MIDDLE EAST: Israeli air strike kills two in Gaza city, while European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana urges negotiation

Israel killed two Palestinians and wounded eight others as part of the Gaza offensive, local witnesses and the army said on Thursday (July 20). An air strike killed one militant as he was preparing to launch an anti-tank rocket at Israeli troops in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, an army spokesman said. In Sderot, Israel, the target of many of the Qassam rockets fired from Gaza, Israeli Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter vowed that actions in Gaza would intensify after the Lebanese action quietens down. "When the operation ends in the north (Lebanon) I am sure the south's (Gaza) turn will come and they will get a lot of attention despite the fact that even today it receives a lot of attention. We witness nightly operations, not just against Qassams (rockets) but also against tunnels and against those who want to carry out attacks inside Israel and I really think that the issue of Qassams will get a treatment, an even more effective treatment when the Katushas end it will be the turn of the Qassams in the south," Dichter said. Israel has refused Hamas demands that Israel free Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli Army Corporal Gilad Shalit, a 19-year-old tank gunner, who is believed to be held in Gaza. Israel and western countries have shunned the Hamas-led Palestinian government since it claimed victory in parliamentary elections in January. Israel is also fighting Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon after they abducted two soldiers in a cross-border raid last week and killed eight others. Israel has said it will keep fighting on both fronts until it gets its soldiers back and removes the threats on its borders. On the West Bank, in Ramallah, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana met Palestinian lawmakers on Thursday, after one of the worst days of violence since Israel launched an offensive to free the abducted soldier in Gaza. Solana met chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, before telling reporters that anybody who had influence to release abducted Israeli soldiers, needed to act quickly. The European Union diplomat said that it was not the right time for "miracle" solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I don't think it's the moment to bring a miraculous solution to the market. It's the moment to come, to talk, to analyse together, and to see what together can be done. It's not the moment that somebody can come from the side with a miraculous proposal in the market but they can't really win. To cooperate, to talk to their friends and to see how together," Solana said. Israel has killed about 110 Palestinians, around half of them militants, in Gaza since the abduction of an Israeli soldier there, and vowed to continue its three-week offensive until the soldier is freed and gunmen stop firing rockets into Israel.

ITN Source | July 20, 2006

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