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Israel hits Gaza from air land, sea amid protests

Published Date: January 04, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Alaska Governor and former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin welcomed her first grandchild Tuesday and admitted she felt fear and despair when she first learned her teenage daughter Bristol was expecting.

 

AFP/Getty Images/File – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin answers questions from the media at the meeting of the National Governor's …

"We are over the moon with the arrival of this healthy, beautiful baby," Palin said in a statement dated December 31 and posted Friday on the website of the governor of Alaska.

Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston was born to Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston on December 27.

"The road ahead for this young couple will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy," the statement by the newborn's governor-grandmother said.

Bristol Palin's teen pregnancy was revealed shortly after her mother was confirmed as John McCain's running mate in August, and quickly became a campaign talking point.

Sarah Palin, a devout Christian who is vehemently opposed to abortion, always put a positive spin on her daughter's pregnancy, but in the statement issued this week, she admitted to feeling fear and despair on learning that she was to become a grandmother.

"When Bristol and Levi first told us the shocking news that she was pregnant, to be honest, we all at first looked at the situation with some fear and a bit of despair," Palin said in the statement.

"Isn't it just like God to turn those circumstances into such an amazing, joyful blessing when you ask Him to help you through?" she said.

In the same statement, Bristol Palin said becoming a teen mother was "not ideal" and spoke out against teen pregnancy.

"Teenagers need to prevent pregnancy to begin with -- this isn't ideal," she said, adding that she has set aside "plans she previously made for herself" in order to devote herself to her son.

Sarah Palin had delayed making public comment about her grandson's birth to respect the wishes of the baby's parents for the event to remain private, according to the governor's office.

"The high volume of press inquiries, along with some erroneous information that was published, prompted the governor to make a statement," said Bill McAllister, communications director for the Alaska governor's office.

US media have reported that Levi Johnston has dropped out of high school.

But the statement issued by Palin's office said he was continuing his studies online while also working as an electrician's apprentice.

Bristol Palin, now 18, will return to high school next week to earn the final credit that she needs to graduate, according to the statement. It was unclear if she intended to pursue a higher education on completing high school.

 NASSAU (Reuters) - The teenage son of actor John Travolta died suddenly on Friday during a family vacation in the Bahamas, according to the family's lawyer.

Jett Travolta, 16, suffered a seizure at his family's vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island, attorney Michael Ossi said.

Attempts were made to revive him, but he died at the scene, Ossi said.

Jett, who had a history of seizures, was the eldest child of Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston. They also have a daughter, Ella Blue, who was born in 2000.

(Reporting by John Marquis; editing by Jane Sutton and Mohammad Zargham)

Airline Offers Apology Over Detained Muslim Passengers

AirTran Airways has issued a public apology and provided free return airfare to nine Muslim passengers who were forced off an AirTran flight to Orlando at Reagan National Airport yesterday after two other passengers overheard what they construed as threatening remarks.

AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said the company had also agreed to refund the travelers the cost of their tickets on another carrier after AirTran refused to rebook them.

"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did on New Year's Day, but we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount and cannot be compromised," read a company statement. "We apologize to all of the passengers -- to the nine who had to undergo extensive interviews from the authorities and to the 95 who ultimately made the flight. Nobody on Flight 175 reached their destination on time on New Year's Day, and we regret it."

The nine passengers, including three young children, were headed to a religious retreat in Florida on New Year's Day when they were ordered off the flight but subsequently cleared of suspicion by FBI agents who characterized the incident as a misunderstanding, according to an airport official.

Federal and airline officials as well as several of the removed passengers said in interviews that the incident began about 1 p.m. after three of the passengers wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on the airplane. The conversation occurred as Atif Irfan, 29, his wife, Sobia Izaz, 21, and their sister-in-law, Inayet Sahin, 33, were walking along the aisle toward their seats at the back of the plane.

Officials said several other passengers overheard the conversation and became alarmed when they heard Sahin remark that sitting near the engines would not be safe in the event of an accident or explosion. Irfan and Izaz said the remark was entirely misconstrued and that the conversation was nothing more than innocuous banter.

"The conversation we were having was the conversation anyone would have," Irfan said of his sister-in-law in a telephone interview from Florida today. "She did not use the word bomb, she did not use the word explosion. She said it would not be safe to sit next to the engines in the event of an accident."

The three were traveling with six others: Irfan's brother, Kashif, 34; Kashif's three boys, ages 7, 4 and 2; Sahin's sister; and a family friend. All but one are U.S.-born citizens, but Kashif Irfan said he and the others think they were profiled at least in part because of their appearance. He said three of the six adults in the party are of Pakistani descent, two are of Turkish descent and one is African American. He also said they have a traditionally Muslim appearance, with the men wearing beards and the women in head scarves.

Hutcheson said yesterday that it was ultimately the pilot's decision to postpone the flight. But he said the pilot was influenced not only by the complaints from passengers but by the actions of two federal air marshals on board, who had learned of the incident and reported it to airport police.

As a result of the report about the conversation, federal officials made the decision to order all 104 passengers from the plane and re-screen them and their luggage before finally taking allowing the flight to take off for Orlando -- two hours late and without the nine passengers.

Ellen Howe, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the pilot acted appropriately.

"For us, it just highlights that security is everybody's responsibility," Howe said. "Someone heard something that was inappropriate, and then the airline decided to act on it. We certainly support [the pilot's] his call to do that."

Atif Irfan said he was glad for the apology but said the group was still discussing whether to accept AirTran's offer of a refund and free travel.

"They are being very conciliatory," he said.

CRAWFORD, Texas -- The U.S. on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.

The White House called for the cease-fire to be restored, yet there were few indications that the violence, which has left more than 200 people dead and nearly another 400 wounded, was waning. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that the operation in Gaza would widen if necessary.

It was "completely unacceptable" for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to launch attacks on Israel after a truce lasting several months, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

"These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," Johndroe said in Texas as President George W. Bush was spending the week before New Year's at his ranch here. "They need to stop. We have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can't have one foot in politics and one foot in terror."

President-elect  Barack Obama was receiving an intelligence briefing on Saturday from various security agencies, Johndroe said. Bush has spoken to regional leaders and the administration will remain in close contact, he said.

Obama also spoke during the day with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was keeping Bush abreast of the situation.

Brooke Anderson, Obama's national security spokeswoman, said Saturday that Obama "is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time."

As Israel bombed Gaza, defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge. Hamas "will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who controls the West Bank, condemned Israel. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.

Asked if the United States would back a continuation of the retaliatory strikes by Israel, Johndroe said: "The U.S. doesn't want to see any more violence. I think what we've got to see is Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel. That's what precipitated this."

At his ranch, the president took a call from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who wanted to discuss the violence that began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired.

"The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza," Rice said in a statement. "The cease-fire should be restored immediately. The United States calls on all concerned to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the innocent people of Gaza."

Israeli warplanes launched counterattacks on dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes. Most of those killed were security men, but an unknown number of civilians were also among the dead.

Hamas said all of its security installations were hit, threatened to resume suicide attacks, and sent at least 70 rockets and mortar shells crashing into Israeli border communities, according to the Israeli military. One Israeli was killed and at least six people were hurt.

With so many wounded, the Palestinian death toll was likely to rise. The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.

Johndroe said the U.S. was concerned that humanitarian needs were being met in Gaza. He urged Israel to avoid striking civilians, but he refrained from commenting specifically on positions that had been hit on the ground.

"I know they are targeting security and Hamas headquarters facilities," Johndroe said. "We urge them (the Israelis) to avoid civilian casualties."

"The message from the United States is that Hamas is a terrorist organization that is firing rockets into Israel and they fired them onto their own people as well," Johndroe said, noting reports he'd seen about the death of two Palestinian girls. "Hamas has done nothing for the people of Gaza."

The offensive has sparked angry protests throughout the Arab world. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the situation.

The Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip today claimed a significant blow against the top ranks of Hamas when an air strike killed Nizar Rayyan, one of the movement’s inner circle.

Mr Rayyan, one of Hamas’s most hardline political figures who had advocated renewing suicide bombings inside Israel, died in a targeted strike on his home. He is the most senior Hamas leader to have been killed since 2004, and only yesterday vowed that rocket attacks from Gaza would hit Israel “even deeper” than they have so far.

Medical officials said that another nine people, including two of Rayan’s four wives and four of his 12 children, were killed in the bombing on an eight storey apartment building in Jabalya refugee camp. The airstrike blew a huge hole in the side of the building and sent a thick plume of smoke into the air.

Mr Rayyan, a 52-year-old lecturer at Gaza’s Islamist University who was rated by some amongst Hamas's top decision makers, had mentored suicide bombers and would sometimes go on patrol with Hamas fighters.

Hamas said Israel would pay a “heavy price” for his death. Many other Hamas leaders are in hiding in anticipation of assassination attempts.

The strike came the morning after an emergency session of the UN Security Council failed to agree on a resolution on the conflict.

The meeting was adjourned without a vote after Arab countries demanded an immediate ceasefire, but Britain and America blocked a resolution proposed by Libya and Egypt that failed to mention Hamas rocket fire on Israel as a cause of the conflict. Western delegates said that the resolution was unbalanced, adding that negotiations would continue in a bid to reach an agreed text.

With the Palestinian death toll now over 400, a quarter of whom were civilians according to UN figures, foreign pressure is growing on both sides to hold their fire.

Israel last night dismissed as “unrealistic” the French plan for a 48-hour truce that would allow in more humanitarian aid for Gaza’s 1.5 million residents. More than 1,700 of these residents have so far been injured, according to the UN, in what is the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades.

Dr Hassan Khalaf, the director of the Al Shifa hospital which has taken many of the casualties, said that his staff were facing an impossible struggle to care for a total number of wounded that he placed at nearer 2,000. He said that so far 40 Palestinian children and 28 women had been killed by Israeli attacks, and that 270 children and 160 women had been hurt.

Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in Hamas rocket attacks that have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, growing ever closer to major centres of population and bringing one-eighth of Israel’s inhabitants within rocket range.

Hours before the killing of Mr Rayan today, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, said that his country was fighting Hamas with an “iron fist”.

“I very much hope we will succeed in achieving our goals quickly,” he added.

Israel has dismissed international complaints that its bombardment of the tiny, densely populated Gaza Strip has created a humanitarian crisis, with no fuel, little food and hospitals running out of basic supplies including anaesthetic and plaster for broken limbs.

“There is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, on a visit to Paris.“Israel has been supplying comprehensive humanitarian aid to the Strip ... and has even been stepping this up by the day.”

Ms Livni reiterated her government’s rejection of a French-proposed ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to allow in humanitarian aid.

But analysts say that, while continuing to talk tough, Jerusalem appears to be contemplating a possible diplomatic exit from its bombing campaign, saying today that any future truce with Hamas would have to be policed by international monitors.

A newspaper poll showed that ordinary Israelis are not eager to see the operation expand beyond the air-based campaign, a poll Thursday showed.

The survey of 472 people showed that 52 per cent want the air assault to continue, while only 19 per cent wanted to see a ground offensive. Twenty per cent favored a truce.

The same poll showed dove-ish and centrist parties would get 60 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament if elections were held today, up from 53 before the operation. The big winner was Labor, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the Gaza operation’s mastermind. Hardline and religious parties dropped from 65 to 60. The Dialog company poll had a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.