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Special Edition: The Situation in Israel and Gaza
Dear Readers,
The Israel Campus Beat has been on hiatus in recent months. However, we believe that the current situation in Israel and Gaza warrants publishing this special edition. We hope you find these articles informative, and we look forward to resuming ICB distribution in the future.
Sincerely,
The Israel Campus Beat Staff
Israeli City of Ashkelon Shocked as Palestinian Rockets Hit
by Aron Heller
Residents of the beachside city of Ashkelon are still coming to terms with being on the front lines of Israel's battle against Hamas militants. A dozen Katyusha rockets slammed into th e city last week, marking a significant turning point in the conflict and compelling Israel to strike back hard. "All of a sudden, the reality has changed," said Rachel Shimoni, 66, as she stood amid shards of glass, blown out of the front window of her clothing store. By reaching Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people about 11 miles north of Gaza, Hamas raised the stakes considerably. It is one of the largest cities in southern Israel, home to strategic installations like an electric power plant and a water purification plant. The latest fighting was the first time Gaza militants have been able to hit Ashkelon on a regular basis. (AP/Washington Post)
See also Video: Targeted Hospital in Ashkelon Treats Palestinians from Gaza (Israel Project)
Playing Cat and Mouse with Gaza Rockets
by Martin Patience
The residents of Sderot think twice about walking the streets, shopping for food and clothes, and letting their children play outdoors. Businesses have few customers, house prices have dropped dramatically, and more than 3,000 of the town's 24,000 residents have upped and left. When a rocket is fired fr om Gaza, a siren normally sounds alerting Sderot's residents, who mostly take cover in bomb shelters. During a two-hour-long interview with a local resident this happened on three separate occasions, as she and her daughter huddled in the hallway, away from the windows in case they were blown out by a blast. (BBC News)
Hamas Admits that Its Fighters Are Trained in Iran
by Marie Colvin
 Hamas has revealed that hundreds of its fighters have been trained in Iran. A senior commander interviewed by The Sunday Times said 300 of the group’s “best brains” had been secretly sent to Tehran. Half are still being trained by Revolutionary Guards. They are learning how to make explosives from everyday items and produce deadlier rockets. The rest have already returned from a Revolutionary Guard base in Tehran. Some have been trained as snipers. Others have learnt to use tunnels in attacks on Israeli forces. Seven separate groups of Hamas militants have spent up to six months in Tehran since the training began in 2005. (The Times -- UK)
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Gunman Kills 8 in Attack on School in Jerusalem
by Steven Erlanger and Isabel Kershner
A gunman entered a prominent Jewish seminary in the heart of Jerusalem on Thursday night, killing at least eight students and wounding at least nine others, three of them seriously, the Israeli police said. It was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians in nearly two years and the first attack inside Jerusalem in four. It occurred at the start of the Hebrew month in which the Purim holiday occurs, and many of the witnesses at first thought the gunfire was firecrackers in celebration at the 84-year-old institute, an ideological base for the settler movement. Only one gunman appeared to be involved. (New York Times)
Israel Say Peace Talks to Continue
by Laurie Copans
I sraeli-Palestinian peace talks will proceed within days despite a shooting attack that killed eight students at a Jewish seminary, Israeli officials said Saturday. The comments came hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for Israel not to abandon peace efforts after a recent escalation of violence. (AP/Washington Post)
French Ballistics Expert in al-Dura Libel Case: Gaza Child Wasn't Killed by Israeli Gunfire
by by Adi Schwartz
 A report presented to a French court last week by independent ballistics expert Jean-Claude Schlinger maintains that the death of Mohammed al-Dura, a Palestinian child shot in Gaza on the first day of the intifada in September 2000, could not have been the result of Israeli gunfire, corroborating claims that the footage shown on France 2 television was doctored. Schlinger wrote, "If Jamal [the boy's father] and Mohammed al-Dura were indeed struck by shots, then they could not have come from the Israeli position, from a technical point of view, but only from the direction of the Palestinian position." Schlinger has served as an adviser on ballistic and forensic evidence in French courts for 20 years. (Ha'aretz)
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