#NEWS:Israeli army steps up operations along Gaza border as violence escalates

JERUSALEM, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is deploying more troops along the Gaza border in response to recent cross-border clashes, and a spike in missile and mortar attacks against Israeli civilians over the last week.

On Saturday evening, two Palestinian militants were killed and an IDF paratrooper was moderately wounded in an exchange of fire along the Gaza border after the former were spotted attempting to infiltrate into Israel. The army said the Israeli trooper was wounded by a Palestinian sniper.

Several rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli communities near the border during the weekend and landed in open fields, causing no casualties.

On Thursday, the Israeli Air Force bombed three Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation to a mortar attack which wounded an Israeli. In a separate incident earlier in the week, an IDF tank sustained damage after being hit by an anti-tank missile fired by militants.

The IDF Spokesman's Office reported on Saturday that about 200 projectiles landed in Israel since the beginning of the year, eight of them in the past six days.

"The current state of the Gaza Strip border is delicate. We are seeing acute deterioration in security. Violent activity has increased on the northern border as well," IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said on Wednesday.

Meeting with soldiers from an IDF paratroop unit, Ashkenazi said the army plans to step up its operations in the Gaza area near future.

"There will be more problems. It's inevitable. Conflict around the fence will continue and we must be prepared, because that's what will ultimately decide the outcome of the battle, the next round of fighting will be bigger," said Ashkenazi.

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#news Israel launches attacks against Gaza-based Army of Islam

by Saud Abu Ramadan GAZA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- In the past three weeks, the Israeli army sent its war jets to the Gaza Strip and killed three members of the Gaza-based Islamic group Army of Islam in two separate aerial attacks. On Nov. 3, an Israeli war jet attacked the group member Mohamed al-Nemnem's car with a missile in western Gaza and killed him. Later on Nov. 17, war jets hit the car of Mohamed and Islam Yassin, also members of the group, and killed them in central Gaza. According to Israeli media, members of the Army of Islam are planning terrorist attacks against Israeli and other foreign targets in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula with the cooperation of al- Qaida. The group also plans to kidnap Israelis and exchange them for Palestinian prisoners, said media reports. The Army of Islam was founded four years ago by Momtaz Doghmosh, an ex-Fatah militant, who became loyal to the Islamic Hamas movement. In June 2006, the group joined Hamas in kidnapping the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border attack in southeast Gaza Strip, but ties between the group and Hamas were broken after the group was involved in kidnapping the BBC reporter Alan Johnston. After then, the Army of Islam militants fired homemade projectiles and mortar rounds at southern Israeli communities, which threatened a fragile ceasefire reached between Hamas and Israel at the end of the three-week Israeli offensive on Gaza that ended last January. After the Israeli attacks, Egyptian security intelligence sources denied Israeli security report that Egypt has coordinated with Israel through a joint plan to prevent attacks in Sinai. Egypt has not arrested any one of the Army of Islam in Sinai, said the sources. Meanwhile, Khaled Safi, a political analyst and a Gaza-based expert in radical Islamic movements, told Xinhua that Egyptian security forces had recently nabbed a terrorist group in Sinai " that apparently linked to the Army of Islam." "Israel had rigorously targeted the group as if it wants to warn the Army of Islam against violating interests in Egypt, especially in Sinai," Safi said, adding "undermining the group is not only an Israeli interest, but also in Egypt's as well as Hamas ' interests." Egypt has been sponsoring a dialogue between Fatah and Hamas, and observers believe that getting rid of radical groups that have links to al-Qaida and restoring a ceasefire with Israel, would help to achieve the inter-Palestinian reconciliation. Hamas has refused to sign on the Egyptian reconciliation pact that presented to the Palestinian factions about one year ago, saying that it has reservations over some phrases in the drafted pact.

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#news Israeli warplanes strike southern Gaza, no injuries

GAZA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israeli F16 warplanes carried out on Saturday night two successive airstrikes on southern Gaza Strip, with no injuries reported, witnesses, medical and security sources said.

The witnesses said the first airstrike was on the village of Abassan east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, while no injuries were reported. The F16 warplanes hovered over the southern area of the Gaza Strip and fired at least one rocket at a farm cultivated with olives in the village. The rocket caused damages to the trees, while no injuries were reported.

The warplanes struck again an underground smuggling tunnel under the borders between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, said Palestinian security sources, adding that the tunnel collapsed, but no injuries were reported.

Medical sources at southern Gaza Strip hospitals said that ambulances rushed to the two areas, but no injuries were reported.

The Israeli airstrike on the village of Abassan and on the tunnel area came hours after unknown militants fired earlier on Saturday a homemade rocket from Gaza at southern Israel. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Israeli Radio quoted Israeli army sources as saying that the rocket landed on an empty area in southern Israel causing no damages or injuries.

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Catherine Ashton va a Gaza para estimar disminución de bloqueo israelí

La jefa de la diplomacia europea Catherine Ashton va este domingo a Gaza, por segunda vez en cuatro meses, para estimar el impacto de la reciente disminución del bloqueo israelí y para ver cómo la UE podría contribuir para la apertura de pasajes.

El sábado, durante un encuentro con el primer ministro palestino Salam Fayyad, Ashton manifestó el deseo de una "apertura de pasos (del territorio palestino) a la población y a los bienes de consumo en ambos sentidos".

Israel aceptó aliviar el bloqueo de la franja de Gaza como resultado de fuertes presiones internacionales, después que sus tropas asaltaron una flotilla humanitaria que trataba de llegar al enclave palestino y mataron a nueve voluntarios turcos.

El Estado hebreo aceptó dejar entrar materiales de construcción para proyectos de la comunidad internacional aprobados por la Autoridad Palestina.

Pero los europeos reclaman, además de la apertura de pasos, el reinicio de las exportaciones desde la franja de Gaza y la liberalización de las condiciones de circulación de las personas desde y hacia el territorio.

Durante la visita que durara algunas horas, la Alta representante de la UE para las Relaciones Exteriores irá a ver las instalaciones de la agencia de la ONU para los refugiados palestinos (UNRWA) y las de programas de ayuda al sector privado local financiados por la UE.

Por el contrario, no se reunirá con ningúna representante del movimiento islamista Hamas, que en junio de 2007 tomó el control de Gaza por la fuerza y que sigue siendo considerado por la Unión Europea y Estados Unidos como una "organización terrorista".

El viaje de Ashton a Gaza se da en el marco de una visita de tres días a los Territorios palestinos y a Israel.

El domingo, la representante de la UE también tiene previsto un encuentro con el primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu, y con los ministros de Defensa y de Relaciones Exteriores, Ehud Barak y Avigdor Lieberman, respectivamente.

Unas veinte ONG solicitaron a la UE que "insista para el levantamiento total del bloqueo de Gaza" con motivo de la visita de Catherine Ashton al enclave palestino.

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Israel eases Gaza closure, but restrictions remain Associated Press, Updated: July 06, 2010 09:59 IST Kerem Shalom Crossing, Israel: Israel is easi

On the other side, Gaza's Hamas rulers did not welcome the limited entrance of permitted items, calling it "useless and of no value for the Palestinian people."
"The problem is not having more goods entering or not entering from time to time," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

"The problem here is the siege which is imposed on the Gaza Strip. What is required is lifting the siege completely by opening all crossings leading in to Gaza," added Sami Abu Zuhri.
Israel has been under intense international pressure to loosen its three-year embargo on Gaza since Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists in a May 31 raid on a flotilla who were carrying international activists trying to breach the blockade.

Fayyad said at a news conference on Monday that the effort to lift the siege on Gaza should be "stepped up" adding that the effort to ease and in fact lift the siege, should "move speedily."

Israel closed Gaza's borders after the Islamic militant Hamas group seized power in the territory three years ago.

Under the old blockade rules, Israel permitted only a few dozen types of products, including a limited amount of basic food and medicine, into the territory.

The system has forced Gazans to become accustomed to shortages of basic items like fresh meat and spices or to depend on erratic deliveries of goods smuggled through tunnels along the southern border with Egypt.

Now, everything will be allowed into Gaza, except for items on the list.

But it remains unclear how much the order will help Gaza rebuild the damage caused by Israel's three-week military offensive in the winter of 2008-2009.

The operation, launched to stop Hamas rocket attacks, destroyed thousands of homes, buildings and public infrastructure.

An official familiar with the list said items like iron, steel, cinder blocks, chemicals, fertiliser, building aggregates and jeeps would only be permitted in coordination with the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank and international agencies overseeing construction projects.

Israel fears that Hamas could divert these items for military use.

Israel has previously allowed in only a trickle of construction materials for projects overseen by international aid agencies.

Ehud Barak, told a parliamentary committee on Monday that a naval blockade on Gaza would remain in place to keep weapons from reaching Hamas, an official who attended the meeting said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the hearing was closed.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

But neither Israel nor the Abbas-Fayyad government has relations with the militant group.
The various sides will now have to find a way to get materials into the seaside strip.
Other obstacles also remain.

A top Israeli military official for the Gaza region, said Israel would ease its ban on raw materials for Gaza's devastated manufacturing sector.

But he said there were no plans to allow Gaza factories to begin exporting.

The sanctions on the manufacturing sector have forced hundreds of factories to close and led to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

The official also said there were no immediate plans to open additional cargo crossings with Gaza.

Israel currently operates just one crossing, and Palestinian economists say it does not have enough capacity to meet Gaza's construction needs.

Gaza business people and human rights groups have expressed concern that Israel's changes will largely be cosmetic.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/israel-eases-gaza-closure-but-restrictions-remain-35807?cp

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Israeli-Palestinian officials meet in run-up to Netanyahu, Obama parley

by Dave Bender

JERUSALEM, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met in Jerusalem on Monday, discussing "avenues for advancing the diplomatic process between the two sides."

The closed session comes a day before a planned meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama.

The two touched on security issues and economic coordination projects, and discussed preparations for easing Israel's blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza, the Defense Ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

The two agreed to continue their direct discussions, and maintain a direct link between the defense ministry and Fayyad's office, "in order to increase coordination and provide a response on issues that require direct and rapid contact between the sides, " the statement said.

Barak, referring to the upcoming meeting between Netanyahu and Obama, said "Israel must grab that bull by the horns."

Speaking earlier in the day at a meeting of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Barak said Israel needed to present the U.S. with a "clear initiative" over borders, one that allowed settlement blocs in the Jordan Valley to remain a part of Israel. This would ensure, in his words, "a solid Jewish majority for generations," according to the Israeli Ha'aretz daily newspaper.

Barak said the plan should "enable the establishment of an independent and demilitarized Palestinian state."

Sources close to the prime minister, meanwhile, told Xinhua that they don't think Obama will ask Netanyahu to extend the self- imposed 10-month moratorium over settlement construction.

"The freeze is due to end in September, and it is unlikely that the U.S. president will demand that Netanyahu announce an extension to the construction freeze in the West Bank for now," a senior official at the prime minister's office said.

Netanyahu, who has called for direct negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), said he thinks holding indirect proximity talks, while enabling the parties to maintain a certain degree of communication, are unable to advance such substantive as borders, refugees, Jerusalem, and security arrangements, according to the source.

The Israeli prime minister and Washington have both indicated they favor direct talks between the Middle East foes, but the Palestinians are less keen and are seeking assurances before agreeing to face-to-face talks. Among the Palestinian concerns is that Israel would fail to renew its West Bank settlement freeze in September.

Netanyahu also plans to present Obama with a newly-revised list of products that will be prohibited entry into the Gaza Strip. Israel feels this is a significant policy change. The list previously included products that were allowed into Gaza. Now, the list only mentions products which Israel believes would pose a security risk.

The meeting between Netanyahu and Obama was initially meant to take place last month, but Netanyahu had to call it off and return to Israel from Canada when news broke of the Gaza maritime convoy incident.

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Vandalizing UN children's summer camp in Gaza outrages Palestinians

GAZA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The attack on a UN-run children's summer camp in the Gaza Strip angered the Palestinians, while the Hamas government said it is investigating the incident.

It is the second attack in a month by unknown masked militants on summer camps run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency ( UNRWA), which suggested growing hostility between the international organization and Islamic extremists in the Hamas- ruled enclave.

Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA spokesman in the Gaza Strip told Xinhua that around 25 masked gunmen stormed the summer camp on the beach of al-Zawayda town in central Gaza, adding that they tied the hands and legs of the guards, set the camp ablaze after vandalizing its properties.

The summer camps, which occupied three acres and were divided into several tents and sections, looked completely burned and destroyed. Games zones as well as plastic swimming pools were destroyed.

The camp held activities six days a week, except Friday. It had two shifts, morning shift for boys and afternoon shift for girls. Each shift had 250 participants, most of whom live in poor refugee camps in central Gaza Strip.

The assailants left neither letters nor signs, Abu Hasna said, adding the UNRWA had immediately reported the attack to the Hamas police.

Two days before the summer camp was vandalized, an extremist Islamic group called itself "the free of the homeland" had sent a leaflet to reporters, slamming the international humanitarian organization for teaching the children dancing and debauchery.

UNRWA Chief of Operations John Ging described the early Monday attack as cowardly and abject. He said in a press statement that the great success "achieved by the UNRWA in running the summer camps to entertain children is frustrating those who are behind the attack."

"It is the second attack, which is another example of the growing extremism in Gaza. I believe it is necessary to change the circumstances on the ground which generate such kinds of manners," said Ging, who insisted that the UN won't stop "offering its services and entertaining Gaza Strip children."

The Union of UNRWA Arab Employees in a statement condemned the attack, saying it is an evidence that there is still someone " doesn't want to see the community living safe and secure."

Meanwhile, media office of the Hamas police forces in the Gaza Strip said in a press statement that the police reject to use such a style in dealing with the international humanitarian agency.

Ihab al-Ghussein, spokesman for Hamas' interior ministry said the security agency has started an investigation. He added that the government and the interior ministry reject such actions as vandalizing, and they will never let anyone bring chaos and anarchy back to Gaza.

The interior ministry said last month that the security forces arrested a group of suspects, who were said to be behind the attack on the main UNRWA summer camp on the beach of Gaza City.

Gaza-based rights groups also condemned the attacks on UNRWA summer camps, saying in separate statements that the attacks "are dangerous." They warned of growing violence against public liberty in the Gaza Strip.

Every year, the UNRWA holds summer camps for refugee children in the Gaza Strip. This year, the UNRWA named its summer camps " the summer games for children," which serve 250,000 boys and girls.

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Gaza aid flotilla inquiry to question Netanyahu

JERUSALEM, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's defense minister and senior military officials are among those that will testify "soon" before a committee investigating the deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The committee, made up of retired Israeli Supreme Court justice Yaakov Tirkel, Israeli international law expert Shabtai Rozen, Israeli former Technion university president Amos Horev and two international observers, announced the decision on its first procedural session held in Jerusalem on Monday.

"We are all determined that the inquiry be rigorous and hope that it can, thereby, make a positive contribution to peace," Trimble, who heads the committee, told reporters at a press conference that opened the session.

He said he hoped the committee would conclude its investigation soon.

Eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish-American were killed and dozens injured when an Israeli naval special operations team tried to take over the craft, part of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, on May 31.

Israeli navy's operation has aroused criticism from the international community. However, the Jewish state refuses to accept an international investigation over the deadly raid, instead of announcing to set up the internal inquiry panel on June 14.

"I am convinced that revealing the evidence will prove that our aim was an appropriate defense operation of the highest standard," Netanyahu said of the committee upon its formation.

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Israel air raid kills one in Gaza

Israel said the raids were a reaction to mortar rounds fired from the Gaza Strip

Map

(AFP) –

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Israeli warplanes raided the Gaza Strip overnight killing a Palestinian and wounding another, witnesses and Palestinian medical officials said on Friday.

One man was killed and another was wounded in an air attack on Rafah, in the south part of the territory close to the border with Egypt, the sources said. A third was reported missing.

No casualties were reported in two other overnight air raids, one in the south and the other in the north of the tiny Palestinian territory.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the raids, saying "our planes attacked an armoury in the north of the Gaza Strip and two tunnels used for gun running" from Egypt.

"The raids are a reaction to the shelling Thursday from the Gaza Strip of the western sector of the Negev desert" in southern Israel, the spokesman added.

According to the military a dozen mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with seven of them hitting Israel but none causing any casualties or damage.

Around 100 rockets and mortar rounds have hit Israel since the beginning of the year, the army says.

The number of attacks from Gaza has declined significantly since Israel launched a devastating assault on the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave at the end of 2008 to put a stop to daily volleys of rocket fire.

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Israel bombardeia faixa de Gaza pela 1ª vez desde ataque a navio turco

COLABORAÇÃO PARA A FOLHA

Publicidade

Os ataques de Israel contra alvos palestinos na madrugada desta sexta-feira, que deixaram ao menos dois palestinos mortos, foram a primeira ofensiva militar israelense contra a faixa de Gaza desde o ataque à "Frota da Liberdade", quando o Exército hebreu matou nove ativistas humanitários.

De acordo com médicos palestinos citados pela Reuters, o corpo de um homem foi resgatado de um túnel no sul da costa de Gaza e um segundo cadáver ainda está sob os escombros, após o ataque aéreo das Forças de Defesa de Israel (IDF, na sigla em inglês).

Segundo o governo israelense os ataques ocorreram em resposta a morteiros lançados pelos palestinos na quinta-feira (24), contra Israel.

Um primeiro bombardeio aéreo foi lançado contra dois túneis no sul de Gaza, e outro teve como alvo um armazém de armamentos no norte do território palestino, informou o Exército do Estado judeu.

Shalit

Ainda hoje centenas de israelenses foram às ruas para marcar o quarto aniversário do sequestro do soldado Gilad Shalit, capturado por militantes palestinos na região da fronteira com a faixa de Gaza. Cerca de 600 pessoas participaram de uma manifestação na cidade de Nahariyah, enquanto outras 250 protestaram em frente ao ministério da Defesa em Tel Aviv.

	Nir Elias/Reuters
	Israelenses vão às ruas para marcar 4º aniversário do sequestro de soldado Gilad Shalit

De acordo com o jornal israelense "Haaretz", manifestantes soltaram 6.000 balões em Haifa para marcar a data do sequestro. Outro ato estava previsto para ocorrer em frente ao escritório do Comitê Internacional da Cruz Vermelha (CICV) em Israel.

A família do soldado vai iniciar no domingo (27) uma marcha para Jerusalém, onde planejam protestar em frente ao escritório do premiê Binyamin Netanyahu.

"Dessa vez é diferente", disse Noam Shalit, pai de Gilad, citado pelo "Haaretz". "Dissemos que não permitiríamos passar mais um ano sem Gilad. Não iremos para casa sem ele".

A organização de direitos humanos Human Rights Watch (HRW) pediu nesta sexta-feira que o grupo radical islâmico Hamas permita que Shalit se comunique com sua família e possa receber visitas de representantes do CICV.

Shalit foi sequestrado em 25 de junho de 2006. O Hamas, que diz mantê-lo refém, divulgou três carta escritas por ele, uma gravação em áudio e um vídeo com imagens do soldado.

O grupo radical islâmico recusou os pedidos da Cruz Vermelha e do HRW para visitá-lo, dizendo que isso poderia revelar o local onde ele é mantido em cativeiro.

O Hamas exige a libertação de centenas de prisioneiros palestinos em troca de Shalit.Tentativas de um acordo para a troca de presos, mediadas pelo Egito e Alemanha, falharam.

Irã cancela navio

Um dos organizadores de um comboio de navios levando ajuda humanitária à faixa de Gaza disse na quinta-feira que a missão foi cancelada devido às "ameaças israelenses", informa o jornal "Haaretz".

A Rádio do Exército informou que um navio iraniano isolado, levando cerca de 60 ativistas, preparava-se para tentar furar o bloqueio marítimo que Israel impõe a Gaza, navegando pelo Mar Cáspio.

Na terça-feira (22), a agência de notícias Isna citou o dirigente do Crescente Vermelho iraniano, Abdolrauf Adibzadeh, dizendo que enviaria no domingo um navio carregado com 1.100 toneladas de ajuda humanitária a Gaza.

No início de junho, o Crescente Vermelho iraniano anunciou sua intenção de enviar um barco de ajuda humanitária e outro com trabalhadores humanitários voluntários a Gaza, em uma tentativa de romper o bloqueio imposto há quatro anos ao território palestino por Israel, inimigo jurado do Irã, que não reconhece o Estado hebreu.

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Gaza policy applicable in other parts of West Bank: Barak

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak (L) shakes hands with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, June 21, 2010. Barak said here Monday that the Israeli government let in the humanitarian aid into Gaza while keeping out weapons and ammunition, and the Gaza policy is applicable in other parts of the West Bank. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said here Monday that the Israeli government let in the humanitarian aid into Gaza while keeping out weapons and ammunition, and the Gaza policy is applicable in other parts of the West Bank.

Barak made the statement to reporters here after his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Headquarters in New York.

"Only what is forbidden will not be allowed to enter, with an emphasis with giving dual use materials such as cement and iron, which are aimed at projects led by the UN Quartet or other international bodies to be able to go, as long as it comes through Ashdod Port," Barak said. "I'd like to remind all of you that the same applies to Ramallah, Jenine and Nablus namely the West Bank when product has to enter the West Bank (it goes through Ashdod)."

Construction materials, such as cement and iron, had been strictly limited by the Israeli government until Sunday, with Israelis arguing that the materials could help Haas build bunkers and rockets. The ban hampered reconstruction after Israel's three- week military strikes in Gaza that ended in January 2009.

Israel bowed to the international pressure on Sunday by formally announcing an eased blockade of Gaza that could allow the massive influx of humanitarian goods into the coastal and occupied Palestinian territory, which was isolated by Israelis for three years.

The Israeli government made the announcement about three weeks after a deadly Israeli naval commando attacks on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which outraged most parts of the world at large and touched off strong condemnations.

Earlier on Monday, the Quartet, a diplomatic group in search of lasting peace in the Middle East, issued a statement here to welcome the Israeli announcement to ease its blockade on Gaza. " The new policy towards Gaza just announced by the government of Israel is a welcome development," said the statement issued by the Quartet, made up of the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States.

"Of course, we have nothing against the 1.5 million Gazans, almost all of them are innocent people like everyone of us and have the right to get humanitarian needs," Barak said.

"But I insist that there was never a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there is no hunger, no humanitarian crisis," the Israeli defense minister said in what is against the UN reports that Gaza has been locked in a humanitarian crisis because of the Israeli blockade.

"There are 1.5 million Gazans," he said. "Only one person in Gaza is deprived from daylight, deprived from the right to meet with his relatives, deprived from the basic rights of human beings -- his name is Gilad Shalit, he is an abducted Israeli soldier and we always remember him."

"We expect that while we are opening or easing the entry to Gaza, his fate will also be taken into account and international pressure will emerge to bring about the end of his stay in Hamas' hands," he said.

Shalit is an Israeli soldier who was captured on June 25, 2006 by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid. He was abducted through the Kerem Shalom crossing (in Israel), and has been held as a prisoner in the Gaza Strip by Hamas since then.

On the coming flotilla, which ship humanitarian goods to Gaza and other parts of the West Bank, Barak said, "We've heard in the media that some organization, probably backed by terror organizations, are once again trying to send vessels into Gaza."

"I should tell everyone that this is a bit irresponsible to do that," he said. "It is well known that we ask all of them, as we asked the previous flotilla to join us and go through Ashdod."

"We see the government of Lebanon responsible for whatever vessels or ships are coming from its ports, and responsible to whatever people with them, boarding on those ships, because there could be a friction that could lead to violence, which is totally unnecessarily and would not be justified once the way to Gaza is open, as it was open even before the last flotilla for everything which is related to human needs," he said.

On his meeting with Ban, he said "I shared with the SG ( secretary-general) our views about his expectation to establish and international inquiry into the recent incident."

Shortly after the Israeli raid on the flotilla, the secretary- general called for a multinational investigation of Israel's raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine dead but the proposal was swiftly rejected by the Israelis.

"We expressed that our view that for the time being as long as those new flotillas are in the preparation, it is probably better to leave it on the shelf for a certain time," Barak said. "We are moving ahead with our independent investigation, which we believe is clearly independent ... credible."

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U.S. hails Israel's new policy toward Gaza

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States welcomes Israel 's "new policy" towards the Gaza Strip, hoping it should significantly improve conditions for Palestinians and preventing the entry of weapons, said the White House on Sunday.

"The United States welcomes the new policy towards Gaza announced by the Government of Israel, which responds to the calls of many in the international community," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs in a statement.

"Once implemented, we believe these arrangements should significantly improve conditions for Palestinians in Gaza, while preventing the entry of weapons," Gibbs said.

"We will work with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the Quartet, and other international partners to ensure these arrangements are implemented as quickly and effectively as possible and to explore additional ways to improve the situation in Gaza, including greater freedom of movement and commerce between Gaza and the West Bank," said the spokesman.

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Hamas, UNRWA compete over entertaining Gaza children

by Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Mohamed Atallah, a teacher and one of the mentors in a major summer camp run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) on Gaza beachside insisted that mentors are not teaching school children any politics, but only entertaining them.

On Sunday, UNRWA inaugurated its own summer camps in the Gaza Strip to entertain refugees' schoolchildren. Streets of Gaza City saw UNRWA vehicles and hundreds of UNRWA children holding summer camps flame.

UNRWA summer camps were inaugurated a day before Gaza-ruling Islamic Hamas movement started its own camps. Hamas said in a banner that its camps "are religious and cultural and not summer camps of debauchery," in reference to UNRWA camps.

"Here, it's not allowed to think or talk about politics, we differ from other summer camps run by other organizations," Atallah said, adding "we are not linked to any political group, but we try our best to help the children to get out of the horrible situation they had passed over the past several years."

Attallah was speaking to Xinhua as dozens of UN blue flags, placed on top of a huge square blue tent, were fluttering, and hundreds of Gaza refugees' schoolchildren were enjoying a good time on the white-sand beach.

The tent, taking up an area of around one acre, was divided into six separate sections. In each section, there are 250 children, wearing their ordinary clothes and caps with the words " Summer Games 2010." There are two rooms in each section, one for the mentors and one for food and drinks.

In front of the six separate sections, there are two swimming pools for children. The children practice all kinds of activities, including drawing, sports games like volleyball and football, singing national traditional songs that do not contradict with Islam.

"The children here are allowed to practice freely all kinds of entrainment that never contradict with the culture, traditions or religion. But children express what they feel inside by drawing things related to the current situation," said Atallah, adding " they draw tanks and warplanes shelling schools and homes."

Yasmin Dib, an 11-year-old girl, said "we usually come here in order to joy and be happy. I really feel so happy when I come to this summer camp, I feel safe and secure and I can have a food time with my classmates, where we play, laugh and swim together."

On May 23, unknown masked militants vandalized the biggest UNRWA summer camp on the beach of southern Gaza City, as it was still under construction. UNRWA chief of operations John Ging had said his organization would renovate the camp.

The unknown masked militants, who are apparently extremist Islamists, considered the summer camps of UNRWA as encouraging school children for debauchery, while the Gaza Strip community is a religious and conservative one.

Suzan Ahmed, a Gaza woman supervisor responsible for taking care of a group of children joining the UNRWA summer camp on the beach of Gaza, told Xinhua that this summer camp is the biggest among the other 38 spreading all over the Gaza Strip.

"There are 60,000 male and female children of elementary schools joining the 38 summer camps in the Gaza Strip. There are two shifts per day in each camp, and each shift is five hours," said Ahmed, adding "there are 2,000 male and female supervisors and mentors, most of them are basically teachers."

There are 1,500 boys and 1,500 girls in the biggest UNRWA camp, Ahmed said, adding boys join the morning shift, and around 30 buses escort girls from schools to the summer camp for the afternoon shift.

In the northern Gaza Strip beach, Hamas movement established one of its summer camps. The camp sees a huge green tent, where four green Hamas flags were fluttering.

Hamas organizers of the camp said they have 5,000 children joining 30 summer camps in Gaza City only.

Ihab al-Eisawai, Hamas summer camps media officer, told Xinhua that Hamas launched its summer camps earlier than usual, adding as long as high-school children finish their exams next week, all summer camps are expected to be full of participants.

"Each summer camp carries the name of a Hamas militant killed by the occupation, or the name of a village destroyed in Palestine in 1948 and the name of the prisoners," he said, adding "we are expecting to have 100,000 children joining the summer camps."

Hamas has established 600 summer camps all over the Gaza Strip, divided into four categories, including camps run by the ministry of religious affairs, camps run by pro-prisoners organizations, camps by the Hamas movement itself and one run by Hamas women.

"UNRWA summer camps affected our summer activities this year, because UNRWA attracts the children by offering them entertaining games. Our camps are different, we carry out cultural, media, arts and technology activities, in addition to focusing on teaching them the real Islam," al-Eisawi said.

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U.S. urges Israel to investigate on Gaza flotilla raid

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Obama administration on Sunday urged Israel to "promptly" carry out investigation into its military raid on an international aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip and to present the investigation result to the international community.

"While Israel should be afforded the time to complete its process, we expect Israel's commission and military investigation will be carried out promptly," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs in a statement.

"We also expect that, upon completion, its findings will be presented publicly and will be presented to the international community," said the spokesman.

Israeli navy commandos boarded a pro-Palestinian international aid flotilla on May 31 and clashed with activists on one of the ships. The violence left nine dead, eight of them Turkish citizens, and dozens wounded.

The international community has slammed Israel for using excessive force and asked to conduct an international inquiry into the incident, while the Israeli government insists that its soldiers acted just in self-defense when they were attacked on board by the activists.

Early on Sunday, the Israeli government has decided to form an internal panel with two international observers to probe into the raid, in an effort to explain before the international community " the actions performed by Israel to prevent flotilla vessels from reaching the Gaza coast."

Through a presidential statement of the UN Security Council, the United States joined the international community in condemning Israel's raid and supporting the completion of a prompt, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation.

But the administration also claimed that Israel "should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security."

"We will not prejudge the process or its outcome, and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions," said Gibbs.

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Hamas hopes Moussa's visit to end blockade

GAZA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas movement said Monday it hopes Arab League (AL) secretary general's unprecedented visit to Gaza next week would help to break the blockade imposed on the coastal enclave.

Ismail Radwan, a Gaza-based Hamas official, told Xinhua that there are contacts between his movement and the office of the League's Secretary General Amr Moussa, to coordinate his visit to the Hamas-ruled territory.

"Mr. Moussa phoned the government in Gaza and expressed his willingness to visit the strip," Radwan said, noting "it's a very important practical step to break the siege."

Moussa also informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of his plan. Abbas, who rules the West Bank only, welcomes his initiative, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israeli navy forces had attacked a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, killing eight Turkish citizens and a U.S. citizen of Turkish descent and injuring around 30 others.

Meanwhile, Radwan stressed necessity to lift the siege Israel imposed since his Islamic party controlled the Gaza Strip in 2007, urging for a permanent opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which is closed by Egypt since Hamas violent takeover of Gaza.

Earlier in the day, an aide to Moussa announced that Moussa will visit the Gaza Strip next week. It would be the first trip of an AL chief to the Gaza Strip.

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Iran Revolutionary Guards ready to escort Gaza ships

(Reuters) - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday.

World

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Any intervention by the Iranian military would be considered highly provocative by Israel which accuses Iran of supplying weapons to Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza.

Iran does not recognize the Israeli state and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has often predicted its imminent demise.

Israel and its ally the United States decline to rule out military action against Iran if it looks like acquiring nuclear arms capability, something Israel sees as a threat to its survival.

Tehran says its nuclear program is for energy generation and medical purposes and calls its nuclear-armed adversaries hypocrites for trying to block its technological progress.

The Iranian state news agency IRNA said Sunday Iran would try to send humanitarian aid to Gaza in ships under an Iranian flag. It said Iran had decided to ditch previous plans to send its aid in ships flying the flag of another state.

"The Iranian humanitarian assistance will include foodstuffs, medicines and medical equipment," the head of Iran's Red Crescent Society, Abdolraouf Abidzadeh, was quoted as saying. He gave no more details.

Last Monday Israeli troops killed nine activists on board one ship in a convoy trying to deliver aid to Gaza, sparking international outrage, especially in Muslim countries.

Another ship was boarded Saturday and pro-Palestinian activists have promised more as they challenge the blockade imposed four years ago with the stated aim of stopping arms getting to Hamas.

Shirazi said Iran should encourage more international efforts to break the blockade. "We should expose our enemies to a spontaneous global action and not let them achieve their heinous goals," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue to stop ships reaching the shore and creating "an Iranian port in Gaza," a reference to Iran's support for Hamas.

The Revolutionary Guards, with their own navy, air force and command structure separate from the regular armed forces, are seen as fiercely loyal to the supreme leader.

"If the supreme leader issues an order for this then the Revolutionary Guard naval forces will do their best to secure the ships," Shirazi said. "It is Iran's duty to defend the innocent people of Gaza."

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Israel rejects international inquiry into lethal raid

(Reuters) - Israel rejected Sunday a proposal by U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon for an international investigation into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship and said it had the right to launch its own inquiry.

"We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place," Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, said on the U.S. TV program "Fox News Sunday."

The U.N. chief had suggested establishing a panel that would be headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and include representatives from Turkey, Israel and the United States, an Israeli official said earlier in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu discussed the proposal for a multinational panel with Ban in a telephone call Saturday but told cabinet ministers from his right-wing Likud party Sunday that Israel was exploring other options, political sources said.

Nine Turks were killed Monday in the Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara, part of a six-vessel convoy that set out to challenge an Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has said its troops used lethal force in self-defense after they were set upon by pro-Palestinian activists wielding clubs and knives.

Israeli leaders have spoken publicly about setting up an internal investigation with foreign observers into the interception of the Turkish-flagged ship off the coast of Gaza,

an enclave run by Hamas Islamists who oppose Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's peace efforts with Israel.

"Israel is a democratic nation. Israel has the ability and the right to investigate itself, not to be investigated by any international board," Oren said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking on CNN, said Ankara would insist on an independent commission and suggested that Israel's rejection of an international inquiry showed it wanted to cover up the facts of the raid.

"We want to know the facts. If Israel rejects this, it means it is also another proof of their guilt. They are not self-confident to face the facts," he said.

Turkey's relations with Israel, once a close ally, have soured badly since the deadly raid.

SECOND INTERCEPTION

Israel's navy boarded another ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza Saturday. Its interception of the Irish-owned MV Rachel Corrie ended without violence following diplomatic efforts to avoid bloodshed.

"I want to pay tribute to the crew of the Rachel Corrie for demonstrating in no uncertain terms their peaceful intentions," Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told Irish public radio RTE. "We of course communicated that relentlessly to the Israeli authorities."

An Israeli official said Israel wanted to establish whether the Turkish government had sponsored the Mavi Marmara, where the strength of the resistance to the boarding party appeared to have caught the Israeli military off guard. Israel has said seven of its troops were wounded.

Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting that a smaller group of "violent extremists" had boarded the ship separately with the intention of clashing with troops.

Photographs obtained by Reuters Sunday that were shot on board the Mavi Marmara showed bleeding and cowering Israeli troops surrounded by activists.

The photographs were taken by a member of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid, or IHH, which organized the convoy, said spokesman Salih Bilici.

Israeli authorities confiscated activists' cameras and erased the memory cards but the IHH was able to recover photos on one camera using special software, Bilici said.

There are no pictures of outright violence but many of the photographs show puddles of blood on the floor or streaks smeared across walls.

Israel has said it must prevent arms smuggling to Gaza, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday the European Union could help monitor traffic into the territory.

"We can propose again that the European Union, European countries, monitor this passage in a very strict manner ... We can very well monitor the cargoes of ships going to Gaza," he told reporters.

France and Britain offered to send warships to monitor and prevent arms smuggling to Gaza following Israel's 22-day offensive in the Palestinian Hamas-ruled territory that ended in January last year.

Together with Egypt, Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists took over the coastal territory in 2007 in fighting with forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

World pressure has mounted on Israel to lift the blockade which the U.N. said has caused a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and hampers efforts to rebuild homes and infrastructure destroyed in a 2009 war. Israel says its frequent transfer of basic goods to the territory has staved off any such crisis.

(Additional reporting by Philip Barbara in Washington, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Dublin, Istanbul and Paris bureaux; Editing by Charles Dick)

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Iranian aid ships to be sent to Gaza: official

TEHRAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Red Crescent is getting prepared to send two relief ships to the Gaza Strip, the local satellite Press TV reported on Monday.

Two Iranian aid ships carrying humanitarian relief and medical supplies for the people of Gaza will set sail for the coastal sliver in the upcoming days, the report said.

"The aid consists of food and medical supplies, which will be transported into Gaza via the Rafah border in Egypt before the week is through," Iran's Red Crescent Director Abdolraoof Adibzadeh was quoted as saying.

"Iran is also preparing to dispatch a navy hospital ship for the people of Gaza, which will have onboard doctors, nurses and all the medical equipment required for emergency surgeries and procedures," said Adibzadeh on Monday according to Press TV.

Some 700 international activists on board the Gaza-bound aid flotilla attacked last Monday by the Israeli navy. At least nine were killed and many others injured, while the rest of activists were arrested.

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French, British FMs call to investigate Israeli attack

PARIS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of France and Britain, respectively Bernard Kouchner and William Hague, called Sunday night here for a "credible and transparent" investigation into the Israel's raid on humanitarian flotilla bound to Gaza.

The two ministers insisted that it's necessary to take "credible and transparent" international investigation into Israeli operation on May 31 that killed nine activists.

"It should be internationally enforced, the investigation, with several countries involved," Kouchner said.

"We think it's important" to take this investigation, and "we believe it should at least have an international presence" in it, Hague said.

On the same day, French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone talk to accept "an impatial investigation" on its raid to aid ship heading to Gaza.

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Israel rejects int'l panel to probe deadly raid: ambassador

The Gaza-bound Rachel Corrie aid ship, which is under control of the Israeli navy, approaches southern Israel's Ashdod port June 5, 2010.(Xinhua/Rafael Ben-Ari)

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Israel's ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said on Sunday that his country will reject an international commission to probe its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship that killed nine international volunteers.

"We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place," Oren said on Fox News Channel.

"Israel is a democracy. Israel has the ability and the right to investigate itself, not to be investigated by any international board," he added.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reportedly proposed to establish an international panel to investigate the raid.

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