3 Articles - Israel and Palestinians

Chemicals for explosives concealed in Palestinian food containers transiting open Israel-Gaza border crossings
March 5, 2008, 1:36 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israel reopened the border crossings Tuesday, March 3, for food and other essential supplies to reach the Gaza population. Wednesday, a load of cans marked “edible oil” was found to contain a chemical substance resembling glue for the manufacture of explosives used in Palestinian missiles fired against Israel. The trucks, like the 100 which crossed into Gaza Tuesday, originated in the West Bank.


An Israeli soldier killed, three injured, 10 missiles hit Sderot
March 6, 2008, 10:25 PM (GMT+02:00)
A second soldier is critically wounded. Their patrol jeep was struck by a roadside bomb outside Kissufim Wednesday night, March 5. DEBKAfile reports, that an average of five of these devices are routinely discovered and defused on the Gaza border fence day by day.
In Sderot, a Qassam rocket set a home ablaze, seriously injuring two occupants. It was the second direct hit to a Sderot home from Gaza Thurs. March 6. The town took 10 Palestinian missiles during the day.
Two Qassam missiles exploded in Sderot Thursday afternoon, one crashing into a home, leaving several people in shock.


Egyptian ambulances help Hamas smuggle fighters and weapons into Gaza
March 6, 2008, 7:44 PM (GMT+02:00)
On Sunday, March 2, Egypt re-opened Gaza’s Rafah crossing for the first time since Hamas blew up the border wall on Jan. 23 for ambulances to collect some 150 wounded Palestinians.
DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that 27 ambulances also brought in 15-20 Hamas commando fighters, part of the of the 120-strong group rounded up in Sinai and detained on their return from advanced courses in Iran and Syria. They were permitted to cross back into Gaza with a quantity of weapons and ammunition.
Israel military sources are watching to see if the incoming ambulances are also carrying shoulder-borne anti-air missiles for shooting down Israeli helicopters and drones, which Hamas has been pressing Egypt to allow them to bring in. So far Cairo has resisted this demand but may have now relented. These sources describe the returning Hamas fighters as highly trained for guerilla warfare against conventional armies and therefore a valuable increment for Hamas’ war against Israel.
Our sources also confirm that the incoming group of trained fighters is not the first Cairo waved through the Rafah terminal. Last week, as fighting flared between Israel and Hamas, 17 were admitted to reinforce embattled Hamas. Israel officials imposed a blackout on this incident, reluctant to show the public the two-faced nature of Cairo’s policy of lenience for Hamas behind the mask of cooperation with Israel’s war on terror. The Olmert government also feared the exposure of the real state of affairs on the Gaza-Egyptian frontier notwithstanding its under-the-counter tacit acceptance of the buildup of Egyptian frontier troops to 1,500 in breach of the 1982 peace treaty.
Prime minister Olmert prefers to avoid any disclosures that might embarrass Cairo ahead of Condoleezza Rice’s visits to Israel, Ramallah and Egypt, starting Tuesday, March 4. According to our Washington sources, she will rap Palestinian knuckles for Hamas’ missile blitz, but at the same time tighten the screw on Israel to lift its siege of Gaza and reopen the border crossings. (Food and other convoys have never really stopped crossing into Gaza even under fire.)
The Mubarak government therefore is not afraid to reopen the supposedly closed Rafah terminal from time to time whenever Hamas demands essential items to fuel its ongoing war on Israel.