11- Israel’s Battle for Peace - Prewar Updates 2008

Israel’s Battle for Peace
Prewar Updates: Israel/Gaza Conflict
Thursday, March 13, 2008
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* The IDF website had this report out yesterday evening and it started off like this... During a joint IDF and Border Police arrest operation that took place this evening in Bethlehem... Border Police Special Forces identified several Palestinian gunmen in a vehicle. The forces fired at the vehicle and confirmed killing four gunmen. An MP5 and two M16 rifles were found on their persons. The four were senior wanted terrorists belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization...
Read their report in full at link below...
Four Islamic Jihad Terrorists Killed by IDF Forces in Bethlehem

About photo: Weapons found on the gunmen's bodies.
Photo credit: IDF Spokesperson

* Guardian.co.uk has this report out Thursday and it starts off like this... Hamas and Israel's tacit ceasefire ended today when Palestinian militants launched a volley of rockets and Israel responded with an air raid on Gaza... After seven days of relative calm between Hamas and Israel, rival militant Palestinian groups indicated they would no longer support Hamas's proposal for a ceasefire... Islamic Jihad, a group backed by Iran, said it had launched 17 rockets from Gaza as an "initial response" to Israel's West Bank raids which killed five fighters last night...
Read the rest at link below...
Renewed attacks end hopes of Gaza ceasefire
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* AP.google.com has this report... Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza fired more than a dozen rockets at southern Israel early Thursday after Israeli undercover forces killed one of its West Bank leaders, shattering a recent lull in Gaza fighting... The new violence highlighted the fragility of efforts to move Israel and Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers toward an informal truce... The Islamic Jihad commander Mohammed Shehadeh was buried Thursday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem along with three other gunmen killed in the raid late Wednesday...
Read the rest at link below...
Gaza Rockets Barrage Southern Israel
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* IHT.com takes the story further with this report... "Hezbollah is coming," mourners chanted at Thursday's funeral of a Palestinian militant killed by Israel, his body wrapped in the flag of the Lebanese guerrilla group... A Hezbollah flag, along with Hamas banners, also adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last week. A shadowy group Palestinian security officials say is a front for Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rampage... Hezbollah has long operated behind the scenes in the Palestinian territories, funneling millions of dollars to militant groups for attacks against Israel, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. The Lebanese group's influence has become increasingly visible in the West Bank since last month's assassination of its military chief, Imad Mughniyeh, in an explosion in Syria that Hezbollah has blamed on Israel...
Read this report in full at link below...
Hezbollah becoming more visible in West Bank after assassination of its military chief

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Gods speed to the Israeli people
in their battle for peace
in their homeland.
AubreyJ.........
Thursday, March 13, 2008