Gaza edges back to normalcy
(AP)
23 January 2009
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GAZA CITY- Gaza residents headed for Friday communal prayers and Israeli naval
guns were largely silent as grief and shock began to mix with a palpable sense
of relief in the coastal strip pounded by weeks of Israeli airstrikes and
ground assaults.
Gazans filled mosques without fear of Israeli strikes for the first time since
Israel launched a devastating offensive in the coastal territory in late
December. The booming of Israeli naval guns was mostly absent following weeks
of non-stop gunfire along Gaza’s coast.
Near two destroyed Gaza City mosques on Friday, men spread carpets on sandy
ground to prepare for open-air Friday prayers. In the main market of the
Jebaliya refugee camp, large crowds shopped ahead of prayers and restaurants
fired up huge vats with meat, cooking on wood fires because of a shortage of
gas.
Fruit merchants boasted shipments of apples and bananas from Israel. One owner
said it was the first time in five months he’d been able to sell fresh apples.
A three-week Israeli offensive that ended last Sunday killed 1,285
Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human
Rights. Thirteen Israelis were also killed during the fighting.
Despite signs that life was beginning to return to normal in Gaza, a
six-day-old truce between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers remained fragile, and
the sides’ main demands for a durable cease-fire deal were unmet.
Israel insists on guarantees that Hamas will stop smuggling weapons into Gaza
and halt its rocket fire on southern Israel, while Hamas wants Gaza’s borders
open to ensure delivery of vital supplies.
U.S. President Barack Obama addressed both stands on Thursday, saying his
administration supported implementation of a”credible” system for stopping
smuggling and calling for Gaza’s borders to be opened for aid shipments,
with”appropriate monitoring.”
“Now, just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis is
intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians,” Obama
said.”I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in
recent days, and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food,
clean water, and basic medical care, and who have faced suffocating poverty for
far too long.”
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told The Associated Press during a visit to
Jakarta, Indonesia on Friday that he was unimpressed by Obama’s comments.
“It is a real pity what Obama has said, because his statements were a repeat of
what the previous president, George W. Bush, has said,” Abu Zuhri said.
“What has actually happened was a form of self defense against Israel’s
colonization. What Obama should have said was how he could pressure Israel to
stop its colonization in Palestine. If he said that, we would really appreciate
it.”
Abu Zuhri said Hamas would keep up its fight against Israel.
“As we are being colonized, it is our obligation to defend our motherland,” he
said.”We want to free all Palestine, not just Gaza.”
Hamas’ leaders, who claim they won the fight against Israel, appear firmly in
control of Gaza and now insist the money needed to reconstruct the devastated
territory must go through them. This puts the United Nations and donor
countries in a difficult position since Hamas refuses to discuss peace with
Israel and is listed as a terrorist organization by both the United States and
Europe.
Israel, for its part, is coming under fire internationally for what critics say
was its use of disproportionate force during its Gaza offensive.
After several cases in the past in which lawsuits were filed abroad against
Israeli officers, Israel’s government is taking steps to protect military
officials from legal action stemming from the Gaza operation.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed a government team to make legal
preparations for such action. The team will begin work next week, said Shiri
Crispin, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Justice Ministry. She would not give more
specific details.
For the same reason, Israel’s military censor issued new orders this week
forbidding media from publishing the names or photographs of officers between
the rank of company commander and battalion commander. The officers can only be
identified by the first letter of their name and their unit.
In an interview published Friday in the Israeli daily Maariv, Olmert defended
the Gaza operation.
He said he cried when he heard about the death of the three daughters of
Palestinian physician Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, an incident that was widely
covered in Israel because the doctor trained in Israel and has many Israeli
acquaintances.
“I cried when I saw this. Who didn’t? How could you not?” Olmert said.
But Olmert criticized accusations about”Israel’s cruelty,” saying Israel did
what it needed to do to stop incessant rocket fire at its civilians and protect
its troops.
“When you win, you automatically hurt more than you’ve been hurt. And we didn’t
want to lose this campaign. What did you want, for hundreds of our soldiers to
die? That, after all, was the alternative,” he said.
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Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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