Between the Lines: Why Civilians Get Killed

The article Fresh Gaza air strike kills three comes from the BBC. It refers to some civilian casualties; we add some comments between the lines.

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Fresh Gaza air strike kills three

Israeli forces have carried out further raids on the Gaza Strip, killing three Palestinian civilians in an air strike. Militant group Islamic Jihad said the air strike was aimed at its men, but missed the target. The Israeli military says its raids are to stop rocket attacks by militants. It said the civilians were killed by mistake and it is investigating.

[The Arab terrorists operate from within civilian areas, effectively using civilians as shields. This serves two purposes for them: it makes it more difficult for Israel to defend itself and they get a propaganda bonanza whenever civilians get killed.]

The latest attack takes the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza to more than 20 in the past two days.

[The number would be 0 if the Palestinian Arabs had taken advantage of the de facto state given to them in Gaza to build a society and improve their lives instead of using it as a terrorist base.]

Medical workers said those killed on Wednesday afternoon were all from the same family and included a teenage boy.

Earlier, Israeli troops in the West Bank killed a senior figure in Islamic Jihad's military wing.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshal Hamas, the militant Islamist group which is Gaza's de facto ruler, said Israeli military actions in the last two days have scuppered a possible prisoner exchange between an Israeli soldier held by Hamas and Palestinians held by Israel. Its Damascus-based leader in exile, Khaled Meshal, said it also jeopardised an informal ceasefire Hamas has adopted since 2005.

[The Arab-style cease fire means Israel ceases defending itself while the Arab terrorists continue to fire at them.]

"I tell the... enemy: What you are committing will deprive you of anything you're betting on. There will be no exchange involving Gilad Shalit, no calm or nothing of this sort," Mr Meshal said at a news conference.

[Not only did Hamas kidnap Gilad Shalit, but it has allowed no communication, not even allowing the Red Cross to visit Shalit.]

"Palestinian blood being spilt by you will be your curse. It will not bring you security. It will not prolong the existence of your entity," he added.

[Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.]

Earlier, Israeli troops killed Islamic Jihad commander Walid Obeidi during an exchange of fire in the West Bank village of Qabatiya, near the northern town of Jenin, officials and witnesses said.

Two of his bodyguards were wounded and arrested, the group said. The Israeli army said its troops had attempted to arrest Mr Obeidi, described as the head of the armed wing of the radical movement in the West Bank.

He refused to surrender and was killed in an exchange of fire, the military said.

The violence comes after Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators began talks on Monday on core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - borders, Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

[The core issue isn't even mentioned: the unwillingness of the Palestinian Arabs to accept the existence of Israel.]

The Palestinian Authority said Israel's military action was a "slap in the face" to US President George W Bush, who visited the area last week to promote peace talks.

[The murder by Palestinian Arab terrorists of Andres Muscara Chavez was a "slap in the fact" to President Bush; the barrage of more than a hundred Kassams and mortars aimed at Israeli civilians was a "slap in the fact" to President Bush; Israel's actions have merely been a minimal reaction to those provocations.]

Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for a heavy rocket barrage aimed at the Israeli town of Sderot on Wednesday, but there were no reports of injuries.

[Those rocket firings have continued and have, as planned, caused injuries.

The insistence on the part of Palestinian Arabs on using their de facto independent state of Hamastan as a launching pad for Kassams rather than as an opportunity to build a society and improve their own lives tells the whole story regarding the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.]