Khaled al-Azhbet, the official spokesman for the Popular Resistance
Committees (PRC) terrorist group, warned that if American or other
foreign troops are stationed in the Jordan Valley, they will be targeted
in attacks.
“We will treat any foreign armed forces as invaders, regardless of
their citizenship or their mission,” he declared. “Our policy toward
them will be identical to that taken toward the Zionist enemy.”
Azhbet called on the Palestinian Authority to “end what is known as
‘negotiations’ immediately, and turn to the national peace table” – a
reference to attempts to reconcile between Fatah and Hamas.
Israel-PA negotiations are a “new scheme” under American auspices, he
argued. For the PA to concede on “basic Palestinian rights” would be a
disaster, he added.
The PRC, like other Judea, Samaria and Gaza-based terrorist groups including Fatah and Hamas, views ownership of all of Israel as a “basic Palestinian right,” alongside the “return” to Israel of descendants of Arabs who fled during the War of Independence.
He reiterated the PRC’s view of all of Israel as occupied land. “We
welcome any activity in the Palestinian struggle, in the heart of our
land occupied since 1948 and in the occupied [West] Bank, and the
operations coming from Gaza, which express bravery, honor and victory,”
he declared.
Video: IDF targets terrorist rocket-launching site with lots of secondary explosions
In this video, the IDF targets a Popular Resistance Committees rocket launching site. Note the secondary explosions (all the explosions at the end), which mean that there were a lot of weapons stored there.
Here's the car swarm video of the week featuring Zuhir al-Qaisi, the Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committee - the group that kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit - and Mahmoud Hanani, one of Qaisi's deputies who was released in the terrorists for Gilad trade.
It's raw, like car swarms should be, but you'll hear them screaming 'Alla hu Akhbar' in the background.
This is what happens when you play with fire.... A 'mysterious explosion'work accident at the Rafah home of a leader of the 'Popular Resistance Committees' has led to the death of one shahid and the wounding of four more.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the explosion in the Rafah home of Zuhair al-Qaissi, chief commander of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) - an armed Palestinian faction that often operates independently of Hamas.
The PRC said Qaissi was not hurt in the explosion. The man killed was later identified by the PRC as Khaled al-Qaissi, a member of the group.
Zuhair al-Qaissi's predecessor, Kamal al-Nairab was killed in an Israeli air strike in August.
The IDF Spokesman's Office said an initial investigation indicated there was no connection between the explosion and any IDF activity.
Five or six Palestinians were wounded in the mysterious explosion, sources in Gaza said.
Eyewitnesses said the huge Rafah blast could be heard far away and that the house was completely burned down. The initial explosion was reportedly followed by several smaller blasts.
The IDF said it was unfamiliar with the incident. Witnesses said there was no sign of Israeli military activity in the area.
The PRC later released a statement saying that Qeisi was not killed in the blast. The group said the explosion was caused by a malfunction and was not a result of an Israeli strike.
The Popular Resistance Committees were involved, among other things, in Gilad Shalit's abduction to the Gaza Strip in June 2006. Qeisi himself was interviewed by the al-Hayat newspaper following the Israeli soldier's release and claimed that Shalit was held "in better, more humane conditions than the conditions accorded to prisoners held by Israel."
You really shouldn't play with matches, boys. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
The Washington Times' Eli Lake reports that the US believes that al-Qaeda may have been behind last Thursday's coordinated terror attacks north of Eilat.
A U.S. government assessment of the incident Thursday concludes that either the Palestinian group Popular Resistance Committees or the Gaza-based Army of Islam (or Jaish al Islam), a Palestinian group sympathetic to al Qaeda, carried out the commando assault and bombing raid that emanated from the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula.
One intelligence official who focuses on al Qaeda said an initial assessment identified a new group, al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, as a key perpetrator of the attack.
...
One intelligence official who focuses on al Qaeda said the majority of all source intelligence points to al Qaeda.
The Popular Resistance Committees group, formed in 2000 and operated out of Gaza, has at times aligned with Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group that is the sovereign of Gaza.
Over the weekend, however, as more information was gathered about the attack near Eilat, some Israeli official sources also began to acknowledge that a group known as Jaish al Islam, an extremist Muslim organization, also played a role in the attack.
If confirmed, the involvement of a new Sinai-based al Qaeda group would be yet another extremist group aligned with the goals of the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that spawned more formal affiliates in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and North Africa.
One of the intelligence officials said the recent attack also highlighted how Egypt's military government is losing control of the Sinai Peninsula, the strategically important territory that Israel captured from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War and then returned to Egyptian control after the two states signed the Camp David Accords in 1979.
...
The intelligence official who said there are signs of a new Sinai-based group said initial assessments indicated the Popular Resistance Committees‘ role was limited to providing advance scouting of locations for the attack.
“PRC was clearly involved, [but] they were not the brains or the brawn of the operation. They were the scouts,” the official said. “Because the PRC squawked after the operation, they became an immediate target. It is not an unjustifiable reaction.”
A U.S. counterterrorism official said initial U.S. reports on the attack also blamed al Qaeda in the Sinai. This official also said the U.S. government had no information to suggest al Qaeda’s core leadership - thought to be based in Pakistan - ordered or supported the attack.
The Sinai is apparently becoming another Afghanistan or Pakistan. What could go wrong?
When the IAF went into action against the leadership of the Popular Resistance Committees on Thursday night, one of the targets - Kamel al-Neirab, better known as Abu Awad - was a huge catch.
The death of Abu Awad, who played a major role in the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit five years ago, has been described by his friends and family as a “severe and painful blow” to the Popular Resistance Committees.
“His death is a huge loss for the resistance groups in the Gaza Strip,” said Ziad Sha’ath, a longtime friend of Abu Awad.
“It has really hurt us.”
A Palestinian journalist described Abu Awad as one of the most senior militiamen in the southern Gaza Strip. “He was considered a big military commander,” the journalist said. “The Popular Resistance Committees will never be the same after Abu Awad.”
According to the journalist, the Israeli air strike wiped out the most important leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of armed groups that has been responsible for dozens, if not hundreds, of attacks on Israelis over the past decade.
Abu Awad co-founded the Popular Resistance Committees with Jamal Abu Samhadanah (nicknamed Abu Ataya) after the start of the second intifada in September 2000.
The group is one of the most significant and powerful militias in the Gaza Strip and its membership is estimated at several hundred.
Abu Awad and Jamal Abu managed to increase the range of rocket-propelled grenades and were responsible for manufacturing bombs that penetrated an IDF Merkava tank a year later in the Gaza Strip.
Under their leadership, the group also launched scores of attacks on Jewish settlements in Gush Katif and on IDF soldiers during the second intifada.
In June 2006, while the two men were planning an operation to infiltrate Israel to carry out a large attack, IDF missiles killed Abu Samhadanah along with at least three other PRC members at one of the organization’s camps in Rafah.
However, the death of Abu Samhadanah did not stop the group from carrying out the operation two weeks later, resulting in the abduction of Schalit.
Schalit’s kidnapping was seen as an act of retaliation for the targeted killing of Abu Samhadanah.
Abu Awad’s friends predicted that his death would “complicate” efforts to secure the release of Schalit. They said that he was one of the few people in the Gaza Strip who knew where the soldier was being held.
Abu Awad joined Fatah during the first intifada, which began in 1987. A few years later he fled to Egypt, where he was detained by Egyptian security forces being allowed to travel to Libya.
After the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, he and a number of his colleagues returned to the Gaza Strip, where he worked as an intelligence officer in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces.
I am sure there are other people in Gaza who know Shalit's whereabouts. And I'm sure the IDF knows too.
Sorry for a much longer than anticipated break. I went to synagogue for prayers and to study with my son. I was supposed to come back briefly a couple of hours ago, but that didn't happen. And then I took the same son (son #3, child #6, age 12) to see a video on how to slaughter (ritually) and dissect a lamb. Those of you who study Talmud understand why.
In the meantime, Hamas has asked for a 'cease fire.' Of course, that means we cease and they fire. And they have continued to fire over the last couple of hours. In the meantime, the IDF is waiting for orders and is prepared for any scenario. This is from the first link.
"Hamas is keen on maintaining the period of calm that has prevailed in the Gaza Strip in the past few months," a Hamas official said. He stressed that Hamas did not participate in the recent wave of rocket and missile attacks on Israel.
The official said that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday night phoned the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Force and urged him to intervene to secure a ceasefire with Israel.
Following intensive talks with representatives of various Palestinian groups, including Islamic Jihad, the Egyptian authorities informed Hamas leaders that a ceasefire agreement would go into effect later in the day.
However, the Popular Resistance Committees, which lost several of its leaders in an Israeli air strike last Friday, said it would not abide by any ceasefire.
Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the group, said that the PRC would continue to defend Palestinians against "Zionist aggression, arrogance and crimes."
He added: "Our position is clear - we have nothing to do with a ceasefire with the enemy. The enemy must bear the consequences of its crimes and we won't stop the resistance."
Someone needs to remind Abu Mujahed who started this. Of course, he wouldn't listen anyway.
And from the second link....
Despite reports that Hamas was seeking an immediate ceasefire with Israel, rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel from Gaza resumed in Sunday evening after an afternoon lull.
One rocket exploded in the Sderot area. No injuries were reported.
Less than an hour earlier, two rockets were fired at Ashkelon on Sunday night. One was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-rocket shield, and another fell south of the city in open area, failing to cause injuries or damages.
Minutes earlier, the Color Red rocket alert had been activated in the Sha'ar Henegev Regional Council, sending residents fleeing for cover. A rocket fell near a kibbutz in the area. No injuries were reported.
Someone please tell me that we're going to do some serious damage to the terrorists in Gaza really soon....
UPDATE 11:39 PM
Israel Radio reports that in the last few minutes, the IAF attacked a car in Gaza. Not clear yet who was in it.
UPDATE MONDAY 12:01 AM
The car was in Beit Lahiya in Northern Gaza, next to the 'American University.' Still no word who was in it.
The political-security cabinet (the eight senior ministers) is meeting on Sunday night to determine how to act.
Liveblog: 2 killed in Beersheva by Grad rocket (with video)
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
This is the first live post of the evening - the blog was supposed to be on autopilot for a while longer, but I am breaking in due to events that have occurred.
Two people have been killed in Beersheva within the last hour by a Grad rocket shot from Gaza. It was one of 55 rockets shot at Southern Israel this weekend. [Updated below - one dead and one critical. CiJ]
I have video of the fatal rocket. You can see 6 intercepted, 2 rockets gone through, landed and killed 2 people.
One man died Saturday from injuries sustained when a rocket fired from Gaza exploded in Beersheba. Sirens were heard in Beersheba shortly before a rocket salvo landed in the city, hitting a vehicle and private residence. Sirens could be heard throughout the city shortly before the blast.
Six others were being treated at Soroka University medical Center in Beersheba for injuries they sustained when they were caught running indoors as the rocket barrage landed in the city. Two were in mortal condition, two were in serious condition, and two others sustained moderate injuries. The attack was one in a wider barrage of rockets, with locals reporting hearing at least 11 explosion.
Moments before, a Grad rocket from Gaza landed on a home in Ofakim, starting a fire and sending shrapnel and debris flying that injured a four-month-old baby, a nine-year-old boy and a man in his early 20s. Emergency crews put out the fire and paramedics evacuated the three to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba to be treated for light injuries.
Three other Grad rockets were fired from Gaza at the city, one of which landed on a business causing no injuries.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the rockets fired at Beersheba and Ofakim, Channel 2 reported. Saturday morning, they had announced an end to the two-year-old truce with Israel.
In the afternoon, a Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip toward Ashkelon was intercepted by the Iron Dome rocket defense system. The Color Red warning siren was sounded in the city prior to the interception. Later five mortars landed in the Eshkol regional council, one of which landed in an area kibbutz causing light damage to one building. Sixteen rockets from Gaza landed in the Eshkol Regional Council alone over the weekend.
Israel Radio just interviewed an eyewitness who said that a man in a car was killed and the man's wife was wounded. The couple had acted in accordance with IDF procedures.
There were more rockets on Saturday morning.
Early Saturday morning, three Palestinians working in Israel were injured when a number of Grad rockets exploded in southern Ashdod.
Emergency sirens could be heard throughout the city before the blasts. A paramedics team that was dispatched to the site of the blast in Ashdod said it was treating three men in their 20s for injuries including shrapnel to the neck, chest, and other parts of the body. Two were in serious condition.
Later Saturday morning, a Grad rocket exploded in an open field north of Beersheba in the Bnei Shimon Regional Council. Eight people were hospitalized at Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba with light injuries sustained while running for shelter as rocket sirens sounded and suffering from shock.
You have 30 seconds in Ashkelon, 45 seconds in Ashdod and 60 seconds in Beersheva.
If you have no shelter, lie down on the ground. Get out of your car.
Yes, really, that's what Israel Radio just told us.
Press conference now on Channel 1 television and the radio with police commander Danino and Internal Security Minister Aharonovitch.
Hamas is completely responsible - not any other organization. Israel will react very strongly to these attacks. The shooting must stop. Hamas cannot allow rockets to be shot at the State of Israel. We can't have rockets shot all over Israel. Hamas will pay dearly for this.
Civilians cannot wander around outside because this is what Hamas is seeking. People are screaming at the minister that if this were Tel Aviv the government would have reacted already (search NotInMyBackYard on my blog - they are correct). If the terrorists had shot rockets at Tel Aviv, the planes would be in the air already and the reservists would be called up. And yet, in the south, the police say that the shooting will continue for the next several days. Wonderful.
Netanyahu has called together his kitchen cabinet - the eight ministers. Now they're discussing how to deal with the rockets that Hamas has imported over the last two years. Now they are breaking out the rockets.
By the way, Israel Radio just said that there is only one dead as of now. I was misinformed.
UPDATE 10:55 PM
One dead and seven wounded in Beersheva. Of the wounded, one critical and two serious.
UPDATE 11:03 PM
Hamas has removed from its website a notice taking responsibility for fire on Ashdod this evening. The PRC (Popular Resistance Committee) has taken responsibility for the rockets on Beersheva. [Sorry - Ofakim not Ashdod].
Israel Radio once again in the constant news mode.
The person who was killed was in a house that was hit by a rocket. But the IDF says that most of the people who were wounded did not follow instructions - they were out looking for rockets. They are stressing over and over again to go into a shelter and not look for the Iron Dome show. I'll have two more videos from the Iron Dome show below. The police chief complained in the press conference that there are children wandering in the streets. Please watch your children! (I'm sure the non-Israelis are incredulous at that, but young kids are often in the streets here until 10:00 and 11:00 at night, because there is almost no crime - just terrorists. Not my kids - they have a very strict father). Israel Radio's southern correspondent confirms that many people were outside. He said that the people who were hurt had hidden behind a wall on the far side of the house, but the wall collapsed and they were hit by shrapnel.
UPDATE 11:15 PM
Here are two more videos of Iron Dome in action this evening. Here's the first one.
Let's go to the videotape.
UPDATE 11:16 PM
There's another rocket in the Lachish area. This is a Grad. They're not saying yet where it hit - they don't want to help the shooters to aim.
And here's the second video.
Let's go to the videotape.
UPDATE 11:23 PM
Israel Radio's military correspondent Carmela Menashe confirms that the plan on Thursday was to kidnap soldiers and that the IDF had warnings of an attack in the specific area where it took place but did not stop it.
Now they're interviewing the person who was behind the car in which four people were killed on Thursday. He's very critical of the IDF's handling of Thursday's terror attack.
UPDATE 11:51 PM
Three more rockets: Ashkelon, Shaar HaNegev and Eshkol regions. No injuries, no damage.
UPDATE SUNDAY 12:00 AM
The Beersheva attack totals are one dead, one critically wounded, two seriously wounded and two moderately wounded. Everyone else is lightly wounded.
The police commissioner says that no one would have been hurt in Beersheva had people acted according to the instructions from the IDF Home Front.
Mini-cabinet meeting (eight senior members) now in Tel Aviv. No regular cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Terrorists on Thursday had equipment to kidnap soldiers and civilians. There were eight terrorists who were all killed. There were several cells. IDF did not aim for Egyptian soldiers who were killed - they may also have been attacked by 'Palestinians.' Israel's ambassador to Egypt has apologized for killing of Egyptian soldiers on Thursday and has offered to establish a joint investigation.
UPDATE 12:12 AM
Police on high alert in the south and in Jerusalem until further notice.
UPDATE 2:00 AM
The rocket fire continues. Four more rockets have hit in the Eshkol region in the last hour. All hit open areas and there was no damage and no injuries.
Correction on Beersheva. One killed, one critically injured, two seriously injured, two moderately injured and two lightly injured.
In Ofakim, where a rocket hit a house, there were three people lightly injured, one of them a four-month old baby.
A suicide bomber - probably from the Popular Resistance Committees (and not the one in the picture) - killed and injured several Egyptian soldiers on Friday morning on the border between Egypt and Israel near the Philadelphi corridor.
A number of Egyptian soldiers were killed and injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up on the Egyptian side of the border with Israel on Friday morning near The Philadelphi Route crossing.
Security officials said that the suicide bomber was thought to belong to the Popular Resistance Committees, the organization who orchestrated the terror attacks near Eilat on Thursday that left eight people dead.
So much for Hamas not wanting to anger the Egyptians in the hope that they can pull off a deal for Gilad Shalit (that was what was reported on Thursday).
Speaking of which, since the PRC is the group that kidnapped Shalit, could it be that all of the last two days' actions are intended - at least in part - to prevent his release? Just a thought.
This is interesting for reasons I will explain after I set it out for you. The JPost is reporting that the IDF was prepared for a 'different' terror attack - one in which the terrorists would infiltrate in the middle of the night and try to kidnap an IDF soldier or civilian.
Israel had several days to prepare for the attack that took place on Thursday near the Netafim border crossing with Egypt. Intelligence provided several days earlier by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) referred to a large attack that the Popular Resistance Committees planned to launch from the Sinai Peninsula.
For that reason, the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion – a member of which was killed in the attack – and the Israel Police’s YAMAM Counter-terrorism Unit were already deployed along the border and able to respond quickly to neutralize the terrorists.
That's already interesting. Recall that yesterday we were told that the IDF had intelligence about the attack but misinterpreted it. Now, we know what that meant.
Had they not been there, a senior IDF officer said Thursday, the number of casualties would have been significantly higher.
The problem, though, was that the army prepared for a different attack.
It thought, for example, that the terrorists from the Gazabased PRC were mostly interested in abducting a soldier or a civilian, and would therefore infiltrate Israel in the middle of the night and not, as they did, in the middle of the day. For that reason, the IDF also did not think that the gunmen would cross into Israel where they did, since it is directly under an Egyptian military outpost.
The fact that the attack did not play out as the IDF had assessed does not mean that the terrorists did not plan to kidnap a soldier or a civilian.
And that's what is most interesting because on Thursday night there was a rumor going around that the PRC had intended to abduct a soldier or civilian on Thursday and failed to do so.
This was probably thwarted by the YAMAM and Golani’s fast response. The location of the attack, though – right under the nose of the Egyptian military – is indicative of the larger threat and problem that Israel faces today not only from the Gaza Strip, but also from Sinai.
...
Since Hosni Mubarak’s fall, the number of intelligence alerts that the Shin Bet has recorded regarding possible attacks from Sinai has more than tripled, and there is a standing general warning in place at the IDF’s Edom Division, responsible for the border.
That is why in recent weeks, officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry have been raising the Sinai threat in talks with foreign dignitaries who have been asked by Israel to pressure the interim government in Cairo to start to act.
The problem is that unlike in the Gaza Strip, Israel will not – and likely cannot – act freely militarily-speaking when it comes to Egypt, even if it knows about a ticking terrorist bomb. Ties with the interim regime have been tense ever since Mubarak was overthrown in February, and an Israeli attack on Egyptian soil – no matter what the target and the legitimacy – would not be taken lightly.
For that reason, the IDF was extra careful on Thursday when shooting into Egypt territory in response to gunfire from Sinai.
In one case, soldiers crossed the border by several meters and neutralized the terrorists.
The picture is what Eilat looks like on an ordinary day. But Thursday, 20 kilometers north of Eilat, was not an ordinary day.
An IDF counter-terror officer was killed Thursday evening in a firefight with terrorists along the Egyptian border. But before we get to that, let's look at a timeline of Thursday's events, which will add a few new details and organize what happened.
12:00 p.m. –Three terrorists open fire at Egged Bus 392 traveling on Road 12 between Eilat and Mitzpe Ramon. The terrorists infiltrated into Israel from Egypt wore military vests and were heavily armed with assault rifles, roadside bombs and suicide bomb belts. At least 10 passengers were injured.
One IDF soldier was killed while responding to the fire on the bus. (The link says 'second bus,' but the second bus was empty and only the driver was killed there. Also, he was from Ofra according to Israel Radio - not Ofran).
12:20 p.m. – One of the terrorists opens fire at an empty bus that drives by and detonates an explosives belt he is carrying, killing himself and the bus driver. Another terrorist fires an RPG at an IAF helicopter but misses.
The RPG was not reported earlier.
12:25 p.m. – One of the two remaining terrorists opens fire at a passing car, killing four people. An IDF jeep from the Golani Brigade arrives at the scene and runs over the terrorist. Another IDF jeep arrives and as the soldiers get out of the vehicle, the remaining terrorist opens fire, hitting the soldiers.
The four people in the car were civilians. At this writing, as far as I am aware, there is still a prohibition from the IDF censor against publicizing more than that. But it has been reported that the car was hit by an anti-tank missile that was aimed at the second bus.
12:30-1:00 p.m. - IDF soldiers and members of the police’s elite YAMAM counter-terror unit locate the remaining terrorist. A gun battle ensues and the terrorist is killed.
1:30 p.m. – Two terrorists open fire at the troops from within Egyptian territory. The troops return fire and kill the terrorists. The Egyptian military reports to the IDF that its soldiers have killed two additional terrorists in the Sinai.
The implication is that there were only two terrorists killed - by the IDF.
I reported earlier that the IDF retaliated on Thursday night, wiping out the leadership of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC). Here's more on that story:
The PRC terrorists killed in the retaliatory IAF airstrike included the head of the terror group Kamal Nirab, who the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, personally directed and planned the attack.
Another terrorist killed in the strike was identified as Amas Hamed, commander of the PRC’s military wing and a resident of Rafah. The Shin Bet said that Hamed was involved in the abduction of Gilad Schalit over five years ago and oversaw numerous terror attacks against Israel including suicide bombings and rocket attacks.
Two other known PRC terrorists, including one who was also involved in Schalit’s abduction, were also killed in the airstrike.
“The terrorists were directly involved in the attacks along the Israeli-Egyptian border,” a security official said.
I'd like to know why the IDF didn't kill these people over the last five years if they knew where they were and they knew they were responsible for Shalit's kidnapping. By the way, Iron Dome shot down a Grad rocket headed to Ashkelon on Thursday night.
And finally, the counter-terror officer who became the 8th victim on Thursday.
The officer has been named as 49-year-old Pascal Avrahami [from Jerusalem. CiJ]. He was married and had three children.
Border Police spokesman Shai Hakimi told The Jerusalem Post that Avrahami was taking part in sweeps of the region north of Eilat to search for additional terrorists who remained on the scene when the force came under fire. Police are expected to release the details of his funeral in the near future.
The incident took place while Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz were giving a press conference in the area.
By the way, this article says specifically that the Egyptians killed two people on their side of the border, so maybe my reading of the timeline was inaccurate.
Israel Radio reports that there were four rockets shot at Ashkelon and that Iron Dome knocked down all of them. Israel Radio also reports that Israel had warnings of Thursday's attacks but misinterpreted them.
Israel Television reports that six civilians and one soldier were killed in Thursday afternoon's terror attacks. Another Israeli was killed Thursday evening by gunfire from within Egypt. Five of the six civilians were killed when their car was hit by an anti-tank missile that was intended to hit a civilians bus.
The IAF has raided Gaza and killed six 'Palestinians' including the entire leadership of the 'Popular Resistance Committees,' which is alleged to be behind Thursday's terror attacks, and which was also behind the kidnapping of IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit. The PRC now says it is not bound by any 'quiet period.'
Hamas condemned the attack but said and did nothing more. Hamas does not want to be accused by either Israel or Egypt, and so it is stuck.
UPDATE 9:17 PM
Egypt says that it also killed two terrorists.
Two Grad rockets have also been shot at Ashkelon this evening.
Family of American terror victim allowed to sue 'Palestinian Authority' in US
On October 15, 2003, a U.S. embassy convoy was on a visit to Gaza to interview 'Palestinian' candidates for Fulbright scholarship programs in the United States. The convoy consisted of three fully armored but unmarked Suburbans. The first vehicle was occupied by the diplomats on the interview mission. The second vehicle was occupied by American contract protective security specialists: John Branchizio (36), John Linde (30), and Mark Parsons (31). The third vehicle had agents of the Diplomatic Security Service on a “route and area familiarization” trip.
Just after the convoy entered the Gaza Strip from the Erez checkpoint, an explosion totally destroyed the second vehicle in the motorcade, killing the three specialists. A U.S. embassy document states that the device appeared to have been “placed under the road and remotely detonated as the vehicles passed.”
The family of Mark Parsons, and particularly his brother John, have been pursuing justice in Mark's case for nearly eight years. A detailed summary of some of those efforts is here. On Sunday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a lower court ruling and granted the Parsons family the right to sue the 'Palestinian Authority' in a civil lawsuit in the United States.
"Although we agree with the district court that the family's conspiracy claim theories are too speculative to survive summary judgment, we believe a reasonable juror could conclude that Palestinian Authority employees provided material support to the bomber," reads the ruling.
...
The PA, U.S. and Israeli officials all conducted investigations into the bombing. Documents provided to the Parsons family and included in the suit showed that the PA detained six suspects, including Amer Qarmout, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committee, who admitted that he had dug a hole in that spot to place a bomb and asked guards with the PA National Security Service to ignore the shoveling, which he said they did. However, Qarmout said he never personally planted a bomb.
According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which tracks data on "radical Islamic terror groups," the immediate forensics investigation after the bombing reportedly was cut short when Palestinians made their way to the explosion site and started tampering with the scene. According to documents released by the FBI, investigators had stones thrown at their cars as they were leaving the area.
The lower court threw out the Parsons family claim under the Anti-Terrorism Act because it said the family cannot link the PA to a specific bomber. But the appeals court ruled that sufficient evidence existed, including forensic reports that showed the bomb that killed Parsons was made of the same material Qarmont says he uses for bomb-making.
That and other statements and documents are enough to allow the case to go to a jury, the judges ruled.
"Sorting out these contradictions, deciding how much weight to give evidence that supports or undermines the family's case and evaluating how much credibility to assign Qarmout's incriminating versus exculpatory statements are prototypical jury functions that courts may not commandeer," the court ruled.
"In sum, we conclude that a reasonable juror could find on the basis of the family's evidence that Qarmout planted the bomb that killed Parsons and that Palestinian Security forces at the nearby security checkpoint complied with Qarmout's request not to interfere with his effort to plant a bomb," the ruling reads. "Because such acts qualify as providing material support ... we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Palestinian Authority on the family's material support claim."
The circuit court judges -- Karen LeCraft Henderson, David S. Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown -- were split on several questions posed by the appeal, and reaffirmed the lower court's decision siding for the PA on whether a conspiracy was in the works to target U.S. security personnel.
Though the State Department mentioned the three men who were killed in its 2004 annual report on Patterns of Global Terrorism, IPT said infighting between the FBI and State Department had hampered the investigation.
IPT reported that John Parsons, the brother of Mark Parsons, said he was told in October 2010 that the FBI had closed the case on the deaths of Parsons as well as John Branchizio and John M. Linde Jr., although no perpetrator was ever caught.
In that ruling, the lower court said that it could not hold the PA liable for the "alleged criminal acts of a few employees".
After the bombing, PA security personnel arrested and interrogated six suspects, including Amer Qarmout, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC). Qarmout admitted possessing bombs before the explosion that killed Parsons and described the structure of those bombs.
Although both PA and FBI investigations revealed that the bomb that killed Parsons matched in type and structure devices used by the PRC, neither the PA, Israel or the USA have ever publicly identified the bomber responsible for Parsons's death.
One would be astounded at the brazen disregard for American lives by the US government until one realizes that the United States covered up for 33 years the fact that Yasser Arafat ordered the murders two US diplomats and a Belgian diplomat in Khartoum in 1973.
I was in touch with John Parsons today. His battle is far from over: The 'Palestinian Authority' has plenty of American taxpayer money provided as foreign aid with which it will fight John every step of the way, and more than enough 'do gooder' lawyers who are happy to defend the 'poor Palestinians.' It's simply a disgrace.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
