Palestinian rocket kills 2 Gaza girls

Palestinians misfire rocket, two Gaza girls killed after Qassam hits home in northern Strip; earlier Friday, Palestinian man wounded by misfired rocket taken for treatment in Israeli hospital  

A rocket apparently fired by Palestinians on Friday struck a house in the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinian sisters aged five and 13, Palestinian medics said.  Hamas police said they were investigating the cause of the blast in Beit Lahiya village in northern Gaza, which medics said seemed to be due to a rocket aimed at Israel that had misfired.     Earlier in the day, a seriously wounded 35-year-old Palestinian man, hurt by a misfired rocket on Tuesday, was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment. Two children were also reportedly wounded in the Tuesday attack, but it is unclear whether they were the man's children.   The man was apparently injured in the head after a rocket directly hit his home. He received initial treatment at a hospital in Gaza, but it was later decided to transfer him for treatment in Israel.   A Magen David Adom ambulance evacuated the man from Gaza to the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv.   Dozens of mortar shells and Qassams have been fired at Israel since Thursday night. Several mortar shells were launched while Israel opened border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into the Strip, but all of them landed within Palestinian territory.   Heads of the Gaza vicinity communities were outraged Friday by Israel's decision to allow 40 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, despite the incessant rocket and mortar fire at the western Negev.   Head of the Eshkol Regional Council Haim Yelin said that after such a night he had hoped that the border crossings would remain closed.   "I must say that I fail to understand the reasons behind continuing to deliver aid to those Palestinians for 'humanitarian ground'," he stated. "Why is the humanitarian need always one-sided? Why are there no humanitarian concerns towards us and a stop to the rocket fire?"

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Negev residents outraged over aid delivery to Strip

Heads of Gaza-vicinity communities slam defense minister's decision to allow transfer of aid into Gaza despite ongoing Qassam, mortar attacks. 'Why are humanitarian concerns always one-sided?' they ask  

Heads of the Gaza vicinity communities were outraged Friday by Israel's decision to allow 40 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, despite the incessant rocket and mortar fire at the western Negev.  Dozens of mortar shells and one Qassam were fired at the area from the northern Gaza Strip in a number of barrages Thursday night. No injuries or damages were reported in any of the attacks.   Head of the Eshkol Regional Council Haim Yelin said that after such a night he had hoped that the border crossings would remain closed. Gaza gunman firing a mortar shell (Archive photo: AP)   "I must say that I fail to understand the reasons behind continuing to deliver aid to those Palestinians for 'humanitarian ground'," he stated. "Why is the humanitarian need always one-sided? Why are there no humanitarian concerns towards us and a stop to the rocket fire?"   Ashkelon Deputy-Mayor Shimon Cohen said he was shocked to learn about the decision to open the crossings. "This is a failure on the national level. The government' treatment of us is simply humiliating," he stated.   However, head of the Ashkelon Coast regional Council Meir Farjun said that he had no problem with Israel sending food to Gaza in order to provide for the residents needs. "When they're not hungry they're less angry, and possibly fire fewer rockets.   "But the Hamas leadership must understand that these attacks come with a price, and this price should be painful. The price tag should be set now, once the crossings are closed again," he added.   Eldad: Prosecute defense minister for aiding enemy According to Meir Yifrach, head of the Sdot Negev Regional Council, "It's unacceptable for us to help and assist them while they interrupt our lives. We should stick to the equation – when life is disrupted here – it should be disrupted there as well. It's time for the government to get its act together and decided to do something already."   Meanwhile, MK Arieh Eldad (Hatikva) requested Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Friday to prosecute Defense Minister Ehud Barak for aiding the enemy at a time of war, following the defense minister's instructions to open the crossings.   Eldad noted that the aid was delivered while rockets continued to rain on western Negev communities from the Gaza Strip and said, "There is no other definition for the term 'aiding the enemy at a time of war' and anyone who does so must be prosecuted."   Shmulik Hadad and Amnon Meranda contributed to the report

 

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Report: Russia selling missiles to Syria, Egypt

Business daily reports Russia begins to fulfill $250 million weapons deal to deliver surface-to-air missiles seven countries including Syria, Egypt, Libya and Venezuela  

Russia has begun to fulfil a 250-million-dollar contract to deliver surface-to-air missiles to seven countries including Libya, Syria and Venezuela, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday.  Russia will also deliver the S-125 Pechora-2M missile batteries to Egypt, Myanmar, Vietnam and Turkmenistan under the contract, the newspaper said, citing a source in the state-owned Russian Technologies corporation.  Contacted by AFP, a spokeswoman for the company declined to comment. Russian Technologies includes arms exporter Rosoboronexport among its holdings. The paper did not say which parties had signed the contract.  The Pechora-2M - known as the SA-3A Goa in NATO parlance - is an upgraded version of a surface-to-air missile originally developed in the 1960s that was widely shared with the Soviet Union's allies around the world.   Under the contract, 200 missiles are to be delivered including 70 for Egypt, an unnamed manager at a Russian defence-industry factory told Vedomosti. He added that most would be built at the Obukhov factory in Saint Petersburg.  "It is a simple but effective system, like the Kalashnikov assault rifle," he said of the Pechora.

 

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British NGOs Christmas Attack on Israel

  CBNNews.com - LONDON - Again this year, British NGOs are exploiting Christmas to promote their anti-Israel agenda, the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor reported. Using traditional holiday formats, such as Christmas cards, fundraising and traditional carols, British NGOs War on Want, Christian Aid, and the Amos Trust produced holiday greetings with a political theme.

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One War on Want holiday greeting depicts Bethlehem as "effectively sealed off from the outside world by Israel's Separation Wall" and "Mary and Joseph being frisked on their way to find an inn for the night." Another card shows "the three wise men trying to get to Bethlehem, but being forced to dig underneath Israel's separation wall." Amos Trust distributed a "Wall Nativity" card, which included a prayer guide and a "separation wall depicts the current situation in Bethlehem." Another card shows Santa walking along the security barrier. Inside, the card reads, "As we celebrate the child born in Bethlehem, let us not forget God's children living in Bethlehem today." In early December, Christian Aid held a fundraiser under the banner "From Bethlehem to Bristol." Keynote speaker at the event, Nader Abu Amsha, director of the YMCA in the Arab town of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, dismissed Israel's security concerns, telling participants that Israel is "committing crimes…against humanity." The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is also selling Christmas items protesting Israel's "illegal structure" and "apartheid wall." A fundraiser held at the Anglican St. James church in Piccadilly raised money for Medical Aid for Palestinians, which in addition to providing medical aid, sponsors anti-Israel political campaigns. "The carols pointed out exactly what is going on in occupied Palestine today," War on Want official Bruce Kent said at the fundraiser. "I am delighted they have had the publicity that this has generated," he said, adding that "anyone who speaks against Zionist policies is labeled anti-Semitic."

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Rockets in Beersheba? Don't be ridiculous When Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles pounded the country during the 1991 Gulf War - the last time an air raid siren was heard in Beersheba for non-ceremonial purposes - Yitzhak Agron didn't go into his building's bomb shelter. Instead, the 63 year-old shopkeeper went to the shuk, and opened up his vegetable stand. "What am I, a freier (sucker)?" Agron chuckled on Thursday afternoon as he sat inside a small lotto stand on the city's west side, recalling the scene from 17 years ago. "I didn't go into the then, and I won't go now. When everyone was running scared in '91, nothing happened in the end, and nothing's going to happen this time either." Indeed, the Scud missile that sent Beersheba into a panic in 1991 was actually on course for the Soreq nuclear reactor near Dimona, and missed that target as well - landing in the open desert near Arad. But alluding to Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin's announcement on Sunday that Hamas had obtained rockets that could reach as far as Kiryat Gat, Ashdod and Beersheba, the sentiment expressed by Agron was similar to that of many Beerhseba residents on Thursday - a resounding disbelief that rockets would arrive at all, mixed with a touch of apathy if they did. "What does it matter where they say the rockets will come from?" Agron continued. "Iraq, Gaza, Iran - nothing's going to happen, and I won't be caught running around, not for a gas mask and not for a bomshelter." But as the government mulls its next move to counter the rocket squads and weapons factories that have sprung up across Gaza since the disengagement of Israeli civilians and military personnel from the area in 2005, military sources have warned that Hamas will in fact try to hit Beersheba with rockets in the event of an IDF strike, if for no other reason than to show that it can. On Thursday, however, Beersheba residents seemed more worried about the falling rain than falling rockets. While the city's spokesman Amnon Yosef told The Jerusalem Post that his town was prepared for any number of scenarios involving rocket fire from Gaza, other municipality sources expressed confidence that Kassam and Grad rockets - as much as they were a sad and unfortunate problem - were a matter of concern for the western Negev, and not their town. "They're not going to hit Beersheba," said one municipality official, who asked to remain unnamed. "We'll hit them so hard when we go in , they won't even have the chance to." Others in the municipality had expressed shock at Diskin's comments when they were originally made. After Monday's newspapers splashed news of the possibility of Beersheba falling into Hamas's rocket range across their front pages, the city's new mayor, Rubik Danilovitz, told Army Radio that he was especially surprised, since no one from the Shin Bet had bothered to bring him up to speed on the matter. Nonetheless, the city's local responders, including Magen David Adom, said Thursday they were ready to cope with rocket fire, should it come. "We're always prepared for these types of things, but after [Diskin's announcement] we went into what is called "readiness level three," said Lieutenant Colonel Itzik Alfasi, who heads the MDA station on the city's west side. "We've been running drills for every type of scenario you can imagine, and I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we are ready for anything that comes our way." The municipality also emphasized that the city's bomb shelters were well in order and that there were enough for all residents. "All of the structures built since 1991 have safe rooms inside them," Yosef, a municipality spokesman, told the Post. "And in the old neighborhoods, there are over 250 underground shelters. Everything is being coordinated with the Home Front Command." But once again, residents' reactions conflicted with officials' statements. "Yeah, the shelters are in great shape," said an old man who stopped his bicycle on the sidewalk. "The mice who live in them have it better than we do." "The public shelter is the public telephone," said another man, Elazar Ben-Ishay, laughing. "Seriously, all of the bomb shelters have been turned into synagogues; what does Beersheba need with bomb shelters?" Jokes aside, other residents lamented the state of disrepair in the shelters. "They are all locked. People store equipment there," said Rosa, an older woman out walking her dog. "My family is in Sderot, the poor things, so I know about these rockets. But at least in Sderot, they have somewhere to go. What would happen if there was a war right now? Who would unlock these shelters, and how much time would we have to clear them out?" One of the only shelters found to be unlocked on Thursday had been converted into a Chabad House, and young men and women came and went freely, attending prayer services and lectures in the rooms downstairs. "These doors are open until two in the morning, sometimes later," one of the rabbis told the Post. "If people need to come into the shelter because of rockets, don't you worry, we're here, and we're ready to take care of them." Other residents met talk of possible rocket fire stoically, telling the Post that they would deal with the situation if they had to. "It's really a dilemma," said Yaakov, a middle-aged man, as he waited at a city bus stop. "If we want to stop the rockets, we have to go into Gaza, but by going into Gaza, they might send the rockets here. "God forbid that happens," he continued. "But if it does, I'm willing to take a few small booms here in order to give them a big one over there."

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Christmas influx to push Israel to record 3 million tourists in 2008

2/3rds of visitors to Holy Land were Christians

By ICEJ News

19 Dec 2008

The town of Christ’s birth is busy readying for a crush of Christian pilgrims in Manger Square next week, following years of dismal figures during the holiday season. Local hotels are reporting 100% bookings and as many as 60,000 visitors are expected by Christmas Day next Thursday.

Today, Bethlehem is an Arab city of over 100,000 that has lost its Christian majority. The city council has been dominated in recent years by loyalists of Hamas, whose suicide bombing campaign earlier this decade forced Israel to encircle the town with a security wall.

Bethlehem has high unemployment and relies heavily on tourism, which normally peaks around the Nativity celebrations. Thus, Israeli authorities have made extra efforts to ease the entry of pilgrims into Bethlehem this Christmas.

"There is not just an atmosphere of peace, but an atmosphere of trust for the whole world to see… We believe, when it comes to tourism, there are no borders," said Raphael Ben-Hur, senior Deputy Director General of the Tourism Ministry.

According to statistics released this week by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, the three million visitors who will have entered Israel this year marks an all-time high and represents a 30% increase over 2007. Some two-thirds of the tourists who arrived in the Holy Land this year, totaling two million travelers, were Christians. Roughly half of them were Catholics and the other half various Protestant and Orthodox denominations.

The USA accounted for 625,000 visitors in 2008 (20% of all incoming tourism), followed by Russia, France the UK and then several other European countries plus Canada. For 58% of tourists in 2008, this was their first visit to Israel, whereas 42% had previously visited the country.  

AFP

Published:

12.26.08, 14:29 / Israel News

Ilana Curiel

Published:

12.26.08, 13:56 / Israel News

Reuters and Shmulik Hadad

Latest Update:

12.26.08, 16:23 / Israel News