Isreal prepares to humble Hamas

Story: " Israel will work to ensure the Hamas-led government falls if a soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants is not released alive, a high-ranking security official said.

"We will make sure that the Hamas government ceases to operate if the kidnapped soldier is not returned to us alive," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
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The Popular Resistance Committees, an armed Palestinian group, claimed Monday in a telephone call to AFP that it was holding the soldier, saying he was alive.

"We are holding the soldier. He is alive and in good health," said the representative of the group, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He gave no indications as to the whereabouts or the missing soldier, 20-year-old Gilad Shavit, who was abducted during a Palestinian attack on an army border post close to the Gaza Strip on Sunday that left two Israeli soldiers and two militants dead.

The Popular Resistance Committees, together with the armed wing of the govering Hamas movement and the previously unknown Army of Islam claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

Israel has vowed to avenge any harm done to the soldier who went missing after militants tunneled into Israel and launched the brazen attack, firing grenades and rockets at an army border post near southern Gaza.

It was the largest attack in the volatile border area since Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the impoverished coastal strip last summer, ending a 38-year presence.

Defence Minister Amir Peretz vowed Sunday a strong Israeli retaliation if the missing soldier were not released unharmed. "We will take revenge against anyone who injures the soldier, including their leaders," Peretz told reporters.

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In a joint statement, the militant groups said the dawn assault was revenge for the 22 civilians killed in an alleged Israeli shelling and botched air strikes since the start of June.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the Hamas-led Palestinian government for the attack.

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"Hamas has once again proved that it is the worst sort of terrorist organization," Gillerman told AFP in Jerusalem.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the moderate Palestinian Authority president to act swiftly to release the soldier, by force if necessary."

Isreal gave up the gaza strip last year for 'peace', and this is what the people of palistine call peace? They never should have backed down. Now, we have a 'democratically' elected Hamas as the leadership of palistine. Hamas has been an organization of terror for decades! But no, they have separated the militant wing of the party from the ruling part.
Just like the Soviets separated the Sword and the Sheild of the Party from the rulers.
It just doesn't work that way.

Let hamas and the palistine region have it. Raze the area, and rebuild something that produces something besides political shennanigans, death and mayhem.