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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Palestinians prepare to battle Israeli troops in Gaza |
| 2006-06-28 |
| Throughout the day, Israel kept up the pressure by firing missiles at open areas in northern and southern Gaza. At the same time, Israeli aircraft created jarring sonic booms that rattled windows and nerves in Gaza City. The military also destroyed the Gaza Strip power station that supplies energy about half of the 1.3 million Palestinians. The station powers many of the region's electric water pumps and Palestinian officials said it could take months to repair the power grid, raising fears of a potential humanitarian crisis in the coming days. Palestinian militants refused to be cowed by the Israeli incursion and fired back with their own threat to kill Eliyahu Asheri, a Jewish settler kidnapped in the West Bank. The Popular Resistance Committees held a news conference to show a copy of Asheri's identification card and threaten his life unless the Gaza Strip invasion came to an end. As Israeli troops punched into Gaza early Wednesday morning, Palestinian militants and soldiers began preparing for battle. Around dawn, masked Hamas militants carried machine guns, rocket propelled grenade launchers and mines through the streets while others kept watch on Israeli tanks that rolled into the defunct Gaza Strip airport. "We are not afraid because we have God on our side and we have proven that we are able to hit the well-equipped army from time-to-time," said one masked Hamas member in an alley near the center of Rafah. Across Gaza, there was widespread sympathy for the militants holding Shalit. In interview after interview, Palestinians said the Israeli soldier should not be given back without getting something in return, such as the 100 women and 300 inmates under the age of 18 held in Israeli prisons. Time and again, Palestinians invoked the killing earlier this month of eight Palestinian picnickers during Israeli shelling of the northern Gaza Strip coast. An Israeli military investigation cleared itself of responsibility for the deaths, but that finding is in dispute. No matter who is responsible , "When the world saw the Palestinians killed on the beach that day, nobody did anything," said a Palestinian soldier who gave his name only as Abu Mohammed. "When one Israeli soldier was kidnapped, everybody moved." Some people might call that a clue. Abu Mohammed was one of nearly 100 soldiers who withdrew from the Gaza Strip airport as Israeli soldiers moved in. This is the most important part of Paleo battle preparation. Along with the soldiers Standing outside his house during a lull in the shelling, Abu Yousef said his whole life had been filled with fighting until last fall when Israel officially ended its military occupation of the Gaza Strip. "It was good," said Abu Yousef. "It was quiet. Until last night." |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-06-28 20:59 |
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| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-06-28 20:51 |
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| Posted by: Zenster 2006-06-28 20:33 |
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| Posted by: Grereger Thretch9628 2006-06-28 16:34 |
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| Posted by: Kratos 2006-06-28 14:00 |
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| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-06-28 13:16 |
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| Posted by: mojo 2006-06-28 12:52 |
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| Posted by: Darrell 2006-06-28 12:42 |