[WCUSP] Fwd: Israel kills 5 in Gaza; Hamas welcomes Quartet move-Sept 21 2006

[Odile Hugonot Haber]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Karen deslierres <karendes at umich.edu>
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 16:46:47 -0400
Subject: Israel kills 5 in Gaza; Hamas welcomes Quartet move-Sept 21 2006
To: Karen deslierres <karendes at umich.edu>


Israel kills 5 in Gaza; Hamas welcomes Quartet move
Silvan Shalom, a former foreign minister of the Likud party, accused
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of giving a green light to the policy
change by agreeing to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a
moderate, while Hamas remained in power.

Olmert has seen his public standing plummet since a war with
Hizbollah guerrillas ended on August14 with the group's leaders still
in power and two Israeli soldiers, whose capture sparked the
fighting, still not released.



PHOTOS

?

?Israel kills 5 in Gaza; [a woman 3 teenagers and one armed man]
Hamas welcomes Quartet move

Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:56am ET?

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead five Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip on Thursday on the bloodiest day in the coastal territory
in weeks.

Troops killed a woman, 35, and an armed man during a raid of a
militant stronghold in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

In northern Gaza, soldiers killed three teenagers, whom Palestinians
said were shepherds and the Israeli army said were tinkering with a
rocket launcher. Two rockets were launched from the area earlier,
damaging an Israeli apartment building.



The flare-up came after Egypt reported progress in efforts to free an
Israeli soldier whose capture on June 25 in a cross-border raid from
Gaza, sparked an Israeli offensive in which more than 215
Palestinians have been killed.

The ruling Islamic militant group Hamas welcomed a statement by the
Quartet of Middle East peace mediators endorsing efforts to forge a
Palestinian unity government that could help end the offensive and an
international aid blockade.

In its statement issued on Wednesday, the United States, European
Union, United Nations and Russia said any unity government should
"reflect" demands to recognize Israel, renounce terrorism and abide
by peace deals.

The Quartet did not call on the Palestinian government to explicitly
meet the three conditions, and also urged Israel to hand over
withheld Palestinian tax revenues.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the statement was a sign of
progress and "we hope that this position will contribute to stopping
all forms of political and economic siege."

ISRAEL REACTS CAUTIOUSLY

Israel reacted cautiously to the statement with some officials
acknowledging it amounted to a weakening of an international campaign
to isolate the Hamas-led government that came to power in March.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said it was critical to insist
that Hamas meet the three conditions. "Giving legitimacy to the
extremists that do not accept the three benchmarks can only undermine
the position of the moderates."

Right-wing Israeli politicians said the Quartet position amounted to
a defeat for Israel.

Silvan Shalom, a former foreign minister of the Likud party, accused
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of giving a green light to the policy
change by agreeing to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a
moderate, while Hamas remained in power.

Olmert has seen his public standing plummet since a war with
Hizbollah guerrillas ended on August14 with the group's leaders still
in power and two Israeli soldiers, whose capture sparked the
fighting, still not released.

A poll in Israel's biggest circulation daily, Yedioth Ahronoth,
showed Olmert trailing two right-wing lawmakers and two of his own
cabinet ministers, with a mere 7 percent saying he was best suited as
prime minister.

American and Israeli officials have cast doubt on the prospect of
Palestinians forming a unity government anytime soon, a reason why
the United States was willing to soften its stance, a senior Israeli
government source said.

The Americans "did not want to get into a fight with the Europeans
over what they think is a dead horse."

Tensions between Abbas's Fatah movement and Hamas flared up last week
when a top intelligence official loyal to Abbas was gunned down in Gaza.

Tawfik Tirawi, a deputy intelligence commander, held a news
conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, accusing Hamas of
failing to stop the attack and arrest those responsible, warning this
could bring more violence.

"If we do not quickly end this case and arrest all
perpetrators...then we are heading toward destruction," Tirawi said.
Hamas rejected the allegations as politically motivated.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)