IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

Prime minister tells security cabinet that military operation will not end until all goals are achieved.



Israel today rejected calls for a ceasefire and said it would continue its attack on Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, told a meeting of the security cabinet that Israel would continue military operations until all its goals had been achieved, news agency reports and the Ha'aretz newspaper website said.

"We did not begin the Gaza operation in order to finish it with rocket fire continuing like it did before," Ha'aretz quoted Olmert as saying. "Israel has restrained for years and given plenty of chances for a calm."

The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, today added to the pressure for an urgent ceasefire amid what he called a "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza. He said it was "vital that moderation must now prevail".

The Israeli security cabinet met to discuss military options, including a ground invasion of Gaza or continuation of the current strategy of air strikes. It rejected a European Union proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"If conditions will ripen and we think there will be a diplomatic solution that will ensure a better security reality in the south, we will consider it. But at the moment it's not there," the Reuters news agency quoted Olmert as saying. "We didn't start this operation just to end it with rocket fire continuing as it did before it began ... Imagine if we declare a unilateral ceasefire and a few days later rockets fall on (the town of) Ashkelon. What will that do to Israel's deterrence?"

Military operations continued for a fifth day, with jets and assault helicopters attacking targets in Gaza through pouring rain. The Israeli military bombed more government buildings in Gaza, including the office of the former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. The military said it hit 35 other sites in Gaza, including more smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border and what it described as buildings storing weapons.

Palestinian militants fired rockets into southern Israel again, for the first time reaching the city of Be'ersheva in the Nagev desert, 25 miles from Gaza.

Palestinian deaths stand at more than 390 since the bombing began on Saturday. At least 64 of the dead are ####civilians, according to the United Nations. Two victims were girls aged four and 11, killed as they rode on a cart. ####Four Israelis have been killed in Palestinian rocket attacks since Saturday.

Olmert met for four hours last night with the defence minister, Ehud Barak, the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and senior army commanders and security officials. Reports suggested Olmert opposed any pause in the fighting, while Barak was thought to be in favour of a temporary ceasefire to gauge the reaction of Hamas.

"Giving Hamas a respite just to regroup, rearm is a mistake," said Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev. "The pressure on the Hamas military machine must continue."

Yesterday, Regev said there was no "quick fix" and Israel had enough international "understanding" to carry on provided its attacks to stop Hamas rocket fire were "surgically precise" and it cooperated with attempts to deliver humanitarian relief.

Following a meeting in Paris, EU foreign ministers said there could be "no military solution" to the conflict and called for humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza. "There must be an unconditional halt to rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel and an end to Israeli military action," they said in a statement.

France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU until tomorrow , has called on Israel to halt attacks for 48 hours to allow in humanitarian aid. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, will meet Livni in Paris tomorrow and it has been reported he will travel to Israel on 5 January.

European diplomats said pressure on Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire would have to be exerted by the US, whose support so far has allowed Israel a free hand in Gaza. The US has called for a "sustainable and durable" ceasefire that is fully respected by Hamas. "We don't just want a ceasefire for the sake of a ceasefire, only for violence to start up immediately, or within the next few weeks," said the White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "That serves no one's interest."

Yesterday, ####Olmert called the air campaign "the first of several" phases of military operations. Tanks have been ####massing near the Gaza border in case a land ####invasion is authorised.

The absence of pressure from Washington is clearly an important factor, while Israel appears to rule out the EU playing a significant role.

There were reports of food shortages and sharply increased prices in Gaza. Most shops remained closed. Despite the crisis, Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, said he would not allow a full opening of his country's border crossing with Gaza at Rafah.

Egypt has let through a small number of injured Palestinians but Mubarak said the crossing would not ####reopen until it was restored to the jurisdiction of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president who heads the western-backed Palestinian Authority. Given Hamas's dominance of Gaza – Abbas's support lies in the West Bank part of the divided territory – that is unlikely to happen.

Arab League diplomats are meeting in Cairo today to prepare for an emergency summit in Qatar on Friday. EU diplomats hope they will agree measures to end the crisis, including an Arab ####contribution to security for the Gaza border crossings.

Israel rejects Gaza ceasefire | World news | guardian.co.uk

surprise surprise

__________________
**Life is short. Too young; too soon. Love everyone!**

be careful of who you pretend to be, you are who you pretend to be - kurt vonnegut

"Mommy, stop waking me up for Kindergarten. You don't see me waking you up for work. You do that because you want to." Ahhh, the joys of parenting :-) - RNH
(too funny) :

dey want dem niggas dead

Israel ordered to allow international media into Gaza | World news | guardian.co.uk

..."The state's prohibition on journalists violates two fundamental rights – the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press," the FPA's lawyer, Gilead Sher, said.

"There are several countries in this world, such as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Burma, that ban press coverage in conflict zones. Israel is a democracy with a free liberal press and it should stay so, even in times of crisis and danger."

The government has until 10am tomorrow to respond to the court ruling as it faces growing pressure to open the crossing with increasing numbers of journalists flying in to cover the conflict.

"We want to be able to see foreign correspondents enter Gaza to report," Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said.

"It would facilitate better coverage of what's going on in Gaza. Hamas, due to its control over civil society, is able to manipulate and exploit the situation to its own benefit." For the past 18 months, Israel has imposed an increasingly tough blockade on Gaza with the stated aim of weakening Hamas's control on the territory.

In early November, it again tightened the closure, banning the international media for several days at a time.

Israel began closing the Erez crossing – through which journalists, foreign dignitaries and humanitarian aid workers walk into Gaza – when its six-month ceasefire with Hamas began unravelling after November 4...

dem fockers just need tuh be left alone...deh guh always fight ova dat one strip of land til one of dem jus die out.. deh been fightin in deh since our fathers time some 2k years ago, weh ent stoppin dem now

__________________
bogle arung deh place night an day suh just do bogle dance seh meh ear chune ah play

Cartoonists' depictions of the Gaza assualt.







lol

u cah want to throw stones and no get no rockets.

__________________
www.yaried-sound.com
www.myspace.com/djyaried
www.twitter.com/djyaried

Israelis are gangsta...

Good post Toppa..I was listening to this piece of news this morning when I woke up..Curious to see how much further this will develop

__________________
: Music is my passion : http://www.imeem.com/airmanpromo

Pretty much

all egypt lock they borders to them

gaza come in like one big concentration camp


I wonder just how far the Israelis could go before the international community would intervene with military force

They sure do seem to push the limits as if they trying to see themselves sometimes

The US will veto any Security Council resolution brought against Israel.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-file...12/31/GAZA.pdf

Gaza conflict toll

Palestinians - 390

Israel - 4

Israel and Gaza compared

Population

Israel - 6.4m Gaza - 1.5m

Armed forces

Israel - 0.5m Hamas from 500 to 6,000

Tanks

Israel - 3,501 Hamas 0

Combat aircraft

Israel - 393 Hamas - 0

Funding

Israeli defence budget $9.5bn Hamas annual funding $50m

Nizar Rayyan and his family die in raid on home as Israel rejects calls for a ceasefire

A senior member of Hamas was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home today, after Israel rejected any temporary halt to its bombing campaign.

Nizar Rayyan, a strong advocate of renewed suicide bombings who had close ties to the military wing of Hamas, was killed with members of his family. It is the first time aircraft have targeted a political leader of Hamas since Israel launched its offensive on Saturday.

Medics said seven people were killed and about 30 were wounded in the air strike on Rayyan's house today.

Israel also targeted government buildings in Gaza and continued to mass troops along the border, while demanding international monitors as a key term of any future truce.

Hamas security officials said buildings housing the education and transportation ministries had been virtually destroyed. The Palestinian parliament building was also hit, they said. Gunmen in Gaza retaliated by firing a long-range rocket at the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva.

As Israel carried out air strikes for a sixth day, the Israeli military said preparations for a ground operation were complete.

"The infantry, the artillery and other forces are ready. They're around the Gaza Strip, waiting for any calls to go inside," Major Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said.

A possible invasion by Israeli forces could range from limited ground incursions to a much larger land invasion of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Another call-up of reservists has been approved, bringing the total to 9,000.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, will not agree to a truce unless international monitors take responsibility for enforcing it, government officials said, a point he made in talks with the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and other world leaders.

Meanwhile, Israel widened its buffer zone under military authority around Gaza to a radius of 25 miles after the reach of Hamas rockets extended to the town of Be'er Sheva.

A poll in the Ha'aretz newspaper showed most Israelis, 52%, favoured pursuing the attacks in Gaza, with 20% backing calls for a ceasefire, and 19% favouring a ground offensive into the Palestinian territory. The Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Israel must stop its attacks, lift its economic blockade of Gaza and open border crossings before any truce proposals could be considered.

In the first indication of a division over the course of the engagement since the conflict began on Saturday, Olmert personally championed a continuation of the military campaign while his defence minister, Ehud Barak, proposed a 48-hour halt on Tuesday night.

"If conditions will ripen and we think there will be a diplomatic solution that will ensure a better security reality in the south we will consider it. But at the moment, it's not there," an aide quoted Olmert as saying.

"We didn't start this operation just to end it with rocket fire continuing as it did before it began. Imagine if we declare a unilateral ceasefire and a few days later rockets fall on Ashkelon. What will that do to Israel's deterrence?"

Olmert met Barak, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and his senior commanders for an apparently tense four-hour meeting on Tuesday night. A security cabinet meeting yesterday then decided against any pause in the bombing.

The French government had tried to convince the Israelis to accept the pause and to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. But Israel's leaders were keen not to repeat the experience of the 2006 Lebanon war when divisions over strategy led to recriminations and loss of confidence among the Israeli public.

Israeli jets yesterday bombed smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border as well as a mosque in Gaza City, which the military said was used to store weapons.

Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into southern Israel, reaching a new range of around 25 miles and hitting the city of Be'er Sheva. The rockets have killed four Israelis since Saturday. The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza rose to 393 with 1,650 wounded in five days.

Most military analysts say it is unlikely that Israel would embark on a costly full reoccupation of Gaza and not enough troops are in position for that. More likely is a series of smaller raids. However, although Israel faced little international criticism when the conflict started, pressure for a halt to the violence is growing from western governments as well as the UN and aid agencies.

Israel has allowed in around 100 trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies on each of the past two days, but that comes after months of severe economic blockade and big shortfalls in Gaza of food and medical supplies. The UN said it was still well short of what was needed and described the humanitarian situation in Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, as "alarming".

One Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the group was open to another ceasefire, but wanted Israel's economic blockade lifted. For more than a year Israel has prevented all imports, except limited humanitarian supplies, and prevented all exports from Gaza – in effect destroying private business.

Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike | World news | guardian.co.uk