IDF foils Hamas attack
Israeli forces foiled a massive Palestinian assault on a key Gaza Strip border crossing last week. Using armoured cars and two explosives-laden jeeps painted as Israeli military vehicles, Hamas terrorists rammed into the Kerem Shalom border terminal before dawn last Saturday. Israeli soldiers at first responded with small-arms fire, but took cover as the jeeps were blown up by their drivers. In parallel, another Hamas armoured car tried to smash through the Gaza-Israel border fence north of Kerem Shalom, but was destroyed by tank fire. Thirteen soldiers were wounded in the Kerem Shalom incident, and four Hamas gunmen were killed. Six Hamas gunmen and another Palestinian were killed in later Israeli air strikes in Gaza.
Israelis split on Golan
About half of Israelis would support ceding all or some of the Golan Heights under a peace deal with Syria, a poll found. According to a survey in last Friday’s Yediot Achronot, 32 per cent would agree to Syria’s demand for a full return of the Golan in exchange for a comprehensive peace deal, while 17 per cent would support only a partial handover of the strategic plateau. Fifty-one per cent of Israelis want to keep all of the Golan, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed, even if this comes at the cost of peace with Syria. The poll, of 500 respondents, which has a 4.5 per cent margin of error, found that Israeli distrust of Syrian President Bashar Assad runs deep despite his recent offers to revive peace talks. Seventy-four per cent of Israelis believe Assad is “not serious” about seeking peace.
Jerusalemite elected in Italy
Italy’s new parliament includes a resident of Jerusalem. Florence-born journalist Fiamma Nirenstein, who has lived in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighbourhood for the past decade, was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies as a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Liberty party. The first session of the new parliament was to begin April 29. Nirenstein directed the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv in the 1990s. The author of many books, she has been a correspondent for several newspapers and has written widely on the Mideast, Israel, anti-Semitism and the rise of militant Islam.
Guards killed
A Palestinian killed two Israeli security guards at the Netzanei Oz industrial zone on the West Bank boundary. Two Israelis in their 50s who were checking Palestinian labourers as they entered the zone last Friday were shot dead by an assailant who fled the scene. Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
IDF probes death
Israel announced an investigation into the killing of a Reuters cameraman by its forces in the Gaza Strip. Following calls for a probe by Reuters and international watchdog groups, the Israeli military said it was gathering information to determine the circumstances behind the death of Fadel Shana. Shana was killed while filming a central Gaza combat zone and film from his camera showed an Israeli tank firing in his direction. An autopsy revealed he had been hit by a kind of dart used in Israeli shells. “The IDF wishes to emphasize that unlike terrorist organizations, not only does not it deliberately target uninvolved civilians, it also uses means to avoid such incidents,” the IDF said in a statement.