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Abbas 'sacks Gaza police chiefs'
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has sacked several top security commanders in the Gaza Strip, officials say.
Officials said that chief of public security Gen Abdul Razek Majaidie and two senior commanders were dismissed.
No other details were available and there has been no public announcement, but the reports follow a salvo of Hamas mortars fired at Israelis in Gaza.
The militant group said it was retaliating for the death of a Gaza man killed by Israeli fire overnight.
Earlier, Mr Abbas ordered his security forces to prevent a repeat of the 30-shell mortar attack, which caused damage but no injuries in the Gush Katif Israeli settlement in southern Gaza.
Mr Abbas gave "strict instructions" to prevent further threats to a ceasefire he agreed with Israel on Tuesday. Hamas has said it is not bound by the ceasefire agreement.
Palestinian officials said Israel postponed security talks on Thursday as a result of the mortar attack, but Israel denied talks were scheduled.
Egypt accord
The Hamas attacks started at about 0300 local time (0500 GMT) and lasted several hours.
Hamas said it fired nearly 50 missiles, but the Israeli army said it had registered only about half that number.
A house was damaged but there were no injuries.
Hamas said it was avenging the death of a Palestinian man shot by Israeli troops as he walked near the Atzmona settlement in southern Gaza.
An Israeli military source said soldiers suspected a militant infiltration and fired warning shots.
Thursday's attack was the first by Palestinians since Mr Abbas and Israeli premier Ariel Sharon declared an end of four years of violence at a summit in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, on Tuesday.
Hamas had said it would decide whether to join the ceasefire only after it had judged to what extent the Israelis were complying with their side of the agreement.
A senior Palestinian official said Thursday's attacks had led Israel to postpone security talks expected to cover the Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners and issues relating to Israel's withdrawal from some Palestinian areas.
However, a spokesman at the Israeli prime minister's office denied any talks were scheduled for Thursday.
Ranch meeting
Mr Abbas is scheduled to meet militant groups in Gaza later on Thursday to try to persuade them to adhere to the ceasefire.
He said he was considering an unspecified series of "decisions and measures" if Thursday's violence was repeated.
Mr Sharon is holding a cabinet meeting to brief ministers on the outcome of the Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
The two leaders are then due to meet again before Tuesday at Mr Sharon's Sycamore Ranch in southern Israel.
Mr Sharon said in a newspaper interview on Thursday that he would be prepared to release some Palestinian prisoners convicted of attacking Israelis.
Mr Abbas had made the issue a priority during the Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
Mr Sharon told the Haaretz daily Israel would free certain prisoners if the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza went smoothly.
Israel has previously refused to release Palestinians convicted of violent attacks.
The Egypt summit was the highest-level discussion between the two sides since the Palestinian intifada (uprising) began more than four years ago.
Mr Sharon had refused to meet the previous Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in November, saying he was an obstacle to peace.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4254725.stm
No other details were available and there has been no public announcement, but the reports follow a salvo of Hamas mortars fired at Israelis in Gaza.
The militant group said it was retaliating for the death of a Gaza man killed by Israeli fire overnight.
Earlier, Mr Abbas ordered his security forces to prevent a repeat of the 30-shell mortar attack, which caused damage but no injuries in the Gush Katif Israeli settlement in southern Gaza.
Mr Abbas gave "strict instructions" to prevent further threats to a ceasefire he agreed with Israel on Tuesday. Hamas has said it is not bound by the ceasefire agreement.
Palestinian officials said Israel postponed security talks on Thursday as a result of the mortar attack, but Israel denied talks were scheduled.
Egypt accord
The Hamas attacks started at about 0300 local time (0500 GMT) and lasted several hours.
Hamas said it fired nearly 50 missiles, but the Israeli army said it had registered only about half that number.
A house was damaged but there were no injuries.
Hamas said it was avenging the death of a Palestinian man shot by Israeli troops as he walked near the Atzmona settlement in southern Gaza.
An Israeli military source said soldiers suspected a militant infiltration and fired warning shots.
Thursday's attack was the first by Palestinians since Mr Abbas and Israeli premier Ariel Sharon declared an end of four years of violence at a summit in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, on Tuesday.
Hamas had said it would decide whether to join the ceasefire only after it had judged to what extent the Israelis were complying with their side of the agreement.
A senior Palestinian official said Thursday's attacks had led Israel to postpone security talks expected to cover the Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners and issues relating to Israel's withdrawal from some Palestinian areas.
However, a spokesman at the Israeli prime minister's office denied any talks were scheduled for Thursday.
Ranch meeting
Mr Abbas is scheduled to meet militant groups in Gaza later on Thursday to try to persuade them to adhere to the ceasefire.
He said he was considering an unspecified series of "decisions and measures" if Thursday's violence was repeated.
Mr Sharon is holding a cabinet meeting to brief ministers on the outcome of the Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
The two leaders are then due to meet again before Tuesday at Mr Sharon's Sycamore Ranch in southern Israel.
Mr Sharon said in a newspaper interview on Thursday that he would be prepared to release some Palestinian prisoners convicted of attacking Israelis.
Mr Abbas had made the issue a priority during the Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
Mr Sharon told the Haaretz daily Israel would free certain prisoners if the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza went smoothly.
Israel has previously refused to release Palestinians convicted of violent attacks.
The Egypt summit was the highest-level discussion between the two sides since the Palestinian intifada (uprising) began more than four years ago.
Mr Sharon had refused to meet the previous Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in November, saying he was an obstacle to peace.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4254725.stm
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Does Israel pay him for being their loyal servant, or does he -- Abbas -- give the Israelis a kickback for getting him his job?
For a united democratic Palestine in a socialist federation of the MidEast
Don't you prefer striving to a peaceful solution based on the wishes of both peoples' majorities?
Do you mean Abbas wants peace just because he's being paid by Israel?
Q: How many Palestinians do you reckon are eager to take up your socialist vision?
Well there is socialist and "socialist".
There is a strong Arab minority now that is generally sympathetic to a socialist solution. The number 2 candidate in the recent PA election is a prominent "socialist". (I used the quotations, because he consistenly betrays the class struggle, and uses it for his own ends.) If you knew your history or even the current politics of Palestine and "Israel" you'd know that socialist lingo and semi-socialist parts of political programs are common fare on both sides. The Israeli Communist Party, as an indicator of that sentiment, has always had a Knesset delegation, even though they have been one of the most intractable defenders of the basic idiocy of Zionism.
As is true in most struggles, the experience of the masses has to exhaust their own illusions in capitalist democracy. I would say that with Abbas basically whoring for Israel, the time for politics as usual may have run its course.
Q. Don't you prefer striving to a peaceful solution based on the wishes of both peoples' majorities?
Peaceful solutions are a fallacy. Militant mass action will likely cause fewer deaths than the 57 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine.
I am aware of Israel's semi-socialist realities and the portion of its history during which it was led by socialists.
If you meant that the *anti-Zionist* Israeli communist party (which was always boycotted by the famed socialist Ben-Gurion) supported the State of Israel's establishment and continued existence, you're right. But that's the point beyond which your portrayal profoundly misses the mark.
>>>"Peaceful solutions are a fallacy. Militant mass action will likely cause fewer deaths than the 57 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine.'<<<
That's why I always preferred Israel nip the intifada while it was still in its bid by crushing it militarily.
Finally, the way you use quote marks around Israel's name mirrors the way some Israel supporters do it for the names Palestine and Palestinians.