Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Israel Says Proposals For Truce With Palestinians Unrealistic

Israel Says Proposals For Truce With Palestinians Unrealistic (NSI News Source Info) TEL AVIV - December 31, 2008: Israel considers all international proposals on a ceasefire in Gaza unrealistic and insists that Palestinian militants should stop attacks first, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. Israel launched on Saturday a series of airstrikes targeting the infrastructure of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic movement that controls Gaza. More than 380 Palestinians have died in the aerial assault, as well as four Israelis killed by rockets and mortars fired into Israel as a response. Israeli soldiers stand atop a tank outside the central Gaza Strip December 30, 2008. Israel hit the Gaza Strip with more air strikes on Tuesday and said its military action could last weeks, while rockets fired by Islamist Hamas struck deep inside the Jewish state. Israeli soldiers stand atop a tank outside the central Gaza Strip December 30, 2008. Israel hit the Gaza Strip with more air strikes on Tuesday and said its military action could last weeks, while rockets fired by Islamist Hamas struck deep inside the Jewish state. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that international society was sending various proposals to Israel asking to stop raids, but so far none of them match Israelis' demands. "In order for a proposal to become realistic, it needs to strictly include guarantees of stopping rocket fire and terrorist attacks, as well as provisions on how Hamas will stick to these guarantees," Palmor said. France, at the end of its six months as EU president, proposed in particular that Israel announces a 48-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel has said its military operation was aimed at eliminating the threat to its population of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza, and was launched in response to increased militant rocket attacks since a six-month truce ended on December 19. Israel's Defense Ministry said it had kept one border crossing open for the three working days since its military operation began. In that time, 179 trailers of humanitarian goods have passed through into the enclave, the ministry said.

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