UN Chief Blames Israeli Blockade for Suffering in Gaza

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has made a visit to the Gaza Strip and repeated his condemnation of the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, international efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations are stepping up.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came the region to press Israelis and Palestinians to return to negotiations. On Sunday, while visiting the Gaza Strip, he condemned Israel for the blockade it and Egypt have on the enclave.

“I have repeatedly made it quite clear to Israel’s leaders that the Israeli policy of closure is not sustainable and that it is wrong,” Mr. Bn said. “It poses unacceptable suffering of human beings. This policy is also counterproductive. It undercuts moderates and empowers extremists.” (more…)

12 wounded in Israeli missile strike in Gaza

Hamas officials say Israeli aircraft have fired five missiles at Gaza’s defunct airport and nearby border tunnels, wounding at least 12 people.

The Israeli military confirmed Friday’s airstrikes, saying they targeted militant activities in response to recent rocket fire from Gaza.

The missile strikes come a day after rocket fire from Gaza killed a Thai worker on an Israeli communal farm near the Gaza border. Israel has said it holds Gaza’s Hamas rulers responsible even though Hamas opponents said they fired the rocket. (more…)

U.S. presses Israel over IDF murder of American in 2003

Under pressure from the United States, Israel is to grant visas to four activists from the International Solidarity Movement so they can testify in suit brought against the government by the family of Rachel Corrie, an activist killed by an IDF bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in March 2003.

Corrie, a U.S. citizen, was 24 when she was struck and killed by a bulldozer as she and others tried to stop Israel razing homes in Rafah by using their bodies as human shields.

The Interior Ministry informed the family’s attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein, that the British and American witnesses, including a peace activist expelled from Israel in the past, would be allowed entry into to testify in the civil suit agisnt the Defense Ministry.

The case is due to open the Haifa District Court in two weeks. (Haaretz)

A Senior Fatah leader visits Gaza

A senior Fatah leader on Wednesday returned to Gaza for the first time since the territory was seized by the Islamic militant Hamas in 2007, saying he hopes to help end the rift between the bitter rivals.
Nabil Shaath, a Gaza native, was set to meet with senior Hamas officials, including Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar. As he crossed into Gaza from Israel, he handed his passport to Hamas border guards for registration in a powerful symbolic recognition of Hamas authority. Washington Post

Syria warns Israel: Don’t test our determination

Syria on Wednesday did not rule out a possible war with Israel and used stern language to warn the Jewish state that any future confrontation would be “comprehensive” and reach Israeli cities.
“Israel is indeed planting the seeds of war in the region, I would tell them stop playing the role of thugs in the Middle East,” Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed Mouallem told reporters Tuesday in Damascus.
“One day you threaten Gaza, next day you threaten Lebanon, later Iran and now Syria,” Mouallem said at the news conference with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos.
“Don’t test, you Israelis, the determination of Syria. You know that war this time would move to your cities. Come to your senses and choose the road of peace. This path is clear,” Mouallem warned.
His remarks were a response to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s own comments on Monday that the absence of a peace agreement with Syria could trigger a new Middle East war.
“No doubt, if we assume that this war would erupt – and we should not exclude this possibility from an entity established on expansion – I would say it is going to be a comprehensive war, whether it starts in the south of Lebanon or from Syria,” Mouallem said. CBS

Hamas: Talks over prisoner swaps collapsed

A senior Hamas leader said on Tuesday that indirect talks with Israel on a prisoner exchange had collapsed and blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hardening Israeli terms. Reuters

2 barrels filled with explosives found on Isareli beaches

Two barrels filled with explosives washed up on beaches in Israel on Monday, according to Israeli authorities.
Authorities disposed of both without injury.
Islamic Jihad, the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades issued a leaflet in Gaza claiming responsibility for sending three explosive devices to Ashkelon and Ashdod.
A large barrel filled with explosives was found on a beach in the Ashkelon area Monday morning. The beach was closed.
Policemen and bomb disposal experts neutralized the explosives, according to police spokesman Miki Rosenfeld.
A second barrel filled with explosives was discovered later in the day on the shore of the city of Ashdod.
Authorities conducted a controlled explosion on the second barrel. Police were combing the beaches, and nearby areas were closed to the public. Authorities have not discussed a third device. CNN

Israeli DM warns against an all-out war with Syria

Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak warned Monday against possible all-out war with Syria if both countries failed to reach a political settlement, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
“After such a (possible) war, both sides will once again return to the negotiations’ table and will discuss the same issues they were discussing for 15 years,” the Israeli radio quoted Barak as saying.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad rejected French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s offer to resume the indirect talks which ended after Israel launched its onslaught against Gaza Strip in December 2008.

Israeli general reprimanded over Gaza war shelling

The senior Israeli field officer in the Gaza war has been reprimanded over artillery shelling in a heavily populated area that hit a United Nations compound during the fighting, the military said on Monday.
The officer, Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg, still heads Israel’s Gaza division. Colonel Ilan Malka, an infantry brigade commander also disciplined over the incident, now runs military operations in the West Bank under the same rank.
The United Nations has said some of the shells that damaged a U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound on January 15, 2009 contained incendiary white phosphorus, whose use, condemned by human rights groups, has been called legal by Israel. Reuters

Israel Rejects UN charges of war crimes

Israel has submitted a report to the United Nations responding to allegations of war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In an official 46-page response, Israel dismissed the U.N.-commissioned Goldstone Report, which accused the Jewish state of war crimes during the Gaza conflict a year ago. The report, authored by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, found that Israel used excessive force and deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians in heavily populated areas. http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Israel-Submits-Report-Rejecting-UN-Charges-of-War-Crimes-83157392.html