Fatah prisoner release: signing a death warrant? (editorial cartoon)

From Haaretz:

"[Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert announced the plan on Monday at the close of a four-way summit with Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, saying that Israel would only release prisoners not held for deaths of its citizens.

"As a gesture of goodwill toward the Palestinians, I will bring before the Israeli cabinet at its next meeting a proposal to free 250 Fatah prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, after they sign a commitment not to return to violence," Olmert said."

---

"This is a wrong, harmful message that will not strengthen the Palestinian Authority. It will only weaken it," Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday in response to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to release Palestinian prisoners.

"[Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, also known as] Abu Mazen will be hurt by such a decision," continued Netanyahu. "Giving them guns and releasing their prisoners is a big mistake."

More on Bibi & Co. here.

Gaza falls to Hamas: a wake-up call from hell

And here's some food for thought:

"Wonder what Iraq would look like if we left tomorrow? Take a look at Gaza today. Then imagine a situation a thousand times worse."

(...) "And there's humor in Hell: The Islamist madmen behind Hamas call Fatah fighters "the American Jew Army." We've come a long way, boychick, when fellow Arabs anoint the late Yasser Arafat's thugs as tools of the Great Satan and the Lesser Satan."

Still unconvinced? Then watch this report from Israel's Channel 10 television:

What to do? Well, there are calls for a multinational force. In the snarky question of one poster at a popular blog, "...does that mean the US Marines and the IDF?"

Hopefully, whoever it won't be as useless and neutered as the one along the Lebanese border with Israel (hey -- thanks a million for that gesture, guys).

And speaking of useless and neutered, a "senior state official," (wink, nudge) says Israel won't intervene in the clashes.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank,

Fatah gunmen and Palestinian Authority policemen on Thursday launched a wide-scale crackdown on Hamas figures and institutions in the West Bank. More than 30 Hamas officials and supporters were rounded up in Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm.

But, no worries!:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a weekly meeting of security officials that Israel would not allow the ongoing violence between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to spread into attacks on southern Israel, meeting participants said.

There now. Don't you feel safer already?

Israel's security?

"Eagle-eye," Peretz has
"Got it covered!"

Breaking: Pal' group says killed captive BBC reporter

From Ynet:

Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades say Alan Johnston has been executed, blame British, Palestinian governments...

BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been killed by an al-Qaeda affilated Palestinian organization, according to an internet statement obtained by Ynetnews.

The statement was signed by the Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades, an organization named after an Iraqi al-Qaeda group.

Maybe this will convince the British National Union of Journalist's call to sanction and boycott - Israel.

Yeah. Right. /sarc off...