Israeli aircraft have launched a series of air raids on the Gaza Strip, striking multiple targets in the territory. The raids came after Israel threatened a "strong" response following the firing of a rocket from Gaza earlier on Thursday. The rocket attack killed a Thai man working on a farm near Ashkhelon. It was the first death caused by a missile launched from the strip since the end of Israel's war on Gaza in January 2009. Al Jazeera producer Ashraf Amritti, reporting from Gaza, said that at least 10 Israeli missiles stuck overnight, with Israeli F-16 aicraft and Apache attack helicopters flying above the area. "It wasn't an easy night for people in Gaza. Air strikes started just after midnight," Amritti said. An Israeli statement released after the air raid said that six sites had been targeted, including five smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip and a weapons manufacturing site. Amritti said that the weapons manufacturing site in Gaza City was described as a metal workshop by Gazans. 'Continued aggression' A previously unknown Gaza group, Ansar al-Sunna, as well as the al-Aqsa Martrys Brigades, a wing of the mainstream Fatah movement, both claimed responsibility for the rocket attack from Gaza that preceded the air raids. "The jihadist mission came in response to the Zionist assaults against the Ibrahimi and al-Aqsa mosques and the continued Zionist aggression against our people in Jerusalem," Ansar al-Sunna said in a statement. Matan Vilnai, the Israeli deputy defence minister, said that regardless of any claims of responsibility, Israel blamed the rocket strike on Hamas, the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip. If Hamas did not prevent such attacks, Israel would act, he warned. "Israel is not interested in a military confrontation but it will not allow its citizens to be fired upon," Vilnai told defence officials at a planning meeting.
Hamas in return, blamed Israel's behaviour for the escalation. "The government of the Zionist enemy, which has launched a war against the Palestinian people and against holy sites and al-Aqsa mosque, bears the responsibility for all the escalation," Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said.
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Silvan Shalom, the Israeli vice-prime minister, described the attack as "a crossing of the red line, which Israel cannot accept. The Israeli response will be appropriate. It will be strong".
At least 11 people have been injured in an Israeli air strike at an airport in southern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said. The strike targeted Gaza's defunct international airport, located near the town of Rafah, late on Friday, witnesses said. The Israeli army told Al Jazeera that the attack targeted "a terror site" and said its pilots confirmed that the target was hit. It also confirmed that it hit two smuggling tunnels and a weapons manufacturing site in another strike 24 hours earlier. Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman, reporting from Gaza, said Israel called the strike a reaction to rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel a day earlier. "The Israelis say it is in retaliation for the rocket attack, but ... the group that claimed responsibility for the attack [on Israel] says [the rocket attack] is in reaction to what's perceived as [Israeli] aggression and provocation in the West Bank." The two days of strikes come amid the backdrop of clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians on Friday fought running battles with Israeli police in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the latest clashes since Israel announced the construction of 1,600 new homesin East Jerusalem. Israeli security forces used tear gas against hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters following Friday prayers in Hebron. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Hebron, said heightened tensions throughout the past week have erupted into open confrontation. "The amount of tear gas used in the city is just quite unbelievable and a dozen injuries have been reported in the occupied West Bank." Hebron is home to about 160,000 Muslims, but some 500 Israelis and Jews live in a small settlement in the centre of the city, with a heavy Israeli security detail. There were also skirmishes in East Jerusalem as Israeli police were also on high alert in Jerusalem where they prevented men under the age of 50 from entering the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said prayers at the compound passed without incident and Jerusalem was generally calm. "A lot of people are angry at what is taking place in Hebron and are coming out to show solidarity," Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, said. Charged atmosphere An already charged atmosphere intensified this week as a rebuilt 17th-century synagogue was opened in the Jewish quarter of the Old City, a few hundred metres from the compound. Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the mosque compound - a site holy both to Jews and Muslims - as an assault on its status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there. But he also warned that the Palestinian people "have the right and the duty to defend themselves and the Islamic holy sites".
"It's the second night of attacks in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Fierce clashes
"The situation has quietened down, but there were fierce clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers," she said.
There were similar altercations at Bilin and Nilin, sites of weekly Palestinian protests against Israel's West Bank "security barrier".
"It is all of course mounting tension over what Palestinians here see as a restriction of their basic rights."
Israel had sealed off the West Bank following previous clashes at the East Jerusalem site known to Muslims as the al-Aqsa mosque compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Clashes at the same site in September 2000 triggered a wave of unrest in the Palestinian territories that became known as the "Second Intifada [uprising]".
The latest violence had led some in the region to speak of the possibility of a "Third Intifada".
Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah official, said on Friday the party "does not seek a third intifada," after continuing unrest in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The unrest comes as the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators- an informal group including the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia - called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity.
Palestinians fought running battles with Israeli police in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the latest clashes since Israel announced the construction of 1,600 new homesin East Jerusalem. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Hebron, said heightened tensions throughout the past week have erupted into open confrontation. "The amount of tear gas used in the city is just quite unbelievable and a dozen injuries have been reported in the occupied West Bank." Hebron is home to about 160,000 Muslims, but some 500 Israelis and Jews live in a small settlement in the centre of the city, with a heavy Israeli security detail. There were also skirmishes in East Jerusalem as Israeli police were also on high alert in Jerusalem where they prevented men under the age of 50 from entering the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said prayers at the compound passed without incident and Jerusalem was generally calm. "A lot of people are angry at what is taking place in Hebron and are coming out to show solidarity," Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, said. An already charged atmosphere intensified this week as a rebuilt 17th-century synagogue was opened in the Jewish quarter of the Old City, a few hundred metres from the compound. Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the mosque compound - a site holy both to Jews and Muslims - as an assault on its status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there. But he also warned that the Palestinian people "have the right and the duty to defend themselves and the Islamic holy sites".
Israeli security forces used tear gas against hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters following Friday prayers in Hebron.
"The situation has quietened down, but there were fierce clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers," she said.
There were similar altercations at Bilin and Nilin, sites of weekly Palestinian protests against Israel's West Bank "security barrier".
Charged atmosphere
in depth
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"It is all of course mounting tension over what Palestinians here see as a restriction of their basic rights."
Israel had sealed off the West Bank following previous clashes at the East Jerusalem site known to Muslims as the al-Aqsa mosque compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Clashes at the same site in September 2000 triggered a wave of unrest in the Palestinian territories that became known as the "Second Intifada [uprising]".
The latest violence had led some in the region to speak of the possibility of a "Third Intifada".
Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah official, said on Friday the party "does not seek a third intifada," after continuing unrest in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The unrest comes as the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators- an informal group including the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia - called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity.
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The expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem has stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and sits at the heart of a rift between the US and Israel. However, it was only in Resolution 446 on March 22, 1979, that the Security Council officially stated that it believed the settlements were illegal. "... the policy and practises of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East," it stated. Amnesty International has argued the settlement policy violates Palestinian human rights. "As well as violating international humanitarian law per se, the implementation of Israel's settlement policy in the Occupied Territories violates fundamental human rights provisions, including the prohibition of discrimination," it said in a report in 2005. "The seizure and appropriations of land for Israeli settlements, bypass roads and related infrastructure and discriminatory allocation of other vital resources, including water, have had a devastating impact on the fundamental rights of the local Palestinian population." Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have documented violence against Palestinians by settlers, including "frequent stoning and shooting at Palestinian cars". |
In 1948, Israel's founding fathers issued a manifesto declaring among other things that the new state would uphold the equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race or creed.
Six decades later that is not a principal that many of Israel's Arab citizens - who make up about 20 per cent of the population - believe applies to them, especially in matters involving law and order.
In his film, One Law for All?, filmmaker Tony Stark investigates whether Israeli Arabs are regularly the victims of legal double standards.
On August 4, 2005, a Jewish soldier in the Israeli army boarded a bus on its way to the northern Arab town of Shafr'Amr.
It was just two weeks before Israel withdrew from Gaza and 19-year-old Eden Natan-Zada strongly opposed the plan.
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"I was looking through a window when I suddenly heard shooting. I looked and saw someone shoot the driver. I hid under the seats. As I lay flat, the firing continued, and I saw someone's finger fall to the floor. That's when I realised he was on a mission to kill everyone," says Ha'El al-Janhawe, a passenger on the bus.
"I didn't move a millimetre. I put my hands over my eyes and prayed and just waited for the bullets to hit my back."
During a pause in the shooting, al-Janhawe decided to try to prevent further bloodshed.
"I stood up and he had a chance to kill me. But, thank God, it seems that his magazine was empty. I pushed him near to the back of the bus. I got him onto his back and was on top of him - trying to hold the gun and stop him pulling the trigger. It was very hot and I burnt my hand."
Al-Janhawe pulled the gun away from the soldier and got off the bus. By then four people, including the bus driver, had been killed and 12 others were wounded.
'Chaos'
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| An angry crowd gathered after the shootings |
"The bus was in chaos. People were falling over each other. Outside, people were screaming, climbing up trying to get on the bus. They didn't know if the killer was still alive. No one knew what was going on," says Amir Sabbah who witnessed it all.
People stormed onto the bus and Natan-Zada was attacked and killed.
"It wasn't a normal reaction. Someone had come to kill people in their hometown and they wanted to protect themselves and their town. We felt a kind of anger that can't be described," Sabbah explains.
Seven local men are now being tried for his attempted murder and a further five for lesser offences.
'Double standard'
The decision to charge anyone caught up in the events of that day has hit a very raw nerve among Arab Israelis. Sadness at the waste of life is now mingled with anger at the prosecutions.
"This has been a racial decision at the highest level. It's obvious that the Israeli judiciary, security forces and police have two approaches: one for Arabs, another for Jews," says Morad Haddad who is part of a support committee for the 12 accused.
The court case has brought into the open a simmering distrust of the forces of law and order among Israel's 1.5 million Arab citizens.
Protests have been held outside the court in Haifa where the trial is taking place. The claim is that Jews who kill Arabs in Israel are treated in a very different way to the Arabs now being prosecuted for killing Natan-Zada.
It is a view held by some of the most senior members of the Arab community.
"Definitely there is a double standard and discrimination in applying the law towards Jews and Arabs," says Ahmad Tibi, the deputy speaker of the Knesset.
'Institutional racism'
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| Farah says that most cases involving Arab victims do not even make it to court |
"The case of Imad Hamdoun, for example. He was killed in 2002. He was on his bicycle, a Jewish civilian was shooting at the bicycle. He died. The family was compensated by the police but no conviction against the Jewish civilian that shot the bicycle.
"In the 44 cases we know for sure that the victims have not been involved in violence against state authorities or against Jewish civilians," says Farah.
Israeli law is meant to apply to everyone equally. But Farah is particularly critical of the way police investigate cases where Jews kill Arab citizens in Israel.
Some Israeli Jews working inside the legal system echo these concerns.
Michael Sfard is a lawyer who acts for a number of Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations.
"I think institutional racism is evolving in my country and I am embarrassed and very sad to say that," he says.
"The Israeli police, Israeli police investigators, they all are extremely professional and extremely motivated when it comes to catching Palestinians. They are much less motivated, much less rigorous when it has to do with Jews that operate on ideological grounds and their victims are Palestinians.
"The danger is that the more discrimination will infiltrate our system, the less our system will be legitimate in the eyes of the people. That's where we are heading."
Overlooked evidence
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| Israeli Arabs mourn the death of two sisters who were killed in the attack [GALLO/GETTY] |
The police say he was a lone gunman, who acted without help, but that is not the view of Maher Talami, a lawyer representing one of those charged with taking part in his killing.
Talami is conducting his own investigation into Natan-Zada with the help of a former Israeli secret service agent.
The investigation has taken two years and has convinced him that the police overlooked evidence indicating that the attack was a pre-planned conspiracy.
"The police investigation was reckless. They didn't investigate this case seriously. They just wanted to close this file immediately because it kind of embarrasses the state of Israel because having a soldier who is a terrorist is really embarrassing for the country," Talami says.
Pre-planned attack?
He says the evidence of police failings begin at the bus station in Haifa where Natan-Zada boarded the bus to Shafr'Amr.
Just two weeks before the attack, Natan-Zada was spotted acting suspiciously at the same bus station.
"He was seen by security guards in the central bus station and he was in his army uniform; he had his gun with him and he was looking around in the area where Arabs get the buses to go to the villages and towns. So that made the security guard really suspicious because he had no reason to be there," Talami explains.
The bus station guard says he spoke with Natan-Zada and later recognised him when his picture was published in the press.
Talami says he also discovered that Natan-Zada had travelled to Shafr'Amr on the same bus the day before the attack and that this is further evidence that the attack was pre-planned.
When the bus reached the end of its journey, the bus driver found Natan-Zada asleep.
"The bus driver asked him what are you doing here and he said 'oh I fell asleep'. So he gave him some water. The next day he got on the same bus, the same line at the same time and he shot first the bus driver in the head and then he started shooting at all the passengers," Talami says.
Not working alone
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| People protest against the court ruling against 12 Arabs related to the killing of Natan-Zada |
Talami also says that there is evidence that Natan-Zada had help in planning his attack.
"Three eye witnesses at least saw a suspicious car during the time of the attack in Shafr'Amr. It had three people in it. They describe them as religious Jewish people and they had the orange ribbon in the car.
"Now this ribbon used to represent the struggle of the settlers against disengagement in Gaza. The car was waiting and when they saw a police car coming they just swiftly raced out of the town."
According to Talami, the strongest evidence that Natan-Zada did not act alone was found in his mobile phone records. The lawyer tracked down who he had been speaking to on the day before the attack.
"We found out we're talking about really dangerous criminals. They are all Jews from settlements, some of them got indicted before for doing terrorist acts. So what was said in these conversations we don't know. But he didn't call for example his family or friends. He called people from Tapuah - which is a really Jewish extreme settlement in the West Bank."
Democracy undermined
Talami is now calling for the police to re-open their investigation into Natan-Zada.
One in five Israeli citizens is Arab and if a growing number of them continue to feel alienated from the forces of law and order, the legitimacy of the country's democracy will eventually be undermined.
"We think that the Jewish community have to share responsibility. We need to see the president of the state of Israel and the leaders of the police forces, all of them standing as one voice and say that we will not allow ongoing violence against the Arab citizens," says human rights lawyer Jafar Farah.
"You have to know that everybody will be equal in front of the law and if people will be criminals and they are Jews or Arabs, they will face the same treatment in front of the law."