MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) calls on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to take a strong stance against the PA-Fatah leadership.  Speaking in Jerusalem Monday morning while Livni and officials from 70 other countries were gathering in Paris to raise support for the Abbas government, Shteinitz said:
"It's time to stop turning the other cheek to the Palestinians.  They incite the whole world against Jewish construction in Jerusalem [most recently in Har Homa - ed.], while at the same time Israel helps them develop their institutions in Jerusalem and raise contributions all over the world.  We should stop singing the praises of Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] and [PA prime minister] Salem Fayyad who slander Israel all over the world and refuse to recognize us as a Jewish state."
Meanwhile, Hamas - apparently in fear of an all-out Israeli offensive against its terrorist infrastructures in Gaza - has threatened that invading IDF forces will face "hell on earth" from the Gaza forces.  Hamas says that its various military factions will be organized into an army with a single unified command, and that it will be able to surprise Israeli forces with "troops popping up out of the ground" from underground tunnels, as well as battalions of suicide killers.



The Islamic Jihad website features "new" information on hostage Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, apparently designed either to lower Israeli morale, arouse public opinion for his release, or both.  An unnamed Arab from Gaza is quoted as saying what he saw on the morning of June 25, 2006 when Shalit was captured:



"I went out to my garden, and I knew that I was seeing unusual movement by armed men and mortar shell-launchers, going back and forth.  It was just a few minutes until the nearby Israeli position was quieted. But I still heard loud explosions... Aftewards, I saw men walking near my garden.  First I heard cries for help from the resistance men [i.e., terrorists - ed.]. I turned to them and I saw three armed men with semi-military uniforms, with a wounded man with them.  I rushed towards them to give help. The wounded man was almost fainting, and signs of burns and some blood could be seen on his hands and arms. At first I thought that it was one of the fighters who took part in the operation against the Israeli position... But the armed men carrying him prevented me from giving him water, or even to come near him... I insisted on doing so anyway, and I saw that his skin was white, and that he was near exhaustion. I had pity on him and I started to yell out.  One of the armed men told me to shut up and said that the wounded man was not a Palestinian fighter, but an Israeli soldier. I felt fear, and went away.  A car arrived quickly and took them away."