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InterNations
Geopolitics

Israel Weighs Ground Offensive As Gaza Rockets Increase

JERUSALEM POST, HAARETZ, IDF (Israel), AL-AYYAM(Palestinian Territory), CNN (USA)

Worldcrunch

Israeli politicians were divided on Monday over the possibility of military ground operations in the Gaza Strip, as rockets rained down on Israel for the third day in a row, reported the Jerusalem Post.

Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich told Army Radio she was against intensive military action: "We are on the eve of elections, and operations beyond air attacks or targeted strikes require stability and national consensus at home."

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz disagreed, saying that over time, rocket fire would hit closer and closer to Israel's center, and said Israel "cannot simply adjust and shield itself."

At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared to intensify its response: “The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us.”

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip continued to fire rockets at southern Israel on Monday, despite Egyptian efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement, reported Haaretz.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), more than 114 rockets have hit southern Israel since Saturday.

How did your day begin? Here in #Israel, a rocket fired from #Gaza hit a house. twitter.com/IDFSpokesperso…

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) November 12, 2012

Israeli airstrikes hit Palestinian targets in Gaza overnight, scoring direct hits on a "terror tunnel" and a weapons storage facility, reported CNN.

"The Israeli Defense Forces will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians, and will operate against anyone who uses terror against the State of Israel," said an Israel Defense Forces statement on Monday.

In the southern Israeli city of Netivot, classes were canceled in all schools that are not fortified against rockets, said Haaretz.

Since Saturday, the violence has left six Palestinians dead, including four civilians, and 40 wounded, including four Israeli soldiers.

Meanwhile, on Monday Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam quoted on its front page President Mahmoud Abbas as saying "We will go to New York despite the enormous pressure to abandon."

On Sunday, Abbas announced that he was going to the U.N. this month to ask the General Assembly to recognize an independent Palestine. "Some powers are trying to tell us that the two-state solution doesn't come from the U.N. but through negotiations," he said. "Negotiations are crucial. But to get U.N. recognition is also key."

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

BDS And Us: Gaza's Toll Multiplies Boycotts Of Israel And Its Allies — Seinfeld Included

In Egypt and elsewhere in the region and the world, families and movements are mobilizing against companies that support Israel's war on Gaza. The power of the people lies in their control as consumers — and the list of companies and brands to boycott grows longer.

A campaign poster with the photo of a burger with blood coming out of it with text reading "You Kill" and the Burger King logo

A campaign poster to boycott Burger King in Bangkok, Malü

Matt Hunt/ZUMA
Mohammed Hamama

CAIRO — Ali Al-Din’s logic is simple and straightforward: “If you buy a can (of soda), you'll get the bullet too...”

Those bullets are the ones killing the children of Gaza every day, and the can he refuses to buy is “kanzaya” – the popular Egyptian soft drink. It is just one of a long list of products he had the habit of consuming. Ali is nine years old.

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The clarity and simplicity of this logic has pushed Ali Al-Din to boycott all the products on the lists people are circulating of companies that have supported Israel since the attacks on Gaza began in October. His mother, Heba, points out that her son took responsibility for overseeing the boycott in their home.

A few days ago, he saw a can of “Pyrosol” insecticide, but he thought it was one of the products of the “Raid” company that was on the boycott’s lists. He warned his mother that this product was on the boycott list, but she explained that the two products were different. Ali al-Din and his younger brother also abstained from eating any food from McDonald's. “They love McDonald’s very much,” his mother says. “But they refuse.”

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