HELLO To HAMAS Smoke AND Mirrors,
They CALL IT FAIR in Hate and Terrors!
Israel answers to correct HAMAS ERROR,
Once Again closes Down the Gaza Barrier,
TRUCE is coming BUT things are still Hairier,
As HAMAS learns Israel restraint is Narrower,
ALL ready to respond to double-dog-dare-you!
Obama for Netanyahu unity government is New!
Likud-Katima-Labor LETS Him DIALOG THINGS Do!
Having Far Right Lieberman Party Makes Him Blue!
February 15, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
If the far right Israel Beiteinu Party of Avigdor Lieberman is included in any government, then it spells bad news for Obama’s liberal far left wing Democratic government. Hamas is well noted for its smoke and mirrors deceitful form of government. Iran, Syria, Turkey, Hizbullah, and Hamas are able to make lies look like truth in a smoky mirror. A far left wing liberal is easy to fake out with lies, if he is told what he wants to hear.
Begin DEBKAfile Excerpt 1
Obama backs Israel unity government headed by Netanyahu
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
February 15, 2009, 9:14 AM (GMT+02:00)
US president Barack Obama has bought Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu’s program for attacking the Palestinian issue by first building a strong West Bank economy, DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report. For its execution, Washington is in favor of Netanyahu forming a unity government in partnership with Kadima’s Tzipi Livni and Labor’s Ehud Barak.
Messages to this effect reached the three Israeli leaders over the weekend. It was picked up on by the outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert, who invited Netanyahu to join his next consultation with Livni and Barak on handling the Hamas truce talks in Cairo.
Making it a foursome effectively starts the transition between the Jerusalem administrations.
Our sources also reveal that the White House decided after due deliberation to put the Palestinian peace issue on a back burner in the first year of the Obama presidency. Its top priorities must now be the economy and Afghanistan-Pakistan. The president’s national security adviser Gen. James Jones argued that anyway, the Palestinians are split between two rival administrations and the potential Palestinian state is fragmented between the Gaza enclave backed by Iran and the and the West Bank which is headed by a weak leader, Mahmoud Abbas. The basic conditions for peace diplomacy are therefore lacking.
Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell was therefore instructed to focus on plans for establishing a firm economy on the West Bank with several hundred million dollars of US aid. Taking the opposite direction from previous Israeli governments, the Likud leader persuaded Washington that giving West Bank Palestinians a sense of prosperity would produce more results than going straight for the tough issues such as settlement evacuation. With a robust economy, the Palestinians have a better chance of building healthy government.
Mitchell was also directed to expedite the creation and training of a Palestinian security force to sustain a pro-Western administration on the West Bank.
With these two elements in place, the Obama administration hopes the future will throw up a Palestinian leader able to take over from Mahmoud Abbas and lead negotiations with Israel for a peace serving both their interests
Begin DEBKAfile Excerpt 2
Hamas’ Ceasefire – Smoke and Mirrors
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
February 14, 2009, 9:48 AM (GMT+02:00)
Duped again by a Hamas promise to negotiate a long-term truce, Israel reacted by stepping up its air attacks over the Gaza Strip from Friday, Feb. 13, to hold down a fresh upsurge of Palestinian violence.
After spreading false reports that an 18-month truce and a deal
for the release of the captive Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit were “hours away”, Hamas jerked the carpet from under the Cairo talks in spite of Israel’s over-generous concessions.
Last week, Israel was persuaded by the Egyptian intelligence minister Gen.
Omar Suleiman to let Hamas leader Mahmud A-Zahar travel from Gaza to Cairo, Damascus and Qatar on the underst
anding that he would override hardline Khaled Meshaal and sign an extended truce deal.
Instead of signing, Hamas used the time gained to restock its arsenal after the beating it took from Israel’s Gaza operation last month and regroup for a fresh cross-border offensive.
Early, Saturday, Feb. 14, the Israeli Air Force bombed two foundries turning out missiles near Jebalya outside Gaza City, injuring 6 Palestinians, after a week of spasmodic launchings.
Earlier, six tunnels running under the Philadelphi border corridor were destroyed in the middle of smuggling fresh supplies of arms, and a duo was struck on a motorbike near Khan Younis on its way to a terrorist attack in Israel. One was killed, two others injured. They claimed membership of the al Qaeda wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
Jerusalem reacted in this way after agreeing to Cairo’s request last week to hold its hand against a slow spate of Hamas missiles. The request came from Gen. Suleiman, Egypt’s senior negotiator with Hamas, through the defense ministry official, Amos Gilead.
Defense minister Ehud Barak accordingly ordered Israeli air bombardments to be confined harmlessly to abandoned buildings and sand dunes in the hope of convincing Hamas of Israel’s good will.
Israel also acceded to Suleiman request to temper its demand for Hamas to observe a 500-meter cordon sanitaire behind the Gaza-Israeli border, reducing the depth of this sterile belt to 300 m.
Israel also agreed to a 70 percent reopening of the border
crossings.
Hamas played for time by raising new demands the while conspiring with al Qaeda’s cell in Gaza to mount a large-scale terrorist attack near Kissufim on the Israeli side of the border. Hamas supplied the explosives and intelligence but planned to deny responsibility so that Israel would have no justification for ditching the phony, indirect negotiating track in Cairo.
The plot was discovered Friday, Feb. 13, and Barak finally ordered the Israeli Air Force to go into action. Now that its machinations are exposed, Hamas is fully expected to revive its missile and rockets attacks on Israel full blast together with sabotage incidents along the border fence.
Begin Excerpt 3 from the Jerusalem Post
PMO: There will be no ceasefire until Schalit is released
February 14, 2009
HERB KEINON, KHALED ABU TOAMEH and YAAKOV KATZ , THE JERUSALEM POST
With rumors swirling that Israel and Hamas were just hours away from a cease-fire deal, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement Saturday pouring cold water on the reports, and making it clear for the first time that Israel will not accept a truce that does not include the return of St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit.
“It should be emphasized that what is on top of Israel’s priorities are the security of the residents of the South and the release of Gilad Schalit,” the statement said.
“Israel will invest all its efforts to further these two goals.
“The prime minister’s position is that Israel will not reach an agreement on a calm before the release of Gilad Schalit.”
Government sources said this was the first time Schalit’s freedom had been mentioned so unequivocally as a condition of a truce agreement, and pointed out that in the six-month cease-fire agreement reached last June the only reference to Schalit was that negotiations for his release would be stepped up.
The sources offered no explanation as to what brought about this change of policy, or whether it was connected to the results of last Tuesday’s election.
In light of reports based on foreign sources that Jerusalem was about to sign an agreement with Hamas, the Prime Minister’s Office wanted to clarify that Israel “was not conducting negotiations with Hamas and would certainly not reach understandings with it,” as the statement said.
Israel has stressed that its negotiations, led by Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry’s Diplomatic-Security Bureau, are being held with the Egyptians, not with Hamas.
According to the statement, government consultations will be held on Sunday regarding the situation in the South.
“In any event, if any decision is needed it will be made only after convening the security cabinet, and taking into consideration the new political circumstances that have been created as a result of the election.”
Defense officials, meanwhile, said a decision on a new cease-fire might be put off until a new government was formed, something that could take weeks.
Hamas leaders and spokesmen, meanwhile, issued conflicting statements over the weekend regarding the prospects for a cease-fire.
Some expressed optimism, saying the Egyptian mediators had managed to bridge the gap between Hamas and Israel. Others, however, said it was premature to talk about a breakthrough because of Israel’s refusal to reopen the border crossings and lift the blockade on Gaza.
Ismail Radwan, a top Hamas representative in the Strip, said on Saturday evening that, barring last-minute surprises, a cease-fire agreement was expected “within the next few hours.”
Radwan said that Hamas negotiators who were currently in Cairo had reached a series of understandings with the Egyptians over the terms of a cease-fire.
“The Egyptians have accepted the understandings and Hamas will not change its position,” he said. “We continue to insist that any cease-fire agreement include the reopening of all the border crossings, including the Rafah crossing.”
Radwan refused to specify the nature of the understandings that were reached with the Egyptians and whether they referred to Schalit.
But Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said the talks were facing difficulties because of Israeli “intransigence.”
He said that Hamas was told by the Egyptians that Israel had changed its position and was now demanding an open-ended truce and not one limited to 18 months.
“The cease-fire agreement has been concluded and we are waiting for the Egyptian government to announce it,” Barhoum said. “But we have learned that the Israelis are placing new obstacles. Hamas will not agree to an open-ended truce.”
Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas legislator who participated in the Egyptian-sponsored talks, said the agreement called for an 18-month truce that would go into effect on Sunday morning.
The accord also called to lift the blockade and reopen all the border crossings, he said.
Bardaweel said Egypt had promised to reopen the Rafah border crossing under the terms of a new agreement that would replace the one that was reached under the auspices of the US in 2005.
He said the new agreement would allow Hamas to join forces with the Palestinian Authority in managing the terminal. He said it also called for stationing European monitors at the border.
However, unlike in the 2005 agreement, the monitors would be required to live in the northern Sinai town of el-Arish, and not in Israel.
Meanwhile, five Gazan rockets pounded the South over the weekend, including a Grad-model Katyusha that traveled 40 kilometers and hit Gan Yavne.
In response, the air force bombed eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday afternoon, a bomb went off next to an IDF vehicle that was patrolling the Gaza border. No one was injured, and soldiers searched the area for gunmen and additional explosive devices.
The Grad that hit Yavne was the first long-range rocket fired into Israel since Operation Cast Lead ended last month. IDF early-warning systems did not detect the fire, military sources said.
Over the weekend, the air force targeted weapons manufacturing facilities in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza as well as smuggling tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor.
Palestinians reported six people wounded in the strikes.
On Friday, the IAF hit a vehicle in the southern town of Khan Yunis, killing two men, who the IDF said were global jihad operatives and were in the midst of planning an attack against Israel.
On Friday, a 14-year-old Arab boy was reportedly shot and killed by IDF troops during rioting near Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, Palestinian medical sources said.
The army said it shot one of the instigators of the riot, which included rock throwing and use of Molotov cocktails.
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