Israel sought to crush Palestinian spirit before a possible pullout from Gaza, reports Khaled Amayreh Tuesday, a high-ranking Israeli military official told Israeli army radio, Gali Tzhal, that Israel could exterminate Gaza in reaction to Palestinian resistance attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers. "We could annihilate Beit Hanun and the rest of Gaza in a few hours, we certainly have the power to do so," said Ze'ev Boim, Israel's deputy defense minister. Boim's remarks came after Palestinian resistance groups killed three Israelis, including one soldier, in retaliation for the killing of 13 Palestinians by the Israeli army in Nablus and the Gaza Strip. In Nablus, Israeli troops backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers stormed the city's ancient quarter, killing nine, including three civilians and the local resistance commanders of Fatah and Hamas. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei strongly condemned "Israeli brutality and criminality", calling the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a "government of blood and death". Meanwhile, Sharon congratulated his army for killing the resistance leaders, calling the operation a "resounding victory in our war on terror". On Monday, thousands of Palestinians took part in the funeral of the fallen resistance activists amid calls for revenge. City leaders condemned "Arab silence" and "international apathy" vis-a-vis Israeli crimes against their people. Retaliating against the Israeli rampage in Nablus, Hamas and Fatah detonated a large bomb beneath an Israeli army outpost near Khan Younis in southern Gaza Sunday evening. The powerful explosion killed one soldier and injured six others. Hours later, two homemade Qassam missiles were fired by Hamas fighters on an Israeli settlement east of Gaza, killing two, including a child. These attacks came just hours after a Palestinian child was killed by the Israeli army while wandering near his home in south Gaza. Currently, the Israeli army is amassing troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers outside Palestinian population centres and refugee camps in northern Gaza, apparently in preparation for a fresh incursion against suspected resistance groups. American-supplied Apache helicopter gunships fired several missiles into a multi-storey apartment building in downtown Gaza shortly before dawn Tuesday, causing extensive damage. The Israeli army claimed the building, which houses several media offices including Al-Jazeera TV, was "a Hamas building". However, proprietors and neighbours vehemently denied army allegations, dubbing the Israeli version of events "cheap public relations". "This is an office building. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Hamas or any resistance group. The Israeli army is concocting cheap and brazen lies to justify a manifestly criminal act," said Salah Al- Naami, whose office is located near the targeted building. He told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Israeli army was creating the false impression that it is fighting a military or paramilitary entity when in fact it is waging conventional war on ordinary civilians. "America and Israel are the only countries in the world that drop bombs on media offices," he said. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources have accused the Israeli army of carrying out a failed attempt to assassinate the Palestinian journalist Mustafa Al- Sawwaf, who works for the BBC and the Islam- online news website. Sources said Israeli helicopter gunships fired several missiles at his press office in central Gaza, destroying the premises. Israeli media claimed the press office was affiliated with the Islamic resistance group, Hamas. However, Hamas denied any connection with the office and accused Israel of targeting civilians. The Israeli army refused to say if the raid on the building where Al- Sawwaf's press office is located was intended to assassinate the reporter. An Israeli army spokesman did say, however, that the offices targeted were indulging in "incitement" against Israel -- an apparent allusion to reportage of recent Israeli atrocities and home demolitions in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli warplanes also attacked and destroyed a metal workshop in central Gaza this week as army sources claimed the facility was being used by resistance groups to manufacture missiles. However, owners insisted that the foundry was a strictly family business and was never involved in any illegal activity. The Israeli army has also destroyed dozens of foundries throughout Gaza, inflicting further damage on the already decimated economy of the Gaza Strip. Two eight-storey buildings in Khan Younis were also destroyed Tuesday night in retaliation for the death of an Israeli soldier Sunday evening. Palestinians contend that the real goal of recurrent Israeli attacks on Palestinian office facilities and family businesses is to further impoverish Palestinians in the hope of bullying them into surrender. The Israeli army actually does not deny Palestinian assertions to that effect. The supposed rationale used by the army in this regard is that the destruction of Palestinian economic installations, businesses, homes and buildings would force the Palestinian Authority and resistance groups to spend more funds on rebuilding and paying compensation to proprietors and less on financing the anti- occupation resistance. "This is part of the total war we wage on the Palestinian society," said one Israeli journalist on condition of anonymity. Many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, have indicated on several occasions that reasons preventing Israel from effecting more draconian measures against Palestinians have to do with "political rather than moral considerations". Some Israeli leaders in the recent past even went so far as to voice publicly the hope that Israel could take advantage of the world's preoccupation with the American invasion and occupation of Iraq to carry out a partial "transfer" of Palestinians into neighboring Arab countries. Since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, it is believed that Israel has destroyed more than 7,000 Palestinian structures, including numerous multi-storey buildings, the Gaza airport and seaport, as well as thousands of residential homes. These wanton demolitions are considered war crimes under international law. Israel, however, has managed consistently to fly in the face of international legality, relying on the support and backing of its guardian-ally, the United States. The UN Security Council has been powerless to stop demolitions and other forms of collective punishment meted out to Palestinians by Israel. Earlier this week UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed deep frustration and helplessness over the situation. He told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that the UN could do virtually nothing to help the Palestinians. "I don't have an army, I can't enforce UN resolutions as far as Israel is concerned. We issue condemnatory statements, but we can go much farther beyond that."
