Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

Haniya, Barak, Mofaz Speak About the Delayed Agreement on an Israeli-Palestinian Truce

Haniya: Truce is a Zio-American requirement

[ 13/06/2008 - 12:18 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said on Thursday that truce was a Zio-American requirement after the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip has failed to achieve its ends.

He also said that the constant Israeli threats of a large scale invasion of the Gaza Strip aim to cover for the daily aggressions and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, crimes that the Israelis seek to portray as reactions Palestinian resistance actions.

Haniya, who was speaking at a reception organised by the Palestinian professional syndicates in Gaza, said that the US project in the region is failing as they have started many wars in the region that they could not satisfactorily conclude, including proxy wars that the US lead like the one in the Gaza Strip.

He also talked about signs of failure of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and its elected government and that despite the suffering caused by the two year siege, Palestinians have not abandoned their demands for justice.

On the question of truce he said that the Israeli occupation was talking about complete destruction of the Palestinian resistance and set themselves three aims for their early march onslaught: removing the Hamas government, stopping home made missiles and stop arms smuggling, adding that they admitted failure on the three counts.

On the question of internal Palestinian dialogue, Haniya said that for the dialogue to succeed, there has to be direct talks between Fatah and Hamas to patch up their differences then the talks could be expanded to include all Palestinian factions.

However, he warned that the US would try to thwart any moves towards national unity.

Barak holds Israeli government responsible for not achieving a truce with Hamas

Friday June 13, 2008 21:24 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli occupation government defense minister, Ehud Barak, stated on Friday that the Israeli occupation government is blocking any truce deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip as it is incapable of making any decisions because it is consumed in the primaries of the ruling Kadima party.

In a speech in front of Labor Party activists in Tel Aviv, Barak said that the government cannot make any decisions on dealing with Hamas, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and the United States, and added that all discussions taken by the security cabinet are only for media consumption.

The Labor Party chairman stated that the government could have reached a truce agreement with Hamas a long time ago, but “this is overshadowed by Kadima primaries”.

Members of the Kadima party, headed by the Israeli occupation government, prime minister, Ehud Olmert, slammed the statements of Barak and described them as rude.

The Kadima Party is now preparing for early elections as Olmert is under investigation of corruption. He is accused of illegally receiving hundreds of thousands of US Dollars from Morris Talansky, a Jewish American Millionaire.

 It is worth mentioning that Barak called on Thursday for dissolving the Israeli parliament (Knesset) and preparation for general elections in Israel unless the Kadima party speeds its primaries (to elect a replacement for the corruption-accused Olmert).

Israeli minister: we should attack Hamas instead of begging them for truce

[ 13/06/2008 - 09:01 PM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)--

The Israeli minister of transport, Shaul Mofaz, was reported by the Israeli radio as saying that Israel should continue its militarily strikes against Hamas until the latter begs Israel for truce and not the other way round.

The former war minister was speaking on Friday morning to students of a school in Negev in southern occupied Palestine where he opined that giving the truce efforts another chance by the Israeli government was problematic and did not serve the Israeli interests.

He also told the students that Israel should have changed its policies towards the Gaza Strip as soon as Hamas took control of it rather than wait for a year without taking the right decision.

He added that instead of forcing the Palestinian resistance organizations to ask for truce, the present situation is the exact opposite; Israel is asking for truce and begging for it despite the fact that it has all the potential to defend itself and its citizens as no state in the world that respects itself would allow its citizens to live under the mercy of rockets.

Mofaz, who was born in Tehran in 1948, last week threatened Israeli military action against Iran because western diplomacy has failed to stop the Iranian nuclear programme.

Observers, however, believe that Mofaz's remarks are mainly for domestic consumption to help his campaign for the leadership of Kadima Party.