A majority of Israelis want their government to hold talks with the Hamas militants who control the Gaza Strip, a poll showed yesterday.
Israel has been working to isolate Hamas since the Islamic group came to power in Gaza in June, 2007, and has said talks with the group won't be possible until it recognize Israel, renounces violence and observes signed peace agreements. Hamas has been labeled a terror organization by Israel, the US and EU.
But the poll, carried out by the Dialog company and published in the Haaretz daily, showed that 64 percent of Israelis believe Israel should talk to Hamas now to bring a halt to ongoing rocket barrages fired by Gaza militants at Israeli towns and to win the release of a captured soldier.
The soldier, Gilad Schalit, was seized in June, 2006 by Hamas militants and has been held in Gaza since then as talks on a prisoner swap have stalled.
Only 28 percent of Israelis reject talks with Hamas, according to the poll. The poll included 500 respondents and had a margin of error of 4 percent.
Though the Israeli government has consistently rejected talking to the Islamic group, some Israeli officials have recently been expressing support for such talks, a proposal once unthinkable given Hamas' history of suicide bombings in Israel and its calls for Israel's destruction.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops yesterday shut down four more charity offices in villages around the West Bank town of Hebron that authorities said were linked to Hamas, witnesses said.
Israel had shut down seven branches of the Islamic Charity Movement and the offices of the Islamic Youth Association in raids in Hebron earlier this week, charging that they were being used to finance terrorist activities.
Soldiers entered each of the four offices, confiscated computers and files, and sealed the doors on their way out, witnesses said.
Israeli air strikes killed at least six Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip yesterday, including Hamas men who local residents said returned recently from training in Syria or Iran.
Five of the militants, senior members of Hamas, were killed when the van in which they were travelling was attacked from the air near the southern town of Khan Younis.
An Israeli army spokeswoman described the air strike as a joint operation by the military and the Shin Bet intelligence service.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was