Israeli soldier Kidnapped ... Gaza

/...
Aljazeera ( http://english.aljazeera.net ) :
A 19-year-old soldier, who also holds French nationality, went missing when the Popular Resistance Committees attacked an army post on the Gaza Strip border at dawn on Sunday.
...
him Ramon, the Israeli justice minister, told Israel Rad io: "We hold Abu Mazen [Abbas] responsible. He holds ultimate responsibility for what goes on."
Two other Israeli servicemen and two Palestinian fighters also died in the attack.
...

( Palestinian Women in Gaza asking for the Release of their Children )

"President Mahmud Abbas ordered prime minister Ismail Haniya, interior minister Said Siam and security service commanders to immediately launch a serious search today to release the soldier"

...
Israeli officials have hinted that, should the deadline for Shalit's release go unmet, there could be an aerial attack on Gaza against the civilian infrastructure and Hamas leaders including Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime ministe
... /

( Kidnapped Israeli Soldier after the attck )

The Palestinian millitants who carried out this "operation" surely have their motives : they want to show Israel that killing civilian Palestinians cannot be left without a "response", and show Israel that the can "fight back".

The fact that this attck targeted Israeli military posts is problematic. Israel cannot blame these militants anymore that they are targeting civilians , and the militants say that they are 'fighting back' and 'resisting' the occupation and the killing of civilians.

I am sure there is much to argue here, but lets just skip all these discussions and get to the current facts : an Israeli soldier is kidnapped and Israel is giving the " Palestinians " 48 hours to release him.

I do believe that Israel is ready to invade the whole Gaza to release its soldier, and I am sure that many Palestinians are willing to fight this invasion. Whether Israel will airstrike Gaza or just send its tanks is the same : there is a great possibility that tens ( if not hundreds ) of civilian Palestinians will be killed.

Or maybe Israel should make a deal with the kidnappers and let free " all the women and all prisoners under age 18" ?? Is Israel ready to negotiate with " terrorists " ?? Will the Palestinian militant groups be ready to "give up" the kidnapped soldier and release him for no return ?

President Abbas is not in a good position to take any decision or to be blamed for anything. Although he was the first to be blamed for all this, I do not think that President Abbas can do much in this situation especially after being weakened by the continuous Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets.

Here in Palestine no one is in charge of anything. Civilians are the first to pay the price of any Israeli operation against any group. The ceasefire was the only hope for moderate and civilian Palestinians to stop the killing on both sides , but it looks like that neither Israel nor the armed Palestinian groups are interested in calming down.

What is very strange in such horrible moments is the absence of the American, Russian and European roles, who were once "committed to help Palestinians and Israelis to establish peace "!

Very ironic and very sad.

What shoud be done now ? Israel should stop all its military preparations and operations and give President Abbas time to end this situation. Israel should also start considering searching for the right Palestinian partner and show Palestinians WILLINGNESS to achieve peace. President Abbas , on the other hand, should do his best to convince the kidnappers to release the Israeli soldier immediately.

What is needed from the Palestinians at the moment ? and what is needed from Israel ?? A question everyone should try to find an answer for.

More violence in the Middle-East : Gaza

" ... JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli navy gunboat fired shells onto a northern Gaza beach Friday, killing at least seven people and prompting the military wing of Hamas to call off a 16-month-old cease-fire with Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said it was firing on rocket-launching areas in Gaza after a militant attack earlier in the day. The target areas were believed to be uninhabited, a representative said ... " ( www.cnn.net )

" ... An apology was initially issued to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in which the IDF said it "regretted the strike on innocents," but Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the IDF's chief of general staff, later said the military is investigating the possibility that it was not naval artillery that struck the beach ..... The IDF halted firing pending an investigation. ... "

Hamas has ended the cease fire that lasted 16 months by now...
It is very sad what is happening there : the situation after the Israeli withdrawal should have improved much, but it has not.

The Palestinian authority should put an end to the rocket firing that has been targeting Israeli villages near Gaza. Although it was obvious that Israel continued to target some Palestinian activists, still the Palestinian government had to end all these armed activities.

I don't know if we , as Palestinians, gain ANYTHING from such firings.

The very weakened Palestinian security forces were not able to control the situation, and this is surely related to the obstacles imposed by Israel. How can we blame the PAN for not being able to control the situation while every effort is being done to weaken its structures and capabilities ?

The situation now after ending this cease fire ( with Hamas ) can go very bad : worse than we can imagine.

Let's not just pray for a better tomorrow and start to think how we can control these events and put an end to the suffering that we see ( and probably will continue to see) .

What do you think might be the right thing to do ???

Ramallah 25th May : Four Palestinians killed and tens injured...

May 25, 2006

" Four Palestinians killed and seventy injured during Israeli military incursion into Ramallah Four Palestinians were killed after being fired upon with live bullets in the central square in Ramallah on Wednesday during an Israeli military incursion. One Palestinian died after being hit in the head by an exploding bullet, another after being struck in the chest by a high velocity bullet. Another seventy Palestinians were injured, fifteen severely, and five arrested "
( Source : http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web ) .

No significant official Israeli comments were reported and this ' event ' was simply ignored.
Israeli resources stated that the aim of this ' operation ' was to arrest a 'terrorist' who was hiding in a building in the center of Ramallah. The Israeli force which sneaked inside the building under cover( in civilian clothes ) was discovered and soon clashes started, resulting in 4 Palestinians killed and tens injured.

Those officials who took such a decision were surely very courageous ! Was the life of that 'terrorist' so important that the Israeli Leadership decided to take all the risk and send an armed force under cover to arrest him?

The use of civilian areas, on the other hand, by armed Palestinians is another issue of concern. We don't know if this man ( who was actually arrested ) was armed or not, but using civilian areas for ANY kind of military activity is both stupid and coward.

It is really a very sad event. The four Palestinians who were

killed were people who had no intention to share in any military act against anyone. They were civilians, shopping or passing by in a market in middle Ramallah.
How wise was it to authorize such an ' operation ' ?? Four people are killed and tens injured : who should be blamed and what lessons should be learned ??

Reason and Idea behind this blog- اهداف و منطلقات هذا الركن

About one month ago I started reading blogs for people all over the world. My first drive was purely professional : to search for ideas, materials and experiences of colleagues working in the field of healthcare. Sometimes I used to drop some comments on articles written by Israeli and Arab bloggers , most of which were talking about political and cultural ideas.

Believing in non-violence as the only method to bring this pointless Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end, I decided to start this blog with one basic goal : to foster the interest in peace and non-violence as the basis for ending this crazy war.

I hope that this site will be a place for opinions from all sides.

I thought much before starting this blog and considered many ideas. Commenting on the events that we hear on news ( starting from May 2006 ) will guide my attempt to promote for a culture of non-violence.

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قبل حوالي شهر ، بدأت اتصفح هذه المواقع ( البلوغز)على محرك بحث جوجل ، والتي تتحدث عن قضايا اجتماعية وسياسية عامة لكاتبيها. وقد شد انتباهي تلك الكتابات من قبل بعض الكتاب الفلسطينيين والاسرائيليين حول ما يحصل من احداث في فلسطين واسرائيل. و بعد مراجعات عديدة و تعليقات كنت اضيفها الى هده المقالات والاراء الشخصية لكاتبيها : رأيت ان ابدأ بالكتابه في هذا الركن معلقا على الاحداث التي تحصل من وجهة نظر شخصية ترتكز على فكرة اساسية مركزية : تبني مبدأ نبذ العنف والعمل من اجل مستقبل افضل للجميع. ارجو ان يكون هذا الموقع مكانا لتبادل الاراء التي من شأنها خلق بيئة تنبذ العنف وتتبنى الحلول السلمية اساسا و منطلقا للوصول الى حل لهدا الصراع الدي اهدر طاقاتنا واستنزف مواردنا جميعا