Hamas gloats over withdrawal
jerusalem (jta) | Hamas said the Gaza Strip withdrawal was the “beginning of the end” of Israel.
“We see the withdrawal as the first step toward liberation and regaining all of our rights,” Khaled Meshaal, the politburo chief of the Islamic terrorist group, said in an interview with the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat published this week. “Today it is Gaza, tomorrow it will be the West Bank, and later it will be all of the land,” he said. “It is the beginning of the end of Israel.”
Having scaled back its attacks at the behest of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas vowed new violence after the Gaza withdrawal is completed. Meshaal ruled out any disarmament of Hamas, in defiance of the “road map” peace plan.
Gaza animals rescued in pullout
jerusalem (jta) | The Israeli army is allowing animal-protection groups into the Gaza Strip to rescue animals left behind by departing settlers.
“Animals need help in the evacuation,” said Nina Natelson, director of Concern for Helping Animals in Israel.
“They must not be left behind to suffer and die from thirst and hunger.” Many settlers are leaving cats, dogs and donkeys behind, in part because they are moving to places where they cannot keep them.
Travel warning issued on Gaza
new york (jta) | The U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the Gaza Strip.
The advisory, an intensification of prior warnings, calls on U.S. citizens to “avoid crowds, maintain a high level of vigilance, take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness and exercise caution in public places or while using public transportation” during Israel’s withdrawal, which began this week.
It also reiterates prior calls on Americans to avoid travel to Gaza, postpone unnecessary travel to the West Bank and weigh the necessity of travel to Israel.
Amnesty raps Israeli detentions
jerusalem (jta) | Amnesty International criticized Israel for detaining suspected activists against the Gaza withdrawal without charges.
After a Jewish terrorist killed four Israeli Arabs earlier this month, the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, placed three of his suspected associates under administrative detention.
One, who has U.S. as well as Israeli citizenship, was freed on condition that he leave the country for at least 40 days. In a statement issued this week, Amnesty International urged Israel to abandon the practice of administrative detention, which is usually exercised against suspected Palestinian terrorists.
“Those detained administratively must either be charged with a recognizable criminal offense and given a fair trial within a reasonable time or else be released,” it said. “The organization believes that the practice of administrative detention in Israel and the Occupied Territories violates fundamental human rights, notably the right to a fair trial, which should be guaranteed at all times, even in an emergency.”