Did the blockade runners fire first when the Israelis raided the flotilla?
Israel's top general on Wednesday accused passengers on board a Gaza-bound aid ship of firing the first shots of a deadly confrontation which ended with the deaths of nine Turkish nationals.
Giving sworn testimony to a five-member Israeli commission of inquiry, Gabi Ashkenazi admitted the military establishment had failed to foresee the level of violence which would be directed at the navy commandos landing on the deck of the Mavi Marmara passenger ferry.
"The first shots fired on the Marmara were by the people on board and not by IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers," he told the panel, referring to the Turkish passenger ship leading a six-ship flotilla headed for the Palestinian territory.
"This is unequivocably clear," he said, pointing out that right from the outset, troops had faced live fire, with the second commando who tried to reach the deck being shot in the stomach.
"We had underestimated the intensity of the resistance we would encounter on board the ship," he said, adding that the shooting was "a by-product of (the passengers') decision to attack the soldiers."
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Whatever your opinions of Israeli raids into Gaza, the bottom line is this: rocket attacks are down dramatically this year.
The number of rockets and mortars launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip has dramatically reduced after Operation Cast Lead from December 2008-January 2009, during which the IDF acted to prevent Hamas and other terrorist groups from firing rockets at Israel. In 2008 and during Operation Cast Lead, 3,684 projectiles were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. That number was reduced to 302 for the entire year of 2009 following the Gaza operation. Despite this sharp reduction, rockets from the Gaza Strip continue to be fired at Israel.
Since the beginning of 2010 until the end of July, 120 projectiles were launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The months with the highest incidences of rocket fire this year were March and January, with 29 and 27 rockets and mortars launched at Israel, respectively. The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization, as the governing body of the Gaza Strip, solely responsible for these and future rocket attacks emanating from the region and will continue to act in self-defense to prevent future rocket attacks from being carried out.
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Was Israel lining up a counterattack into Lebanon following the tree-cutting incident?
French sources told Asharq Alawsat newspaper that the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in a telephone conversation after the deadly clash in southern Lebanon, that Israel was "intending to carry out a major military operation to discipline the Lebanese army and to "retaliate for the killing of a senior Israeli officer."
According to these sources, these contacts were made at the highest levels, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
According to the sources in Paris, the fact that Hizbullah was not part of the confrontation prevented new war. The sources in France told the newspaper that Israel "has no interest in launching war against the Lebanese army" because its is the only side that can "solve the problem of southern Lebanon and impose the state authority in this area."
By: Brant
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