Gaza's 1.3 million inhabitants now face the threat of "an open and long war", reports Khaled Amayreh Speaking in the southern town of Bir Al-Sabaa Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would use all its force and firepower against the Palestinians. "It is going to be a long war," said an exasperated Olmert, who called Palestinian resistance fighters "wild beasts and terrorists". The fresh threats came amid a wave of destruction, as Israel continued to bombard Gaza from the air, sea and land, targeting power stations, civilian homes, schools and government buildings. Olmert made no mention of the fact that nearly 1,000 Palestinian children and minors have been killed by Israeli forces, and that the systematic bombing of the Palestinian civilian infrastructure continues apace. The former Likud extremist also failed to mention that his government is denying the majority of Palestinians access to food and work, pushing them ever closer to a major humanitarian disaster, as he pledged that he would do anything necessary to liberate the Israeli soldier abducted near Gaza 10 days ago, apart, that is, than negotiate. Soon after Olmert made his remarks Israeli war planes were once again at work over Gaza, bombing, for the Palestinian Interior Ministry building and the Al-Arkam primary school in downtown Gaza. The Ministry of Interior building was destroyed completely while the school, believed to have been built through a European grant, was seriously damaged. Israel said the attacks were in retaliation for the firing of a homemade Qassam projectile that landed in the southern Israeli town of Askalan (Ashkelon) Tuesday afternoon, causing no casualties or damage. Israeli political and military leaders insist the firing of these homemade missiles into a major Israeli population centre represents another red line which the Palestinians have crossed. In their determination that the Palestinians should not be allowed to possess even the semblance of a deterrent that might alter the "rules of the game" and undermine their carte blanch to bomb and kill Palestinians at will, Israeli officials have started to talk of using "extreme" tactics in an effort to terrorise the Palestinians into total submission. On Wednesday Zeev Boim, a close aide to Olmert and former deputy-defence minister, urged hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza to start packing or else! "As far as I am concerned, the inhabitants of Beit Lahya and Beit Hanun should start packing right away," Boim was quoted as saying. Avigdor Lieberman, another Israeli Knesset member, didn't flinch from suggesting that the Israeli air force carry out a genocidal blanket- bombing of Palestinian population centres. Lieberman, a former government minister, is by no means a marginal figure. He stands at the helm of the fourth largest political party in Israel and his views represent a powerful strand of "nationalist discourse". Meanwhile, the Israeli army and paramilitary police continued their rampage of terror and sabotage throughout the West Bank, raiding and vandalising Palestinian charities, offices, and in some instances ordinary businesses. The raids targeted boarding schools, orphanages, zakat (charity) committees and clinics run by religious organisations. The Israeli army surrounded the Ramallah home of Abdul-Aziz Duweik, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, shortly before dawn Wednesday, apparently in order to kidnap him so he could be used as an additional bargaining chip in Israel's attempts to free the imprisoned Israeli soldier. The blockade, which lasted for more than an hour, ended when troops found out that Duweik was not at home. Israel has already taken more than 120 Palestinian lawmakers, government officials, cabinet ministers and ordinary activists hostage. Many of the captives are being held in the notorious Ofer detention camp west of Ramallah, while others, including four cabinet ministers, have been placed in solitary confinement in the Ramallah prison. In the face of Israel's escalation of its attacks and the daily bombing of civilian targets in Gaza the Palestinian government has retained its composure. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, whom Israeli leaders have threatened to murder, appealed to the captors of the Israeli soldier to treat him well, and said that the government was involved in intensive efforts to end the present crisis. Haniyeh reminded the captors that Islam forbids mistreatment of prisoners under any circumstances. "We can't behave like them, we are Muslims," he said. His appeal came less than 24 hours after prominent Muslim scholar Youssef Al-Qaradawi called on the captors to preserve the life of the Israeli soldier, whose whereabouts is unknown to the PA and its Hamas-led government. But the Israeli government, disregarding all such gestures, remains intent on bullying and bombing the Palestinians into unconditionally freeing the imprisoned soldier. The soldier's captors, though, are unlikely to fall in with the Israeli strategy while more than 10,000 Palestinians, including 450 children and dozens of women, many held without charge or trial, languish in Israeli jails and detention camps.
