Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza, cutting off food and humanitarian supplies to the coastal strip in a bid to pressure its Hamas rulers to stop a barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli towns, defense officials said Friday.

Ten rockets slammed into southern Israel on Friday, one damaging a day care center in the town of Sderot and another hitting Ashkelon, a town of 120,000 people. No injuries were reported.

Israeli aircraft fired on rocket launchers in northern Gaza in retaliation. Hamas security officials said two Palestinians were killed — a Hamas militant who had just fired rockets and a 17-year-old civilian who apparently was an onlooker.

The rocket attacks escalated following an Israeli anti-rocket raid in Gaza that left 19 Palestinians dead Tuesday, including the son of a prominent Hamas leader.

About 20 trucks of food scheduled to enter Gaza on Friday would not be allowed through, said Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror. The crossings are routinely closed Saturdays, and may not be reopened Sunday morning if the rocket fire continues, he said.

The territory, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, receives food and humanitarian supplies from Israel and aid organizations.

"It's time that Hamas decide to either fight or take care of its population," Dror said. "It's unacceptable that people in Sderot are living in fear every day and people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual."

Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza since Hamas violently seized the territory in June, but continued to allow in basic food items and humanitarian supplies. With those now cut off, life is certain to become more difficult for Gaza's already impoverished residents, who have suffered from erratic supplies of some food, fuel, spare car parts, computer paper and goods.

Dror said Gazans had enough food that no one would go hungry and assured "there will not be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

The increasing violence has clouded Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, resumed after a Mideast conference in November sponsored by President Bush. The Israeli operations have drawn condemnations from moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules from the West Bank and is Israel's partner in the peace negotiations.

The United Nations condemned Israel's order.

"This can only lead to the deterioration of an already dire situation," said Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees. Closing the crossings "can only lead to the further radicalization of a depressed and demoralized people."

UNRWA's leading official in Gaza, John Ging, said Israel had informed his office that the crossings would be closed for a few days. On a regularly working day an average of 120 trucks of food and humanitarian supplies enter Gaza, Ging said.

Dror said about 9,000 cows have been allowed into Gaza in the past two months, enough for several weeks even if meat supplies are cut off.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel's decision was "part of the ongoing Israeli escalation and aggression policy against our people."

At least 30 Palestinians have been killed since Tuesday, mostly armed militants.

Hamas and other groups have fired more than 150 rockets and mortars since Tuesday, according to the Israeli military. The strikes caused no serious injuries, but have further traumatized Israeli residents who have been living with daily barrages for years.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Thursday that Israel would not stand for the relentless salvos and vowed to strike at Palestinian militants "without compromise, without concessions and without mercy." Olmert toured Sderot, the Israeli town that is the preferred target for Palestinian rocket squads, late Thursday.

A spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdeineh, said the violence was calling into question further peace talks. "No one can proceed with negotiations when the situation is like this," he told The Associated Press.

Israel's military has been unable to counter the low-tech, short-range rockets that have plagued Israel's south for six years, killing 12 people. Airstrikes and pinpoint ground operations have killed hundreds of Gaza militants, and full-blown invasions have caused widespread casualties and damage — but none of the measures have stopped the rocket fire for long.

While ratcheting up its military response in Gaza, Israel has scaled back operations in the West Bank as it talks peace with Abbas' government, and has granted amnesty to hundreds of Palestinian gunmen there. But some army raids continue, especially in the town of Nablus, considered a hotbed of militant activity.

Early Friday, Israeli troops in Nablus killed a wanted Palestinian militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group tied to Abbas' Fatah movement, according to the military and Palestinian officials. The military said the man was responsible for planning suicide bombings and manufacturing weapons.

Too easy to predict, everyone that is capable of any brainwave activity could have called this, lets watch and see how many more terrorist nations we can support in the Middle East.

Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and now Hitler jr. George Bush claimed handing over Gaza and the West Bank would ease tension in the region, what a joke!

The total debt in America (Federal, municipal, corporate, real estate & consumer debt) in 1980 was about $2 1/2 Trillion. Presently it is over $17 Trillion! This means it has increased more than 600% in 25 years! We have a collapsing economy that is not capable of repaying that debt! This indebtedness exceeds the total real estate and corporate equities of the entire country! We're insolvent. We owe European bankers. The Federal government must borrow over a trillion dollars in the next 12 months - more than a billion dollars per day, just to pay the interest! ----New World Order.

When the United States gets into financial trouble it causes world-wide economic instability. We really do have an insurmountable problem, based on the inability to pay back our debt right now. What can we do now? Some are saying we will have hyper inflation- printing more and more money to pay old debts. This is what ruined the economy of Germany before World War II. The effect of this is that people's hard-earned savings will become practically useless. In Germany people had to take a wheelbarrow full of money to the store just to buy a few groceries.

Every time you charge interest you create a problem. Money has not been printed to cover that interest, so there isn't enough money to cover all the debts. Picture this simple scenario. Suppose there was $1000 in real money printed, and half of it was loaned out at 10% interest. The total amount of money now held or due would be $1050, but there would only be $1000 to cover it!. Imagine how this problem is compounded by the constant lending of the same money. Another way of looking at this is that if everyone demanded the money due them there would only be a fraction of that total amount available to meet that demand

If we were strong enough morally, to stand alone, we could conceivably let the rest of the world do whatever crazy things they want to do, but we don't have that luxury, because we owe so much to foreign banks.

Our financial weakness also gives rise to trade wars and what might be unfavorable trade agreements, such as NAFTA and GATT. The GATT agreement is a 22000 page document which includes provision for a World Trade Organization (with no practical means of withdrawal).

There is no doubt about it. The terrorists in the Middle East are winning the war on terror. Whether they are the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq or Hezbollah and Hamas in Israel, the forces of evil, death and destruction are prevailing. The United States has lost its credibility by not standing behind the rhetoric on how to succeed in the war on terror that once emanated from the Bush administration.

The forces of terror have brought the giant to its knees. The world's great superpower, the United States now stands in a position to negotiate with those who make no secret about calling for it's destruction.

And for the Jewish people and the land of Israel? With Hamas clearly in power in both northern and southern Gaza, we can expect that the amount of Kassam rockets directed at Sderot and other Jewish communities in the western Negev to continue unabated. We can expect more attempted kidnappings of Israeli soldiers and the wanton murder of Israeli civilians. Was it only two years ago, back in the summer of 2005 that the Jewish people in Israel were promised peace on its southern border by evacuating the settlements of Gush Katif and handing over the land to the Palestinian Authority. The world watched as Israeli soldiers forcibly removed thousands of Jewish inhabitants of the Gush Katif region. Prosperous businesses, schools, homes, synagogues and yeshivas were burned to the ground in the name of "peace" with their "Arab neighbors".

"Let's give the Palestinians in Gaza their independence and full autonomy," the forces of "peace" declared. They insisted in their arrogance that this move will insure peace in that region and will expedite the process of long term harmony between Israelis and Palestinians. So much for that fallacy and for those who peddled that garbage.

The state of "Hamastan" was helped through the birth canal by a Jewish state that has lost its sense of purpose, vision and clarity. The state of "Hamastan" exists today because of empty and mindless Jewish leaders of Israel who did everything in their power, directly and indirectly to create this entity. And so today, if we see a multitude of Kassam rockets being launched by Hamas into Israel, rest assured that this will be nothing compared to what lies ahead. Let us stay mindful in our perspective on the extent to which the Jewish State is in danger. Now, Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank has been transformed into "Fatahstan" as well. The violence is Gaza is just a harbinger of things to come in the liberated territories of Judea and Samaria. While the US may tout the line that Fatah is a "moderate" Palestinian force, we know the opposite to be true. Their rhetoric is on par with their rival Hamas as far as Israel is concerned and they make no bones about it. They too are terrorists of the worst kind and are dedicated to shedding the blood of all Jews. Their bloodlust is not more "moderate" than Hamas.

So there you have it. "Hamastan" and "Fatahstan". Two new terrorist Arab states, living side by side with Israel.

George Walker Bush

 

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney

Nancy Pelosi

Michael Vincent Hayden

 

 

Will Ohio State ever learn that they can't play football in the SEC? nine bowls against them...nine loses.. what can I say...

BIG TEN SUCKS!!!!!!!