Word: shalom
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...tutor to Palestinian radical groups such as Hamas, which sought to emulate not only Hizballah's art of combining welfare work, politics and military activities, but also its principle of using violence to extract concessions from Israel. In fact, the Hamas militants that seized Corporal Gilad Shalit at Kerem Shalom may have been hoping to emulate Hizballah by forcing the release of large numbers of prisoners for the Israeli's freedom. But Palestinian analysts suggest they were also trying to sabotage any move toward moderation and negotiation with Israel by the Hamas parliamentary leadership...
According to an Israeli military-intelligence officer, the June 25 assault on the Kerem Shalom army post was weeks in the planning. Two days before the raid, Israeli special forces kidnapped two Hamas militants in Rafah, Gaza. After interrogating the detainees, the troops alerted military commanders that an attack was imminent. "The alert didn't include the color of the underwear of the militants," says the officer. "But it was very specific." It wasn't enough. At 5:30 a.m. on June 25, six Palestinian militants emerged from a tunnel dug 10 yds. deep and stretching from a private house...
...imply recognition of Israel inside its 1967 borders. Although Hamas has until now refused to recognize Israel's legitimacy, its political wing is looking to break the international blockade on funding to the Palestinian Authority since it assumed power. A senior Hamas official told Time, "The attack [at Kerem Shalom] must also be understood as an attack on Haniyeh and the negotiations with [Abbas]." The involvement of Hamas's military wing suggests a widening rift within Hamas, with the political leadership in Gaza and the West Bank led by Haniyeh on one side, and the military wing and Hamas leaders...
...Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli leaders now face the challenge of answering a Palestinian attack that has been deeply troubling to the Israeli psyche. In the early hours of Sunday, seven or eight Palestinian gunmen emerged from a tunnel dug some 500 feet into Israeli territory at Kerem Shalom and, with supporting fire from inside Gaza, attacked a tank position, killing two Israelis (and losing two of their own men) before retreating with a wounded 19-year-old corporal, Gilad Shalit, as their captive. A number of radical groupings, including the military wing of the Palestinian ruling party Hamas...
...Israel immediately sent tanks and soldiers a short distance into Gaza to locate the tunnel and destroy it. Though the target at Kerem Shalom had been a military one, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other officials labeled it a "terrorist" attack that demanded the sternest of responses. All Palestinian leaders would be held accountable, he declared, and no distinction would be made between military and political wings of parties such as Hamas. "Let it be clear," said Olmert, "We will reach everyone, no matter where they are, and they know...