Smells like desperation to me...

JERUSALEM — Israel continued its air attacks Tuesday morning on Islamic Jihad, killing at least three militants in an airstrike as they left a mosque in the Jabalya refugee camp. Late Monday, two airstrikes killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander, his aide and four other militants, according to Islamic Jihad radio and the Israeli Army.

That brought the total killed since Monday night to at least 10, including a Hamas militant killed in a separate attack on a security post in southern Gaza after mortar shells were fired toward the Israeli crossing of Kerem Shalom, the Israeli Army said.

The senior commander who was killed on Monday night, Majed al-Harazin, who was around 40, was one of the most important Islamic Jihad military commanders in Gaza, and Israel had tried to kill him three times before, according to Islamic Jihad radio, Al Quds.

Two other Islamic Jihad militants died with him in the car, including his senior lieutenant, Jihad Daher. Six passers-by, including three children, were wounded by shrapnel, according to Palestinian medics in Gaza. The car appeared to have been filled with explosives when it was hit by an Israeli rocket.

The Israeli Army said that Mr. Harazin, wanted for almost a decade, was in charge of squads firing rockets into Israel, and that he was specifically targeted based on real-time intelligence.

Spokesmen for Islamic Jihad vowed vengeance on Israel for the killings, and 3,000 armed militants carrying the black flags of Islamic Jihad assembled in front of the Gaza hospital where Mr. Harazin’s body was taken. “We vow that the assassination will unleash a wave of martyr operations,” the group said in a statement.

The Israeli deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, told Army Radio Tuesday, “I’m very pleased with our achievements last night.”

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Brings to mind these Boyzone lyrics:

No matter what they call us
However they attack
No matter where they take us
We'll find our own way back

I can't deny what I believe
I can't be what I'm not
I know I'll love forever
I know, no matter what

If only tears were laughter
If only night was day
If only prayers were answered
Then we would hear God say:

No matter what they tell you
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach you
What you believe is true

And I will keep you safe and strong
And sheltered from the storm
No matter where it's barren
A dream is being born...

PARIS — Eighty-seven countries and international organizations pledged $7.4 billion in aid to the Palestinians on Monday, in the most ambitious fund-raising effort in more than a decade to help Palestinians create a viable, peaceful and secure state of their own.

The total is set to cover the next three years. The Palestinians had hoped to secure $5.6 billion in budgetary and development support over the next three years, but the amount pledged exceeded that figure.
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Despite the aid pledges, the Palestinian economy will continue to contract unless Israel eases its blockage of the Gaza Strip and removes crucial internal checkpoints to allow Palestinians to move freely in the West Bank, the World Bank cautioned in the report.

The World Bank estimated that without such measures, the Palestinian gross domestic product would probably contract by 2 percent annually over the next five years. If Israel does ease the restrictions, and if the Palestinians put promised reforms in place, the economy could grow by 5 percent a year, the report added.

Mr. Abbas, in his remarks, appealed to Israel to take a number of concrete measures, including a freeze on all settlements in the Palestinian territories, the dismantling of what he identified as “wildcat settlements,” a halt to construction of Israel’s barrier of separation and the release of more Palestinian prisoners.

“Our aim is not to perpetuate assistance to the Palestinians indefinitely,” said Mr. Sarkozy, who calls himself a close friend of Israel. To that end, he called for Israel to allow freedom of movement of people and goods and to immediately freeze all settlement construction on the West Bank.

“I must insist on this point: it is in Israel’s best interest, provided its own security is not threatened, to foster a normal existence in the West Bank,” he said. “This alone will enable the Palestinians to work, to stop ruminating on their humiliation, to curb the violence and trafficking and to regain their zest for life."

A dream is being born...