Israeli Jets Fire At Abbas Compound
Israeli warplanes fired three missiles into abandoned police base at the presidential compound of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, wounding two people and leaving deep craters in the ground. Abbas was not there at the time, instead at his main office in the West Bank.
The Israeli airstrike came in response to homemade Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel, though it was not immediately clear why Abbas' compound was targeted. Abbas has been a strong critic of the rocket fire and has urged the new Hamas Cabinet to accept peacemaking with Israel.
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh called for the United States and other Western powers to intervene.
"This escalation will lead the area to more violence and instability," he said.
The Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, which oversees some of the Palestinian security forces, condemned the Israeli "aggression" and threatened to retaliate.
"For every action, there's a reaction," ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said. "The occupation must understand that our people have the ability to be steadfast in confronting acts of occupation."
In other developments:
The Ansar 2 compound, formerly used by Palestinian security forces to store equipment, has been largely abandoned due to previous Israeli attacks. During five years of fighting, Israel repeatedly attacked the site, most recently in 2004.
The missiles fired Tuesday landed on an abandoned helicopter landing pad. Israel destroyed the Palestinian presidential helicopter in December 2001.
The Israeli airstrike came in response to homemade Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. The army said it had attacked an empty building in a residential area and open fields in northern Gaza used by militants to fire rockets.
Militants fired four homemade projectiles into Israel earlier Tuesday. There were no reports of injuries.
The announcement that Olmert's Kadima Party would seek a coalition with the more-left Labor Party came after a meeting between Olmert, head of Kadima, and Labor's chief, Amir Peretz. The meeting signaled the end of a rift between Olmert and Peretz that began after last week's national election.
With Peretz standing next to him during a news conference, Olmert said: "We are happy to announce that immediately after the president gives me the mission of putting together a government, we will open coalition talks that will allow us to form a government in which the Labor Party will be a senior member."
In last week's election, Kadima emerged as the largest party in parliament with 29 out of 120 seats, followed by Labor with 19 seats.
Under Israel's electoral system, the leader of the largest party is traditionally asked by Israel's president to try to form a coalition government. However, Labor initially recommended to the president that its leader, Peretz, be asked to form the government. It was not clear whether this was an attempt by Labor to pressure Olmert in coalition talks. Peretz, an ex-union boss, wants to become finance minister, a demand Olmert is loathe to meet.