a war, people are running like crazy," she told Channel 2. "I didn't see anyone suspicious. I heard a boom and my ears are still ringing."

Another eyewitness told Israel Radio that many people were at the commercial center at the time because of the sunny weather. Shalom Bar Avi, a journalist speaking to Channel 10, said "I am here no longer as a journalist but as a simple citizen ... I pray and hope my wife is okay." Bar Avi praised the police's quick response to the attack, and said Mor, the officer who identified the second attacker shot "four or five times ... he took no chances."

Later Mor's heroism was revealed in detail: He shot the terrorist in the head, and when the latter in his last breath still tried to press the detonator button, shot him four more times and killed him. Mor managed to kill the terrorist before he could explode and without hitting his explosive belt, thus preventing a much more devastating attack. A police officer speaking to Channel 10 praised Mor's quick response and said he acted "in the best possible way, all considerations taken into account."

The two bombers entered Israel from Egypt after Hamas blew up the Gaza-Egypt border wall, a spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said.

Abu Fouad, a spokesman for the Fatah-linked organization, said the operation had been planned for a month, but was made possible after Hamas violently opened Gaza's border with Egypt on January 23. Earlier, in an apparent attempt to divert attention from the Gaza connection, Al Aqsa had claimed the bombers were from the West Bank. Southern Israel has been on alert against terror attacks since Hamas breached the border with Egypt.

The last suicide attacker to succeed in penetrating Israel and detonate his explosives was Muhammad Faisal Saksak, on January 29, 2007 in Eilat. Three people were killed in that attack.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Pro-Abbas security arrests 14 Hamas members in West Bank

2007-12-30

RAMALLAH - Palestinian security forces arrested 14 members of Hamas as part of a West Bank crackdown on the Islamic movement, Hamas said Saturday. The detentions took place in Hebron and Nablus, Hamas added in the statement.

Also Saturday, the top Palestinian security official, Minister of Interior Abdul Razzak Yehya, confirmed reports that Fatah militias, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, had been dismantled and no longer existed.

Hey Fred, what are they called now?

"Bob," I think...

Speaking on the official Voice of Palestine radio, Yehya said steps to dismantle all other militias operating in the Palestinian areas were under way. He expressed the hope that they would all cooperate with the Palestinian security plan to disarm and disband, warning that if they do not do that willingly, then the security forces would disarm them and collect what he called their illegal weapons.

Wonder if the Fatah gunnies have mastered the art of the 'crossfire'?

A senior Islamic Jihad leader, Naffez Azzam, responded in Gaza Saturday by calling on Yehya to restudy his attitude and calculations about the weapons and factions of resistance because what is happening ... needs to be carefully understood.

"Or else youse and your boyz are gonna git it!"

He said that 25 Palestinians had been killed in various Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip over the past couples of weeks.

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