IDF commandos, Shin Bet mount Ramallah raid against Hamas

[Scurrilous]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/367035.html

<snip>

"Shin Bet agents and large numbers of IDF troops,
including units of most of the military's special
forces, launched a broad operation in the West
Bank city of Ramallah early Monday aimed at a
major Hamas organizational structure in Yasser
Arafat's headquarters city.

By mid-morning Monday, dozens
of activists of various
levels had been arrested. The
operation, months in the
planning, was directed
against what is considered to
be militants who have acted
"deep underground," in
particular secrecy."

<snip>

" Referring to the timing of the raid, mounted
hours before Israeli and Palestinian delegates
were to gather in Switzerland for the formal
launch of the Geneva Accord alternative peace
plan, State-owned Israel Radio noted that the
operation had been planned long in advance, and
that it was more likely tied to the possibility
of a cease-fire in the near future."

[The Magistrate]

1. Hamas Is Fair Game At Any Time

Anyone genuinely interested in peace in the region can only applaud any action that incapacitates the operations of that crew to any degree: they are unregenerate enemies of any peaceable solution to the conflict.

[Scurrilous]

2. Update: IDF kills three gunmen and 9-year-old boy in Ramallah raid

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/367035.html

<snip>
"IDF forces mounting a major raid in Ramallah on
Monday, killed three armed Palestinian militants
and a 9-year-old boy, later demolishing a
four-story building believed to be hiding a Hamas
man on Israel's most-wanted lists.

Two of the men were killed in
the Amri refugee camp near
the city. An explosive belt
and several weapons were
found near their bodies.
Another armed Palestinian was
killed in the Ramallah
neighborhood of Umm Shrayat.


Palestinian sources said the
boy was killed by IDF fire in El Bireh, a town
adjacent to Ramallah."



So far no word on what weapons, if any, were found on the body of the dead Palestinian child.

[The Magistrate]

3. There Are Always Stray Rounds, Mr. Scurrilous

It would verge on the miraculous if a series of fire-fights in a populated area did not result in harm to some unfortunate bystander. A good deal of the onus for that must rest on those combatants who conceal themselves among the people, treating them as a species of camouflage, the way a force in the field decorates its positions with shrubbery and such in hope they will not be noticed. Tempting as the propaganda point must be, you are surely aware of these facts, and know that no one intended to shoot the lad dead.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

4. and also,...

so far no word on whether that child was being used as a human shield -


In one film clip released by the IDF, channel 10 news showed a group of terrorists escaping after having fired upon an IDF post. The group had abducted a small Palestinian child and were dragging him along with them, using him as a human shield against IDF soldiers who accordingly ceased firing.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1070165916436&p=1008596981749