Israel kills one of the PA's Hamas led security chiefs

After the non news that was the death of Zarqawi, return to normal on this blog chronicling Isarel's actions against the Palestinians in the occupied territtoires:

Israel said it had targeted the training camp because it believed militants were planning to launch a major attack, but Hamas today described the strike as "a direct attack on the Palestinian Authority".

"We consider this targeting of Abu Samhadana, the overseer of the interior ministry, a serious Israeli escalation and the realisation of earlier threats to target symbols of the Palestinian government," the Palestinian interior ministry spokesman, Khaled Abu Hilal, said.

"We've announced before that we are a legitimate resistance government - allowed by all laws."

A makeshift mosque has been set up at a stadium in Rafah, with thousands expected to attend funeral prayers for Samhadana.

His recent appointment to the interior ministry angered Israel and the Palestinian opposition group Fatah, and was condemned by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Isarel didn't like the appointment of Samhadana and took the action it estimated necessary to make its disliking clear. Can you imagine this happening in a free democratic country ? You kill a political appointee because you don't like him and on the sole presumption that He ''was planning an attack'' in Israel ? This is like ''The assassination of JFK'' and ''Minority Report'' merged in one act. Facts defying fiction !

On another front, while Israel is busy killing Palestinian officials, coordinated measures are being laid out by the US: the US has cancelled talks with EU ministers in which it was expected that the ministers will defreeze some money intended to pay salaries for the PA security forces (at least, and thanks to Israel, they won't have to pay the salary of Abu Samhadana). A European diplomat said that the move reinforced fears that the US was intent on regime change in the 'Palestinian-led' territories:
"At best it's a delaying tactic, at worst it's an attempt to scupper the entire mechanism," said the diplomat. "The Americans are into regime change. They want the Palestinian Authority to fail."

This is a good example about concerted efforts between Israel and the US working hand in hand to carve policies in the ME. What is left from Israel's killing expeditions in the territories will be subdued and tamed by the US through starvation. Do we still have an honest peace broker here ? I don't think this kind of species still exist.

We are back at the age of dinosaurs where Isarel and the US can be easily portrayed as the most dangerous species, the Velocirpator, a pack hunter, surrounding its prey from all sides. And of course, as for Israel/US close relationships in shaping mideast policies, and despite the Israel lobby paper, there is 'no evidence' whatsoever as to the ability of the Velociraptor to hunt and kill* in pack formations.

*Evidence as to how the claw was actually used may be provided by one of the more spectacular specimens of Velociraptor, found in the Gobi desert in 1971. It is a complete, articulated skeleton, clutching the skeleton of a Protoceratops. The penetrating toe claw is near to where the Protoceratops' jugular vein would have been and the 'arm' of the Velociraptor is clutched in the herbivore's jaws. This suggests Velociraptor may have used its sickle claw for precision killing, striking vital organs, the jugular vein, or windpipe. Some scientists have also suggested that the claw may have been used as a sort of grappling hook, helping the Velociraptor to hang onto the flanks of large prey animals while they inflicted wounds with their jaws and forelimbs.