Israel ha intentar respondre amb tancaments episòdics de la frontera o retallant alguns subministraments d’energia en moments crítics. Aquestes accions han provocat un gran desplegament mediàtic anunciant catàstrofes humanitàries que després mai s’han arribat a consumar.
Davant la ineficàcia d’aquestes mesures, Israel ha optat finalment per operacions militars de més alta intensitat. Unes operacions que, com sempre, comporten una derrota mediàtica del govern israelià.
Els mitjans de comunicació occidentals, sempre disposats a creure qualsevol cosa que vagi contra Israel, s’empassen la propaganda islamista sense la més mínima reflexió crítica. Especialment, quan es tracta de tocar la fibra sensible dels espectadors, orfes de “Aquí hay tomate”.
Aquest és el cas de la nena de 13 mesos, Malak Karfaneh, morta per Israel segons els islamistes però que no està tan clar. Fins el punt que una agència tan poc sospitosa com Associated Press recull –això sí, de passada i perdut al mig d’una extensa crònica- que podria haver mort per projectils palestins.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians threatened Saturday to call off peace talks with Israel after 45 Gazans, at least half of them civilians, were killed in pitched battles between Israeli troops and rocket squads that escalated sharply.
The deaths pushed the Palestinian death toll to 75 since fighting flared Wednesday — some of the fiercest clashes in Gaza since Islamic Hamas militants seized control there in June. More than half of those killed were civilians.
Israeli troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, went after militants who bombarded southern Israeli communities near Gaza with rockets and mortars.
The spike in violence came as Israel was threatening to launch a broad invasion of Gaza, and just days before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to arrive in the region on her latest peacekeeping mission.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"I think it will be suspended," Qureia said. "What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide," Qureia added. "We can't bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn't led the peace process any credibility."
In Syria, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal denounced Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza, describing them as "the real Holocaust."
Israeli officials also met Saturday to discuss the Gaza violence and its implications for peacemaking. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said as far as Israel was concerned, talks are "based on the understanding that when advancing the peace process with pragmatic (Palestinian) sources, Israel will continue to fight terror that hurts its people."
Three children were among those killed in some of the fiercest fighting in the Gaza Strip since Islamic Hamas militants seized control there in June. Palestinian fighters bombarded Israel with more than 40 rockets and mortar rounds by early afternoon, undeterred by Israeli troops backed by tanks and attack aircraft.
The bloodletting began before midnight Friday in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, where a 13-month-old girl, Malak Karfaneh, was killed by shrapnel. Hamas blamed Israel, but residents said a militant rocket fell short and landed near the baby's house.
Before dawn Saturday, the battleground shifted to Jebaliya, a center of militant activity in northern Gaza. Palestinian rocket fire earlier in the week also killed an Israeli man. The rocket assaults grew more ominous when a projectile struck closer to Israel's heartland. On Friday, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai renewed a threat to invade Gaza to crush militant rocket squads that attack southern Israel daily.
Israeli-Palestinian talks resumed in November after a seven-year breakdown at a U.S.-sponsored conference. At the gathering, the two sides pledged to try to reach an accord by the end of this year. In recent weeks, negotiators have met almost daily.
But the rising tide of violence was overshadowing peace efforts.
Not all of the Gazans killed on Saturday were immediately identified, but at least 13 militants and 16 civilians died. The civilians included an unidentified child, a 17-year-old girl and her 16-year-old brother, a 45-year-old man and his 20-year-old son, and two sisters thought to be in their early 20s.
