LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 19/09

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1,35-42. The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them,"Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).

Saint Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and doctor of the Church
Sermons on Saint John's Gospel, no.7/"They stayed with him that day"
«John was there with two of his disciples». John was such a «friend of the Bridegroom» (Jn 3,29) that he did not seek his own glory; he merely gave testimony to the truth. Did he dream of restraining his disciples and preventing them from following the Lord? Not at all. He himself shows them whom to follow... He declares to them: «Why cling to me? I am not the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God... Behold him who takes away the sin of the world.»At these words, the two disciples who were with John followed Jesus. «Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, 'What are you looking for?' They said to him: 'Rabbi, where are you staying?'» At this point they were not definitively following him. As we know, they attached themselves to him when he called them to leave their boat..., when he said to them: «Come after me and I will make you fishers of men» (Mt 4,19). That was the moment when they attached themselves to him, nevermore to leave him. But for the moment they wanted to see where Jesus was staying and carry out those words of Scripture: «If you see a man of prudence, seek him out; let your feet wear away his doorstep! Lear from him the precepts of the Lord» (Si 6,36). So Jesus showed them where he was staying. They came and remained with him. What a happy day they spent together! What a blessed night! Who can tell us what they heard from the Lord's mouth? But let us, too, build a dwelling in our hearts, raise up a house where Christ can come to instruct and converse with us.
 

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 18/09
Sharm el-Sheikh Summit for Halting Arms Smuggling to Gaza, Israeli Withdrawal-Naharnet
Geagea: Gaza Developments Show that Nasrallah's resistance Theory is a failure-Naharnet
Anti-Israeli protesters, Lebanon police clash near U.S. embassy-AP
Israel unilaterally halts fire as rockets persist-guardian.co.uk
Gaza Calm as Israel Unilaterally Halts Fire-Naharnet
Protesters Try to Storm U.S. Embassy in Beirut-Naharnet
Jibril's PFLP-GC Goes on Alert, Sets Up Machine Guns in Bekaa-Naharnet
Man Wounded after Gunmen Intercepted Car of An Nahar Journalist-Naharnet
Four Bike Thieves Arrested-Naharnet
Suleiman to Arab Economic Summit in Kuwait: Committed to Arab Peace Initiative-Naharnet
Ban Concerned About Situation in the South, Stresses Tribunal Starts Operations in March-Naharnet
Berri Warns Against Spread of Violence-Naharnet
Hariri Warns Against Hurling Lebanon into Tension-Naharnet
Saniora Praises Suleiman's Stand at the Doha Meeting-Naharnet
Lebanon's Children ask Ban to rescue Gaza Children-Naharnet
Suleiman Remains Under Minority Fire-Naharnet
Qassem: Liberals of the World Unite-Naharnet
Dozens of Bodies Found in Gaza Rubble as truce Violated-Naharnet
Qatar Ordered Closure of Israel's Trade Office-Naharnet
Olmert Says Ceasefire is Fragile, Abbas Believes it is Insufficient-Naharnet
UN's Ban Ki-moon visits Syria for talks on Gaza situation-Xinhua
Anti-Israeli protestors clash with Lebanon police near US embassy-AFP
Gaza battles show `nasty' face of urban combat-The Associated Press
Israel hopes Iran and Hezbollah get message of Gaza offensive-Los Angeles Times
Why the Arabs Splinter Over Gaza-New York Times
Olmert announces Gaza ceasefire-MWC News
Hezbollah behind Lebanon rocket strikes in north-Ha'aretz
Lebanese fear Israel's next step-BBC News
Why Arab states are unmoved by plight of Hamas: most fear Muslim ...Telegraph.co.uk
Israel votes on cease-fire, Hamas vows to fight on-AP
Hezbollah plot to attack Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan foiled-Ha'aretz
Israel Tanked in Lebanon, But Could Still Win Big in Gaza-Newsweek
Israel Criticized for New Deaths as Cease-Fire Looms in Gaza-New York Times
Report: Russia plans navy bases in Libya, Syria,Yemen-Ynetnews
Gaza crisis: key maps and timeline-BBC News
Syria's Assad ready to cooperate with Obama: report-Reuters

Anti-Israeli protestors clash with Lebanon police near US embassy
(AFP) – Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at dozens of angry demonstrators who protested near the US embassy Sunday against Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.The incident occurred when Lebanese and Palestinian leftists of various political groups broke through barbed wire down the street from the embassy and neared the next barricade to the mission compound in Awkar, just north of Beirut. Several of the demonstrators were seen to be hurt in the clashes.
The tear gas forced the crowd to disperse although some demonstrators regrouped and continued to protest, calling on the US ambassador to be expelled from the country. Another protest, by dozens of members of the leftist Democratic People's Party, was staged near the US embassy later in the day.
Protestors burned dummies of US President George W. Bush, US President-elect Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as American and Israeli flags. Before leaving, they placed dolls representing babies killed in Israel's war on Gaza on the barbed wire barricade.
The protests comes amid sporadic fire after Israel began a unilateral truce early on Sunday morning in its 22-day-long war on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that killed at least 1,300 Palestinians.

Palestinians in Gaza, Israel agree to cease-fire
By IBRAHIM BARZAK and AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writers Ibrahim Barzak And Amy Teibel, Associated Press WritersSunday, Jan. 18, 2009. Israeli … GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza agreed Sunday to a weeklong cease-fire with Israel, after three weeks of violence that Palestinian medics say has killed more than 1,000 people and turned Gaza's streets into battlegrounds.
Sunday's announcement came about 12 hours after Israel declared its own unilateral ceasefire.
Hamas' Syrian-based deputy leader, speaking for the militant Palestinian factions, said on Syrian television that the cease-fire will give Israel time to withdraw and open all the border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.An Israeli security chief told Cabinet ministers the military operation "is not over" and that the next few days would be critical to determining whether it would resume.The military said no one was injured by more than a dozen militant rockets that struck southern Israel ahead of the announcement from deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk on Syrian television.
"We the Palestinian resistance factions declare a cease-fire from our side in Gaza and we confirm our stance that the enemy's troops must withdraw from Gaza within a week," Abou Marzouk said. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would not say what level of violence would provoke Israel to call off the cease-fire.
"Israel's decision allows it to respond and renew fire at our enemies, the different terror organizations in the Gaza Strip, as long as they continue attacking," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet session.
"This morning some of them continued their fire, provoking what we had warned of," Olmert said. "This cease-fire is fragile and we must examine it minute by minute, hour by hour."In Gaza, people loaded vans and donkey carts with mattresses and began venturing back to their homes to see what was left standing after the punishing air and ground assault the tiny seaside territory endured. Bulldozers began shoving aside rubble in Gaza City, the territory's biggest population center, to clear a path for cars while medical workers sifting through mounds of concrete said they discovered 75 bodies. discovered dozens of bodies in the debris.
The Israeli cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday local time after three weeks of fighting that killed some 1,200 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian and United Nations officials. At least 13 Israelis also died, according to the government.
An official who attended the Israeli Cabinet meeting quoted internal security service chief Yuval Diskin as telling ministers that "the operation is not over.""The next few days will make clear if we are heading toward a cease-fire or the renewal of fighting," security chief Yuval Diskin was quoted as saying. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Cabinet meetings are closed.
Israel stopped its offensive before reaching a long-term solution to the problem of arms smuggling into Gaza, one of the war's declared aims. And Israel's insistence on keeping soldiers in Gaza raised the prospect of a stalemate with the territory's rulers.
The cease-fire went into effect just days ahead of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration welcomed Israel's decision and a summit set for later Sunday in Egypt is meant to give international backing to the truce.Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating European Union presidency — are expected to attend along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.
Ban welcomed the cease-fire. "Urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority," he said, declaring that "the United Nations is ready to act."
Israel said it was not sending a representative to the meeting. Hamas, shunned internationally as a terrorist organization, was not invited. However, the group has been mediating with Egypt and any arrangement to open Gaza's blockaded borders for trade would likely need Hamas' acquiescence.
In announcing the truce late Saturday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would withhold fire after achieving its goals and more.
"Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions. Its leaders are in hiding and many of its men have been killed," Olmert said. If Hamas holds its fire, the military "will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us," Olmert said. If not, Israel "will continue to act to defend our residents." In Gaza, people began to take stock of the devastation. The Shahadeh family loaded mattresses into the trunk of a car in Gaza City, preparing to return to their home in the hard-hit northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
"I've been told that the devils have left," said Riyadh Shahadeh, referring to the Israelis. "I'm going back to see how I'm going to start again. I don't know what happened to my house. ... I am going back there with a heart full of fear because I am not sure if the area is secure or not, but I have no other option." In the southern town of Rafah, where Israel bombed dozens of smuggling tunnels, construction worker Abdel Ibn-Taha said he was very happy about the truce. "We're tired out," he said. Schools in southern Israel remained closed in anticipation of possible rocket fire. Shortly before the rocket volley Sunday, the head of the Parents Association in the border town of Sderot, Batya Katar, said she was disappointed that Israel did not reach an agreement directly with Hamas, which Israel shuns. "It's an offensive that ended without achieving its aims," Katar said. "All the weapons went through Egypt. What's happened there?"
Israel apparently reasons that the two-phase truce would give it ammunition against its international critics: Should Hamas continue to attack, then Israel would be able to resume its offensive after having tried to end it. Hamas, which rejects Israel's existence, violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007, provoking a harsh Israeli blockade that has deepened the destitution in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians. The Israeli war did not loosen Hamas' grip on Gaza. **Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza, and Amy Teibel and Matti Friedman reported from Jerusalem. Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.

Israel unilaterally halts fire as rockets persist
By IBRAHIM BARZAK and AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writers Ibrahim Barzak And Amy Teibel, Associated Press Writers
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday meant to end three devastating weeks of war against Hamas militants, but just hours later militants fired salvoes of rockets into southern Israel. The violence that threatened the hours-old truce came even as a slew of foreign leaders headed for Egypt to try to cement the cease-fire. No one was injured by the 10 rockets that struck southern Israel. But shortly afterward, Gaza security officials in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun reported an airstrike that wounded a woman and her child. After the first volley hit the rocket-scarred town of Sderot, Israeli aircraft hit the rocket squad that fired it, the military said.
Hamas rulers have said they would not respect any truce until Israel pulls out of Gaza and in another incident after the truce took hold, militants fired small arms at an infantry patrol, which directed artillery and aircraft to strike back, the military said.
"Israel's decision allows it to respond and renew fire at our enemies, the different terror organizations in the Gaza Strip, as long as they continue attacking," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly Cabinet session.
"This morning some of them continued their fire, provoking what we had warned of," Olmert said. "This cease-fire is fragile and we must examine it minute by minute, hour by hour."
Government spokesman Mark Regev would not say what level of violence would provoke Israel to call off the cease-fire.
In Gaza, people loaded vans and donkey carts with mattresses and began venturing back to their homes to see what was left standing after the punishing air and ground assault the tiny seaside territory endured. Bulldozers began shoving aside rubble in Gaza City, the territory's biggest population center, to clear a path for cars while medical workers sifting through mounds of concrete discovered dozens of bodies in the debris.
The cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday local time after three weeks of fighting that killed some 1,200 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian and United Nations officials. At least 13 Israelis also died, according to the government.
Israel stopped its offensive before reaching a long-term solution to the problem of arms smuggling into Gaza, one of the war's declared aims. And Israel's insistence on keeping soldiers in Gaza raised the prospect of a stalemate with the territory's rulers.
The cease-fire went into effect just days ahead of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration welcomed Israel's decision and a summit set for later Sunday in Egypt is meant to give international backing to the truce.
Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating European Union presidency — are expected to attend along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.
Ban welcomed the Israeli move and called on Hamas to stop its rocket fire. "Urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority," he said, declaring that "the United Nations is ready to act."
It was not immediately clear whether Israel would send a representative to the meeting in Egypt, and Hamas, shunned widely as a terrorist organization, has not been invited. In announcing the truce late Saturday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would withhold fire after achieving its goals and more.
"Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions. Its leaders are in hiding and many of its men have been killed," Olmert said.
If Hamas holds its fire, the military "will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us," Olmert said. If not, Israel "will continue to act to defend our residents."
In Gaza, people began to take stock of the devastation. The Shahadeh family loaded mattresses into the trunk of a car in Gaza City, preparing to return to their home in the hard-hit northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
"I've been told that the devils have left," said Riyadh Shahadeh, referring to the Israelis. "I'm going back to see how I'm going to start again. I don't know what happened to my house. ... I am going back there with a heart full of fear because I am not sure if the area is secure or not, but I have no other option."
In the southern town of Rafah, where Israel bombed dozens of smuggling tunnels, construction worker Abdel Ibn-Taha said he was very happy about the truce. "We're tired out," he said. Schools in southern Israel remained closed in anticipation of possible rocket fire. Shortly before the rocket volley Sunday, the head of the Parents Association in the border town of Sderot, Batya Katar, said she was disappointed with the unilateral nature of the truce and the fact that Israel did not reach an agreement directly with Hamas, which Israel shuns.
"It's an offensive that ended without achieving its aims," Katar said. "All the weapons went through Egypt. What's happened there?"
Israel apparently reasons that the two-phase truce would give it ammunition against its international critics: Should Hamas continue to attack, then Israel would be able to resume its offensive after having tried to end it. It was not immediately clear how many rockets would have to fall to provoke an Israeli military response.
Hamas, which rejects Israel's existence, violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007, provoking a harsh Israeli blockade that has deepened the destitution in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians. The Israeli war did not loosen Hamas' grip on Gaza, and the group vowed that a unilateral cease-fire was not enough to end the Islamic movement's resistance.
"The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. More moderate Palestinians also reacted with skepticism to Israel's two-phase truce and called on world leaders attending the Egypt summit to press Israel to pull out its troops immediately.
"This is an important and necessary event but it's insufficient," said Abbas, Hamas' bitter rival and the top leader in the West Bank, the larger of the two Palestinian territories. "There should be a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a lifting of the siege and a reopening of crossings" to aid, he said.
**Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza, and Amy Teibel and Matti Friedman reported from Jerusalem. Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.

Qatar shuts Israeli trade office over Gaza war
DOHA (AFP) — Qatar ordered the closure of Israel's trade office in Doha over the Jewish state's war on Gaza, Qatar's official news agency reported on Sunday, citing a foreign ministry official. "The ministry has summoned the head of Israel's trade office in Doha and gave him an official memorandum of Qatar's decision to close the bureau," the agency quoted the official as saying. Qatar, previously the only Gulf Arab state with Israeli trade ties, said officials working at the Jewish state's trade office, open since 1996, have seven days to leave the country. Qatar and Mauritania decided on Friday to "suspend" their relations with Israel at an Arab summit in Doha called to discuss the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, a Mauritanian diplomat told AFP. Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire at 2.00 am (0000 GMT) on Sunday to end its 22-day-long air and ground campaign launched in response to Gaza militants for firing rockets into the Jewish state.
The conflict killed at least 1,245 people, including more than 400 children, wounded another 5,300, and left much of the impoverished Hamas-ruled territory in ruins.

Israeli fire kills Palestinian in Gaza Strip
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in an area where militants had fired mortar bombs in defiance of a unilateral Israeli cease-fire, medical workers said. The incident occurred near the Gazan town of Khan Younis, the workers said, identifying the man as a civilian. He was the first reported fatality on either side since the cease-fire went into effect at 12:00 a.m. British time.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Jeffrey Heller)

Gaza militants launch rockets at Israel hours after cease-fire
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Militants fired six rockets into southern Israel and exchanged gunfire with troops in northern Gaza Sunday, hours after Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Palestinian territory, an Israeli spokesman said.
An Israeli soldier holds up an Israeli flag after leaving Gaza on Sunday.
The Qassam rockets were fired into Sderot at 9 a.m. -- seven hours after Israel's cease-fire went into effect. The rockets did not injure anyone, and Israeli aircrafts destroyed the rocket launcher soon afterward, an Israeli military spokesman said.
An hour or two before the rocket attacks, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli forces in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said. Troops returned fire.
Israel launched an offensive in Gaza just over three weeks ago, with the stated intent of stopping the barrage of rockets -- primarily the short-range homemade Qassam rocket -- fired from the territory into southern Israel by Hamas fighters.
Palestinian medical sources also pulled 30 bodies from rubble in Gaza on Sunday, adding to the death toll from Israel's 22-day offensive in the area.
"If Hamas chooses to still launch rockets, we'll answer back and we'll answer back harsh," said Avital Leibovich, spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces Sunday. "It's really up to Hamas. Hamas will be accountable for any launching and every terror activity from the Gaza strip."
Israel also announced Sunday it would open an emergency treatment center at the Erez crossing point from Israel to Gaza for civilians who have been injured in the fighting. It will be "fully equipped and staffed" and Palestinians requiring more involved treatement will be sent to hospitals in Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The three-week conflict has killed more than 1,200 people in Gaza and injured more than 5,000 more, many of them Palestinian civilians, according to medical sources in Gaza City. They said 410 children have died. Watch doctors tend to wounded civilians »
"If foes decide to continue to fight against us, then we will be ready and we shall consider ourselves justified in replying," he said.
Hamas leaders responded, saying they did not consider Olmert's declaration a cease-fire as long as Israeli troops remain in the Palestinian territory.
"The troops on the ground is a declaration of war against the Palestinians," said Osama Hamdan, a representative of Hamas, which has held political control of Gaza since 2007. "Israel did not offer anything."
Even before Sunday's rocket attacks, the cease-fire announcement was met with pessimism by Palestinians.
Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator during diplomatic talks about the conflict, noted that Olmert did not say Israeli troops would be leaving Gaza.
"I'm afraid this means the cease-fire will not stand -- it will break," Erakat told CNN International. "Anybody can fire a shot now ... . It's a very fragile moment." Watch Palestinian negotiator say cease-fire will not last »
Islamic Jihad, an extremist group operating in Gaza and listed as a terrorist organization by several governments, said the cease-fire was an Israeli decision that will not impact its actions.
Senior leader Khader Habib told CNN his group will continue fighting until Israel leaves Gaza, and crossings into and out of the territory are opened. Islamic Jihad is not directly affiliated with Hamas

Israel votes on cease-fire, Hamas vows to fight on
By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Matti Friedman And Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press Writers
JERUSALEM – Israel's top leadership met Saturday to approve a unilateral cease-fire that would halt the devastating 22-day offensive in Gaza but Hamas vowed to keep fighting until all Israeli forces pull out.
In the hours leading up to the meeting and after it started, Israel kept bombarding Gaza. In the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said.
The 12-member Security Cabinet was expected to back an Egyptian-brokered proposal for a 10-day cease-fire during which Israeli troops would remain on the ground while longer term arrangements are hammered out with international backing.
But Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said a unilateral cease-fire was not enough.
"The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs," Barhoum said.
More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the three weeks of violence, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. Thirteen Israelis have also died.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated Israel's readiness for a cease-fire, saying the country "was very close to achieving its goals and securing them through diplomatic agreements." He spoke during a trip to southern Israel, which has been the target of militant rocket fire.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel after a truce is declared.
"This campaign is not a one-time event," she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. "The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon both demanded on Saturday an immediate end to the Israeli assault and pullout of all troops.
A summit aimed at giving interntional backing to the cease-fire will be held in Egypt on Sunday. It is to be attended by the leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating EU presidency — as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Mubarak and U.N. chief Ban.
It was not immediately clear whether Israel would send a representative, and Hamas has not been invited.
If the truce is approved, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days. Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during that time and the territory's border crossing with Israel and Egypt would remain closed until security arrangements are made to prevent Hamas arms smuggling.
Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to try to halt near-daily Hamas rocket attacks against southern Israel. Its key demand is for guarantees that Hamas halt the smuggling of rockets, explosives and other weapons through the porous Egyptian border.
Under the deal, Egypt would shut down weapons smuggling routes with international help and discussions on opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings — Hamas' key demand — would take place at a later date.
Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz, who was attend Saturday night's Security Cabinet meeting, said any deal would also require a mechanism for negotiating the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas more than two years ago.
Egypt has been a key interlocutor in weeks of negotiations to end the assault on Gaza sparked by years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel.
Israeli strikes on Gaza kept up even after the Cabinet meeting began. Walls shook and windows trembled in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah as fighter jets soared above head, apparently focusing their missiles on the no-man's land with Egypt where many suspected smuggling tunnels lie.
A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said.
John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack on Beit Lahiya that killed the two boys — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations.
"The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered," he said.
The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor.
**Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporter Alfred de Montesquiou contributed to this report from Rafah, Gaza Strip.

The National Prayer Service and the Wahhabi Lobby
by Winfield Myers
American Thinker
January 17, 2009
http://www.meforum.org/article/2051
Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), will deliver a prayer at the National Cathedral during the National Prayer Service on January 21st. The event is part of the festivities for the inauguration of Barack Obama, which occurs January 20. A convert to Islam, Mattson directs the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary.
ISNA has close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist group, and was named an un-indicted co-conspirator in U.S. v Holy Land Foundation, a case that uncovered covert financing of the terrorist group Hamas. Since her election as ISNA president in 2006, Mattson's apologias for the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam have gained a much wider audience.
Daniel Pipes has written that, under Mattson's leadership, ISNA is "a key component of the Wahhabi lobby."
In a "Meet Ingrid Mattson," Campus Watch adjunct scholar Jonathan Schanzer offered specific examples of Mattson's denials and deceits regarding radical Islam's threat to the U.S. Among them:
Wahhabism is simply a "reform movement" that "really was analogous to the European protestant reformation";
Contrary to statements by Director of National Intelligence Adm. Michael McConnell that "there are sleeper cells in the U.S," Mattson claims that in fact "there aren't any sleeper cells";
The president's use of the term "Islamic" when speaking of terrorist attacks on the West is "not only inaccurate, but unhelpful."
Additional examples of Mattson's dissembling abound. During a 2001 CNN chatroom interview, asked at what point in history the Muslim world "turn[ed] from a philosophical and educated state comparable to the Greeks to the now third world state it is in," Mattson emulated other members of the Middle East studies establishment and employed postcolonial theory to blame the West:
Well, the decline began with the colonization of the Muslim world by European powers. One of the first things the colonialists did was to dismantle the institutions of what we could call civil society. The Muslim world has until now not recovered from that dismemberment of its society.
In a move hardly in keeping with the ecumenical nature of a National Prayer Service, Mattson sought to sow division between religious groups when in 2007 she advised American Jews not to trust conservative Christians:
Right-wing Christians are very risky allies for American Jews because they are really anti-Semitic. They do not like Jews.
Next Wednesday's event won't mark Mattson's first appearance at a significant Obama event. Last August, she participated in an interfaith meeting at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Nor will it be the first time Mattson benefits from an obsequiousness Washington political class more fearful of giving offense than of facing down apologists for radical Islam. Former Undersecretaries of State Karen Hughes and Nick Burns and Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England went to great lengths to legitimize ISNA. Hughes addressed ISNA's annual convention in 2005, and England attended the following year.
At the State Department's 2006 annual Iftaar dinner, Hughes singled out Mattson for praise, calling her:
A thoughtful scholar, a teacher ... I think we owe Ingrid a round of applause.... She's doing a wonderful job and is a wonderful leader and role model for many, many people.
Mattson's participation in President-elect Obama's Inaugural festivities heralds the incoming administration's intent to follow the Bush administration's practice of ignoring her long history of shilling for radical Islam. In lending its imprimatur to ISNA, the Obama White House proves that opening the doors of power to Wahhabi apologists is the kind of bi-partisan undertaking we'd all be better off without.
**Winfield Myers is director of Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
Related Topics: Muslims in the United States, Radical Islam, US politics