UN-Truth

At around 0800 hours in Jerusalem (and Gaza and Lebanon), reports came in of three Katuysha missile attacks on the Israeli coastal city of Nahariyya.

Three hours later, there were reports of more Katuyshas falling on the north of Israel. UPDATE: A subsequent report doubt was cast on these reports, which could have been caused by sonic booms, according to this subsequent report … FURTHER UPDATE: This subsequent report is now being called a “false alarm” …

Nahariyya is north of Tel Aviv, and also north of Haifa [NOT south of Haifa, as I wrongly wrote earlier].

Nahariyya is closer to Lebanon than to Gaza…

UPDATE: A new report just in says that Lebanese media are reporting that Israel has fired back at the area in Lebanon where these Katyushas were fired from …

The Associated Press reported that “The Israeli military confirmed it carried out “pinpoint fire” [artillery] in response [to the first volley of Katyushas] without elaborating. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket barrage from Lebanon. Israeli defense commentators said they believed Hezbollah was behind the salvo, but expected the incident to be a one-time show of solidarity with the Palestinians, not a declaration of war”. This AP report can be found here .

A subsequent AP report filed from Beirut said that “A Lebanese government official says his country is trying to determine who launched rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel. The official also says Lebanon is committed to a U.N.-brokered truce that ended the brutal 2006 war between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations”. This AP report can be found here

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, according to another report in the JPost, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah “vowed to crush any offensive Israel might launch against Hizbullah. He also chastised Arab leaders for trying to mediate a truce between Hamas and Israel rather than siding with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel has warned Hizbullah against igniting a second front, saying it would retaliate massively”. This article can be read in full here .

There were earlier reports of Qassam rockets hitting Israeli southern coastal towns of Ashkelon and Ashdod.

This may be a repeat of what happened in June-July 2006, when Hizballah opened a second front to deflect IDF attacks on Gaza after Palestinian fighters from Gaza captured IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit in a “cross-border” raid near Kerem Shalom (where the borders of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the Egyptian Sinai intersect).

Last night, in an ominous turn, the IDF dropped leaflets on homes in the Palestinian area of Rafah, telling them to leave their homes by 0800 [though of course not telling them where it might be safe for them to go.]

But, there were reports that 31 homes in Rafah were destroyed overnight, by two hours before the 0800 deadline.

Al-Jazeera is now reporting heavy bombing in Rafah.

High ranking reserve IDF officers have spoken openly of their wish — thwarted during Israel’s unilateral “Disengagement” from Gaza in 2005 — to create a one-mile “sterile” zone on BOTH sides of the border at Rafah (the Palestinian AND Egyptian sides)…

CORRECTION: Apparently these IDF officers — and one of the most prominent among them is Yom-Tov Samia — want a three-kilometer wide “sterile zone” on the Gazan side of the border. But he also wants a sterile zone on the Egyptian side.

The Jerusalem Post reported today that: “First reports on Wednesday night suggested that the IDF was preempting the diplomats in starting to create a new reality at the Gaza-Egypt border. Tellingly, the IDF’s former Gaza commander, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yom-Tov Samia, has been serving in recent days as an adviser to the current OC Southern Command, Maj-Gen. Yoav Galant. A year ago, Samia penned an article for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs entitled “Weapons Smuggling from Egypt to Gaza: What Can Egypt and Israel Do?” His prescription: “The Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza should be the first priority for Israel. We should not expect the Egyptians to do the job for us, so this means we should clear the three kilometers from our side. As I have been saying for years, Israel should reoccupy Philadelhpi and should stay there until we have had a peaceful relationship with the Palestinians for 25 years.” This JPost article can be read in full here .

Haaretz reported on Thursday that Amos Gilad of Israel’s Defense Ministry will participate in talks in Cairo today about a cease-fire, and that “A political source in Jerusalem said that the negotiations would focus on an international proposal for a security agreement over the contentious Philadelphi Route, on the Egypt-Gaza border, where Hamas militants have been digging tunnels for smuggling arms and militants … Egypt said on Tuesday it was proposing an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Strip, to be followed by talks on long-term arrangements including an end to the blockade of Gaza … The Netherlands and Denmark, meanwhile, have proposed that the EU contribute personnel for “watertight control and monitoring of the Egyptian-Gaza border’. But [the EU's foreign policy chief Javier] Solana said hunting for tunnels would ‘be done probably with technology, not with people’. Israeli officials say advanced sonar can detect some tunnels but they were skeptical technology alone would prevent Palestinians from rebuilding secret passages under the sandy, 14 km-long Philadelphi corridor”. This report can be read in full here .

And, AP has published an analytical article about reasons why a US-funded program fails to stop tunnel smuggling from the Sinai into Gaza. It reported that “the United States last year allocated [nb - this should rather read "paid" -- see below] $23 million to help train Egyptian officials to stop the smuggling into Gaza through tunnels at a border plagued by crisis and corruption … Previous attempts to close the tunnels have largely failed, partly because of the mutual mistrust between Israel and Egypt and partly because of Egypt’s inability to rein in corruption and alleviate poverty in the Sinai. The region near Gaza is home to tens of thousands of mostly disaffected Bedouin. Many of these nomads earn their living through smuggling. Some critics say Egypt has never undertaken a truly robust effort because it hopes to use the issue to gain something it wants in turn: the right to deploy troops at the Sinai border, which was denied under the 1979 Camp David Accords. Egyptian officials also have been leery of making the border with Gaza truly normal and functioning, fearing an influx of Palestinian militancy into Egypt … U.S. officials, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has helped train Egyptian border guards, and the Defense Department, which implements U.S. foreign military assistance programs, refused to give details of how and when the $23 million was spent. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo confirmed that the U.S. is working with Egypt and said the Corps of Engineers was sharing its expertise. The embassy would provide no further details, describing the program as led by Egypt. The Ministry of Defense declined to comment immediately on the issue … An Egyptian security official at the border would say only that five U.S. Army engineers arrived at the frontier in the fall — about nine months after the money was allocated by the U.S. — and stayed for a month to train Egyptian guards to use high-tech radar that can detect tunnels by locating cavities underground. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, insisted the effort boosted Egypt’s ability to detect more tunnels in recent months, but would not elaborate. Israeli military and Shin Bet security officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with defense establishment rules, say Egypt began deploying the U.S. equipment — including a form of ground-penetrating radar — only about three months ago … Congress moved in late 2007 to put conditions on the $2 billion in aid, most of it military assistance, that Washington gives annually to Egypt — the second-largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel.
Congress voted to withhold $100 million until Egypt, among other things, stopped the flow of weapons through the tunnels. Egypt, which dislikes conditions being put on the U.S. aid, suspected that Israel was behind the lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill and was hostile to the idea at first, according to a top local U.S. diplomat who spoke about the program at the time. The diplomat spoke only on condition of anonymity because the matter involved sensitive relations between Egypt and Israel. Under congressional pressure, Egypt agreed in January 2008 to spend $23 million of the U.S. military aid solely on training and technical equipment to detect the tunnels”.

The AP story also reported that “Tunnel smuggling between Egypt and Gaza dates back to the 1980s, when Israel returned to the Sinai Desert to Egypt. But it spiraled out of control after Hamas seized power, provoking Israel and Egypt to cut the Gaza Strip off from the outside world. Yet during the time period that Egypt promised to step up its tunnel detection last year, Hamas was able to obtain a growing number of more sophisticated, longer-range weapons, which U.S. and Israeli officials have said they believe are made of parts originating in Syria or Iran … One smuggler at the frontier town of Rafah joked about the U.S. effort. ‘They spent millions and they only got a few tunnels’, said the smuggler, who would not give his name for fear of arrest by Egyptian authorities. The father of seven, who insisted he does not smuggle weapons, said smuggling is a way of life for Rafah residents, many of whom are unemployed or make less than $100 a month at their government jobs. Smuggling a box of cigarettes can bring $70, a box of bullets $200, he said. Even if caught, a smuggler can easily pay off border guards, many of whom earn even less, he said. Rebuilding the tunnels if they are destroyed also is easy, he said. ‘All of Rafah relies on the tunneling business. For God sake, look at all the modern cars in this town, which is full of unemployed people’, he said”. This AP report can be read in full here.

And, the U.S. State Department has updated a travel alert for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza; “[T]he Israel Defense Force (IDF) is engaged in a military operation against terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. This operation began on December 27, 2008, with aerial and naval bombardment, and expanded on January 3, 2009, to include ground operations. Since the December 19, 2008, expiration of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, terrorist organizations have launched ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza into southern Israel. The Department of State urges U.S. citizens traveling to and within Israel and the West Bank to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. No official U.S. Government travel is permitted within the Gaza Strip. Due to the ongoing conflict and limited ability of the U.S. Government to assist American citizens in the Gaza Strip, the Department of State urges American citizens, including journalists and aid workers, to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip. This Travel Alert expires on January 31, 2009 … [T]he Government of Israel’s Home Front Command has ordered residents of all communities within 40 kilometers of the Gaza Strip, including Beersheva, Yavne, and Gadera, to take precautions against the possibility of rocket strikes … Specific guidance in English is available at the Home Front Command website: here .

Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, Israel, Journalism and Journalists, Lebanon, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, UN Secretary-General, UN Security Council