Worldwide Web WorldTribune.com

  breaking... 


Friday, November 9, 2007       Free Headline Alerts

Israeli cabinet official on Gaza withdrawal: 'We made a very big mistake'

TEL AVIV — The Israeli Cabinet is debating a response to the daily Palestinian missile strikes and increasingly sophisticated ground assaults from the Gaza Strip, evacuated by Israel in 2005.

"Israel must respond," National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said. "What else? I admit and confess that I was one of those who strongly supported [former Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon. And today I say with my head held high: We erred, we made a very big mistake [in withdrawing from the Gaza Strip]."

Some ministers are calling for an immediate invasion that would destroy the Hamas regime, while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are resisting, under pressure from the United States.

Also In This Edition

Meanwhile, Israeli military sources said Hamas combatants in the Gaza Strip have been equipped with U.S. night-vision systems, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the systems were purchased from Western suppliers via eBay through Arab middle-men.

"Some of the equipment comes from the United States and was probably purchased through commercial channels," a military source said.

[On Thursday, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon ordered an investigation into the firing of Kassam-class, short-range missiles from a UN school. The school was located in Beit Hanoun, about three kilometers from the Israeli border.]

The military sources said Hamas combatant squads employed night-vision goggles in reconnaissance and commando operations against Israel's military in the eastern Gaza Strip. They said the night-vision systems facilitate a rapid Hamas response to Israeli military incursions.

The Hamas night-vision systems were recovered in nightly battles with Israeli elite units in a three-kilometer zone from Israel. One system was identified as a high-performance night-vision monocle that could be installed on a helmet or weapon.

"It's available on the Internet, you can order it from eBay and have it sent to an Arab country and then smuggle it to Gaza," an Israeli intelligence officer told the Israeli daily Haaretz.

The sources said the night-vision systems were believed to have been smuggled from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. They said the volume of smuggled weapons, missile components and other military systems increased over the last six months in what appeared to mark cooperation between Hamas and Egyptian border units.

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced legislation that would withhold $200 million in U.S. military aid to Egypt unless it improved security cooperation with Israel. Egypt has asserted that arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip — estimated at $20 million per month — was enabled by corrupt Israeli officers.


About Us     l    Contact Us     l    Geostrategy-Direct.com     l    East-Asia-Intel.com
Copyright © 2007    East West Services, Inc.    All rights reserved.